Stuart & Meaghan

Superbowl Sunday!

Yeah, I’m a little behind. Hoping to correct that this morning. A lot happened in January and February. So much that is almost accounts for the fact that we’re approaching March; almost.

We watched the Superbowl at our friends house this year. Michael and Laura were kind enough to host a superbowl party. This year was a big one too. Meaghan has been a Steelers fan pretty much her entire life. Her extended family still live in Pennsylvania and call each other during the game every time the Steelers score a touchdown. As I had never watched American football prior to meeting Meaghs, I simply adopted the Steelers from her and have been supporting them since then. We followed this season closely, watching many of their games at home, but also occasionally slipping out to the pub to enjoy a couple of beers with the game. When they reached the superbowl we were both excited.

The party at the Cowan’s was a blast. Michael Lynch and his wife Lisa were both there along with their son, Ian. I hit the beers pretty early, while Cowan went straight for the jack and coke. Meaghan and I were both there in our team jerseys and Meaghs also brought her terrible towel. What ensued was a lot of shouting at the TV, cheering the Steelers along to their victory.

The drinking and partying continued throughout the afternoon, leaving a couple of casualties along the way. Cowan managed to finish pretty much an entire bottle of J.D. and even drank a little coke with it. The result of which found him laying on the floor, tormented by his own children, Ian, and eventually becoming a rather lucky footstool for Laura. Ahhh, good times!

In the end he was forced to declare defeat, a single arm raised in silent protest to the onslaught. It was a fantastic party and I only hope to repeat such great times in the future, which reminds me that I need to set up a dinner and games night with these guys.

Here’s to the Steelers championship win, good times with friends, and the wonder of drinking on a Sunday afternoon. I failed to mention that after 7 beers I was pretty blotto myself. Fortunately, the Meaghanator came through for me as she had agreed to drive us home. :) W00t!

February 20th, 2009 Posted by stuartthompson | Beers, Drink, Food, Friends, Parties, Social | one comment

Holly’s Birthday Party

On Saturday night, we went out to celebrate our friend Holly’s birthday.  We met at Bar Mingo for drinks beforehand with Dan, Amy, Matt, and Holly.  After a few glasses of wine, a couple of cocktails and martinis, we walked a few blocks down the road to Marrakesh for an authentic Moroccan dinner, where we were joined by Sean, Grace, Brian, and Ellen.  Marrakesh was a great experience, a setup a little different from most restaurants.  We sat around a large circular table on floor pillows (although a few of our party sat on a couch) to dine.  The atmosphere and experience felt authentic (although I’ll confess I have no true Moroccan cultural experience to compare) from the belly dancer who entertained our dinner, to the waiter who poured tea from several feet above our table.

We ordered their royal feast, the option that allowed us all to share the full selection of dishes they had to offer.  Each course was delivered on enormous plates to our table, from which we simply reached in and took what we wanted.  No cutlery, place setting, or even individual plates, rather a towel with which to clean soon to be sticky fingers.  The food was very rich, opening with a bastilla that we had no trouble putting away (as shown in picture below).

The entree consisted of several meat courses and a large plate of cous cous and salad.  The meats had very appropriate accompanying sauces, some spicy, but all quite full of flavor.  The only difficulty some of the uninitiated amongst us found initially was how to tackle a lamb curry with fingers only.  I found a skewer that I clung to and adopted a spear and scoop technique.  Brian demonstrated a more accomplished technique, making it look easy to eat cous cous with only his bare hands.

Holly received lessons from the belly dancer on appropriate chest thrusting and hip shimmying and even managed to receive a few dollars in tips for her performance.  Conversation, food, and wine flowed in a delectable manner and a really fun night was had by all.  It was great to see everyone and lovely to get the chance to celebrate the birth of our good friend Holly!

For more pictures, check out our online web album at: http://picasaweb.google.com/stuart.d.thompson/HollysBirthday#.

December 15th, 2008 Posted by stuartthompson | Food, Parties, Social | no comments

Lasertag!

Last night, several of us from SoftSource went out for Lasertag at the Laserport of Beaverton.  It was part of our SoftSource social Wednesday event.  While we had a smaller turnout than at some of the previous events, we were able to get two great games in: one 3v3v3 and another 3v3 grudge match.  I’d forgotten how energetic lasertag can be when you get in there, ducking and weaving, and this morning my quads are hurting from all the ducking down behind walls and firing at people.

It was great to get out with friends from work and compete with them like this.  I was able to hold my own pretty well too, coming in #3 overall in the first game and then #1 overall in the second.  It reminded me how much fun lastertag really is.  I’m going to try to organize another trip there with another group of friends soon.  Unfortunately, I forgot my camera last night - doh!  So I’ve had to go with some stock photos from the laserport site.

November 20th, 2008 Posted by stuartthompson | Parties, Social, Uncategorized, Work | no comments

Not Strongbad for Halloween

November 8th, 2006 Posted by stuartthompson | Parties | no comments