During our backpacking trip in Asia, the efficiency kicked in again and we split up our tasks fairly organically: Mitra booked transportation and found laundry deals; I booked hostels and exchanged money. When Sara joined us for the last leg of the trip, she marveled out our efficiently planning (at least I think she did) and took on the role of continually feeding us candy and pieces of fruit.
Back at our apartment, I'm not sure if we always operate in the same way, mostly because we live fairly independently, but once in a while, the physics lab habits kick in. For the first annual Slapsgiving party it was ever-present, mostly out of necessity due to laziness and a late start on our part, as we channeled the efficiency of high school lab project days.
Here are the events of the day leading up to Slapsgiving:
11am: Mitra gets groceries and I create a playlist and the signs above.
12pm: Mitra comes home
2pm: Mitra and I go to Starbucks to take advantage of their 2-for-1 holiday drink special.
2:30pm: Mitra blow-dries her hair. Kat calls me and asks if we need help. I turn on the oven.
We eventually got to work and by the time Paula, Denis and Laura showed up on time at 4pm, we were finished with most of the prep work. Mitra delegated the remaining work among the three on-timers and we just had to keep an eye on the oven. We had picked fairly easy recipes to put together and managed to pull off the cooking with a minimal amount of preparation.
Below, you'll find the food menu for the most efficiently planned dinner party ever:
Chicken Tandoori - This was amazingly easy and I am now in love with Sukhi's Tandoori Marinade. So much so, that the week after Thanksgiving, I purchased another packet and 2 pounds of chicken for myself. The night before the party, I had marinated 4 pounds of chicken breasts and chicken legs in the marinade and a couple spoonfuls of yogurt, so the day of, all I had to do was cook the chicken in our oven's broiler for 20 minutes right before the party, flipping the meat once.
Acorn Squash: Glazed with maple syrup and topped with fried sage, this recipe was easy and delicious. I fried the sage in our cast-iron for about 10 minutes and it turned out to be a great garnish. Mitra was very particular about plating and chose this blue plate to make the colors of the squash pop.
Just as delicious, but not pictured - Brussel Sprouts: Mitra and I love brussel sprouts. So much so, that when we were driving back from Monterey a few years ago, we stopped at a farmer's market, purchased a huge brussel sprout stalk, and Mitra's mom promptly proclaimed it our love child, naming it Devin. Here's the brussel sprout recipe Mitra prepared.
Other delicious items: Baked brie with honey, Laura's olive bread, Brucek's three bean salad, Lakshmi's chocolate cake
Non-delicious items: Pepper vodka and maple syrup - horrible drinkable items to have on hand when playing drinking games.
