Better late than never... I'd been bugging DRE* for awhile about wanting to have a Wienerfest party and we ended up having one early in September. The gang all came out (including Andrew and Kim, who happened to be visiting) and we tried to eat and drink our weight in wieners and beer. DRE* took well over 200 pics of the revelry and here are the pics suitable for viewing.

We celebrated our 4th Dutch XXXmas last night with an evening of friends, food and poetry. Oh yeah, and maybe a drink or two (hundred). I'll get the poetry up for you reading pleasure as soon as my mad typing skills allow.

2005 pics | 2004 pics | 2003 pics | 2002 pics

DRE* and I flew up to Des Moines for Thanksgiving with my family this year. Everyone came over for way too much good dinner, which we then repeated later in the evening with the leftovers. It was a short, but nice visit and the weather was even accomodating.

Lately between work, side-work, prepping for my architects exam and weddings I've been remiss in blogging. Here are links to pics of what we've been doing every weekend for about the last month or so to get things back up-to-date.

First there was J.B.'s Last Stand in the Sand (Bachelor Party) in Las Vegas. This was three days of man-fun, drinking and debauchery featuring machine guns, Indy cars, strippers and dance clubs with DRE*, J.B., David, Allan and Dr. Jim. In-between, we had some awesome dinners too. These are the pics you're allowed to see.

Next it was Mona's Bridal Showers. There were two showers for Mona, one at Matt & Kristy's house which I attended and one at DRE* and I's place that I didn't attend (went golfing in San Antonio instead).

Then it was Leann & Kent's wedding. They got married at a quaint little church on historic Ft. Mac Pherson in south Atlanta and the reception was farther out of town in an antibellum home. Leann has moonlighted with a caterer for years and the guy she works for (Kern) did all of the food, which was amazing (needless to say).

And finally it was J.B & Mona's wedding in Seaside. Luckily this was a week before our first tropical storm of the season and the weather was mostly perfect. Played three days of golf with Dr. Jim, Matt, Baron and Folkert. My swing and scores were shite, but it was still a bunch of fun. Certainly better than working. DRE* led the cooking effort for three consecutive evenings grilling for about 50 people.

After taking (and hopefully passing) my SCEA next week and getting the L360 project out the door hopefully I'll be able to get back to a regular blogging schedule.

It only took a month or so, but we finished putting together our pics from Sinterklaas 2004. As is tradition, it is a celebration of friends, fun, food and poetry. The pics & poems can be found here. We also dug the pics and poems (that we could find) from 2002 and put them up here. And in case you missed 2003, they can be found here.

My mom just came down and spent the weekend visiting with DRE* and I here in Atlanta. Fortunately we were spared any hurricane aftermath and were able to have a picnic at the zoo and then BBQ on Friday. We spent half of Saturday being pampered at Spa Sydell for massages, facials, pedicures & manicures. Then it was off to Dante's Down the Hatch for a fondue dinner. All good things must come to an end, so we had brunch at home on Sunday before sending her back home to Iowa. We had a great weekend and hope that she comes to visit again soon.

Shawn & Mom at the Zoo Atlanta

BBQ with the gang (L to R - DRE*, Tara, J.B., Mona, Shawn & Mom - Allan is taking the pic)

Dinner at Dante's Down the Hatch with J.B., Mom, DRE*, Shawn & Mona

When I was growing up, we had a special fork which was unlike any other. The one fork to rule all others. Great wars were fought over the years to gain the right to hold that unique item. Like many other mythical items of yore, its existence passed into legend, not unlike Excalibur or the great rings of power. Several years ago it turned up in the possession of my (tricksie hobbit!!) niece Sarah. Turns out that my mom still had it and was going to throw it away, only to to be narrowly rescued by my sister. Her daughter had heard tale of the great fork and came to wield it. While visiting them, I briefly got my hands on it, only to have it wrested away once again. Some day I will have "the precious" again!

Yes, it is mine!!!.

Foiled! The precious is lost again!

DRE* and I recently attended my sister's graduation in Des Moines. While there we did a whirlwind tour of the city, including schools I attended, places I used to work and the homes of relatives. The highlights are pictured below.

DRE* and I at graduation
My grandparents house	Des Moines East High School

The latest installment of Pulu See Bagumba Supper Club was held Friday night at Istanbul Cafe in Decatur. We put our stomachs in the able hands of their cooks and said "bring us whatever you want (except for pizza, fish or liver)", not unlike a Turkish version of Rijstafel. We weren't disappointed, as they presented ample amounts of tasty lamb and hummus. J.B. cut a rug with the belly dancer (for the record, her abs were better) and several clubbers partook in smoking dried fruit from the hooka.

Just had the second installment of the Pulu See Bagumba supper club at Mo Mo Ya. Our hibachi guy wasn't exactly Japanese (Bangladeshi) but he did make one of the best onion volcanoes ever!

Just had a group outing for a Rijstafel at Bali Indah. Great food, better company. This is the first meeting of our new supper club 'Pulu See Bagumba, or whatever Baron called it...'. The mission is to seek out new and interesting places for culinary exploration.

Creative Loafing Review
What is a Rijstafel?

Finally found some time to put together pages of the pictures and poems from Sinterklaas 2003. This was second year we've celebrated Dutch XXXMas and it just keeps getting better. Great friends, food and poetry. The pics & poems can be found here.