This can be a sort of “update” on life or it can be read as a “hey guys, check out how awesome my party is gonna be” sort of blog. In one week, I’ll be playing host again. In fact, I play host a few times a month to guests who rent out my apartment. In most cases, I stay with my girlfriend while they rent out my house or it conveniently syncs up for those times when I’m traveling. Sometimes, I get to make breakfast for house guests who just wanted to get away from the city. They pay $60 a night for this privilege. No complaints. I love entertaining.
I hosted a few parties at my house such as a dinner party last October for each of my coworkers. They loved my food and drinks but it was merely a dinner party and nothing more. The night was cool and rainy and all of the guests arrived after the sun went down so there wasn’t much else to do. I’m lucky to have so many great friends who travel from around the world to see me. My friend Liana has visited the cabin from her home in Los Angeles. She came here in the dead of Winter to play in the snow and chill out with me in the middle of nowhere. Liana, I met in 2007 through the Macworld community. She’s one of my best friends. My friend Ben who I see every 4 months is an “Internet buddy” who I met in 2008. He visited me in San Francisco last year and left my favorite city promising to live there one day. I love selling people on San Francisco. Now, he visits me in New Hampshire. There aren’t as many picturesque aspects of New Hampshire but it’s a different kind of experience. Ben gets to leave college, the city, the norm and escape to the woods where we sit around the fire and talk about life. It’s pretty amazing.
This year’s 4th of July will mark my 10th month in New Hampshire. I arrived here on the 4th of September last year. Time flies so fast. I wanted to celebrate the summer-time by inviting a few close friends to see me and experience my life in New Hampshire. I wanted to play host for my closest friends and that’s what I’ll be doing.
I only invited 20 close friends and an additional 20 coworkers for my Sunday July 3rd party (since I have to work on Tuesday, doing the party on the 4th would be hard). I’ll also have an additional 10 neighbors stopping by that night to partake in our bonfire and fireworks. It’ll be magnificent. I wanted to share my plans for the best 4th of July party ever only because I’m so thrilled and happy to be sharing this all with my friends. If I left anyone out and you can come to New Hampshire, just let me know. I’d be happy to have you.
In my possession are two ways to cook meat for that weekend. One of these is a charcoal grill with many racks of space to grill chicken, steaks and vegetables like corn and asparagus and potatoes. It’s going to be pretty rad. Additionally, I have a 50 gallon smoker. Basically, you use a welding tool to separate a 50 gallon drum into two pieces and you make a smoker out of it. You use wood chips and this is how to get the perfect ribs, roasts and other meats. You can take any sort of meat and put it in the smoker for 12+ hours and the result is pretty astonishing. Anytime you’ve had fantastic meat, it was probably smoked in some way. I can even smoke fish. Yeah, I’m pretty thrilled. Both are sitting on a concrete base in my yard and ready to grill up some fantastic food for my guests.
Additionally, I have spent $600 on liquor. Now, it’s not like I have a dry home here where there’s simply no alcohol. In fact, I have two racks full of liquor (over 60 bottles) with an additional 60 bottles of wine and many many cases of high end beer with another rack of 40 imported European beers that are in larger corked bottles. I’m pretty stocked when it comes to alcohol and can make most drinks without any issues. However, I felt it was important to grow my home bar by 60% with another 40 bottles of liquor. So, that’s what I did. Now, I can make over 10,000 drinks at home assuming I have the mixings, garnishes and various sodas. Plus, if you haven’t had a martini or cocktail in a Mikasa crystal glass, it’s a heavenly experience. The bottom is weighted perfectly on the glass and the top is a very thin lip that only crystal can replicate. Scotch from a crystal glass is utterly fantastic. I have a wide selection of crystal glassware for nearly every drink type. I’ll be making drinks all weekend and I have enough champagne for every guest. Mimosas FOR EVERYONE!
For the past 6 weeks, I’ve attended the local Farmers Market in town and bought up all of the pork and beef I could. Finally, last week the Hanover market guy asked, “Are you stockpiling meat?” “Just getting ready for the 4th of July” I responded. There’s a huge taste difference between steaks, ground beef and sausages from the grocery and those that were raised on grass and grazing just 15 miles from your home. I pay $4 a pound for ground beef compared to $3 a pound at the grocer. It’s worth it aside from the fact that the farmer supply isn’t always plentiful. I’m going to pickup 8 racks of ribs and a few more steaks along with some fresh salmon and lobsters for next weekend. My freezer is already overflowing with frozen meats. A few more pounds won’t hurt it. Of course, my local CSA is providing me with plentiful veggies for next weekend. Unfortunately, it looks like I’ll still have slim pickings according to the crop calendar for my farm.
Friday evening, Elizabeth and I are heading down to Hooksett to the largest fireworks shop in our state. It’s worth the 1.5 hour drive as they’re running a sale through Sunday for 50% off all fireworks. This will be well worth it because I had planned on buying $700 in fireworks. This means, I can get $1400 worth of fireworks. EXCELLENT! They have a few combo deals and I know from growing up that, when you buy that many fireworks, you can get a better deal beyond the normal discounts so I’ll make out pretty well. The turn out for our fireworks show should exceed 40 people. It’ll be worth it and most of the guests are chipping in to help out on the fireworks prices. The more the merrier so we can get tons of awesome fireworks!
By next week, my garden at home will be planted which will start to show some pretty green sprouts. Also, if you didn’t hear, Elizabeth and I painted the chicken coop last week in a beautiful New England red color. It looks fantastic and we improved the chicken fencing around the coop to make the chickens feel a bit safer. They’re happily producing tons of eggs! The candy apple red coop looks so beautiful in my back yard lining the 50 food garden and manicured yard. The rain we’ve had recently has made the river flow a lot more than usual for this time of year so the sound of water over rocks is always filling my house. It’s a great time of year to be in New England. Heck, every month is a good time of year. Soon, the leaves will be changing again and I can’t wait for that to happen! So beautiful.
So many of my friends have messaged me saying I’m spending too much money on this and taking too much time on planning. RIDICULOUS! That’s not the case at all. Here’s how I work and how I’ll continue to work. I do more volunteering than ever to the elderly and mentoring my “little” brother in the Big Brothers program. I recycle more and am composting again. I’m raising my own chickens and buying more local food. I’m putting the money I make back into the community around me. I make more money than I ever have and I make more money than I thought I would at this age. This was my age 30 goal of salary and I’m making it at 24 so, I’m saving a lot but am also spending it on things I believe in like travel, charities and the ability to avoid price savings places like Wal*Mart. With my money, I enrich my life and those around me. This is why I’m doing a big 4th of July party. I want to bring happiness and give thanks to those who make my life better. What better way than to spend a few grand than on your friends. I have no regrets. They’d do the same for me.
So, that’s my 4th of July party. If you should have gotten an invite and didn’t, ping me and I’ll send you the details. Thanks and have a great day!
You must be logged in to post a comment.