Day Fifty Three: It's a Par-tay!

Last night we held our Progressive Pedal Party, with dinner at our house for forty people.  We had a ridiculous amount of fun.  Everything ran smoothly, with a little help from Martha's Party Planning Guide.   This is a pretty good check list, but I would have expected more from Martha...something more like an hour-by-hour timeline starting three days in advance.

We served a twenty-two pound beef brisket, several smoked chickens, orzo salad, and a spinach salad (without the salmon).  The brisket alone cooked for over twelve hours, so we were pretty busy with party preparations all day.  Martha's spinach salad was tossed last minute, so I forgot to take a photo.  :kicks self:

Photo of the orzo salad, recipe courtesy of Giada De Laurentiis.  I've never made anything from the cooking siren, but this was delicious...and it looked pretty too.

Close-up of our hurricane centerpieces with oleander:

We seated everyone at one long table.

Dinner was served buffet style:

 Fun at dinner:

The best and worst part of the party was that I woke up this morning sore from all the pedaling.  It was the worst part because it hurt, but at least I felt like I earned that cheesecake I ate for dessert.