So we’re back up at the folk’s house again. The main reason for our trip during this season is that my mother’s hundreds of Iris plants bloom in the spring and she wanted us to come up and see them this year in case for some reason or another they aren’t in the house next year or can’t plant them. (My Dad has been unemployed for over a year and thinks he’s too old to get a job, and my Mom is considering retirement, so they may have to sell the house. They did a major remodel about 9-10 years ago and are still paying it off.)
We chose to come up this particular weekend because my mother was hosting the wine tasting for their group that they have been tasting wine with for 40 years. Something I was painfully reminded of last night. Normally they will taste traditional European/California wines. Maybe a night of California Merlots, or German Reislings. I guess over the 40 years they have exhausted many options, so this time my mom decided to get creative and have a Sake Tasting. There are always appetizers and so obvious choices would be sushi, edamame, postickers, scallion pancakes…triple cream cheese and smoked Wisconsin Cheddar?
Here are the stars of the night.
And for their close ups in order of appearance (or drinking)
The room was all set
The appetizer table
This is the sushi, very tame, California Rolls with real crab, Eel and Avocado Roll and Cucumber Roll
These are called Aloha fruit rolls, they have carrots, cucumber, avocado and there are four of each with a different kind of fruit in each one.
Edamame, nothing exciting here, but they are good!
Scallion Pancakes
And the Gyoza
And of course for the unadventurous, Cheese
One of Fran’s plates
The Sake
Dessert
Now Mom didn’t want anyone to see this because she bought twice as much of everything that we needed
And before the party we also indulged in a little of our own dinner, being more adventurous than most of the party guests we ate raw fish
After everyone had tasted all the sakes we voted on which was the best in each "class" and then voted on "Best in Show" however that was technically not determined by vote, but by which bottle was the least full. #5 won, Hananomai. Perhaps this could have been becuase Fran and I were pouring larger glasses than most and we went back to test our favorites several times to taste them side by side (I'd get her a glass of one and me a glass of one). We went back several times to make sure that #5 was our favorite!
What was rather amusing about this party is that most of the women guests seemed to relish the idea of something new and different. They enjoyed the sushi and trying the sake, some had never had it or if they did only once or twice. The men folk were much less eager to embrace the odd drink and strange food. In fact one guy seemed downright hostile about the whole thing, but he kept it to himself because his wife was clearly having a good time. Only two of the couples that were there (besides my parents) were original members, and there were quite a few amusing moments. My Mom introduced one of the women, Marge, to Fran and said, “This is Alison’s partner.”
I was nearby, and she kept looking around saying, “where’s Alison?” My mom actually had to point me out to her..Wow, do I look THAT different? Then she says, “Alison!” putting her hand out similar as Walt did when he described the height of Mickey. “I remember brushing your hair, at the Arthur Fiedler concert! You were only five years old!” Shesh.
Later another lady, Jane was being introduced to Fran and she looks at me, “I didn’t catch your name.” she says.
“Alison.” I replied.
“Alison?” she asked.
“Alison.” I replied again making the gesture with my hand just above waist high.
“ALISON! Oh my gosh!
Clearly I must look nothing like my former self.
Anyways, we’ve made some changes to the schedule, so I’m glad I didn’t tell anyone what the plans were because now I can just pretend that everything is going according to plan. Except that I just told you that.
More later!
Fran wanted just a cheeseburger so while my pizza was cooking I went to the local un-chain burger joint and got her a Jr Cheese burger (which is actually a lot of food). 
It will be nice to get some permanent relief.
) 
