Hectic Holidays Part IV: Holiday Party

For me, the holiday season always evokes a mad scramble to get things done. It just doesn't feel like the holidays until you're running around getting the last of your presents, baking cookies for several parties, and trying to clean your house. This past weekend was busy but really fun. Between getting ready for parties and finishing the truffles, it really started to feel like Christmas. (Am I crazy?)

On Friday, I had planned to surprise my boyfriend by having his family come up to DC to celebrate his birthday. His family loved the idea and we were able to surprise my boyfriend not once but twice. First, we met his parents at the Barnes & Noble in Georgetown and went out to dinner with them. Then, his siblings arrived around 1 AM. They were due in DC at 6 or 7 PM but were late because of car trouble.

The next day, his family was able to help me prepare some 300 eggrolls. We made about 100 vegan eggrolls and 200 meat-filled eggrolls. I worked off of an old recipe of my mom's and substituted tofu for the ground meat for the vegan ones. At one point, I had one of my roommates and four of my boyfriend's family helping to roll while I worked 2 cast iron skillets to cook them. Meanwhile, another roommate was making macaroni and cheese while the rest of the roommates were cleaning the house and getting last minute supplies.


As 2 PM rolled around (the designated start time of the party), we found ourselves in the unusual position of being finished with our preparations. We are usually scrambling to finish things, whether it be decorating the house or finishing the food preparation. The extra hands helped out quite a bit.

We finished all of the eggrolls and put them out on the table.


The party was a potluck and people brought more food throughout the course of the afternoon. Our dining room table was groaning under the weight of all the great food that our friends had brought. We also had a separate space for all of the desserts.


We had a good crowd of people and a steady stream of food. Things didn't clear out until 7 or 7:30 PM and my boyfriend's family helped us to clean the house. (I really felt bad about that but was too tired to protest.)

Sunday was spent in a final burst of truffle making mania, which I'll write about later.