Potlucky

As I mentioned, on Saturday we had a potluck dinner. Our new(ish) apartment is good for hosting things like this (although really, everyone clumps together, regardless of how much space there is. At one point in the night everyone was in the dining room and kitchen-- the living room was totally deserted). While snow fell outside, our home was full of sweet and fun friends who brought delicious and cozy wintery things like:

• butternut squash and goat cheese casserole
• rice pilaf with pomegranate seeds and other special things
  
• sweet potato biscuits
• spinach-artichoke dip
  
• homemade bread
• greens with craisins and walnuts
  
• salad with hard ricotta (how did I not know this exists??), roasted beets, and pomegranate vinaigrette
  
• angel food cake with fruit and whipped cream
  
• chocolatey chocolate chip cookies
• mulled white wine sangria with all sorts of fancy fruits
• Panettone (which we forgot about until 1 AM and proceeded to rip into. We used the leftovers for french toast the next day. Delish.)
  

Patrick and I made the Tuscan lasagna recipe that his mom brought back from their recent trip to Italy. It was our first try at it, and I'm happy to report that it was very tasty.

Calvin joined the party, playing with whomever wanted to play, and plopping himself in various doorways so that he could keep an eye on all the action. We had a few offers of people wanting to trade us our playful/aggressive/crazy cat for their mellow cat... it was tempting, but we kept him. (This photo of Calvin is by Patrick, and it's not from the other night, but you get the idea).