2nd annual progressive dinner

My family is so fun. A little wacky- but they're the best. Last year, we decided it would be fun to do a progressive dinner since we all live fairly close. So we put one on for my mom's birthday (Sep 20th) and had a theme of "around the world!" We started out at my folk's house for European appetizers then went to my sister's for salad in Mexico, then our condo for main course in Japan, and finally to my little brother's for an Italian dessert. So this year my mom decided that's what she wanted to do for her birthday again- and perhaps every year after! The theme was hard to top, and she thought long and hard about what it should be. First, it was "exceptional sauces" and then she thought no, that's too easy. Let's do "mystery ingredient!" and then thinking about it some more, she decided that since we're all just sitting around waiting for me to go into labor (...yeah) that the theme should be "bring on the baby!"
I tried not to roll my eyes too much. ;)
So- we started out at my folks again with appetizers, and of course, my mother did not disappoint! There were baby dills, baby corn, baby bell cheeses, baby carrots, a ranch dip with pineapple since pineapple supposedly has some cervical ripening properties... baby avocados, baby red twice-baked potatoes, baby yorkies (including spicy horseradish to get things going,) baby BLT's (stuffed Roma tomatoes,) and a baby blue punch complete with little floating plastic bottles and safety pins. Too funny! After we were all totally stuffed from the first course, we stopped at Brit & Laurel's for a soup and salad course. Laurel made a fantastic baby carrot soup, and a salad of baby field greens. yum! We all sat around and chatted, quite stuffed, for about an hour before deciding we really did have to move on and continue eating. The main course awaited!
So off to Trevor & Lindsi's we went for baby back ribs. (of course!) They were delicious- and they did a little research on how to induce labor with a side dish. Here's what they found:
Thankfully, they didn't make me eat it. hahaha.
And of course, no progressive dinner would be complete without a round of "shotski" or this year's version: "three strikes you're out."
oh, man. That's all I have to say. Oh, man.
Feeling so full we could all explode, we rolled down the road to our little apartment for dessert.
Now, I struggled with what to serve for a week and a half. I was not feeling creative, and didn't want to cook anything. (Let alone clean anything up.) So Tuesday night as I was lying awake with insomnia once again, it hit me.
"I'm 9 months pregnant- make your own dang dessert" Sundaes. The ideas started flowing... including "Insomniac's Ice cream," "Braxton-Hicks Brownie Bits Ice Cream," "Backache Bananas," "Swollen Ankle Strawberries," "Colostrum Caramel," "Hershey Squirts," "Heart Burn Heath-Bar," "Whipped Hemorrhoid Cream," "Mood Swing Marshmallows," "I Have to Pee-nuts," "Call Me Butterfingers," and "Sciatica Sprinkles."
I'm such a dork- but I was totally loving it. Of course, I used paper bowls (ooooh- wasteful!) because for one, we don't have enough bowls to serve everyone and ice cream on a plate is just wrong. And for two: so easy to clean up... never a good excuse for me, but hey. I AM 9 months pregnant, after all! When I was at the store yesterday morning I couldn't remember if we had any (paper bowls) in the camping stuff so I called Matt at work to ask him. I don't call him at work very often, so he almost had a heart attack thinking I was calling to tell him I was in labor. Sorry honey. :) These days if I call anyone it seems they're always expecting me to say "we're going to the hospital!" or something, and then I don't so they're disappointed. hehehe. Oh, what power I have over everyone these days! ;o)
Anywho-
it was a great night and I'm looking forward to doing it again next year! Hope you all are jealous of my super fun family. ;)