Winter Chill Dinner 2012

After weeks of arduous research, seemingly endless surveys of the participants, careful selection of the stationary, Brick finally announced the selection of this year's WinterChill Dinner: Nunu's Bistro in Colchester.  The Gang was overwhelmed in surprise.

Cuties!

Party Favors!

 

Chill Historian, with no luck due to hecklers.

So, on January 21st, the Chilldren gathered again, in the dead of an albeit mild winter, for some good food, wine, and companionship. The Chill Historian, Carrie, tried to get in the review of 2011, but Stevo and Randy wouldn't have any of that, never letting Carrie get word in edgewise.  We'll see how those two fare in next year's recount.  (For the record, here's her list:

2011 CHILL HISTORY

• Feb 12th, WinterChill Dinner, NuNu's
• Mar 5th, Vicki's impromptu Birthday Celebration, First and Last Tavern, Hartford.
• Mar 13th, Chillin St Patty's Celebration, Chez Zs'
• April 24th, Easter Dinner, Chez Baz
• May 7th, Rosenfields' "3K Walk for Autism (sans Brickeys and Sweeneys)
• May, Sweeney/Rosenfield Italia-Greco Vacation (sans, Baz', Brickeys and Zs)
• Memorial Day Weekend, Anti-Chill, Jamestown RI
• June 25, surprise 50th Birthday Party for Claire, Chez Baz
• July 16th, Brickey's birthday party, Chez Brick (no fireworks!)
• August 20th, Winefest with Sweeneys, West Hill Lake
• October 13-17, CHILL XV

Once more the Yankee Swap was held, and it was clear this event looks afar at its big cousin, The Big Chill Gifts in October.

Sergeant at Arms explaining Yankee Swap

Nevertheless, there was still some horsetrading going on.  Still not sure who went home the big winner though.

A fairly mild evening, though, as the men somehow were on good behavior.  Even Randy made it through without "getting hot."  The ladies even let them take a photo with our lovely waitress, Lisa.

"Hmmm...who's in the Middle?"

 
As such, the night would have passed uneventful, were it not for

THE COP STOP

After hugs, kisses, well wishes and good evenings, the Zs got in their Jeep for the drive home.  A cold night, with some black ice looming, Z slowly turned right onto route 16 and started heading home.  Noticing a police light in his rear-view mirror, he pulled to the side to let the patrol car go ahead, assuming it was heading to some emergency.  No.  The cruiser stopped behind CZERIO.1.  Z and Carrie looked at each other.  "What's going on?"

The female officer came to the window.  "Sir, do you know your rear lights are off?"  Z looked down, and noticed that the automatic light switch was not on.  He immediately turned the switch, the lights went on, and that seemed to satisfy the officer.  He got the "Look" however from Carrie: "How many times do I have to tell you to leave my car's controls alone?  You have to touch EVERYHING."  He made a note to rebut later.  But then the officer asked a followup question: "Sir, do you know how fast you were going?".  "No," came the slow reply. 

"45 Miles per Hour.  May I see your license and registration?"   Z passed them to the officer and she went back to the cruiser.  Meantime, several cars filled with Chilldren zoomed by with nary a concern, but maybe a honk or too.

Carrie said, "there's NO WAY we were going 45 mph."  Which Z was glad for the support, as he only just turned onto the road....the Jeep would have needed a LONG runway to get to that speed in so short a time.  And Carrie would have killed him if he had in fact sped that fast on slippery roads...she was nervous for the same reason driving TO dinner.

In a few minutes, the officer came back, returned the documents, and said, "OK, keep the lights on and drive slowly, it's getting icy out there. Have a good night."  Carrie and Z looked at each other, and Z said, "She must have confused us with another vehicle.  If I were speeding, there's no way I wouldn't have gotten a ticket."

Heading back on the road, the cell phone started ringing.  All of a sudden, the Chilldren were curious. Z was just glad he didn't have to exit the car and do the nose touch while walking the line saying the alphabet backwards.  He sure was glad his friends were there to check on him.

So, as usual, the truism that no Chill gathering will go without some wrinkle in the universe occurring to one or several of us proved itself once again.  We'll have to see what next year brings.  Brick, start planning now...

WinterChill 2012
Nunu's Bistro, January 21, 2012

Big Chill XV

 

This Chill had been anticipated.  The 15th anniversary event of what started as a lark during a Christmas dinner years ago.

The Gang shifted gears a bit.  Instead of arriving on Thursday night and parking ourselves at a motel in Yarmouthport, we were able to take advantage of an open spot on the Gentle Heritage calendar and negotiate an extra day for the same cost as the motel.  Four of the couples made it up on a rainy, unsettled day, prepping the place while waiting for the arrival of Randy and Vicki on Friday morn. The Bazzanos and Rosenfields formed the vanguard, arriving around noon, after a lunch at Sir Crickets,  and the Zerios and Brickeys pulled in about 4 pm. Several bottles of wine were opened, guitars were broken out, and surprisingly, Jello Shots were tested! A great combination!  Z was happy to watch the Tigers win a pennant race game, forcing the series to Texas. After a relaxing afternoon and evening, with a nice chicken kabob dinner supplied by Carol and grilled by Stevo, everyone retired, waiting for Official Chill to begin.

