Our December Wine Tasting/Dinner Party

First of all, our wine tasting parties have evolved and most of the time they are more of a dining experience than they are a wine tasting event.  Other options include 1 or 2 times a year where we just meet at a restaurant somewhere for a little gathering…

We usually skip our wine tasting/dinner gathering in December.  Too many group members are either in a pre-Christmas rush, have other big events, or they’re traveling.  However this year as it worked out, a pre-Christmas dinner was scheduled by our neighbors Jill and Paul at their home.  The tone for our little party was set by their nicely decorated mantle…

The mantle was complemented by this big, bright and festive Christmas tree! 

We started out with a bit of sparkling wine and some light appetizers…summer sausage, cranberry laced cheddar cheese with crackers and peanut butter pretzels to snack on.

Yes indeed, it was a small group on this particular evening.  Two of our 6 couples were traveling and another stayed away due to illness.  From the left we have Susan, Dick, Paul, Jill and my better half, Laurie. 

  

Larry and Bev were slated to bring the salad but Larry came down with a bad cold so they didn’t attend our little soiree.  They did come through though!  They delivered this great salad for the rest of us… It was accompanied by a very nice vinaigrette dressing.

This was my personal salad.  Diners had the option of adding walnuts and/or gorgonzola cheese to their salads.  I opted for the cheese.  I enjoyed this salad so much that I had 2 helpings! Thank you Larry & Bev!

Dinner was served buffet style.  We used these festive Christmas plates for our meals…

Susan and Dick brought these nice fresh carrots as a side dish…

Paul and Jill served up these fresh and warm rolls with dinner.  

Laurie and I brought this vat of mashed potatoes for the group…

We also brought Amish butter for use with those mashed potatoes and the rolls.  It’s so much better than the usual store bought butter!

The centerpiece for our dinner was this big server full of luscious beef bourguignon.  Jill and Paul had made this dish a day earlier which allowed all of the flavors to meld into the rich and wonderful main entree for our dinner…

This was Laurie’s plate with all the key elements on display… My plate was a bit more loaded and not anywhere near as photogenic! 

Following dinner, we retired to the living room for conversation, eggnog…with alcohol added or not…and some wonderful frosted gingerbread cookies.  I managed to snag 2 extra cookies to take home with us but I forgot to take a photo!  As you can see, Susan and Dick are always upbeat and positive and they always have a great time...

Here are our hosts, Jill and Paul, in front of their Christmas tree.  Thanks for a great party.  It was a nice intimate gathering in keeping with the season!  

FYI, Jill and Paul moved down to East Tennessee from the Syracuse New York area and they definitely appreciate our mild and relatively snow free climate.

One last photo... This is what the super moon looked like looking through the trees in our backyard.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by to see what’s been going on!  We hope that everyone had a very Merry Christmas…

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave and Laurie