Fun weekend

Today, we hosted a barbeque for the bloggers of GBNYC4 as a send-off for the long weekend. It was a very warm day today, not the weather of many Memorial Days past. It was a LOT of fun, and if you haven't come to the party before, you should think about coming next year. The barbeque was more lightly attended than in prior years, but I think the whole event was more lightly attended than in prior years.

One of the most fun things of the weekend was the GBNYC4 meet-up at Marie's Crisis Cafe, just off Sheridan Square in the West Village. Marie's is usually a fun spot for a Saturday night, but this Saturday was particularly busy. I am assuming it was the holiday weekend that brought people, gay and straight, in droves to this funky, divey little piano bar in the basement of a small building which also houses a tiny cafe upstairs. It's a dumpy little place, and you wouldn't think it would be much of anything. But on weekend nights, it brings in a crowd to sing Broadway showtunes with the pianist. There have usually been about three dozen people (or less, and mostly gay) in the place on the nights we have been there. We discovered Marie's through Byrne, who happened to organize Saturday night's fun. We were anxious to go, because it's always fun.

On this night, however, there were nearly 100 people crammed into the bar, which had to have all its tables removed to make room for more people. It was crazy busy. Crazy. Within an hour of our arrival (9:30), you could barely move, and by 11:00 p.m. people were coming down the stairs and then leaving because the place was literally so packed there wasn't room for another person. Showtune songsets from Cabaret, The Sound of Music, West Side Story, and a number of other shows I can't even remember at this point, were sung by a very merry crowd and sounded terrific. It was such a great time.

Today's barbeque was a lot of fun, too, and I was a busy bartender. My new favorite concoction, which was developed by my friend Jeff, is a Key West Cherry Limeade Martini, and several of the guests and I enjoyed those.

We enjoyed the company of Mark, his partner Brian, and their friend Steven from Dallas; Patrick; Byrne; Deirdre; David; Jase and his partner Brian; and Patrick and his partner Greg.

We had not met Jase's Brian or David before today; both were fun and enjoyable people whom we would have back again. Mark and Brian's friend Steven, whom we met for the first time this weekend, was even more adorable in person than in the pictures on Mark's blog. Sometimes pictures just do not do justice to people.

At any rate, I made some delicious brownies (from pinknest's blog - you should check her out if you haven't!) along with a host of other food, but the brownies received most raves, I think. I have used a very similar recipe in the past, which uses the same ingredients except unsweetened chocolate and plain sugar instead of Muscovado sugar. It made a nice difference in them and they were being devoured two, three, and four at a time. We had a can of whipped cream that was being used to top them. Decadent. Fudgy. Outrageous. Delicious. Thanks, Anita!

Have a great short week at work, everyone.