Party Prep Prep Prep

The 2nd annual International Wine Extravaganza at Chez Hoyne tomorrow evening is not just threatening to outdo last year's--it's already there. The Evite list, despite being somewhat unreliable, has the attendees running around 115+ right now and we'll probably actually achieve 125-130; last year was about 100 (that's including friends of Todd, Steph and Gayle, our upstairs neighbor and crime partner). As with last year, we set up six country stations (Argentina/Chile, Australia/NZ, France, Italy, Spain, U.S.) with country-specific foods and then assign bottles from each country to each guest. People can try food & wine from each country all night and then generally get crazy. Steph & I are in charge of most of the food while Gayle acts as Director of Aesthetics and makes the desserts.

Last year, poor Stephanie went nuts and made about 90% of the food herself--something like 15 different appetizers for 100 people each--and didn't leave the kitchen until 3-1/2 hours after the party started; I didn't leave for 2-1/2 hours. Rave reviews but a pooped chef. So this year we've recruited food help from several friends to spread the pain a bit. Nevertheless, since Steph was just in Switzerland from Sunday to Thursday, I shouldered more of the prep burden this year and spent all those nights making Cheesy Poofs, Herb Crepes and Empanadas from scratch.

Nobody gets wilder at blowout parties for humans than Golden Retrievers, but unfortunately the resident dogs (crazy Hobbes and Gayle's crazy Golden named Charlie) will be spending the evening offsite at doggie camp. That's because Charlie's attendance last year cost Gayle something like $5,000 when Charlie swallowed two beer bottlecaps amidst the general chaos (showing off, no doubt), found by X-ray several months later and surgically removed. Hobbes also made a scene last year by running his sizable tongue across the entire length of the Coconut Lime Squares tray and then acting surprised when nobody wanted to eat them (of course, in the dog brain, if everyone politely passes then the next logical recipient is him). In a happy ending to the story, a certain set of observant and resourceful friends simply turned the tray 180 degrees so that the unlicked bars faced front. So although we'll miss them dearly, the dogs' absence this year should also help reduce potential stress.

Hopefully things will go swimmingly. The weather should be party perfect--70 degrees in the evening with no chance of rain, since most guests will be outside on the back patio, garden and spruced-up garage. Also we're allowing overflow from the garage into the alley this year, as our city-connected neighbor procured some official City of Chicago street barricades that we'll employ to frustrate alley traffic.

The last critical yet unpredictable element requiring significant improvement over last year is the pace and moderation of my wine intake. I was overserved in France--trying to make up for lost drinking time spent prepping food in the kitchen--which resulted in an extremely blurry and slightly premature (1:00 am?) exit from the party last year with a messy hangover all day Sunday. Better luck this year!