The Crabby Cook - by Jessica Harper

My friend Lynn is a party animal. By this I mean she does a bash like nobody else I know. Case in point: her daughter suggested having a pajama party for her 26^th birthday last week and here’s what happened.

Guests were told it would be a pajama and swim party, starting at noon. Sixty people show up and the last guest left at 8 p.m. I know, eight hours. Just shoot me. But Lynn loves this stuff.

Why did the party last so long? There is never a brief party at Lynn’s house but this one seemed exceptional. I asked Lynn what she fed them. She had me at “Waffle Station.”

She made two batters, one with almond milk, one with regular, and she had two waffle makers, one regular, one zoo animal. (I had a waffle maker for four years. It spent that time in the garage, then went to the Goodwill.) To accompany the waffles Lynn had four tippings and three kinds of syrup.

The “Bagel Buffet” had, in addition to all varieties of bagels and smoked salmon and cucumbers and cheese and salami and so on, a frittata the size of a manhole cover that had more ingredients in it than I currently have in my entire kitchen. Plus there were brownies and donuts and rugelach (which I just learned is not spelled like arugula—who knew?)

But the piece de resistance was the “Bloody Mary Bar.” I can’t describe everything on the bar or we will be here till Tuesday. Suffice it to say there were nine varieties of vodka, including Tito’s Bakon and Glazed Donut. (Again, who knew?)

Of course there were multiple garnishes etc. but the ice cubes were what really got me. Two kinds: green (basil, cucumber, etc.) and red (tomato juice, Tabasco, etc.) so you cold slip these babies into your cocktail and add flavor instead of dilute it.  inst Plus Lynn made a special salt for rimming. She baked kosher salt with Sriracha sauce. (Do I know? Don’t ask me).

And then there were the straws, beef chipotle flavored ones, purchased online from a guy called Benny in Pennsylvania.

To me, assembling the components of Lynn’s spread, I mean, the shopping alone, would have sent me to the ER. Lynn, on the other hand, appears, post-party, to have thrived rather than suffered.

Which is why she is a party animal of the finest stripe and an inspiration.

I think I’m gonna make myself a Bloody. But first i’m gonna call Benny.

Tags: bloody mary recipes, patio party ideas, Sriracha salt, summer swim party

This entry was posted on Monday, June 23rd, 2014 at 10:06 pm and is filed under Cool Products, Drinks!, The Crabby Community. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.