And that's all she wrote...

Ladies and gentlemen, it's over!!! And though I didn't think I would be, I'm actually sad that it is. I love the sound of laughter in my tiny space on Earth.

Things mostly worked out food-wise. I was kind of freaking out because there wasn't room to put my dressing in the oven because of mom's big-ass turkey, but we worked out. It was delicious. The mushroom caviar also well received. Liam and my sister gave the rosemary couscous a big thumbs up! It was my favorite part of the meal. We used to eat Israeli couscous when we were kids -- they are called pti-tim, in Hebrew. Delicious!!

Here they are!

If you make any recipe from my menu then let this simple side dish be it! Oh, and pay no mind to the instructions in the recipe for the couscous/stock ratio. It should be 1 cup to every 1 1/4 cups of stock! Trust me. And 10 minutes is sufficient. Treat it like rice. When you add the stock to the sizzling couscous, turn the heat down to a gentle simmer and clamp on the lid. Perfection.

If you click on the picture you may be able to see the tri-colored tomato salad in the background. I got orange, yellow and red tomatoes. I sprinkled them with sea salt and olive oil. And I dolloped on some super fresh and soft whole milk mozzarella. Yummy!

The pie was pretty good too - another thumbs up from Sir Liam. I still detected some crunch in the apples, though. Not sure how to remedy that - it didn't take anything away from the overall loveliness of the pie.

While we ate pie and cookies (and cake -- my mom is insane), we played Pictionary. Boys vs. girls. Excellent! Of course, the girls kicked arse!

And now all I want to do is organize the next party. We are 'incubating' the idea of a Christmas bash. Lots of alcohol and simple nibbles -- nothing serious and potato chips and pretzels are definitely a possibility. I just want to have fun and dance to tacky 80s music and get FUCKING DRUNK!!

I want to thank everyone that supported me in this. I never entertain -- ever. So there was a lot of pressure on me to get this right. Though, I realize, I put the unnecessary pressure on myself. I tend to do that a lot, and I think my giving more parties, that will hopefully change. Thanks for being along on the ride.