Monday, December 5, 2011

The Geekend That Was, 12/4

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Last Friday was...
TUBA CHRISTMAS!

No, I don't play the tuba. I stumbled upon this event one year (it's apparently always the first Friday in December) at CNN Center, and have tried to get back to it each year (with not very much success). This year, Michael picked me up for a quick lunch and Tuba Christmas at Underground.
The weather was absolutely beautiful, and nothing beats listening to Christmas carols played with booming bassy precision by about 100 tuba, sousaphone and euphonium players aging from 7 to 73. I highly recommend going to a concert (it's free, even!) if there's one in your area.

Saturday I helped my sister serve tea. Michael and I usually go as "paying customers," but my sister needed some help since my mom, who usually helps, was going to see my niece's dance recital. It was actually really fun, although a little hectic, since her previous tea booking (a single party of 26) left about 45 later than she had planned! We had less than an hour to reset; that included breaking down three large tables and setting up six smaller ones in their place...not to mention water glasses, tea cups, plates, flatware, tea pots with warmers, cream, sugar, clotted cream, lemon curd, spirited peach butter, menus, welcome signs...!!

Although I handed Michael the camera, he did not manage to take One. Single. Picture. Well, he was entertaining his parents, so I guess he has an excuse. Of course, I did not discover this until the last "course" was served, so *I* took this picture...
Caramel Chocolate Nut Tartlets (want to move in to one of these and take up residence), Cranberry Noels (cookies), Victorian Bakewell Tart, Cinnamon Pumpkin Bread with Cranberry Cheese (OMIGOSH YUM), and Mocha Cream Puffs.

I did get to taste everything afterwards. =) Serving went pretty well; I can't imagine taking care of more than three tables, though!! And two of mine were people I knew, so they were very forgiving. That's right...two! In addition to Michael and his parents, Rocky and Maria were at another table, much to my surprise and delight! I'd been wanting them to experience tea at my sister's for a while.

Sunday we made a start at unearthing Christmas decorations and went to see Hugo in 3D, which was EXCELLENT. If you have any interest whatsoever in early film, go see it. It's worth it even just for the opening tracking shot, which was so amazing and I still am not sure how ILM* did it.

JiffNotes
*Industrial Lights and Magic, of course!

5 comments:

Julie said...

I cannot wait to go to one of your sister's teas. I figured I would wait for a less pumpkin filled time of year though.

woolwoman said...

OMGosh - I did not know your sister owned a tea room - I adore tea rooms - If I ever make it back to Atlanta - i would love to go for a visit. I'm sure it was awesome. Enjoy perusing your christmas treasures. Mel

Parsley said...

I would love to go to 'a tea'. What fun that must be!

Melanie said...

Man, if I had a sister who had a tea room........it would be bad. I love the HECK out of tea.

Sarah said...

Tuba Christmas?! So cool.

Old Geek-outs