EVENT: Herb's Winter Solstice Party

My friend Herb hosted a Winter Solstice Party at his house on the 25th. He roasted four ducks for the event. Michael and Randy brought over a homemade potato casserole that had cabbage and a lot of Parmesan cheese, and Ian from FrontRunners brought over a bottle of Toasted Head cabernet sauvingon. I was going to make a honey-glazed carrots dish but didn't plan on the grocery stores closing early on Christmas Eve -- yeah, I ended up bringing a can of [fancy] mixed nuts a la CVS.


The duck was very tender and the potatoes were really good -- the freshly-grated Parmesan had some wonderful kick to it (the three lactose pills I took actually seemed to work). I held off on the wine because I didn't feel like turning red (and sleepy) that afternoon.

It was nice to be in the company of gay men, and Herb has a great set of friends -- happy, funny, and involved. And it is always so tempting for me to just to Orlando. The community there just seems to be more active and organized.


Anyways, at every Herb party, there's a featured activity like the beach-wear fashion show or last year's cookie contest (everyone still remembers and loves Michael's "Crack Cookies" -- they're so addictive). This time, we were decorating gingerbread men that Herb made -- and he made numerous batches beforehand to get the recipe just right -- and it was a fun creative activity. Here's the results:

Michael frosting his gingerbread man
Ian with his lovely creation
Me and my bespectacled bikini-ed man
Michael takes a bite
Herb showing off Randy's gingerbread man
Thank you Herb for another special gathering :)