Our first California party

Mary, Sam and I had the pleasure of being invited by my co-conspirator Malia and her husband Adam to a fabulous party at their home in "Piedmont of the East Bay."

We really enjoyed getting to meet some California/Bay Area people, who were less pretentious than many of the random folks I have encountered. Their house was a wonderful setting which allowed for barefoot scampering and kid rowdiness. Fortunately, Sam had other children to play with both older and younger. One of the "much older" ones was our host Adam who found it entertaining to introduce a hose to 7 year-old Miles and 9 year-old Sam. After Adam and Miles had blasted each other in the face with the hose, Miles got the last laugh by bringing the running hose into the front door.

The house is wonderful for party hosting, offering all those great open spaces and nooks for the different levels of conversation. Front yard deck, dining buffet/wine bar room, living room, oven-heated kitchen, screened sun room, backyard, kids' playrooms. The works.

Being a California party, two grand highlights included the cheese and the wine. One cheese of note was from Point Reyes Station's Cowgirl Creamery: Red Hawk. It was super-creamy but with an extensive bite to it. The night ended with one of the tastiest wines I have ever had. I have to admit I am not even sure which year it was (but aim to find out) ; it was the Joseph Phelps Insignia either 2001 or 2002. Quite impressive.

The whole evening was wonderfully refreshing for all three of us. Being the new peeps, no pictures for the blog though ... "Hi! We're the Maddux family; we blog; can we take your picture?" Also, I am pretty sure at least one of the party-goers was in the witness protection program, just not sure which.

Okay ... time to continue the recovery, so we can perhaps make it outdoors this weekend.