Andy's Surprize Birthday Party - January 22, 2012

Food plays an important role in life and has helped to shape some of our more familiar customs and habits. Beyond the obvious, that without food we perish, its importance has been instrumental in our developing customs and activities of life. Match that with another element, fire, that has been equally important in protecting our developing species, and you have two of the paramount forming elements that still mingle in our daily lives today. In days long past, to share food was to share life, to share food could put your own life at risk, to share food was the ultimate act of kindness and consideration. From our humble beginnings when sharing of food was love, we can appreciate that today when we wish to extend the hand of friendship, to express love and admiration, we share our food.

Andy’s birthday was a surprise event for Andy. Family and friends toiled hard, in secrecy (probably the hardest part), in collusion, to arrange the party to celebrate his sixtieth birthday. It was to be a party with lots of good food to eat and birthday cake too! The elements of our beginnings in the dawn of time show themselves in this modern day when friends and family come together to pay their respect to one of their honored members with lots of good food to eat.
With a large extended family and lots of friends, the guest list would be long, at least 30 people. The village common room was reserved for adequate space and the invitations went out. All the planning and preparation was in secret, no mean feat considering how observant Andy is, and the end result was a grand party that was truly a surprise for Andy.

The logistics of feeding all those people dictated a combination of buy-out food and home-made dishes. The main course was provided by Sunway. There were heaping platters of sandwiches, a mixture of turkey, roast beef and Italian combo. There were bags and bags of individual serving chips of all kinds. Family friend Roselyn provided bowls of a luscious fresh fruit salad. Andy’s sister Kathy provided a mixed garden salad and a wonderful pasta salad to round out the food offerings. Drinks were provided as well and included a choice of soda flavors, iced tea and a large urn of sangria (very popular or so I’m told).















As I mentioned, the party venue is a community place and provided a space for many varied events including Bingo and watching football parties. For Andy’s party, the existing décor items had to be stored, the tables and chairs arranged and fresh tablecloths put down. After that the food had to be brought in and plated. The drinks had to be iced and the urns filled with the delightful beverages. It was a whirlwind of activity, even as the guests were arriving, until the last chore had been done and all that was needed was to await the arrival of the guest of honor.
I don’t know what ruse they used to get Andy to the clubhouse on time but it was an effective subterfuge. Andy walked in the door almost to the minute planned to a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday To You…” Andy was quick to regain his composure and he wandered around the room cordially greeting each of the guests. After a short interlude, it was time to eat and the line quickly formed to the rear.

There certainly was plenty of food and no one had to worry about not getting enough to eat that day. I took a turkey and a roast beef sandwich section along with samples the three salads and a bag of potato chips for good measure. Subway does a good job preparing large orders. They have special boxes for the large orders that keep the sandwiches flat and protect them from crushing. They were what you would reasonably expect from Subway. The salads were excellent. The tossed green salad was a mixed greens with lots of cherry or grape tomatoes. There was a choice of the more popular dressings as well. The pasta salad was made with curly multi-colored pasta, fusilli tricolori I believe, cooked just right and spiced with bits of sweet peppers. The fruit salad was made with fresh cantaloupe and watermelon, grapes, blueberries with bits of crunchy pineapple; all so very tasty. The samplings of sandwiches and salads made for a very full plate and a satisfying meal.

Here was lots of good chatter, catching up on what has happened since the last family get together. There were even a few re-runs to the food line for second helpings. When the initial clamor of the feeding finally died down, it was time for the traditional birthday cake. A four-inch high half sheet cake with lots butter cream frosting, it was bedecked with a token but respectful candle. Andy was duly appointed to cut the cake and he was a generous server laying big slices of
After the serving of the cake it was the almost universal signal that the festivities were winding down and near a conclusion. In trickles many of the guests paid their respects and departed for home. A few remained and the joint-effort clean-up of the community room began. The food was cleared away and parceled out to all who wanted some to take home, the dishes were washed, the tables cleared and the trash collected and bundled. In short order the clubhouse was ready for the next event, perhaps a Super Bowl party.

It was a nice festive gathering where friends and family came together to celebrate the birthday of one of their own by sharing food, a custom that dates from the time of earliest man. I think it was an excellent example of keeping an ancient tradition alive. We wish to thank you for being invited to be part of the family group and the celebration. It was fun and we enjoyed ourselves very much. Our heartiest thanks are extended to all those who made it possible. Happy Birthday Andy!

Labels: Andy, birthday, fruit salad, fusilli, green salad, party, pasta salad, Sandwich, Subway, surprize, tricolori

  ¶ 5:15 PM 0 Comments

  Kristina's Cafe and SPARC After Holidays Party Kristina’s Cafe
3590 34th St NSaint Petersburg, FL 33713
(727) 526-6673

This is a bit of a combination blog, partly a food blog and partly a travel/adventure blog. It is the St. Petersburg Amateur Radio Club’s annual after-the-holidays party that was hosted by Kristina’s Café in St. Petersburg, Florida. It is an interesting concept, the after-the-holidays party. From November through New Years there are big meals, lots of guests, preparations and decorations galore. With the passing of New Years it all suddenly stops. The end is a welcome respite from the hurried activity of the holidays but it is now kind of empty, a big vacuum. The after-the-holidays party fills the void with a minimum of fuss and bother. It is casual dress, meet at the restaurant, eat, drink and be merry with good friends, and when it is all over, it is time to go home. A party with no fuss, no muss and no bother.

