House warming

I've been running around like crazy this week: making lists, grocery shopping, cooking, marinating, cleaning serving trays, and getting the house as decent as it's going to get at the moment. Actually, it's in pretty good shape considering we moved from California not even three months ago and into a much larger house. There are still boxes, but not that many. The yard has been hacked and trimmed and weeded and watered and planted, though it still has a long way to go. Most importantly, we're starting to feel at home here, like this is our home now. I find fewer and fewer moments where I start to talk about something "back home", and find myself saying "back in California" more and more often. I even mostly remember to leave the "the"off freeway names, something that is absolutely ingrained by a lifetime of living in a gridlocked state where giving a road a title was pretty appropriate, given the amount of time most people spent there. Now I remind Dan not to say "the 405". He's getting there.

Tomorrow is our housewarming party. Figured it would be best to have it while we still have the excuse of not being here very long. And some extra warmth always helps. The neighbors will be coming by, and our next door neighbor even planned her garage sale so it would be over by 1:00 so there'd be extra parking.

Of course, the main thing I've been figuring out and planning and working on is the food. No surprise there! It's going to be an Asian-ish theme, all finger foods. I'm having a blast putting it all together.

We'll be having:

• Cheerwa - an Indian munchies mix
• Samosas with cilantro and tamarind chutneys
• Chicken satay with peanut sauce
• Vietnamese salad rolls with sweet and sour sauce
• Robatayaki - Japanese grilled vegetables
  
• Char siu pork
• Pineapple, kiwi, and orange slices
• Ginger squares
• Sesame-brown sugar shortbread
• Chocolate chip cookie bars (the boys begged for these)
• Kettle corn (boys idea, again)
  
• Limeade (adult types can add home made limoncello here)
  
• Thandai - an almond and cardamom milk drink
• Sodas