Fat Tuesday

Thanks to HouseParty and Zatarain's, we hosted a Mardi Gras Party this weekend!  We were sent the rice packets, root beer extract, creole seasoning, and creole mustard and asked to throw a party for at least 10 people.... OK!  Dave really jumped on board and I have to say this was a really fun night with a lot of food and even more drinking.  I think a two day hangover qualifies as a good time.

All we asked people to bring was their appetite and BYOB (we did have homemade root beer and juice boxes for the kids).

The Party Animal (my Dad) with Uncle Doug.

The hostess (me) with the Zatarain's goods in the back.

Dad and I

GG and Aunt Connie in the French "Corner" -- get it instead of French Quarter - HA!

All the food!

So I made the following with my Party Pack:

• Creole Mustard Dip - served with pretzels and veggies
• Chicken & Yellow Rice Soup
• Red Beans and Rice with hot links
• Creole Fish Tacos (the hit of the night)
• Slow Cooker Jambalaya - with chicken & shrimp
• Caribbean Shrimp
• Homemade root beer
• Root beer pops
• Kings Cake - I did this on my own without any ingredients from Zatarain's.

 Here are all the guests (sans kids - they were off playing)

Top L-R: Uncle Doug, Travis, Jonelle, Dave, Mom, Dad, Grandma
Bottom L-R: Me, Aunt Connie, Julie, Stephanie

Julie and I posing with the fun green hair...

... we're considering running with the green hair at an upcoming 12K race.... :)

Dave and I

See there were kids!  This is what they did a majority of the night - play with iPhones.  I guess they were all syncing up their devices and playing MineCraft together.

Jonelle and Travis

And all the ladies....

 ... doesn't GG look good with the green hair?

And the fellas with their Mardi Gras hand signals...

Dad was the hit of the party.  Between breaking a wine glass over himself and the couch and being called Vanilla Ice....

And Dave and Julie - the two wearing Mardi Gras Gold.

And see... we really did have kids at the party!

Top L-R: Charlize, Mason, Drew, Christopher
Bottom L-R: Zionna, Troy

Dave and I are considering throwing this party annually - we had soooo  much fun.  I think next time I'll be more diligent about having some water in between the bottles of wine I consumed.