Yesterday we hosted a family birthday party for my sister in law. She had
offered to reimburse us for all the costs if he did it at our house. She
even offered to pay for a cleaning lady, though we declined that part of the
offer and did the cleanup ourselves. They were to bring wine. It worked
out great. While it rained in the morning, it cleared up by mid afternoon
and we were able to entertain on the patio.

We started off with drinks and tortilla chips and salsa before going for a
walk in the fields behind the house. When we got back we had smoked salmon
on pumpernickel with capers sliced red onion. It was my home made smoked
salmon and everyone raved over it. Then we had BBQed shrimp. After a short
breather we BBQed strip steaks, which all turned out very nice, which was a
bonus because I hate cooking steaks for other people. Sil did not want a
cake but requested that I make ice cream, so we had ice cream and brownies.
After dessert we had a selection of 5 cheeses from the new local cheese
shop. After that, a big plate of chocolates.

Food was great, the weather cooperated and everyone seemed to have a good
time. My big fear was that this family includes the infamous big niece....
the one who eats non-stop and who also goes snooping through my pantry and
helps herself to whatever she finds, and that includes taking it upon
herself to open new boxes. I had told my wife ahead of time to keep the
niece out of the kitchen and, better yet, out of the house. We were
somewhat successful there. The only problem was that she and her husband
went to town to get some cheese while we went for the walk, and they
returned before we did and she came out of the house with a fresh drink and
munching on something.

The rule of thumb when the big niece comes is that we have to prepare twice
as much food. Since her mother was paying for everything I got lots I
didn't care how much she ate..... as long as she didn't go snooping in my
pantry.

Towards the end of the evening the niece started getting obnoxious. She had
had several Rye and gingerales and then started swilling wine, first the
white wine with the salmon and shrimp and then red wine with dinner.... and
dessert, and after dessert. Eventually her husband asked me to put the wine
away because she was making an ass of herself. So she started eating
more...... brownies, chocolate and cheese. She eventually ate herself sick.
That surprised me. I thought she had a bottomless pit.