Good Ambiance, Good Food

On the day of our holiday party, DG and I each did what was important to us. I cooked all day and DG hung lights and got the back yard ready. Prior to me, his holiday parties consisted of a bag of chips and some ravioli thrown in a bowl for his guests. Every year, I rib him a bit for his party throwing capabilities. What he is REALLY good at though, is setting the mood. He filled the wheel barrow with snow and put in a case of holiday beer, then he hung lights on the back fence, and he got our heater cranked up to run. I was outside in a sleeveless outfit for 20 minutes under that thing and I was fine, though my forehead was the warmest part of my body.

I made a buffet of snacks including, white bean dip, guacamole, 7 layer dip, a vege tray, Rachel Ray's 5 minute fudge wreath with red and green m and m's on the top and Michelle's holiday red velvet chocolate cupcakes with white chocolate mint frosting. The recipe called for 1 full ounce of red food coloring for the cupcakes, which I excitedly found in my cupboard. As I'm making the cupcakes, I pull the coloring out of the box and in my haste, pour the entire thing in the batter. In horror, I stare down to see my cupcakes are green. The green food coloring was put in the red food coloring box. *rassity frassity IDIOT* were a few of the words that flew out of my mouth. We also put out various shades of red and green jelly beans, red and green m n m's, mixed nuts, a cheese tray with french peppered salami, phyllo dough bites, and vege egg rolls with duck sauce.

We had a great time.