A Quarter Year Full of Fun

This year marks an oddly active social schedule for a few weeks. I had New Year’s Eve event, the Super Bowl, and coming up soon, St. Patrick’s Day, the Polar Palooza, and finally Easter. I’m going to look at what I made/brought versus what I am going to make and test. This is part of a new strategy of year round TH2 thinking. 

One month into 2013 and I have already I missed a couple opportunities to make a test dish this year's TH2. New Year’s Eve we (my wife and I) brought a mixed case of good beer to the gathering we went to. In hindsight,  I would have liked to have made a test dish for the upcoming Superfun. A German Bread would have been a good  choice. The recipes I have for the breads are on the sweeter sides, and heavyish. There were a few desserts, but none that were bread-like, mostly cookies and cake. I'm going to blame food fatigue for just bringing the beer.Sometimes, even I like to just sit at a party.

For the Super Bowl of Games Event I had Feb. 3rd, I made a smoked brisket and grilled buffalo wings. I know people love the brisket, but I won’t be making either of these things for TH2.6 because they aren’t “on theme”. I have decided that this year I’m going to increase the themed side dishes and remove some of the less popular sides I have made in the past. I didn't experiment because I sent out the Anyvite before I came up with my whole year thinking. If I had to do it again, I would have made several German sausages. 

I now have the “birthday day” at work soon, and I think it’s time to start using these days for all they are worth.  I have about 2 weeks to prepare something. The food that is brought in has to sit out for 8 hours. This severely limits what I can make. I do not want to bring in a crock pot or just cut up some cured meats. A dessert or a dry side dish, or maybe one of the breads I talked about earlier. I am fairly detached from my co-workers tastes, but if most of what I bring is eaten I think I'll have a starting opinion.

The Polar Palooza is in early March. I had planned on making something simple, chili. Now, I need to figure out which German dish I am going to try out and then have to explain what it is to 40 people that night. The best dishes for these outdoor all night events are items in a crock pot. The last time I was at a Palooza I made a 2.5X batch of Boeuf bourguignon. If I can find something that the German people make that is along these lines I will bring this. I made a mistake foodwise at last years Polar Palooza. The Crock Pot will fix this.

St. Patrick’s Day is not as of now a party at home day. Last year we did a mini-pub crawl in Phoenixville. Maybe I will make something just for me that day. A German dish with potatoes maybe, or some other root vegetable. A nice belly filler to prepare for the walk around town.

Finally, Easter is March 31st this year. This is my first real shot at making a big bold dinner-type dish. As of right now I have no clue what I would make. I may sniff through my Amish/ Early Pennsylvanian cookbooks for an idea. As I get closer to each of these days, I'll keep you up to date too.