Harvest Happy Hour, Snow-magedden, and an Escape to the Beach

This past weekend, much of the Northeast experienced it's first major snowstorm of the season.  And by major, I mean 10 inches of snow, trees down, telephone poles down, and no power for the past five days.  A situation that doesn't seem to be changing anytime soon.  After braving the cold and dark for one night, we were lucky enough to take refuge at my parents' beach house in Rhode Island, which, thankfully, was completely void of any storm effects.  

Snowing one day....

... Gone the next.

But the Friday night before the storm, my husband and I hosted our first soiree PB (post-baby) - a "Harvest Happy Hour."  Not quite a Halloween party, not quite an all-out bash, but rather a casual seasonal gathering for our local friends, as well as - for the first time - most of their children.  

Though not a Halloween party, some of the little goblins still dressed up.

Considering our last party occurred when I was seven months pregnant, and involved me cooking on my feet for two days straight (not recommended, btw), with a lot of careful planning, I think this turned out to be one of our best organized events.  It was a great time, and it was nice to feel relaxed both before AND during the party, which I think is quite a feat considering everything was done with a three-month old in the vicinity.  (Even a somewhat late night trip to CT Beverage Mart - bet not many [seemingly normal] three-month-olds can claim that experience!)

Our menu consisted of the following:
Beverages: Seasonal beers, red wine, Witches' Brew punch, hot apple cider

Nibbles: 

• Monster Mix (Peanuts, Popcorn, Chex Mix, Candy Corn)
• Bowls of Nuts, Olives and Halloween candy
• Autumn Cheese Platter: Humboldt Fog (my favorite!), Brie, Cheddar, Drunken Goat (a second favorite!), and whatever else looked good in the Whole Foods cheese display, honey, green apples, red grapes
• Potato Chips, Onion Dip (a bit gauche, but if it's good enough for Martha Stewart contributer Kevin Sharkey, then it's good enough for me)
• Creamy Spinach Dip (ditto)
• Country Ham and Cheddar Bites with Jalapeno Mustard (always the first item to go)
• Cocktail Meatballs and Kielbasa (another crowd favorite - way better than that awful grape jelly concoction - recipe from the America's Test Kitchen cookbook)
• Pumpkin Packed with Bread and Cheese (my new favorite autumn artery-clogger; recipe from Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table) 
• Party pizzas (the children needed something to eat)

Prior to the party, the only pumpkin I had ever consumed was from a can. Cooking with a genuine pumpkin has always been one of my cooking fears (as is baking a real pie crust, or cooking various cuts of meat - but that's a story for another day). In this case, I stuck to the recipe pretty closely, but the best thing about it is that it's easily adaptable, and you can fill the pumpkin with anything you'd like. Friends of mine once did a concoction of wild rice, sausage, cheese and a variety of herbs, which I'm dying to try.

Anyway, the party was a success, and though being without electricity stinks, it's been nice to have a week to recover. With my own little pumpkin, of course.

We've gotten in a lot of tummy time practice this week.