Sunday, November 24th, dawned sunny and bright. Barely six-weeks after Hurricane's Helene and Milton created such havoc in Lido Shores, more than 60-Lido Shorians gathered at Bill and Jan Farber’s home on New Pass to celebrate surviving the elements, and having each other safe and sound, there to share our collective friendship.
Originally scheduled for not long after the storms hit, our October potluck date didn’t survive everyone’s efforts to get their homes back to normal. Knowing that it would do us good to get together, Social Committee Chair Jan Farber contacted the City of Sarasota to see if its tables and chairs trailer was available. We were in luck. We were offered the last weekend in November. Despite falling just before the Thanksgiving holidays, RSVPs poured in. The potluck was on!
Carol Fuoco, our commander-in-chief for set-up and take-down, delayed her plans to go back early to Philadelphia for Thanksgiving and was there at 1:00 pm to get everyone organized. As usual, a large group of volunteers showed up and made short work of moving tables and chairs from the street to the rear of the Farbers’ home... with New Pass providing a beautiful setting for our event.
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| Katie Best, MaryLee Bischoff, Anne Essner + Kato, Denis Bischoff |
Neighbors began arriving promptly at 4:00 pm, with Katie Best, Marylee and Denis Bischoff greeting everyone and handing out name tags. We were directed to bring our prepared dishes into Jan’s kitchen, which was well-organized by course. But in order to get to the Main Dish counter, you had to pass the Dessert display – which was a tough temptation to pass by.
Heading into the backyard, our long-time bartender Janet Augustine had plenty of beer, wine and soft drinks all set up and ready to go. Judging from the crowd assembled at the bar, it was clear that Fred and Judy Fiala had worked their wine selection magic once again!
But the appetizers really got the party humming. Among the hits: Laura Muth brought her Mexican layer dip; Amie Herbert provided shrimp cocktail; Judy Fiala brought her famous chicken liver paté – and Elliott Himelfarb, fresh in from a trip to Paris, overcame jet lag and wowed us with his salmon bites à la Japonaise. As the sun began to set, focus shifted to dinner... and we found that everyone had outdone themselves. For those who had to justify “healthy eating,” (undoubtedly having scoped out the dessert table on the way in) there were salads: broccoli salad from Randy Lasley; Greek salad from Sandra Appignani, Italian orzo salad from Susan Levine.... and a peperoni and lentil salad prepared by Bob Essner.
For those of us who decided to just dig in, there were lots of tempting main dishes: white chicken chili (Lisa Ketchum); sloppy joes (Karyn Smith); prosciutto-and-cheese-stuffed chicken breasts (Diane Cook); Mexican casserole (Susie Thill); braised chicken with fresh figs (Tom Fitzgerald); and vegetable lasagna (Cathy Voigts).
For those of you who were unable to be with us, please know you were missed.
- Our Spring Potluck is scheduled for Sunday, March 23, 2025.
- And a reminder the LSPOA Annual Meeting and Dinner is coming up February 2, 2025.
Happy Holidays to all – we’ll look forward to seeing you soon!
Anne Essner
LSPOA Social Committee
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