Post party review...

All over now, party girl has departed for a few days to recouperate in West Cork, and the rest of us are still in recovery mode. Despite the weather being pretty inclement, it all went off extremely well, everyone had a great time and the party atmosphere lasted four days. Photos will appear soon, when I've had the chance to reduce them for the web, but all in all, the advance planning paid off. I decided to cook something from a new cookery book (A year in my kitchen by Skye Gyngell) which was an Asian inspired lamb and prune slow-cooked dish, in which the flavours really appealed to me - and as it turned out, they appealed to all the guests as well. Someone pointed out to me that it really isnt a great idea to try a new dish for the first time for 60 people (thank you Iarlaith!), and normally I would heartily concur with that. However, I had used similar techniques many times before, and couldnt resist trying it out. The wines went down a treat as well (a Macon Vinzelles from Burgundy and a red Cotes du Rhone), the entertainment was a piano player extraordinaire, who electrified the party with his playing and singing (he also I suspect electrified half the street at times, and had to be toned down later on in the evening!). Despite my misgivings about how 60 people would fit into the house, there was no great problem at all, it was just nicely packed, encouraging people to mingle and talk... an aunt of ours made the suggestion that we should make it an annual event (not likely to happen) and my now 50 year old sister is starting to look at ideas for my equivalent celebrations in two years time...