Wednesday, March 01, 2006

FOSH 'Dinner Event' at Freshwaters a big hit


Though they handled it with great grace, there were signs that Freshwaters' staff was nearly overwhelmed by the turnout at last night's 'Dinner Event' sponsored by the Friends of Sleepy Hollow [FOSH].

We had originally planned to go with another couple, and that had grown into a party of eight before we got there. By the time we got a table, it was a party of thirteen. The main dining room was so full we were put in the smaller room with a fireplace.

Everyone remembered that Freshwaters is a BYOB venue, and the assorted wines were shared round the table, not seeming to run dry throughout the course of the evening.

Properly lubricated, everyone at our table saw someone else they knew and wanted to introduce to the table, so many new acquaintances were made. And people obviously also saw old friends they hadn't seen in a while.

The food, as always, was ample, well-prepared, and served piping hot. We must have put chef Cliff through his paces as our group was pretty individualistic about their orders. Our lovely wisp of a server, whose name I never got because of the hubbub, wrangled armfuls of heavy platters with aplomb, serving everyone within a couple of minutes -- a feat many other restaurants whould envy.

Sharon's desserts topped off the evening with panache. When was the last time you had 'Red Velvet Cake' or a real home-made coconut cake? And the peach cobbler was warm and luscious.

The talk at our table --about equally divided between political and non-political types-- was mostly apolitical. The biggest question of the evening was whether ex-Governor you-know-who was actually buying a home in Plainfield. And whether Eric Watson was really leaving the PMUA, though it has often been denied. And what to make of Democratic Party chairperson Assemblyman Green's announcement that he alone would pick the candidates for the June Democratic primary. People were quite content to let the answers trail off . . .this was going to be a decidedly social evening, not a political one.

Dutifully filling out one of the forms that gave credit for our table to FOSH, we summed up and split our nearly $500 tab, heading home in the crisp night air -- happy to have helped scholarships for PHS seniors, Freshwaters' usually slow Tuesday evenings, and our appreciation of good company and a fun time.

Freshwaters
1442 South Avenue, Plainfield
(908) 561-9099


-- Dan Damon
Keywords: FOSH

No comments: