We went to the most lovely dinner party on Saturday night.
My friends J1 and J2 are roommates, and they both have culinary training. He is still at the Culinary Institute, while she graduated in 1996 and then came back to finish a BA last fall, which is how we met. His wife and family are in Sweden, while she is a single lady who is very likely too intimidating for most of the men around here.
He cooked most of the meal, assisted by another friend, A, who I did not know well before that night and now absolutely cannot wait to spend more time with. SHe is hilarious.
Dinner consisted of a venison stew (with venison provided by the last guest, a boy named S on whom J2 has wasted far too much time), kale with mushrooms that J1 smuggled back from Sweden (I made him promise not to tell me where he'd stashed them at customs), a beet and goat cheese salad, a radish salad with sumac, roasted sweet potatoes and celeriac, and mashed potatoes. He also made, special for me (the only vegetarian) a quinoa dish with two kinds of mushrooms.
We started with a Monastrell, followed it with a Chilean Syrah (which was perfect for both mushrooms and venison), and moved on to a Reserva Tempranillo. This doesn't sound as bad when I don't mention the pre-dinner cocktails (the BH and I had beer, but martinis were available) or the fact that we wound up having a very pricey bottle of J2's Cabernet Sauvignon with dessert.
Dessert consisted of a Stilton, Lazy Lady's Lady in Blue cheese, and Green Mountain's Boucher Blue, as well as a soft goat cheese and a soft cow's milk cheese.
J1 also brought out a kumquat marmalade that he had made and a large bowl of nuts.

The weather was atrocious, and honestly, after working all day and a brief shopping stint with my transvestite friend, the last thing I wanted was to leave the house. Bad enough that I had to park the car at the bottom of our hill, but walking to J & J's and then walking home after was not something I was looking forward to. Luckily I am not one to cancel plans, because it would have been our loss had we not braved the journey. (Actually, come to think of it, I need to go find somebody's grandchild so I can tell them without exaggeration how I walked uphill, both ways, in the snow.) The dining room at their place has several windows, which provided a great view of the surprise thunderstorm that happened just after we'd finished eating (I use the term "finished" loosely, of course). It was beautiful and amazing, and I was sorry not to have brought my camera. The next day my friend C told me that he had been working at the Local Restaurant when it happened, and that everyone- customers and staff alike, had gone outside to look at it. We eventually went outside ourselves, standing on the covered porch in our jackets and staring in disbelief.

So I mentioned this S fellow. J2 did not mention to me that he would be attending. Not that it would have kept me home, mind you, but I was surprised because she and I had had many, many conversations about what a complete douche he was after he had repeatedly blown her off when they were dating last year. She met the BH and I at the front door of their building, and just as I was about to go into the apartment she hissed over her shoulder that he was inside, and told me to "be nice." Heh.
So I went inside, and while I was taking off my boots I heard J1 ask S

"What do you do?"

"Federal Law Enforcement," he replied, sticking out his hand (which was attached to the kind of over-developed arm you expect to find on an insecure man who spends most of his time at a gym). I smirked to myself.

Later, J2 asked me to guess what she had done that morning.

"I don't know... went running in the snow? Went to the gym?"

"No, I flew a helicopter over Boston." S looked stricken. This is obviously a man who cannot bear to be outdone by a woman, and he clearly was.

It turns out J2 is going to go back into the army to become a pilot.

"Cool!" was my response.

She loved being in the military, and despite the obvious danger, I would like to see her do something she loves. She went on to tell us about the lesson she had taken, and that she would be taking a test this week in upstate New York to see if the military would take her. S remained quiet the whole time, and I thought of a quote that somebody once told me, which I believe was originally said about Marlene Deitrich: "She's more woman than you'll ever have, and more man than you'll ever be." I know the latter half of that statement to be true, now I only hope that J2 also keeps the former true as well.