Dinner Club - January & The Weekend Update

So this past weekend was filled with lots of fun events for the Sudduth folks.  First we started out Friday night hosting some dear friends, Linda & Michael Olsen and Amber Caver, who unfortunately was flying solo while her groovy husband Tom was off on a church retreat.  Jen and I decided to grace them with an evening of Asian fare. 

We started with some nice Edamame and then completed the appetizers with fried rangoons filled with cream cheese.  I asked Jen how many to make and she said make 'em all...they'll get eaten.  They did!  Then we served a chicken/pork/beef fried rice and I have to say that this was one of my best batches to date.  Then came a shrimp stir-fry of green beans, sprouts, broccoli, mushrooms and a few other things I found around the kitchen.  We finalized the evening with Olsen provided Root Beer floats made with Blue Bell Vanilla Bean ice cream.  Heavenly and a perfect end to a very good meal.  Did I mention the 5 bottles of wine that were empty at the end?  The kids finished their cheese pizza, watched a movie and then our guests took their leave...a little heavier and happy.

Rangoons ready for the oil.

One hot wok...one hot chef!

Where's the fried rice?

Kids hopped up on full strength root beer floats!

Did it flash?  Can we move now?

Dead Cowboys!

Then came a full Saturday with working the registration table at the Little League, Daniel's basketball game followed by a haircut and ice cream, a new haircut for Jen and a clean up of the house from the dinner party the night before.  This all culminated in the infamous Dinner Club for January hosted by our wonderful friends Tara and Andre Lehr. 

Daniel trying his best to sit still.

Dinner Club, as usual, was fantastic.  All dear friends, less Thane who had to be in London on business, all with great conversation topped off with really fine food fare.  Appetizers consisted of salmon/cream cheese on cracker and roast beef/crab spread on cracker.  The ladies sipped on homemade sherbet martini's that Andre kept fixing and serving.  They had a secret kick...much to the ladies surprise!  Then came salad followed by Andre's famous Cheese Fondue, a recipe handed down from his father Chef Lehr.  This stuff is deadly!  I don't even know what's in it, but stick a piece of bread on skewer, dip in cheese and flow to mouth.  Incredible!  Dessert was orange sherbet with some kind of crusty stick filled with creme.  Very nice!  Way to go Lehr's...thanks for another exciting and memorable edition of Dinner Club!

The 'Dre working his cheese!

Where's the cheese?

I don't have anything funny to say about this...

Get this salad outta here...bring on the cheese Baby!

The alcohol to cheese ratio is this high!

Ugh...please...no...more...cheese!

Andre's Dad - Chef Peter Lehr - The Man behind the Cheese!

Of course, my lovely bride and I weren't quite ready to relieve the babysitter, so we stopped off at Plonk, our local wine bar, for one more glass of wine on the way home.  Seemed like a good idea at the time!

Bad lighting...but it was late!

Do you think I'm comfortable?

Sunday was a bit tough because we put my Mom's remains in her final resting place in the Memorial Garden at St. Luke's UMC.  It went well, although Mom teased us with some rain early in the day.  She has a fun sense of humor!   Of course Mom's sense of humor put a damper on the Houston Marathon Sunday morning!

These people are crazy!

Another fun-filled, jam packed, wonderful weekend with friends & family.