Fil and Carrie -- June 7, 2008

Fil and Carrie's party this past weekend featured a surprise guest! Earlier in the week, Carrie had invited Ben to come up from Arizona to her party but she didn't realize Ben was already scheduled to be here for a course. The look on Carrie's face was priceless.

As usual, Fil and Carrie put on a great spread and great fun was had.

1. Check out this gear.
Stainless steel, triple burner, heavy duty knobs. This is a quality grill. 2 points.

2. Quality of Meat. Solid Barbecue fair, with variety. Spicy sausage, beef ribs, a few burgers. This evaluator appreciates good meat but encourages branching out a bit more. 1 point.

3. Alcohol. Beer and wine, and lots of it. The party would have scored 1 point, but The Doctor's first taste of ice wine pushed it over the top. 2 points.

4. Side dishes. Our hosts really shined here. Home made pasta salad with artichoke hearts, spinach salad. Excellent variety of chips. Bravo. 2 points.



5. Crowd. As expected, all the cool cats in Seattle were at Carrie and Fil's, and some unexpected faces. Besides Ben, there was the return of both Sundi and Georgio, several of Carrie's coworkers and all the usual lovely party people. 2 points.



6. Music. Sound system consisted of a laptop and powered speakers, more than ample for the condo. Fil was in control of the sounds but loses a point for letting guests take over later in the evening. Sorry. 1 point.

7. Setting. Now, everyone knows Carrie and Fil have the swankest pad in Rainier Valley. Large balcony, lovely water view. Too bad it was ruined by rain. One may argue the fairness of deducting points for weather, but it's all part of the physical environment of a good barbecue. Those are the breaks in Seattle. Or you could fly all your friends to Maui. 1 point.

8. Dessert. Chocolate cake. Home made coconut cream pie. Our hosts didn't actually bake these, but they still get 2 points for having awesome friends who can throw down a pie.


9. Did we like you? Come on it's Carrie and Fil, our favorite people. They were graceful, relaxed, and fun. One million points.

Ok, adding it up, we get 15 out of 18. That's a hell of a score for a hell of a party. Thanks you two, we had a great time!