Christmas wine party

On Saturday night, I held a Christmas wine party at my flat for some friends in Blacksburg. I spent most of Saturday cleaning, tidying, cooking and rearranging the furniture. Luckily David and Janice had lent me a spare table otherwise I have no idea where I would have put the food! Everyone brought a dish or two and I supplied the drinks, though Walt did bring a very nice Rioja. I made some mulled wine which was really nice and smelt great, though a little stronger than I expected, probably due to the addition of brandy, but tasted really good.

Tidy and Christmassy

Desserts!

Packed main food table

It was a really good night. About 14 people showed up in the end (the weather was horrible with sleet and ice and some people were sick so cancelled), and my flat was looking pretty full. All of my table from my Zeppolis wine tasting came, as did the other 2 postdocs from my office, bringing their gorgeous little baby with them. He was so curious and giggled all the time.

Shawn, David, Dongwei, Isaac, Bob, Janice and Debbie

Curious Isaac

Cissi and Richard digging in.

Bob, Shawn, Dongwei, Isaac, and Richard.

I even got my wine collect critiqued by Matt, an Sommelier in training, who I meet at the Gourmet Pantry and brought his girlfriend along as well. He was quite impressed with my sweet wine collection in particular! And a little jealous I think! :-)

We even had some carol singers, a pair of undergrads collecting for Relay for Life, a cancer charity. 

It was great night and lots of fun. Though I felt a little tender the morning after! :-)