Go West. And for some of you, Go South then West.

Tonight we had a bunch of people over to say "Good Bye" to a couple of couples that are leaving fair Virginia for points further west. Dayna & Sara are heading to Utah; Pedro & Diana, to Melbourne, Australia.

For tonight's party, I decided we needed a theme ingredient. Much like Iron Chef - but without the annoying Chairman or his nephew, who incidentally bugs more than the Chairman, who really bugs - the theme ingredient would be prepared by various people. In our case: three. I chose cupcakes.

Red velvet has definitely been on the rise of late*. I was first introduced to red velvet when Ouiser sliced the behind off of the groom's cake in Steel Magnolias. Two cooking shows in the past three days have featured red velvet cupcakes, so I felt that we needed red velvet. When it came to the making of the red velvet cupcakes, there was but one option: Bruce and Julie. They can make anything. And it always tastes good. They brought them complete with cream cheese frosting. Bonnie made Devil's Food cupcakes with German Chocolate frosting. Kristin and I made yellow cupcakes with chocolate frosting. All told we had 54 regular-sized cupcakes and 18 mini ones. Perfect. I didn't think to take a picture of all the cupcakes, so here is one of the left over red velvet cupcakes.
Unfortunately, Dayna & Sara had to cancel at the last minute due to sickness and changed travel plans. The remainders had a wonderful time eating, talking, rough housing with the kids (see picture Oliver As Jungle Gym to the right), and having a good time. Clara especially enjoyed gnawing on Diana's knee. Colter and Jacob raced Cars cars and were endlessly entertained by Kristen S.'s roadblock maneuvers. We wrapped up the evening with a frame-by-frame analysis of the new Harry Potter trailer followed by a reading and discussion of the list of J.K. Rowling quotes about Book 7. If you haven't read them go do it. It's worth the read.

To our departing friends, travel in safety. Drop us a line when you land. Know that you'll be missed. Please come back and visit soon.

*The New York Times ran a piece on red velvet February 14th of this year.