I don't know about youse guys, but I'm planning to have a hell of a party here on June 10th, and I'd like you to join me. You've been drafted!

We're going to celebrate my 5-year survival anniversary. My tentative list is:

lil is bringing two kinds of chocolate chip cookies--bittersweet chocolate w/black walnuts, and white chocolate and macadamia nuts.

Big Bart, you're bringing, of course, the possum pate.

And I'm starting a cioppino. The broth, and tossing in a pound of mussels and two handfuls of shell-on shrimp. We are still in need of clams, lobster, crab, scallops and whatever, and we're in need of a nice homemade herb bread to go with it.

Further menu items? Someone want to decorate? DJ the music? Big, what're you gonna bring?

(I know, I'm being silly, but I'd really like all of you to join me on the 10th. Alive is GOOD, and alive and still gardening is GREAT, and alive and gardening and still arguing with you folks is TERRIFIC! I'd like you all to join me and really, really celebrate this date--the 10th!)

PARTY TIME!)

Well, I'll bring some coals er, beer from Newcastle.

Would East Coast little neck clams be ok?

How about some oysters, we do those well in Connecticut.



Congrats and count me in, ma'am.

Sounds like a good day for you and everyone else to count their blessings.

And afterwards count your silverware.

Congratulations

Could try last years Dandelion Wine

Yeah ..................... party!

I see chips 'n salsa on Arturo's shopping list.

Possum pate and cioppino? Man that is one rich night.

I can drink only Manchester beer, Beebers.

Ah! lil, after my own heart!

Folks here seem to be unclear on the concept of "cioppino party", so I'll elaborate on it:

Cioppino has become some fancy dish you get in really expensive restaurants, but that's not it's origins. It's origin is as an Italian peasant dish, a seafood stew. You make a really, really, REALLY strong Italian broth of the usual: Olive oil, arlic (heaps), onions, tomatoes, peppers, red wine (Yes, red wine with seafood, this is gonna be a hearty chow-down dish, not something dainty and delicate) and a whole lot of spices, with a little bit of italian sausage to add character.

Then, once you have your super-strong broth ready, you start tossing in, um, WHATEVER SORTS OF SEAFOOD YOU CAN FIND, WHOLE IN THE SHELL. In the traditional version, it was whatever you caught today.

By whatever, I really mean, whatever. Squid, octupus, crabs, clams, lobsters, mussels (even certain kinds of barnacles), scallops, sea urchins, shrimp, fish (whole), scallops--all of it whole, tossed in in order of cooking time. What happens then is that the juices dilute the superstrong broth you made, creating an absolutely divine pot liquor. It's usually served with just the bread, and pasta with garlic and olive oil that you dump the pot liquor over. (Big Bart, crawfish would fit in fine!)

And then the eaters of this brew wash their hands (one hopes), put on bibs, dump the entire mess into bowls or towels or old shirts, and start eating, tossing the shells into a big pot in the middle of the table, dipping toothsome bread into the broth, in a totally undignified and absolutely delicious orgy of eating.

It's kinda like a clambake. It's not about dainty eating, it's about touching and feeling and smelling and working for your food, smacking that lobster claw with a hammer, breaking open that crap with your bare hands, dipping the goodies in the broth and savoring them, and tossing away the debris.

It's an absolutely primal eating experience, and yes, I'm having a rl chioppino party as well. I've done this a few times before, and my Mormon neighbors are starting to get with the program now, and looking forward to these "events".

Oh, and I forgot to mention:

Sooner or later, I'm sure some IRS agent is gonna ask my why I've been taking a disabled deduction based on being terminally ill, for six whole years, and how it happens that I didn't die on schedule within a year.

I'm actually looking forward to answering that q, and watching the IRS try to figure out whether they really want to assess me back taxes and penalties for holding at 4A for FIVE WHOLE YEARS!

It's gonna be funny as hell, and maybe I should invite the local IRS guys to the party!

I went to a wild Asparagus patch
will that work in your stew? if so, add asparagus to the food list….

Dandelion wine is great with fish......

Asparagus won't work too well in the stew--too delicately flavored, and gets soggy if held for long at stew temperatures. Howsomever, it would make a wonderful appetizer course, barely steamed tender-crisp, shocked in an ice bath to stop the cooking, then marinated in an Italian vinegrette and added to a antipasto plate with roasted peppers, cheeses, real olives and pepperoncini.

Can I put you down for the antipasto plate?

You betcha!

Wha' happened? Wha'd I miss?

Hey!

Betty & I are glad to see you!

The party got pooped.

Buds, I am involved in some major stuff and won't be around for a while. Hi, bix & Betty. Bart, I had one of them Wendy's Mandarin Chicken salads, and I gotta say that thing was very good.
.

All ironed out. Hope things are OK. We worry when you dissappear.

Kewl. I'm OK, no time to play.

I did mail you last week, AV ... dunno if I have the right address but it is the only one I seem to have.

Like General MacArthur said (and I did too, to my folks once when I was a kid going to a movie by myself ) .... I shall return.

Hope you can return soon. We all missed you.

Party's back on, lil. Hope you can make it, we're expecting you to bring some Puget Sound clams for the pot! And Big Bart, I have you noted down for some of our traditional possum pate. And Celt for, of course, something chocolate for dessert!

Don't forget what we're having for our virtual supper tonight!

Congrats on your five-year anniversary.

Best wishes.

Thanks! The rl cioppino party is Sunday.

As an aside, I'm kind of wondering what's wrong with the IRS, that they've yet to ask me why I've been taking a disabled deduction (based on supposedly being terminally ill), and I'm still not dead five years later.

It'll be interesting to see if they try to collect back taxes and penalties.

I've raided the clam beds.

Congrats FJ. I'm glad you're here. It's been a privilege and an education.

Instead of beer from Newcastle, I thought I'd bring a bit of this:



http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/vergina-/12225/7973/

Their marketing slogan is: "Put your lips around a wet one"

I'm interested in seeing Big Bart's picture of the legendary possum pate!

Congratulations I suppose, even though you reamed the shit out of me a few times, I still enjoy reading your posts.

Thanks for the advice on applying to McDonald's.

Yeah, Congratulations on your five-year anniversary and wishes for many more.

Thanks to all for your best wishes. I was the recipient of a rl surprise party last night, with some fun (and thoughtful) gifts, most of which were hang-in-there things: A flat of Sweet William (takes two years to bloom), an apple tree that won't, of course, bear fruit for several years, a two-pound tub of, um, "herb butter".

And we had a lot of fun discussing what the IRS may do! (I've already decided that, if they ask, I'm gonna embarass them and make them feel awkward, than pay whatever back taxes they say I owe.)

Meantime, thanks all, and I'm doing great. Feeling better now than a year ago, and getting good test results! All is well!

So that's what possum pate looks like!

They put it in a pie, but you could just spread it on crackers.

Congratulations Judy
sounds like your friends and family are expecting a few more years out of you!!!

I am starting on the dandeline wine

all your talk about the IRS must be someting in the air
i got a letter from them
I am going through my paperwork now!!!!

all of your food and drinks looks mouth watering....later

Oh, I'm just sort of giggling in advance. I'm sure it's gonna be an awkward decision for the IRS about whether they want to penalize someone with terminal cancer for not dying within the year, as agreed, or let it go, or ask me the awkward question "So, why aren't you dead yet?"

If they ask, I'll pay, but I'll enjoy making them squirm first!