San Franidazzle - 2009

San Franidazzle 2009 was a smashing success. I know that I am biased, but it was the party of the year. In case you don't know what San Franidazzle is, here's the low-down:

• Mirrored after Mauri Earl's infamous Holidazzle party in D.C.
• The party in D.C. is a roommate only invite - last year we had our current roommates and invited some close friends. Due to the small size of our house, the invite list stays the same from year to year with only new roommates added to the guest list.
• Dates are required
• Cocktail attire
  
• Musical number is a must
• Reverse charades
• Christmas bingo
• Amazing meal

This year we added some fun twists - but we'll get to that in a second. I don't want to have complete photo overload, so here are the highlights:

The welcome activity was to decorate a gingerbread house.

And the finished product:

And here is the best glimpse of the kitchen decor. This year we went with a snowflake theme so we hung paper chains and store bought/homemade snowflakes from the ceiling. Kirsten brought the table decor and plates from her mom's house. Everything looked amazing. I wish that the photos did it justice.

And then there was the food. Oh my. The food. In case you didn't know, Andrea Pimentel is the best chef that I have ever met in real life. I am not kidding. Here are her descriptions of each course:

stacked pear salad with goat cheese, candied walnuts, and poppy seed dressing

braised globe artichoke with balsamic reduction

wild mushroom and prosciutto tortelloni
{sidenote that I don't like mushrooms and this may be the best thing I have ever put in my mouth}

lobster vol au vent - lobster in cream sauce in a homemade puff pastry shell

And for dessert, which we don't have a photo of, it was an eggnog cheesecake with gingersnap crust and pomegranate sauce.

In the middle of dinner, we had a surprise visit from Santa. I have to say that this addition to the party was my favorite thing ever. I had a friend who knew most of the party guests come in through our laundry room door and then up into the kitchen through Rita's bedroom.

And of course everyone wanted a photo with Santa.

Andrea & Marshall

Rachael & Dave

Tim & Me

Clay & Kirsten

Ryan & Kristine

Paul & Rita

What I didn't mention before is that Santa came bearing gifts. Kristine and I went to Goodwill and found the best 12 things we could find for under $30. Then Santa handed them out and then over dinner we had a white elephant gift exchange. Just looking at the photos of that cracks me up. We had such a good time laughing at the gifts that everyone got. Here are photos of some of my favorites:

It took some begging and pleading to get Dave & Rachael to do the musical number, but it was great. They played "We Three Kings" and everyone tried to sing along. I personally think they should go on tour.

Bingo!

The only photo I have from reverse charades is of Tim. Can you guess what he is acting out?

And of course our group photo at the end of the night.

And of the girls. Apparently I'm the only one who got the memo to shimmy in the photo.

Towards the end of the night, most of us girls were laying on the couch talking. It was so great having Kirsten back with us for a night and I couldn't help but think what wonderful friends I have. I could say more, but you girls should all know that I love you lots. Seriously. Here's to many more San Franidazzles to come - and to more permanent dates. :)
If you want to see the rest of the photos, click here.

San Franidazzle - 2008

I realize that it is the middle of January and these pictures are about a month old. I would skip this all together, but I know you'd be so sad. And frankly, so would I. I don't think I talked about this party very much before having it, so let me give you a little background.

My dear friend Mauri who lives in DC has hosted a Christmas party for the past few years, which she calls "Holidazzle." Upon hearing about this party a few years back, I was completely enthralled with the idea of hosting a fancy Christmas dinner party. I've even tried to get my roommates on board in 2006 and 2007, but 2008 was our year. Basically, there are some requirements - that are all based on Holidazzle. There are printed invitations. There is a nice seated meal. An activity of some sort is involved - as well as sometimes a musical number. Between six of us girls, we tackled those projects and then some. Here is the proof:

This picture is from my phone, so excuse the bad quality, but this is what everyone received in the mail.

My date: the infamous Scott Porter. He was in town for work and stayed an extra day so that he could dazzle it up with us. As usual, he was the hit of the party. Really, ladies, if you need to take a great date somewhere, you need to contact this guy. And please notice his blue velvet tuxedo jacket.

Kristine was in charge of background music. On top of being a fabulous Christmas party, this was a mini reunion with Kristine as well - she had just arrived back from France for the holiday a few days before this - and we are so glad she came!

Next on the list - before dinner, make Christmas ornaments...

And then hang them on the tree.

After dinner Kristine and I provided the musical number:
The First Noel

Then play bingo with awesome movie ticket prizes.

And you'd better believe that I'm saving the best part of the evening for last:
THE FOOD!!!!!

Andrea did an amazing job making the food - I seriously think about the food on a daily basis and it has been over a month. It was that delicious. But because we were all about the details, here is what our kitchen looked like - Kirsten decorated it beautifully, didn't she?

And here is the food - I'm stealing this from Kristine's blog since she is better at describing food than I am: Course 1 - Salad greens with pomegranate seeds, grapefruit, avocado, and hicama cut out in little snowflakes.

Course 2 - Pear slices baked with brie and wrapped in proscuitto with a honey glaze
(I'm drooling just looking at these - seriously the best thing I have EVER eaten)

Course 3 - Homemade ravioli stuffed with butternut squash and pistachios and drizzled with a browned butter and sage sauce aside a dollop of alfredo cream.

Course 4 - Beef Wellington - filet mignon and pate baked in a pastry shell that had little star decorations on top.

Course 5 was dessert - A trio of desserts. Homemade baklava. Orange chocolate mousse. And a white chocolate tartelette topped with candied cranberries. {no picture though - sorry!} It was at about this time that our crazy neighbor started pounding on the wall, which could be an entire post on its own.

And to top off the evening, here we are prom style in the living room.
Left to right:
{Andrea, Ryan, me, Scott, Kirsten, Marcello, Krista, Clay, Rita, Jonas, Kristine, and Jay}

Hands (Pants) down, this was one of the best parties I've ever been to - and this definitely will just be the first in many San Franidazzles yet to come. The food was to die for, thanks to Andrea's mad skills in the kitchen, the decorations were beautiful, the dates were all great, and most of all, it was great to all be together at Christmas with such amazing friends.