I Suck At Roasted Potatoes

On Saturday, Karen and I began our day with a memorial service in Hingham. The memorial service was for the spouse of my former friend's mother (Peggy). (I say former because my friend passed away.) I can imagine that it must be difficult for Peggy. After all, she has lost her only son and her husband all within five or six years.

Nevertheless, the service was good. The last time I was at the church (The Episcopal Parish of St. John the Evangelist) where the service was held was for the memorial of Peggy's son. And prior to that, it was for Peggy's wedding 14 years ago.

If there can be anything "interesting" from a memorial, it's seeing familiar teachers of yore. (Did I mention that Peggy was a teacher at the high school I attended?) Having not seen a teacher for quite some time... and then seeing then now... is an odd feeling. You sometimes wonder if those teachers remember you the way you remember them.

Anyway, a bunch of friends were at the service too. Attending were Sam (who flew in from Virginia), Jeannette and her son, Nicole, Meredith, Garv and Leeann, and my BFF (Kerry). I think Peggy was ecstatic to see all of us there, which was nice.

And for anyone curious, Jeannette's son (Sam) is very good for a four month old. He didn't cry, scream... anything during the service. He did manage to put three of my fingers in his mouth though. Other than that, he didn't make a peep. He was good... possibly the envy of all parents who have a four month old.

Following the service, Kerry headed back to our house. My friend (Andrea) had planned a little get together for the night. As we had time before the big shindig, the three of us decided to catch a couple of episodes of Veronica Mars. Slowly, we're making it through the third and final season. Too bad it takes us awhile to watch the episodes. Remembering what happened in previous episodes is sometimes tough. Nonetheless, it was fun.

Eventually, it was time for Andrea's shindig. Her get together consisted of her self proclaimed famous dinner: chicken and potatoes. Originally, she had debated about whether to make roasted potatoes or mashed potatoes. Rather than make one or the other, she made both. (She also made asparagus and rolls too... and a trifle for dessert.)

And might I add, this dinner was pretty hyped up by Andrea. For those who know me, they know about my feelings on hyped up things. With all the fanfare, there naturally is some lofty expectations. Needless to say, Andrea delivered. Her dinner was absolutely delicious. (I probably should not be surprised because everything that I have had from Andrea has been delicious.)

I think my favorite dish was the roasted potatoes. Too bad I suck at roasted potatoes. I must have eaten a whole lot of them. Truth be told, I probably could have eaten just the roasted potatoes and been happy.

Needless to say, dinner at Andrea's was great. Besides Karen, Kerry and I, my friends (Jen and Hot Amy), and Hot Amy's significant other (Mark) were able to attend the dinner. I think they enjoyed the dinner too.

I'm pretty sure Kerry enjoyed the "bread in a can". Speaking of Kerry, it turns out that her favorite U.S. currency is the quarter. That was an interesting fact that was discovered for the night. I did not know people had a favorite currency. Who knew? Among other interesting facts are that the favorite numbers of Andrea, Jen and Kerry are 8, 21 and 2 (or 5... hence the quarter) respectively. Favorite colors are red, blue and purple for Jen, Kerry, and Hot Amy respectively. And Mark apparently is not a sanitation engineer (or so he claims)... not that there is anything wrong with that.

Anyway, it was a fun time at Andrea's. Following dinner, Jen, Karen and I then headed off to Stars in Hingham. On Christmas Eve, the three of us and Kerry had discovered that Stars was having an ugly holiday sweater party. Everyone seemed pretty excited about the party (except for me). So we figured we'd give it a try.

(Picture below is Jen in her ugly sweater.)


Joining us at Stars were my favorite sister-in-law (Janine) and my favorite brother-in-law (PJ). The place was packed... and cold. Nevertheless, it was a fun time. Jen even won a free t-shirt for having such an ugly sweater. And for anyone curious, I thought the band (The Smoking Jackets) was great. The band covered a bunch of songs that you wouldn't normally think would be covered at a bar... like Dancing Queen by ABBA... or the Safety Dance by Men Without Hats. Based on the turnout for the ugly holiday sweater party, I would probably suggest the idea to my friend (Garv) for his bar (Blue-22). But, I'm pretty sure he would pretend to jot the idea down in his hand, crumple the piece of paper, and toss it over his shoulder.