Of plagues, peacocks and parties...

Well, the infamous 'man-cold' is now known as 'The Plague' at our house. (You must say it like that, FYI. It is not the plague. It is The Plague) I spent most of January doing a rather good impression of a grub. I was totally useless and am only now starting to feel better. Beware The Plague! Stay away from The Plague!!!

Right smack dab in the middle of my misery, my little sister Esta (Stephy, if you must get technical on me..) had a birthday. She had been having a rough couple of months, so, being the cutest and tallest sister ever, I decided to throw her a party. These plans were made before The Plague, and if the invites hadn't been sent out already, I probably would have canceled. But, the party must go on! Fortunately I had 2 days of being not quite as dead as I had been, a saintly mother who slaved for a day to help me cook, a birthday girl who didn't mind scrubbing my floor, and a husband whose office declared the day of the party a snow day, so he (in all of his luckiness) got to stay and be my lackey.

Esta and I decided on peacocks and tapas as the party themes, figuring peacock feather would look fabulous in my teal dining room and tapas would be fun because I've never cooked Spanish food and I've only had it once. In Canada. Riiight. So, I made a great big cake, we cooked and cleaned like crazy people, and the party was a great success. The end.






Oh! Did you want to see pictures? Fine. But let me tell you the menu first.

Green salad
Assorted olives and marinated peppers
Machego cheese and quince paste on baguette
Tortilla with chorizo sausage
Roasted potatoes with spicy tomato sauce and aioli
Moorish chicken kebabs
Spanish meatballs
Garlic shrimp
Tomato and mozzarella tart
Sherried mushroom empanadas
Sangria
and Chocolate cake

Yum. It was all so tasty! I was extraordinarily pleased with everything and I think Stephy and her friends really did have a good time.

And now, pictures.
The people. Where are the people?

Please note the peacock in the chandelier. You may roll your eyes only after you admit that it's the coolest thing you've ever seen.

The foods, in all of their glory.


The tortilla (a potato and egg, and in this case sausage omelette), sherried mushroom empanadas, tomato tart and garlic shrimp.

Ahoy! I made aoili! All by myself!

The very large cake. Serious adventures making that, bu I was very pleased with it in the end.

A cool shot of my Tony the Tiger shopping list, with a cake blocking some of it. Sorry 'bout that.
I think people had fun. I really, really hope they did. It was a very fun party to throw, and Esta is the coolest for letting me do it. Happy birthday Esta-olomew!