Oh, dear

We had two fabulous guests for dinner last night and I ruined everything again by making the drinks deceptively strong.

I was out running errands and going to the gym in the afternoon. When I got back to the apartment George's friend Robert had already arrived for a small dinner party we were going to have. Robert was one of George's professors in graduate school. This man is an absolutely brilliant musician and he likes to talk smutty to boot. He's so much fun to spend time with.

I asked him if he wanted something to drink. He said "well, George tells me you are quite the mixologist." Aw, shucks. But really, what would he like to drink?

"I've heard your margaritas are legendary!" Oooh, I started thinking, I had bought this interesting looking Italian lemon liqueur that I thought would help make a delicious margie. "Yes, I have some new stuff I've been meaning to try out!" I set to work squeezing fresh citrus juice from three different fruits. I added just a small amount of sugar to offset the sourness, added some of the liqueur plus some faux Grand Marnier and tequila (the amount I would normally use.)

The result from my test batch was too sweet because of the lemon liqueur & faux GM. So I ended up having to use almost double the amount of tequila I would normally use.

End result: omigodisthisgood!!!!!!!!!!

"Careful Robert, my drinks go down like candy."

Pretty soon we were talking smutty and having such a great time that I made two more rounds. I had squeezed more juice than I needed, so what the hay!

By the time our friend Oddrun arrived we were pretty well soused while theorizing about the sex lives of various members of the cast of Bewitched. What's not to like about that conversation? More drinks!!

Then Robert & George started playing piano/clarinet music for us, and we were in heaven. Robert kept jumping up between movements to grab another nice swig of margie. Oddrun & I were in heaven and practically in tears listening to the music.

Then we sat down to our first course of the night: George's salmon chowder - yuuuummmmm, one of my absolute favorites of his.

Unfortunately, by the time we were done with the chowder, Robert had to go sit on the couch. George cleared the soup bowls and began preparing the main course, flounder in livornaise sauce. Oddrun & I sat at the piano playing & singing scholocky pop songs. Next time I looked over at Robert he had passed out. We were unable to rouse him for dinner.

George, Oddrun & I had a nice time together enjoying the fish, and Robert actually did get up at one point to use the facilities - but was unable to sit back down at the table with us. The rest of us proceeded through desert (homemade coconut custard pie) and tea (camomile for Oddrun and PG Tips for Georgie & me.) More yum.

Oddrun had to leave about an hour later, so George & I cleaned up a little and went to bed. The dinner party ended almost as suddenly as it began.

I got up at 6:15 this morning to check on Robert, and he had left.

I feel really bad - we were having such a good time, and I was just trying to be a nice host. I'm going to have to start pacing people until I know their tolerance level, because this is about the 4th dinner party I've ruined with this kind of behavior. Sigh.

And to think, I took the day off work yesterday to avoid the drunken Irish!