Inauguration Weekend

Since my life is one big pot luck, I'll be sharing what I take to various get togethers.

First a cocktail party where finger food was requested. 

When Mark, (my husband) fell in love with sushi about fifteen years ago he asked me to make it. He doesn't spend a lot of time in the kitchen so I said why don't you learn how to make it and it can be your 'thing'. He did and we've had many japanese dinner parties over the years and he makes rolls and sushi. So for this party he made california roll and since it was supposed to be finger food, we put toothpicks in them(with ginger and soy sauce on the side) and they were a big success.

Next was a ladies birthday cocktail party. In lieu of gifts the hostess asked us all to bring food and send her the recipe of what we were bringing. I made Tiramisu with 

especially good espresso, Mark brought me from Italy recently. I also found italian savoiardi at Mona Lisa Pasta.  She compiled this beautiful booklet with the menu and all of the recipes. A nice momento!

And for my local readers (Charlottesville and Albemarle County) I found out about this new service Retail Relay. When you're too busy to shop, you go to their website, pick out what you want, pay for it with a credit card and then drive by a pick up location and they put it in your car. Check out  how it works.