This was intended to be a funny post about the mishaps and adventures of trying to make a solstice dinner. Instead, a few things G and I learned. We had a "simple" menu planned, of snacks on crackers, peanu stir-fry (with tofu,) green beans with goat cheese, pears in pom/honey glaze, and green tea ice cream. Shopping for the diner, we learned:
-You can purchase pomegranite juice already .. juiced
-Small sacrificial goats are difficult to locate
-It's downright impossible to find a pint of chicken blood in the haute
-The boys at 7th and 70 are pretty hot (only I learned that one)

We made our guest list, checked it twice, created many "Vice-Presidents in Charge of Bringing X" [where X is an item.] Dinner started late, mostly because we had planned it that way, and guests had other obligations until late.
Coming home, the cooking commenced.
-When making Vanilla Green Tea ice cream, grind the grean tea up very very small. If starting the grinding from tea bags, only do 1/4 a bag at a time. And yes, it's still going to look like a bunch of bugs died in the ice cream
-Ice cream in blenders is cool
-My roommate had thrown away my oranges. Unhappy about that, I know they weren't bad and besides, you can still cook with oranges after they've gotten a bit moldy- just cut off the bad spots.
-Pineapple juice is very hard to pour from a large can with self-punched holes into a little shot glass. Just forget the Engineering approach (measuring everything) and add it liberally. It's not a bad thing to have a bit of extra mixer.
-Poms are pretty easy to seed, cut it in half and use lots of water to get the pieces apart
-A very tasty drink: Snow Ono
Shake
.5 Vodka
.5 Triple Sec
1.5 Unfiltered Sake
2.0 Pineapple Juice
together with ice and strain into a martini glass. Pour:
.66 Grenadine
slowly down the side so it all sits at the bottom. It all ends up looking like there's snow on top of the drink.
Tip: To get an even layer of 'snow' without the red, save a little bit of the foamy stuff until after you've poured the grenadine.
Monkey Jizz optional

On the whole, it was a successful solstice, nobody got burned by anything, fell into the fire while dancing around it naked, or got arrested (that I know of.) Happy Solstice, everyone! Your days only get brighter from here!