Sunday, September 19, 2010

More Cathching Up: Rhode Island Weekend



Last weekend we trekked to Rhode Island to cater a surprise Birthday party for our son, the oldest!

It all started very innocently, by asking our daughter-in-law what the plans for the weekend were.  We suddenly had more free time than we had expected and figured we'd drive up on Friday, and depending on their plans, have a barbecue on Saturday. Within a few hours and a ton of back and forth emails it turned into a surprise party of 20 on Friday.  That way our presence would also be a surprise!



Meanwhile the Birthday Boy is inviting people over for Saturday night having no clue as to what's going on.  His wife convinced him to come home from his extra job and they'd go out to dinner for Date Night, after dropping the grandsons with a friend! We did successfully surprise him, even though as he's pulling up (the ONLY time in his life he was actually early) he spotted one of the guests walking towards the house carrying wine!   Bobby's response was great, he acted confused and said he thought Burke had invited him for Friday not Saturday.  Burke's thoughts were that Monica had switched days to surprise him, but still only imagined Bobby and his family were inside!



It was text book surprise, when he walked into a room full of friends and family and the bonus his NY parents!  It was great fun, the house had been quickly decorated in a tropical theme to signify the true end of summer!



Here's the menu:



SPINACH BALLS

TEQUILA LIME CHICKEN THIGHS W/ROASTED TOMATILLO SAUCE

TACO & TORTILLA FIXIN'S:
BEER MARINATED GRILLED SKIRT STEAK
PULLED PORK
BARBECUE SAUCE
PERUVIAN AJI VERDE SAUCE
COLESLAW
SHREDDED LETTUCE, TOMATOES, GRATED CHEESE

MINI SCALLION CORN MUFFINS
CUBAN STYLE BLACK BEANS & BROWN RICE
WHITE RICE
SMOKED PAPRIKA ROASTED BABY POTATOES
MEXICAN CREAMED CORN W/CREME FRAICHE & COTIJA CHEESE
TOSSED SALAD W/SHERRY VINAIGRETTE


BROWNIE BITES
STRAWBERRY CHEESE CAKE
CHOCOLATE CAKE



We all had a great time, good food, wonderful family and friends to share it with! Even the Grandsons were excited to surprise their Dad!
The picture to the right are Nana's Favorite Boys!






The Great Fire Pit

And we even managed to take some leftovers for an impromptu tailgate party at the beach on Saturday night, with cool ocean breezes, crisp salt air, sunset, kite flying and glorious fire pit, what could cap a great weekend better?



Cold Chef Eating
Sunset @ the Beach

Tailgating!
Tailess Kite Flying




5 comments:

Nana said...

Yes, it was a wonderful weekend, from surprising our son for his B-Day to seeing our grandsons play soccer and ending with a great night on the beach,with the sun, moon & stars. The food was awesome as it always is from Chef Jim and the friends were great too. Can't wait until our next adventure in RI.

Unknown said...

Yes, thank you to Dad and Mom for a wonderful menu and surprise. I don't want anymore birthday's this year but the surprise of seeing you and having a ball would make it worth while. Thanks again. Monica's B-day is coming!!!!!!

rihuffs said...

It was really an awesome weekend. Thank you for all you did i really appreciate it, eventhough it was sooo last minute.
You both are the BEST!!

Chef Jim said...

You both are welcome, we had so much fun doing it! Last minute made it more exciting!!

rihuffs said...

Sweet want to come up this weekend for surprise brunch at my house? I want to be the one surprised this time though....lol