What we missed in having our usual breakfast at "Kukla Fran and Ollie's" was made up for in waking up on Pleasant Bay, sans sunrise due to an unusual light on the water. But breakfast and papers were waiting for everybody, courtesy of a run by Clarence and Stevo to Hole In One bakery for awesome donuts and muffins, accompanied by DD's Box of Joe and bagels. That swooshing sound heard was diets going out the window.

With cell phone calls pre-announcing their every GPS location, Randy and Vicki arrived at 8:30 am, having been woken at 3 by a nasty storm in Connecticut, so they figured "what the hey, let's go."  (That's their story and they're sticking to it).  The good news was, the coffee grinder had arrived!

The Arrival

 

The weather stayed gray, windy and drizzly, giving the Chill-dren no reason to travel far.

For the most part, everyone just hung out, read, drank wine, played music, drank wine, cross-stitched, and drank wine.  For years, we've all said we should just stay and chill at the house, because it afforded such a great location, pockets of getaway areas to relax. So, for once, we did just that.

But alas, all was not to be quite that tranquil.  Z was taking a quiet amble alone down by the cove, when his cell phone went off. "Where are you, get back to the house. Man down."  Scampering back, and somewhat winded, he noticed a strange vehicle in the yard, and he concluded they weren't delivering pizza.

Fortunately, there was no fear...it was just Baz making a new friend.

After the interlude, Randy announced: "It's CHILL GIFT TIME!"

 

It was a banner year, with individual Chill flags, etched rock glasses, the Motto, and specially lit cubes with a Chill motif among the hits.  How do we top these?

From here, we settled in to another traditional Friday night pasta dinner, with appropriate toasts to Z's dad for his sauce.  More wine. More wine. More wine.

The next morning dawned beautifully, although once again, Z missed it.  Nevertheless, the plan was to head to the Wellfleet Oyster Festival, early to beat the expected traffic.  Even then, it was crowded, and we all patted ourselves on the back for timing it right.  Loaded with chowder, fritters, ersters and clams, we listened to some good bluegrass.  A great time, as usual.

Look! Wellfleet Oyster Pearls!

On the way back to Gentle Heritage (replete with "Wellfleet Oysters" apparel)  to attend the first annual Chill Scotch-Tasting Test, the gang joined Randy to finish some family business.  We were proud and honored  to be there with him.

Randy adhering to his brother's wishes...

Randy in his thoughts.

With great anticipation, we hustled back to the Gentle Heritage and prepared for the Test.  The women prepared the testing room, including palate cleansing water and crackers.  Carrie read the rules (what is it with the Zerios and rules, anyway?).  The Scotch drinkers, including the Vickster, tasted samples of 5 different Scotches, all done in a blind test managed by Carol, Carrie, Lynn and Claire.  This was fun.  And even though only a sip was taken from each sample, a nice buzz was produced in short order.  After all was tested, each participant had to weigh in with their votes and reasons.  When the tally was finalized and announced, Cardhu was the winner...and this was actually submitted twice.  Who knew.  Looking forward to next year's test!

The Rules, ladies and gentlemen...

The Test

"And the winner is..."

  

'CARDHU!'

 After several more tastings of the winner, and the also rans, it was time to get ready for dinner.  The MeatMasters got to work.

While waiting for the Chill Grill to heat up and take on its duty, there were moments of relaxitude, and Claire held forth...

Claire with her Men

 The meal was ready, and in another first, a Parade was started and led by the Baz-man to deliver the food to table.  Captured elsewhere on video, it was a sight to behold. And the dinner was great, dessert by Lynn was heavenly, but unfortunately, Randy had an...ahem...accident.

I love a parade...

The Traditional Annual Bouef

 

"Vicki, where are my Depends?"

After a fabulous day, everybody retired to bed wined, sated, and relaxed...although Z had to suffer through his Tigers' elimination from post-season play.  But hey! They got there!

Sunday morning brought a great breakfast from the ladies, and then it was off to Chatham and other locales to enjoy the beautiful weather.  The park in Chatham was featuring their "Pumpkins in the Park" program, which was pretty creative.

 

Back to the house on our last full day, it was time to take the annual portraits.  But first, in honor of the 15th Anniversary, the Chill Gang recreated our first photo taken.  Carrie came up with this idea, and it was pretty good...but trying to find the clothes from so long ago, not so easy.  Still after some arguing over set up and positioning, we pulled it off.  Still crazy after all these years.

Big Chill I, October 1996

Big Chill XV, October 2011

 We still got it!

Big Chill XV Official Portrait

We also took the time to award the annual winner of the Necklace of Impunity.  This year, it wasn't hard, given that Baz stole a lot of attention upfront, enlisting the Orleans EMTs to help him leapfrog over any other contenders.  Nice job, Baz!

Big Chill XV Necklace of Impunity Winnah!

Someone thought it was a good idea to memorialize some of the past winners, with a nod to the reasons why:

Past Necklace Winners...and how they won...

The day closed out with an absolutely fantastic sunset, as if knowing the Chill was moving its locale next year and giving us a remembrance.  Baz and Z took some incredible pictures, none of which did the Eventide justice...but we tried....

And so, another Chill closes its chapter.  Monday morning was a bustle to pack up, clean up, and head up the road.  But we left with another year of great memories, and asking once again: "Howzit going to get any better than this?"