the party update

Being the social butterfly that I am, I was invited to two (count 'em, TWO) parties this weekend!

Party Number 1: Meat Party!
Yes, "Meat Party" does sound like something out of a porn movie, but it's not. It's this party that friends of friends of mine do every year, where there are several hundred courses of meat served throughout the day, with swimming, drinking, lazing around and hanging out to break up the eating monotony.

I have heard the lore of Meat Party for years now (which usually goes something like this... "oooooh, I ate waaaaaay too much at Meat Party yesterday.... ohhhhhhh"), but luckily, this Saturday, I was invited to partake of the joy that is Meat Party first hand.

There were Chicken Spiedies (a Binghamton delicacy), brats, burgers and dogs, hawaiian ribs, deep fried chicken wings and a variety of salads, pastas and desserts to go along with them.
My contribution? Dessert hamburgers. (A better picture will follow. This is just a placeholder.)
(They're yellow cake buns (with real sesame seeds!) and brownie burgers. The ketchup and mustard are frosting and the lettuce is green coconut. I know, they're cute!)

It was such a treat just to get out of the city, hang out in a real live backyard, eat grilled food and meet some excellent friends of friends.

Party Number 2: Goooooooo Cyclones!
On Sunday, the lovely Sarah had her birthday party at a Brooklyn Cyclones game -- which was so much fun, and I don't even really like baseball!

We sat in the boondockiest bleachers, and Sarah's friend hooked us up with multiple sets of "thundersticks" (basically these inflatable plastic tubes that, when you hit them together in the right way, make an irritating (yet addictive) noise), so any time there was a good play, (or a bad play) or, really, any opportunity for us to make noise, we did.

My new favorite player (since Albert Pujols) is Lucas Duda. I have no idea why, but something about his name has a really fun ring to it, so I spent a great deal of the afternoon shouting "DoooooooooooooooDaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah" for absolutely no good reason.

Me: Camptown Ladies sing this songEveryone else: Duda! Duda!Me: Camptown track is five miles long

Everyone else: Kate!! Stop!!!

The Cyclones won, incidentally, beating the Auburn (GA) Doubledays something like 4-1. In the Condiments Race Down the Baseline, Relish beat out Ketchup and Mustard, and in the backwards flipper race, the short fat kid won over the short skinny one. (Ah, minor leagues!)

The Cyclones' stadium is right on the beach, so the sun was shining, the sea air was blowing and, for the most part, you didn't have to see any of the nastiness that is Coney Island. (Although one friend did have the incredible misfortune of seeing an old man in a "speedo with windows." When we asked her if he was naked, she said, no, he was wearing a bathing suit, but somehow, it was entirely see through. Then she shuddered and a tear slid down her cheek.)

At the end of the game, the Cyclones have a traditional Children Run the Bases, and kids of all ages take a turn around the diamond. Well, it being Sarah's birthday, she wanted to run, and was in no position to take no for an answer. So out there, among the kids, after about fifteen seconds of cajoling, was one very tall kid, with braids in her hair, hoisting a birthday balloon over her head, and the biggest smile on her face.

Now that's a party!