Page Created: 09/16/10. Last Updated: 11/01/10. Last Google Group Page Update: 02/17/09.
HOLIDAY PARTY / POT LUCK DINNER
MEETING SUMMARY:
Meeting Date: December 13, 2008.
Meeting Site: Saddle River Valley Cultural Center. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.
Official Attendance: 27.
Meeting Program: Holiday Party / Pot Luck Dinner. Videos.
Notes:
The SFABC (nj) Personals Google Group was used to coordinate food, etc contributions.
Meeting Memories:
- - - - - - - - - -
Newsletter Account
The following account is reprinted with permission from THE STARSHIP EXPRESS Copyright 2009 Philip J De Parto:
The annual S F A B C Holiday Party was held on Saturday, December 13, 2008 at the Saddle River Valley Cultural Center in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. Unlike most General Meetings of the Association, this event did not feature a Guest Speaker. Instead we did a Pot Luck Dinner with an optional video presentation.
Arriving early to help Director Philip De Parto with the set up were Bernie Doyle, Charles Garofalo, Roy Greenberg, Kathy Holusha, Hiromi Murakami, and John Radli. Although everyone pitched in, Kathy and Bernie deserve special mention for their heroic efforts. Kathy made the coffee and kept an eye on the kitchen so that no one burned the place down. Bernie carried up six tables from the basement, sometimes with help and sometimes by himself. John also deserves a special nod as he had possibly the least glamorous task of the evening, sitting in the lobby to make sure that the automatic door locks did not prevent people from entering the building.
Tables were set with signs displaying stations for beverages, plates & utensils, main dishes, side dishes and desserts. A cornucopia of food and drink was soon in place.
Main dishes consisted of meatballs (Chuck), fried chicken (Taras), London broil (Pam), sandwich/wrap platters (Bob Y), browned ground beef (Phil), vegetarian ziti (Roy), and non vegetarian ziti (Maria).
We had an international array of side dishes including dumplings (Hiromi), onigiri rice balls (Miho), popadam (Milind), samosa (Anu), Mexican Rice (Phil), turkey pot pie soup (Moira), vegetarian chili (Dave), pasta salad (Kathy), and spinach dip and chips (John R).
Vegetable dishes included sauteed peppers, string beans, mushrooms, onions and celery (Pam), green salad (Dave), and string bean casserole (Phil).
If you were thirsty, you could choose hot or cold beverages. These included soda (Phil, Chuck, Greg, Bob Y), apple juice, green iced tea (Phil), hot tea (club) and hot coffee (Phil).
Many in the group must have sweet tooths because the dessert table was overflowing. A partial listing consists of orange cranberry muffins (Irene), cheesecake (Tom), apple pies (Tom and Sandy), pumpkin pie (Tom), fruit platter (Bernie), brownies (Karen), chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin cookies (Daisuke), and cinnamon buns (John U).
There were a number of other foods available, particularly desserts, in addition to those listed above.
The actual dining was done on three tables set up in the theater section of the center. Some people remained at one table for virtually the whole evening. Others table hopped whenever there was a vacant seat. A small card table with chairs was eventually set up in the mirrored room for latecomers.
A display of surreal artwork by Janet Kroenke provided an additional bit of atmosphere for the evening. Anyone interested in viewing it can go to <http://www.jdkroenke.com>.
Just about the only thing that didn't work for the evening was the scheduled screening of DEATHRACE 2000. Only a few people trekked to the basement for the video and they decided that they preferred conversation to viewing.
A number of people assisted with the cleanup, but special notice must be given to Warren, Kathy (again), Tom and Pamela.