Dinner and "Scrabble"

As I type, it is 12:46 a.m.......... and we've had one great night. C and R came over for dinner, and between the four of us, we put together a glorious meal. I made the Chicken Kiev, my husband made oyster stuffing. C made rice with red peppers, and also bought a tomato and fresh mozzarella salad. He put a basil leaf on each tomato before topping it with a slice of the cheese, then drizzled it all with very good olive oil when they got here. They also stopped at the Whole Foods Market downtown and brought us a selection of fresh cheese, gourmet crackers, and assorted olives, so we put all of that on the table as well.

I made this a casual Saturday-night dinner...... kept all the food warm in the kitchen and everyone just helped themselves and brought their plates into the dining room. I had hot apple cider simmering on the stove just because it seemed to go with the meal, even though today was a warm day here. The fresh apple cake that I baked turned out very well, so I will definitely make that again. (Next time, with brown sugar instead of white, though.)

We played two games of Scrabble after dinner..... amazing how quickly a game goes when four people are playing instead of two. I had set up the smaller table in the living room for the game, because the dining room is too large to play on, even without the leaves set in. True to form, on my husband's first turn at Scrabble, he got a seven-letter word, giving him an extra fifty points. Needless to say, he won that game. However, in the second game, I got a seven-letter word towards the end of the game, so I won that round. When we couldn't make words, we made up new words (but didn't play them on the board, of course). We all had so much fun that we vowed to do it again, next time at C and R's house.

Dessert was after the second game of Scrabble, which gave me time to put coffee on, and make some tea...... and we sat there after having the cake and just talked for a couple of hours. The more we get to know C and R, the more we enjoy their company. They've been here for all of our Charades games, but it's hard to have a one-on-one (or two-by-two) conversation during those parties. They've also been here for both Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, but other friends have been here also for those holidays. This was the first time that it was just the four of us, so the conversations were varied and full of good energy.

Great dinner, great night, great friends. What a way to start the New Year.... and one of the best parts--- when we all got into the dining room and C and R saw the little placecards with the stick-on "Scrabble" letters spelling out the names.... R told me that she had seen those letters in an art-supply store downtown and almost bought them for tonight. I'm sure that when we go to their house for the next Scrabble game, she will do something similar for her table settings.

I think I'm finally running out of steam here... it's one o'clock in the morning and I've been up before sunrise. The kitchen is all clean, the dining room is put together... time for bed.