Dinner After Dark...

DW's Birthday Party this past weekend turned out to be a pretty perfect night!  We spent all day Saturday tying up loose ends and cleaning the yard, finishing up the food, and straightening the house before people came over...but by the time people rolled up, I couldn't have been more pleased!  And thank you, Laurie, for showing up early to help me!

The Menu

While we were setting up tables on Saturday afternoon before the party, the weather was fantastic.  Not too hot, not too cold...if I could have planned it, it couldn't have happened better.  DW called me outside to show me that Sam was sunbathing next to his "friend" - a leftover statue from the last owners.  I couldn't resist taking a picture...

Finally, it was time for the party!

The dessert and drink table...before it got "stocked"...

We were so grateful that so many people made the trip over to celebrate with us and enjoy one another's company. And, of course, watch the Alabama/LSU game. We had one TV set up in the house by the food and one TV we drug out and set up outside so people wouldn't miss a single second. Ahhh, life in the SEC. ;-)

 

 

Since we were having so many people over and I wanted to cook something great, cheap, and gluten free, I opted for Chicken Enchilda Chili and a Baked Potato Bar. I made a batch of the chili in the crockpot the day before and the other batch the day of and thought I would probably have too much food. Thank goodness I over-estimated because we had almost zero leftovers!

 

The potatoes made me super nervous but I followed some instructions online about cooking potatoes for a large group. I cooked 25 of them in the oven on 500 degrees for 35 minutes and then put them in a cooler for another hour and fifteen minutes to let them keep cooking each other. By the time dinner was served, they were perfect! And I was so relieved. And I was also stoked that I was able to feed 20 people a main course for about $50 bucks total. Not too shabby.

The Birthday Boy...

Leslie & I...

Chris & Shanna

Katie, Katy, Carrie, & Cory

Joey & Leslie, our Georgia peeps...

Most of the guys looked my friend, John, all night...eyes glued to the game.  Again, the reason we had two TVs or we might not have seen hide nor hair of the fellas.  ;-) 

And after dinner, there were Pumpkin Muffins, Chai Tea-infused S'mores, GF Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Chocolate GF Birthday cake with a Butter Cream Layer and Whipped Chocolate Frosting for dessert.  Yuh-ummmm. 

The Spread...

All in all, it felt like a perfect night and I am so thankful we have such great people in our lives!  On Sunday, we got up and had scrambled eggs and leftover birthday cake - the breakfast of Champions - with two the of couples who stayed with us since they came from out of town.  Joey and Leslie took off to spend time with their other Birmingham friends and then, as Matt & Laurie called it, the four of us had a perfect "Fat Kid Sunday..." where all we did was sit and watch TV and eat! Ha! 

All in all, a fantastic friend-filled weekend!