Ronnie's Birthday: The Anthony Weiner Roast

Summer is officially here and one of the first signs of seasonal fun is my friend Ronnie being done with the school year and let loose in the city. Its also been a long, damn time since my dinner party group has been hangin' out and so we made the latest gathering a birthday dinner for Ronnie. Celebrating Ronnie tends to connote celebrating with salty humor and this would be no exception. We allowed current sordid events to play a lead role in the festivities and our humble cookout became The Anthony Weiner Roast. The easily offended among you may want to exit stage left at this point.

We were blessed with pristine weather and so decked out the deck for the evening. A banner hung above the doorway to the deck featuring Ronnie's and Mr. Weiner's infamous pics. We served mango mojitos with fresh mint from the garden and munched on Jolynn's pigs in blankets and Jane's famous deviled eggs while watching Ronnie open his marvelous gifts. He received several appropriately rude birthday cards as well as wine, books, gift cards and some wonderfully imaginative gifts from Jeff including these most excellent prints depicting movie scenes as children's book illustrations. These were too much...scenes from Alien and The Shining drawn as if from the pages of a bizarro Dick and Jane book.

As the sun was setting, we moved to the deck for the main dinner. I made a brief presentation for Ronnie, letting him know that this would also be a Roast of another sort and proceeded to speak of his predilection for twisted texting. I introduced some invented bawdy tweets a la Weiner highlighting some of his funnier moments over the years.

We moved on to the meal which was sort of like jazzed-up picnic fare. Linda brought her killer potato salad. We grilled weenies and brats and I had made some kicked up condiments from Food Network Magazine: Bloody Mary ketchup, dill mustard, and corn-tomato relish. We also made Bobby Flay's amazing Grilled Corn on the Cob. Were all unsure of how the cheese, garlic butter and fresh lime would be on grilled corn but it was a highlight.

The edible highlight of the entire evening, though, was yet another example of Jeff's apparently boundless creativity this week: his stunning birthday cake for Ronnie. Shaped and designed to look like a coconut cocktail drink, it took everyone's breath away. Complete with drink umbrella and dried pineapple garnish, it was a beauty of a cake. To beat all; it was crazy delicious....moist chocolate cake with chocolate icing and dusted with toasted coconut. This was surrounded by Jo's chocolate cupcakes and six of those spelled out WEINER. It was a chocoholic's heaven.

We laughed and talked and got to know Ronnie and Jeff's adorable friend SueAnn. Jane, always sure to entertain us, let it be known that she didn't fear a serial killer coming after her at home as she was a fast runner and an even faster skipper. Fast skipping, she surmised, would be horribly disturbing to said killer and they would simply give up. We gave her a Native American moniker: Skips Like The Wind.

We sipped wine as dusk settled in and the citronella flames flickered. The first fireflies floated around us while that perfect breeze slid past. We celebrated all things Ronnie last night but it was a brilliant night for the rest of us, too. I simply love spending the evening with this group. Wonderful company, loud laughter and delectable food remain a staple of this; our beloved B & N dinner party group.