Baby Harvartis and Peach Roses

The flamboyant Honeylocust trees flaunted their golden, brown, and colorful parade of leaves; my living room, with its open space, started to slowly get smaller as my friends arrived; my little red kettle was whistling its tunes of good cheer, loudly welcoming people as they trickled into my suite. My suite buzzed with chatter and spacy, smiling eyes which filled the space with low murmurs of laughter. I watched the gentle steam of the cooking pot curled up and blurred the blanched kitchen windows. Most of the people there were welcome familiar faces. Others were new, whom I greeted with a hug as if I were seeing an old friend. People helped themselves to multiple glasses of my selection of Trader Joe’s wine. The guest list that night was around twenty something people, which also meant twenty plus mouths to feed.

I brought the charcuterie board out, with a jovial selection of cheese and meats already carefully laden, ready to eat. Each cheese carried different notes to it, intentionally selected. I had an earthy, aged asiago with a nutty bite; a tangy mini blueberry havarti; two goudas with sweet, fruity undertones; and a piquant, thinly sliced extra sharp cheddar. I paired the sliced wheel of French brie with honey-roasted turkey slices on top of saltine crackers, and decorated the edges of the board with wreaths of seedless green grapes. The charcuterie board was stunning, even though it was gone within minutes. The meats–they included some pastrami, two types of prosciutto, and three very fat, very thick saucisson sec sausages expertly diced by the farmer’s market butcher. I’m personally not a carnivore, but that was the only thing that some of my friends would eat–which would unsurprisingly be devoured in an instant. Upon coming back to check on my guests, I laughed at how fast the food disappeared; then followed by bottles and bottles of differently flavored rose: watermelon, mango, apricot, and peach—my favorite. And of course, a massive bottle of champagne. Everything was gone within the first half an hour despite towers of food and drinks, which made my heart sing.

There was also a myriad of home-baked delectables: an apple cinnamon lattice pie, pumpkin spice cheesecake bars, and date toffee puddings were made from scratch, just like the bonds between everyone at my party. Everyone cooed as the oven opened and saturated the apartment with an aroma of sweetness.  There were no songs playing in the background, but the clinking of glasses and lovely conversation suffused the room with music. It is extremely rewarding when I get to see everyone enjoying themselves. I also always look forward to welcoming more people over; it is really important to me to make everyone feel included, especially the new people. After all, half of these folks are like my second family, while the other half are friends of friends who I am just meeting. Either way–sometimes it is nice to celebrate and cherish friendship, simply because. So these are what my Friday evenings often look like; some of my favorite things all in one place: delightful company, baby harvartis, and peach roses. What more could I ask for?