Dinner party aftermath

Hey gang! As you’ll remember from yesterday’s post, I had a dinner party last night! It was really fun, and I’m not beating myself up (too much) today. I went in with a plan and kinda stuck to it. Stepping back to look at how it went, I did amazingly. So much better than I ever would have if I wasn’t on this plan. However, eating ANYTHING at the dinner party was not a part of said plan. [That sounds super-restrictive and disordered, but I’m on a specialized, physician-monitored diet and am getting everything I need from the stuff I’m supposed to consume ]

So let’s start from the beginning – my contribution was a flower arrangement, some boozy holiday beverage, and chocolate salty balls. I got a little glass dish from the dollar store and wrapped some ribbon around it…

…then stuck an assload of flowers in it…

…then decided it didn’t look good enough so I added some random twigs…

…it would’ve been a lot easier with some of that floral foam, but I couldn’t find our stash, so they were all precariously perched in that shallow little dish. Catherine liked it, so that’s all that mattered.

My chocolate salty balls were a big hit – everyone was stuffed with dinner, so only a few were consumed, so hopefully Catherine and Scotty were able to take the rest home for themselves.

Chocolatey sea salty goodness…

I know, I know, I’ve got a bajillion pictures just like this on my blog already.

When I first got to Scotty’s mom’s house, it was just me and the chef of the evening, Max. I helped where I could, but since he was the brains of the operation, I mostly stayed out of his way and tried to keep him company. I had a small cup of my spiked apple cider (others drank wine and beer through the evening, but I had my tiny amount of spiked cider, then stuck with water!)…

I heated up some apple cider with a few cinnamon sticks and a tea infuser ball full of cloves and put it in a giant thermos for the journey over there. I also had a bottle of DeKuyper’s Hot Damn! Burst liqueur on the side that people could spike it with (I was going to pre-mix, but I didn’t know if everyone would want liquor, and I’m really paranoid about driving with open booze in the car, even if it’s not in its original container. I’m a goody-two-shoes at heart.) [Side note: I’ve made this for a tailgate before – premixed with a really high alcohol:cider ratio of course – and used Goldschläger. I think it’s better that way because this DeKuyper’s is more “red hots” than “cinnamon,” but budget wouldn’t allow for the gold stuff]

On to the food…

This isn’t the best picture of the whole spread, mainly because this isn’t everything. The food was AMAZING and a-plenty. Here’s my widdle itty-bitty plate:

I had a taste of turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, stuffing, green beans, and sweet potato casserole. Everything was SO. GOOD. Seriously, maybe the best I’ve ever eaten. I’ve only ever had Thanksgiving meals with my big family, and we sometimes favor volume over quality. Our meals are always really good, but Max really loves cooking, doesn’t cut corners, and does an amazing job at it – it really shows.

I went back for a teeny bit more turkey and mashed potatoes with gravy, and stuffing, though I had even smaller portions the 2nd time around. It was funny – this (seemingly) insanely tiny amount of food completely satisfied me, when usually at an event like this, I’d pile up and excuse it away based on the occasion. Last night, I wasn’t uncomfortably full like everyone else, or even full at all, and I certainly wasn’t hungry. I kicked myself because even this amount of food is more than I wanted to eat, but I’m kind of ok with it. I even had a few bites of dessert…

Max and I split a brownie bar (and I only had half of my half), I had a chocolate ball (planned on only eating half, but the bastard jumped back in my mouth all on its own), and I had a little spoonful of Catherine’s HOLYSHITAMAZING pumpkin turtle pie.

I also had a tiny bite off of Max’s plate of his homemade coconut cake. And by homemade, I mean he scraped out coconuts with his bare hands (well, he probably used a spoon). Shit you not. The guy is amazing.

Going into this dinner party with the “I probably shouldn’t eat anything, but I won't be hard on myself if I have a taste of a few things” mentality REALLY did me a favor. Although I ate more than I wanted to, under normal circumstances this would’ve been a perfect amount. Everyone else’s plates were FULL. As in, you couldn’t see the color of the plate because they had giant amounts of food piled up. They all had chips and dips before dinner, got huge amounts of food at dinner, then were miserable afterward. I felt great with that small amount I had. I shouldn’t have gone back for seconds no matter how small they were, but I couldn’t help myself – it was too good.

So there you have it. I always know that I’m going to overdo things, so I bargained low so I’d have some wiggle room. This is a skill I’ve got to keep practicing! When I got home and weighed myself (not a good idea), I was up a few pounds, but this morning I weighed and was even lower than yesterday. I’m pleased.

I leave you with this ridiculous dog, Taco, in Catherine’s lap.

He’s an overweight long-haired chihuahua and is so funny to watch. I feel so bad for the dog because he’s overfed, and he waddles like a tiny hippo. Here he’s in a trance because Catherine’s scratching his belly. Oh and he gobbles up raw vegetables like they were filet mignon. You say “carrot” and the dog goes apeshit. So funny!!

Oooh! Almost forgot to mention how I dealt with explaining my eating habits! We had planned for like 18 people, and I was worrying about how to explain my diet based on that number. We only had 7, and those people were closer friends who know me, so I was able to say “I’m on a diet” and get away with it. Plus, I was able to say “gotta look good for the wedding next year!” and they understood.