Ohhhh my goodness, the food at the party last night was completely expansion-worthy! (The party was fun, too.) Here’s the birthday girl, Olivia, modeling one of her creations:
Olivia made everything herself, using her own recipes! And it was phenomenal.
This pizza was the star of the evening:
It had ricotta, honeyed goat cheese, caramelized onions, and truffle oil. I lost count after a while, but I might have had 12 (or more) pieces.
Olivia also made baby pulled pork sandwiches:
I had one sandwich … and then kept picking more pork off the tray every time I walked by and saw that a piece had fallen off of its bread.
She also made ridiculous macaroni and cheese and an amazing baked french onion cream cheese dip. Here’s my first of many bowls:
I also had a couple of these savory elephant ears:
They were herby and also had some delicious crispy meat — maybe proscuitto? — inside.
Here’s another bowl. Was it the second? Was it the seventh? No one knows.
On top of all of this, Olivia made cupcakes! Super chocolatey and moist with mascarpone-kahlua frosting.
I had one full cupcake, but by the end of the night, things had devolved to the point where I was dipping pretzels into the icing on others. My camera had been relegated to the purse by then.
Some other things I encountered included a piece of Entenmann’s chocolate-covered donut:
And 1.5 of Kate’s perfectly chewy secret-recipe chocolate chip cookies:
And an, errrr, unpictured cup or so of skittles that went down wayyyyyy too easily.
The party itself was a blast, and I wish I had remembered to take some pictures of the apartment because it was gorgeous and had way more space than I’m used to seeing in NYC. I also got to catch up with some old NYU friends (hi Jenniy!) that I hadn’t seen in ages. Thanks, Olivia!
I slept till 10 this morning (apparently, the trick to being able to sleep in is to go to bed at 3 am) and then went right to the gym because I had so much energy from all that extra food last night! I did 30 minutes steps, legs on the machines, and 30 minutes elliptical. The whole thing took about an hour and 45 minutes and I burned just under 800 calories, but honestly, I’m looking forward to when the half marathon is over and behind me and I can put an end to this cardio-loading (and the inadvertent yet not unrelated carb-loading). It’s taking a toll! With that in mind, I also spent some time this morning perusing YogaDork (an amazingly witty, sarcastic, and informative yoga blog, even for someone like me who has a somtimeslike-hate relationship with yoga) because I need to find more body-friendly ways to exercise!
What is too much for you right now?
Tales of Expansion: Baby Butternut Edition 
What delicious home-cookin’! Definitely “expansion worthy”! I didn’t realize you were running a half soon! How exciting! When is it?
Ugh…I don’t know what is too much for me right now. I’m struggling to figure that out!
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“Oh my goodness, oh my goodness!” (said in voice of whiny orphan girl from Annie)
I saw my sister’s play last night, give me a break 😉 what amazing party food!
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Great looking party food!!! I do the pretzel in the frosting thing too… remember dunkaroos?
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what a big feast!!! too much of goodies?! no way!!!
too much for me?? maybe leisure? but I want even more!!! 🙂
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Sounds like a fun party 🙂 If my friends were only that creative…hahah
My LAST finals are too much for me because I have ZERO motivation to do anything at least 4 hours before it due. I am SO done this Wednesday though
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all that food looks SO good. i’m a sucker for those donuts – i cannot buy them unless I am okay with the fact that I will probably eat all of them myself 🙂
my pain is too much for me right now…and dissatisfaction with my work, but that’s not new.
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wow the birthday girl cooked all that food? Props to her – it all looks delicious!!
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Wow all of that food looks amazing, definitely worthy of expansion! Especially those cupcakes!
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Wow, everything looks delicious! Definitely expansion worthy. Yum!
That’s cool you’re running a half–I’m sure it’s a lot of work, though! 5k and 10k’s are enough for me right now! When is it? 😀
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PLEASE tell me you got the full recipe for that goat cheese pizza 🙂 She is a genius!
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I want to be friends with Olivia 😀
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Olivia is my homegirl and I don’t even know the homegirl! Her cooking skillz and party throwing skillz are off the chain! If I was there with you, I would have had 14 pieces of pizza, 3 bowls of mac and cheese, a b!tchload of carrots because I love carrots, and then 2 and a half cupcakes because cupcakes are dazzling. I used to work at Sprinkles Cupcakes and would eat min. 1 cupcake and max. 3 and half cupcakes everytime I was working. The 3 and a half cupcakes were TOO much for my stomach at the time. Whateva, how can you resist pumpkin cupcake with a spiced creamcheese frosting? You can’t. This comment was really long but really necessary. Bye!
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haha I am both dreading and looking forward to getting the half overwith. I am so unprepared, but hopefully I can wing it!
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With all that brillz food in front my of my piggie face, I totz woulda eaten more than you did. That pulled pork? Musta been heaven.
Food is fun.
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Sarah, hi!! So great catching up with you! I didn’t get to taste much of the wares, but can attest to the splendid spread of delights. Olivia is a superstar, and you captured it all.
And your blog is awesome! So much fun, not to mention dangerous 😉 I shall be returning for sure (perhaps always on a full stomach if I know what’s best for me) Thanks so much for mentioning the yoga dorks…hope to see you around more often. -J
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Wow, tell Olivia I want her to cater my next get-together! Everything looks awesome.
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Wow, sorry I missed out on the party, but I had a lovely day full of Broadway!
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Oh all that food looks awesome! What a great job and loverly evening. 😀
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Wow Olivia, I knew you were a good cook but I didn’t know you are like practically a professional now! Oohhh make me some of those cookies next time you come to CA…and maybe like EVERYTHING else too.
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