Killing Spree

We hosted the fifth annual DC Hallowiener last weekend. It was as fun as it is every year. More importantly, we seem to be growing up. Slowly but steadily. Which is great because it probably won't be long before there are small children attending this party, and it needs to evolve a little before that happens.

Kevin and the iguana

Kevin took Friday off from work, as always. He ran around to various stores to pick up meat and munchies and beer. He got home around the same time I did, and we spent a few hours getting the house in order. Ben and Autumn arrived before too long and Zach and Sarah were right behind them. We caught up over dinner and in between trick or treaters until the Boston contingent arrived. Then it was on to beer pong and other games. Mas and I won six games of pong that night, staying up until 2 am when we decided to retire and remain undefeated. I went to bed then. because I could barely keep my eyes open, but everyone else stayed up until 4. This was not the adult part of the weekend.

Seanna and Brandon arrived bright and early in the morning. Kevin picked them up at the airport while I made biscuits and gravy, because I take every opportunity to cook this rather decadent breakfast. There were mimosas and board games, and I began to prepare some of the more complicated meats. The iguana had to be parboiled and then marinated. The beef tongue needed to be soaked and then simmered. Unfortunately, I mistook the rabbit for the tongue (in my defense, they both looked like penises) and we didn't correct the mistake until the rabbit was partially cooked.

We recruited everyone staying at the house to help us put it in order for the party. We moved furniture, set up a bunch of air mattresses, and cleaned up as much as possible. I did as many dishes as I could throughout the day, with the help of Autumn and Seanna. I eventually end up too distracted to do more dishes, but I try to stay on top of them as long as I can. The locals started arriving around 2 and things started to get busy. To give you an idea, it was at this point that Kevin decided to pour himself a glass of cider. We found it on the counter the next morning, exactly where he'd left it. He never found the time to drink it during the party.

Around 3 Sarah started preparing the rabbit and pheasant stuffing and Kevin decided it was time to butcher the snake head fish he'd bought. snake head fish are an invasive species, and he'd managed to buy an entire 12-pound fish. Butchering it was an experience. I had to stop Kina from lapping up the blood multiple times. We ended up with a bunch of lovely steaks that I kept trying to get other people to take home. I don't need to be eating slimy fish for the rest of the month.

The snake head fish, pre-butchering

Butchering the snake head fish

Then we fired up the grill and started cooking. I got exactly one picture of the first batch of meat before I was overwhelmed by other hosting duties.

Meat! Starting at the top and moving clockwise: alpaca sausage, camel steak, wild boar sausage, kangaroo loin

The first few things were timed pretty well. I had enough time to chop everything up and pass it around before the next meat arrived. But then the bunny, pheasant, and iguana all came out at once and all hell broke loose. As it always does. I recruited Brandon to deal with the full animal carcasses and focused on the steaks and sausages. I probably would have stayed there for hours had I not been distracted.

One of our guests brought his dog without clearing it with Kevin and I first. The dog didn't really get along with Kina and Lily, and there were a couple of incidents before Kevin told him his dog had to leave. At that point I was a little too shaken up to keep cutting the meat, so I went outside to drink my beer and socialize. Thankfully other people took over the chopping and serving. I managed to calm down, but I wasn't in the mood to eat at that point. I'm sure all of the food was good, but I ended up trying less than half of the animals this year. And I completely missed the duck, duck, brandy sausages, which I spend all year looking forward to.

Of the meats I did get to eat, the beef tongue was unexpectedly good. Tender and flavorful, and I could probably slice one up and be perfectly satisfied with beef tongue soup. The yak sausage was the clear winner of the night. And the rabbit/rattlesnake sausage was good, too. Though it was a bit overpowered by the jalapeño. From what other people have said, the octopus wasn't as good as in years past.

Here's the entire list of animals we cooked, as recorded by Jen:

• Kangaroo
• Wild boar sausage
• Alpaca sausage
• Cow tongue 
• Octopus
• Snake head fish
• Camel steak
• Nilgai (antelope)
• Iguana
• Rabbit rattlesnake jalapeño sausage
• Yakwurst
• Roast rabbit
• Octopus
• Pheasant
• Bacon
• Shark
• Conch
• Kangaroo sausage
• Turtle
• Beaver leg
• Duck duck brandy sausage
• Squid
• Venison saddle
• Emu drumsteak

The yakwurst was the last thing I ate that night. We had enough leftovers that I was able to try the emu and beaver on Monday. They were pretty tough, but I'm sure that was more a factor of the reheating than the actual meats. I'm a little surprised at myself for abandoning the meats so thoroughly. I was just having too much fun talking to people outside.

Aftermath

When everyone had had enough to eat, Kevin and I quickly cleaned up. We put a bunch of extra meat in the fridge, threw away things like the iguana carcass, and left a huge pile of dirty dishes in the sink. While we were doing that, Zach poured beer for Dr Killebrew, and we transitioned into phase II of Hallowiener.

Everyone played beer pong and danced and talked and munched on chips for the rest of the night. We ran out of beer just before midnight and were unable to buy anymore because the stores stop selling alcohol. It was definitely for the best. The party lasted a few more hours, with Gatorade taking the place of beer on the beer pong table. Most people woke up in a reasonable state the next morning. Tired, but able to eat breakfast and function like human beings. We played games and people trickled out until Kevin and I were left alone with the mess and the memories in the early evening.

Slumber party in the basement (there was another mattress to the right of the picture)

It always takes a few days (or a week) to get our house back in order after this party. I'm usually too exhausted to tackle more than a bit of it at a time, so the house gets put back together in stages. We still have a bunch of meat leftover, which is good because we haven't found time to go to the grocery store yet. And most of it is uncooked, which is even better. The cooked leftovers are rough to get through, but the prospect of a nice, marinated kangaroo or camel steak is a nice perk of hosting this party.