Sunday, February 10, 2008

A Party at the Aquarium

Last night George and I went to the New England Aquarium for his office party. It is an annual event that they have at various venues in the city each February. There is always lots of wonderful food. They pass hors d'oeuvres like duck with goat cheese, beef wellington bites, shrimp with wasabi, crab cakes and there are multiple stations of vegetable crudites and cheeses. Dinner is served buffet style at points throughout the party with roast beef (always a favorite), tropical pork & pineapple, grilled salmon and a station for various kinds of ravioli. All this is served with elegant side dishes. There is usually tarts and fruit for dessert, but George and I seldom make it that long. They have an orchestra and a few hardy souls venture out.

Last night the party was held at the New England Aquarium. The evening was darker than normal, but they had tables overlooking the huge fish tank with candles, so it was all very nice. I have never been there before. It was fun and interesting to see all the fish, penquins, sea turtles and stingrays. We followed the pathway up and up around the center tank, where some really colorful and interesting shapes of fishes go round and round. There was a diver with a sign that read George's company name. The diver would put the sign up on the coral, and an angel fish would come by and knock it down. This happened three times, and finally the diver gave up and just swam by a few times with the sign in his hand.

The fish are amazing. It was a little disconcerting to stand in line by the baked salmon table which had been placed right in front of the East Coast Salmon tank, with all the little salmon eyeing the festivities with alarm. But, that didn't stop anyone from enjoying their dinner, which was served with Asian noodles and a napa cabbage salad.

The floor was unadorned cement, and dancing looked rather hard on the legs, so few people ventured onto the small dance floor. I don't know what kind of music the band was playing but it was relatively undanceable. We wandered around instead, greeting friends and munching on all the delicious food. Instead of waiting for the door prize drawing and the tarts, we came home. On the way home we bought some sugar free vanilla ice cream and enjoyed that tucked in our beddies. A nice way to end the evening.

I'm sure we had more fun that those salmon in that tank.

Have a great day.