March Madness Party

Saturday morning I started cooking and baking to prepare for a party at our flat for the secondary school staff.  Last year we held an American-style "Tailgate Party" during football season, so this year we held an American-style "March Madness Party" during basketball season.  Basically, it was just a time for everyone to have a little get-together to socialize and have fun outside of school!  :-)   Friday had been really warm for our biking and shopping expedition after school, but Saturday was colder again, so it was nice to stay inside all day bustling around the kitchen with Tim reading news articles to me and doing dishes as needed, in preparation for Wednesday's party.  

Sunday we woke up to SNOW for the first time in ages and ages!  The flakes were gigantic ones, and I actually caught a few of them in for foreground.  

It was one of those snowy mornings in Slovakia when we were extremely grateful NOT to have a car to scrape off, nor to have a driveway and sidewalk to shovel and snowblow, nor to have to try to drive on slippery roads!  

But we did walk to church and back in our layers of warm clothes.  After our online sermon and hot chai tea latte back home, we had a big Sunday dinner, and then I got to work again on preparations for the party to be held on Wednesday.  It ended up raining heavily all afternoon and evening, and it was very windy too, so we stayed inside the rest of the day.   

Monday and Tuesday were a blur after school as we did our regular activities plus got the house ready for the party.  I may or may not have stayed up until the wee hours on Tuesday baking  so that the  desserts would be fresh for the party!  Wednesday at school was the written Maturita in English, so six of us from the department stayed after school to grade them - each test needed two signatures of separate graders.  Peter had graded the Slovak tests on Tuesday, but he voluntarily stayed to help us too, so it would go faster.  Sweet of him!  :-)  And then Katarina came home with us to help prepare.  Saška met us at home, so the three of us did all the last-minute food prep jobs.  Janka came over early too --- it was great having extra sets of hands, because I never would have been ready on time alone!  

What a fun group of people ---  colleagues/friends all wrapped up into one delightful package!  L-R:  (back) - Saška, Nad'a, Viki;  (middle) - Peter, Vierka, Katarina Joy, and Janka Elizabeth;  (front) - Pat'ka.

 And now for a description of the food, because some people will want to know the menu!  

The food table was decorated with patriotic items I'd picked up back in Iowa last summer on a post-4th of July clearance sale! The cheeses were amazing aged cheddars (white and yellow) from Wisconsin that Beth & Jon had brought to us.  The sausage was also from the U.S., from Sue.  The crackers were Slovak "TUC", and the chips were similar to Ruffles.  The chip dip was homemade with some dried vegetable soup mix in cream yogurt - it turned out a lot like chip dips in the U.S.  Then there were 'party pickles', deviled eggs, meatballs with homemade BBQ sauce, and pretzel sticks.  

And the dessert table featured the Black/Julius Family recipe for pumpkin pie, with canned whipped cream instead of Cool Whip - (I brought the can of pumpkin and the pie tins from Iowa, since they aren't sold here, and Mom had send the Gold Medal flour and Crisco for the crust as well).  Then there were chocolate chip bars, (chips and brown sugar from the U.S.), Rice Krispie Treats (Rice Krispies and marshmallows from the U.S.), monster cookies (peanut butter chips and brown sugar from the U.S.), and finally, some gluten-free peanut butter cookies made from a recipe I found online.  We had a lactose-intolerant guest as well as two celiac guests, so it was good the menu provided many choices!  Some of the American desserts were first-time experiences for our friends.

More of the fun guests -- (L to R) Miro, Roman, Janka, and Vlado.   I have absolutely no idea why there's a big blob on my chin.  Some reflection off the camera lens perhaps??  

Daša, (back R) wisely brought along some games for all the kids to play, and they seemed to have a great time.  They really liked the American treats too!!   :-)

Erik, Janka, Riško and Miška came a little later, after another activity, and it was so fun to have them come over for the party!  It worked out well for the kids too, as the other youngsters at the party earlier were quite a bit older.  

Our little buddies,  Miška and Riško.   :-)  

And last but not least, Katka came over after her evening class.  The American flag napkins were a big hit too!!  

After the party, Tim and I put all the furniture back in place, put all the leftover food away, vacuumed, swept, and cleaned everything up before falling into bed, tired but pleased with a successful party.  We didn't have quite as many there as last year, but perhaps we were a little too last-minute not starting to plan it until last Friday, and some people had conflicts.  Of course I took some leftover sweets to school today for those who didn't make it to the party, and we will also have some goodies for our students who come for lessons tonight.  :-)