The St. Petersburg Amateur Radio Club, SPARC, is much like any other amateur radio club. It is made up of men and women of all ages, all professions, a general sampling of the community at large with a common single interest, communicating with radios. The amateur has nothing to do with their skill level. That merely means that they are not paid for what they do. And they do plenty. Amateur radio operators, familiarly known as hams, worldwide, are there when everything goes wrong. When earthquake, tornado, flood, any disaster strikes, hams are the first to get their own personal equipment on the air, sending the messages that coordinate the rescue and relief efforts. It may be weeks or even months before the conventional telephone systems are repaired. In the interim everyone relies on the ham operator to get the message through. There is no possible government program that could put that many skilled operators and that much sophisticated equipment in such strategic locations. Hams do it because it is their hobby. Makes me feel kind of proud to be one of them.

This year, as last, the party was scheduled at Kristina’s Café, a small family-style restaurant. Half of the dining room was set aside for the SPARC members and their family. The final tally was a few less than fifty attending. That is a lot of people to feed all at once. Usually, for affairs of this nature, the restaurant will offer a limited menu, many of the items prepared in advance to facilitate serving. It was open menu at Kristina’s and it is a rather extensive menu at that. Kristina’s does feature daily specials, Shepherd’s pie was featured today, and several people selected that delightful looking dish. That would have helped out a bit in the kitchen but most ordered a wide selection of the offerings.

Kristina’s is open 24-hours a day and serves breakfast anytime. The party time slot was between lunch and dinner. Our ordering options were for the entire menu, breakfast, lunch or dinner. My wife, Janis, chose the breakfast option and ordered one of her favorites; chocolate chip pancakes ($5.25). Her serving was three large, nicely browned pancakes with lots of chocolate chips. Although her favorite chocolate chip pancakes are made with a portion of buckwheat flour, these all wheat flour pancakes were tasty, nicely browned on the outside, cooked through on the inside (not doughy like some) and the chocolate chips melted and gooey but not burnt. There was a sufficient supply of butter and syrup provided. The three pancakes were a large serving for her and she finished most of them; the dogs got very little. That should attest to them being tasty and a worthy dish to sample. She had coffee ($1.25) along with her pancakes. I don’t know what is usual at Kristina’s but at the banquet seating of the party there were insulated carafes of coffee being passed around that the servers kept full.

It is really hard for me to pass up a hamburger. Somewhere inside me is a part of Wimpy from the Popeye cartoons… “I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.” And so it was that I chose the mushroom and bacon cheeseburger, deluxe of course with French fries (you have a choice of potatoes, $6.95). It is a large burger, served on a platter with the fries. A smaller platter along side has the vegetables, lettuce, onion, tomato and a pickle. When dining out I order ground meat medium well, just in case. My burger was cooked to order. There was no skimping on the bacon, cooked crisp, and the mushrooms. It was a mound ontop of the burger patty and it needed the melted cheese to hold it all together. By the time I added the lettuce, onion and tomato, it was a very tall burger and I really had to squeeze down to get a bite. The flavor was good, nice and juicy and didn’t really need any mayo or ketchup. The burger along with the fries was a big meal and I was quite satisfied. I had a soda with my burger. They feature Pepsi products so I chose a Mountain Dew ($1.35).

Entrees at Kristina’s are large. So, dessert is a “loosen the belt a notch” kind of thing. When the servers came around for dessert orders, I relented and chose a tapioca pudding with sprinkles of cinnamon and topped with a swirl of whipped cream ($1.25); a nice 4-ounce serving. It tasted like tapioca should, was sweet and cold and made for a nice touch after the heavier taste of the bacon mushroom cheeseburger and fries.

Think for a moment about this event. A small restaurant has almost fifty guests arrive almost all at once. They are seated, served their beverages of choice, meal orders taken and served in a time frame commensurate with the regular diners at the restaurant. Add to that the fact that the menu was not abbreviated. We all got to choose from the full, rather lengthy menu. There were a couple of times that a dish went to the wrong person, but that was rare. For the most part each order came to exactly the right person. On top of that, checks came to the individual parties; our tab was correct. The servers out front and the staff in the kitchen did yeoman service to keep that all together. I can see why SPARC chose to return to Kristina’s. And by the way, the other half of the dining room was able to accommodate the regular customers, our servers doing admirable duty for them as well.

I am a new member to the SPARC club. Many of the people I only know as voices on the radio. The club meetings and events like this party bring the members together. It was pleasant conversation with people, once strangers, now friends. The food was good and I enjoyed that. The interaction with my fellow hams was the spice that turned a meal into a veritable feast; one I will long remember. At the end of the dinner hour, the club president passed out favors to all the guests. It was a select a wrapped gift from the basket event. We did quite well. A nice box of chocolates and a bag of double-fudge brownie mix.

If you have an interest in amateur radio and would like more information, visit the St. Petersburg Amateur radio Club at http://www.sparc-club.org/index.html . There you will find many links to provide all the information you may need to become a ham yourself.

Labels: amateur, Cafe, club, fellowship, hamburger, holiday, Kristina's, party, radio, St Petersburg. Albert

  ¶ 2:30 PM 0 Comments