Had fun yesterday, though, with my day off. Cooked creamy scrambled eggs and Vietnamese summer rolls and Indonesian gado-gado and Thai massaman chicken curry. Also served the last of the pomegranate duck from the party; all that's left in our freezer from it is a bit of the cake. Lots of folks came by for brunch: Ian and Michelle and Joyce (Michelle's mother), Kameron, Alex and Alena and two-year-old Natan (who charmingly toddled over and handed me lilies when he arrived, with much encouragement from his mother :-), Jeannie and Kate from the MFA program at Vermont (they've graduated now, and live in Chicago), Sujata and Lakshmi and Aparna and Sadaf, Aparna's friend Anup, Jaya who lives in Wisconsin and read my book, and Roshani and Tom and almost-five-years-old Zoe and ten-week-old Margo. With a brief visit from the neighbor's dog, because we had left the door open.
We ate masses of food, chatted for some hours, and eventually I coerced those remaining to play Encore, which I think I haven't played since college. A great group game, and we all had a good time. :-) I think eight is really about the minimum number to play it well -- ten to twelve would be better.
In the evening, Lakshmi and Sujata and I watched Spanglish, which was smarter and more interesting than I expected, though I'm not sure I really approve of the implied moral messages in the ending. That felt a bit heavy-handed. And the framing device didn't work for me. But still, well worth watching, with some really excellent dialogue and gripping scenes. The translation scene with the daughter in the middle of the night is probably my favorite.