We hosted our first Gourmet Club dinner at our house last night. The theme was dishes from famous Irish restaurants. We started out with a bowl of carrot soup. We were responsible for the main course which was a stuffed pork loin with homemade gravy and homemade apple sauce. We had one of the women at dinner that is on the Gourmet Club committee and said that my gravy turned out way better then the test batches they made while preparing the menu. The apple sauce was a big hit too.



Current scones and rustic potatoes were served as sides.

Dessert was kind of like a pineapple upside down cake with hazel nuts.









Everything worked out really well. The first couple came over just a few minutes after 7 PM. Everyone left around 10:45 PM.

When we started cleaning up the kitchen drain stopped up really good. I took the trap off under the sink and opened the access port in the basement and could still not get to the clog. I just kept working at it with the plunger. After a half hour of that I thought maybe I should use hot water in order to loosen things up. I also started dumping dishwasher detergent down the drain on the hypothesis the enzymes would start eating away at whatever was stuck down there.

I took a break to go in the basement and make sure the access port was not leaking from me taking it off and screwing it back on. Everything was dry. As I was walking back upstairs the hot water and enzymes finally had the desired effect it whooshed down the pipes. It almost sounded like a toilet was flushed. Yeah!

By this time I am really tired and my back was hurting from cooking, and then hosting, and then plumbing all night. I took a little break on the couch while Sheri continued to clean.

She had to be dialed into work from about 1:30 AM until 5 AM to make sure all of her servers in all of the time zones handled the new Daylight Saving Time date. I was able to stay with her until about 4 AM and then couldn't keep my eyes open. I think she said two of her servers had problems and needed extra attention.

She was able to get about an hour of sleep before she had to get up and get to the airport for her trip. She also got the entire kitchen cleaned up during the breaks she took from work overnight.

I am feeling pretty beat, but I have already showered, had leftover scones, and done a few chores. I don't know what I am going to do next. I have a list, but it is very possible I might just fall asleep on the couch. It is also possible I might get a second wind and go run some errands. Right now I don't know. I think I am running on about 3 or 4 hours of sleep.