The Night My Poker Buddies ATE Very Well

You FROTB will remember the time last June when my poker buddies drank very well (long story short, I took the EXPENSIVE bottle of Conn Valley wine when I thought that I had grabbed the EVERYDAY bottle). Anyway, we played again Friday night, was my turn to host, so I splurged, hiring my friend monica s. who's a certified natural chef and caterer to cook for the guys. WOW! SCORE! Check out this menu:

~ Fresh pineapple and fresh strawberry salsa... with plantain chips

~ Turkey and two-bean chili... with m's spice blend

~ Cornbread with serranos... hot but not hot-hot

~ Spicy lime slaw

~ And m's killer brownies

Awesome! We all loved the chili and cornbread, and Jimmy Z went to town on the slaw, but the real head-spinners-arounders for the night were the salsa and the brownies. m even let me in on her secret brownie ingredient, which is... well, I'm not gonna tell. Not only was the food great and the meal truly a feast, I learned some new things too, such as:

~ m cooked the beans with Kombu seaweed, which helps pre-digest the beans, making them easier for us humans to digest, and

~ m's focus is on "SOUL" food: Seasonal, Organic, Unrefined, and Local.

So all in all, an AWESOME time, and the guys were quite happy. (Robert, was it REALLY necessary though to knee me in the groin, to get to the head of the line? There was PLENTY of food for everyone.) Anyway, give m. a call next time that you want to do something special for a group... or for your family. Contact monica at: (707) 495-4682, or sallouti@sonic.net.

P.S. And do you wanna know the icing on the cake, to use a trite term? Look, ma--NO DISHES!

P.S. And oh, yeah, the Really Important Stuff: yours truly quite held his own and then some in our two poker tournaments as part of our 19-month, winner-goes-to-Vegas-to-play-in-a-World-Series-of-Poker-event tournament, finishing second and second, for a total of 18 points, which was tops for the night. The reason for the high finishes? Well, my usual solid play... and NOT getting out-drawn by one Mr. Jimmy Z (who, seated to my right, once ran into my AA and another time into my KK--ouch!). It's such a nice feeling to be ahead in the hand... and actually win. (James, I hate to say it, but your fate in the two tournies was determined before the first hand, when you picked your seat position and ended up on my right. Oh, well, better LUCK next time....)