three little birds after soup at dawn

Here it is, the morning after Dawn's annual Soup Party.
And what am I doing?
I'm showing Leila and Alyssa the gifts I received, just for going to the party!
I wasn't even one of the chef-testants and I got swag!
Dawn is most def the hostess with the mostest!
(smile!)

I think this was my favorite of the evening!
Susan made this Black Bean Soup and it was excellent, plus prettier than it had to be, with that dollop of sour cream and wedge of avocado.
The cornbread that Dawn supplied was certainly the right choice to accompany it!

Susan is the white-haired chica in the middle.
Cara, Dawn's niece, is the young one on the left of the shot, with red-haired Margaret rounding out the trio.
Clad in bulky oven mitts, Margaret is trying to unroll the Saran-wrapped prizes in the giant ball.
That game was a first for this party (but I know Kevin played it at his folks' house at Christmas).

Sue had rolled up her sleeves to tackle the Saran goodie ball, but neither she nor Lauren got very far with it.
Manna almost finished it out, but it was her daughter, Sasha, visiting from school in Colorado, who really took home the lion's share of the prizes.
Sasha had double hits, being the first at it and the last!

I liked this soup, too, as it reminded me of the Progresso version that I eat often.
Not quite Greek, the Chicken With Orzo that Elaine made was missing lemon, but was quite decorative with the puff pastry croutons she made - very nice!
Kudos to Dawn's Chris for making the cookie cutters that Elaine needed!

Elaine is the blonde at the far right.
She comes from Chicago for this party!
Dawn, her best friend, has the pumped-up white hair, at the head of the table.
Lindy and Brandee were to either side of Elaine.
FYI, Elaine's soup took top honors!
The wine, breads, and salad were from our hostess.

So, there was the food, there was the raffle, there was the Saran ball...
and there was Shut The Box!
It was a dice game, rather like Uno, but involved moving wooden beads that represented the values 1 to 10.
The object was to roll the die and strategically move the beads up until all ten were out of play or until no moves were possible.

Incredibly, I managed to win the first game!
I told everyone it was just beginner's luck...
then I won the second game, too, again, managing to choose wisely and move all the beads up.
It really was a lot of fun...
especially with Dawn's competitive nature!

Not that the others weren't actively engaged in trying to best the game, but Dawn has a lot of experience with this particular one...
and she plays to win!
Good-naturedly and good-heartedly, of course, as that is who she is, and how I certainly try to be,
I think that's why we get along so well!
(smile!)