Just Enjoy Thyselves
For a few years now I have taken a Thursday night out of the month and had what I call an After Work Thursday Social at the Bradicombs, my humble abode. The idea has been to have people I work with drop by after work is done, stay for the evening or stay for an hour and just ease into the weekend (we work a four ten-hour day work week). I generally have BBQed for food and encourage people to bring what they will to add to the ease of the night. I have a few games on hand, such as Cards Against Humanity, that can be indulged in should the mood hit, but again the idea is just to have food, drink and good company.
Over the years, I have taken to give to Social a theme and at first began cooking dishes that related to the theme. Easy enough to do for St. Patrick’s Day, maybe not so easy to find something not too traditional for Christmas that won’t be at every Christmas dinner, but still fun to try out new recipes. Last year, I saw some St. Patrick’s gnome plushie hanging decorations and that started a year of finding them for Easter, 4th of July and so forth for those months that had such events/Holidays.
(BTW, that clock is correct; it is a Left-hander’s clock and truly is easier for us left-hander’s to read, no kidding! Apologies for the full recycle bin.)
As of this last Thursday, I cycled through one year of gnome hangings, the red and pink hatted ones in that first photo. I had wondered if I could come up with a new ‘thing’ for the coming year for these gatherings and only realized I already accidentally had.
I tend to go all out in decorating my place for Christmas. Hallowe’en through the Holidays are my favorite time of year, you see, and I show it! This year I found some inexpensive Christmas-themed table coverings, a tablecloth and table runner combination and liked it so much I found some for this last gathering, too. It was a Valentine’s Day and Mardi Gras ‘mash-up’ theme and so…
Valentine’s gnomes and Mardi Gras table, complete with a King Cake! Which brings me to:
Cookin’ Wit’ Sweet n’ Heat!
I had to make some Cajun foods this time, of course. I made my own version of jambalaya and my first time making red beans and rice. I say ‘my own version’ of jambalaya as I put the ingredients together myself after having the House of Blues jambalaya on a trip to Chicago. It was so damn good I observed what ingredients I could have it before I finished consuming it and then gave it a whirl after I returned home and was not disappointed! I’ve tweaked it since and have served it at a few Thursday Socials to high praise, so that was an easy choice, though this time round I added jumbo shrimp. 🤯 So good!!!
(Unfortunately, I tend to not think of taking pictures when I cook or bake, for the most part, so this and the next photos are generic web pics.)
The red beans and rice I think will require a little more spice next time, but the recipe I chose was quite worth of ingesting!
Finally, I tried my hand at a King Cake, a cake that is meant to symbolize the unity of faiths. It is a decorated ‘donut’ with purple green and yellow sugars, purple for "justice," green for "faith" and gold for "power". They tend to have a baby of some kind, plastic or porcelain or even gold, baked inside and the one to get the baby in their piece has the honor of gifting the next King Cake.
I did not mix the glaze thick enough on mine and the sugar colors ran a bit, not did I have a baby baked into it, it was a little ‘lop-sided’ but it was, as still is, quite tasty!
That is cinnamon sugar rolled in it.
The last I will comment about the night, even as it was one of the least attended Socials, is that the food Lent it a wonderful atmosphere!
Be well and pax tibi.
