It's been eight years since I've been in Louisville for Derby or even, for that matter, participated in any Derby festivities. During college, Derby always fell during exams, and in the places I've lived since college, it isn't quite the big deal that it is in Louisville. But this year I'd had enough of just turning on the TV for the two minutes and some odd seconds that it takes to crown a Derby champion, so Jeff and I threw a Derby party. Despite weather that wasn't as nice as we had hoped (cloudy and grey with temps maybe in the low 60s) and that thus kept everyone inside and not as mobile, we had a good time. Some people got their first taste of Derby and others were reacquainted with it. We had jackpots, trivia, and lots of food. I was off on Friday, so I spent the day cooking up a Southern feast. I thought everything turned out pretty good, and I guess our guests agreed as most of the stuff was gone by the end of the day. The menu included:
Cheese Tray (Goat Cheese, Brie, and Smoked Gouda)
Veggie Tray
Mini Hot Browns (I used rye and cut each slice into 3 to make them mini)
Chicken Salad on Cucumbers
Ham on Biscuits
Benedictine Tea Sandwiches
Deviled Eggs (1/2 Plain, 1/2 with Bacon & Scallions)
Stuffed Cherry Tomatoes (Bacon, Scallions, & either feta or goat cheese)
Strawberries
Derby Pie (my mom's recipe)
Bourbon Balls (courtesy of Kelly)
And thanks to my mom, we had plenty of authentic Derby decorations.
I invited people to wear either Millionaire's Row or Infield attire, and I was pleasantly surprised by all the fancy outfits...dresses and hats for the girls and button-ups for the boys. It was a fun chance to dress up.
You can check out my sweet hat in this photo.
Anyhow, I hope everyone out there had a fun time celebrating Derby and maybe even picked the winner and won a few bucks in the process.
5 comments:
Your party sounds like it was nice. Michael and Laura threw a Cinco De Derby party(featuring margiritas and fajitas), which was fun. Lisa's on Friday night was fun as well, featuring a large number of cousins in attendance (Danny, Lisa, Laura, Michael, Me, Elizabeth, Wake, and Emma with Mark, Patrick, and Zachary making appearances earlier in the day).
I cashed on the winner and the exacta. Dan and I also created a Hard Spun-Street Sense exacta box, so I won half of that as well. On top of that, I placed and cashed a $5 Exacta Box ticket for Joe. Your brother Mark cashed on the exacta as well. So yeah, Derby was nice to a number of people you know.
See you in/at Illinois this weekend. Are you bringing my b-day present with you?
Sounds like it was a great party and I love your hat! Thanks for the recipes.
Sounds like fun :) We watched the race on tv and I was surprised how quickly it was over. All that for about 2 minutes worth of running? Anyway, it looked like fun--someday I'd like an excuse to wear a big fancy hat!
I'm totally moving back to KY one of these days!!!!
you look like a sexy diva! jeff looks a lil sweepy... too much yummy food and mint juleps i bet.
miss you both.
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