November 19 PARTY REPORT

My expectations sank during the unpromisingly soggy afternoon but miraculously the rain stopped just in time for what proved to be a perfect cosmosoirée! The turn out was spot on with a total of 65 fabulous international people, 35 women and 30 men including 31 new-comers. Everyone was in great party spirits and the entire evening was fun-filled and smooth sailing! Best of all our special guest photographer, Thomas Wagner, did an excellent job in capturing the images and mood of the soirée, so with out further ado I will let his pictures speak a thousand words... A la prochaine!
Thomas Wagner Photography
http://www.the-visual-cortex.es/
(click on photos to enlarge)

Saturday Sept 17 Party Report

Once again we achieved an optimum crowd for what was another super summer soirée, and HOT is definitely the adjective that springs to mind! The situation was even stickier due to a drooping fan and the fact that my faithful old freezer finally threw in the towel (hence less ice than usual, sorry), but thankfully spirits and energy levels did not seem to be adversely effected!
The gender balance was again a little askew with 41 women to 29 men, but we had a great turn out of new guests welcoming 37 to their first Cosmosoirée. As ever there was a great variety of nationalities although the local presence does seems to be growing!

I tried a couple of new dishes such as a chickpea salad and caramel panna cotta, both of which apparently went down well, along with all the other staples. And I must say a big mercí beaucoup to my lovely helpers, Mademoiselles Charlotte and Tina:)


Well the temperatures have certainly taken a dive since then, and as we bid farewell to the summer we can look forward to a COOL Cosmo in October!

July 9 *voilà l'eté* Party Report

Last saturday's summer soirée was yet another very successful and fun event with a fabulous international crowd of 70. Statistically speaking there was large majority of 45 women, but this was hardly noticeable as the 25 men made up for the lack of numbers by their dazzling individual presence, good looks and charm!;) As usual we had a solid core of cosmo-regulars and also welcomed 28 newcomers.
I tried to vary the menu a little with some more summery salads on the buffet table including my new favorite - tuna, apple and walnut salad with cream cheese dressing. For dessert I introduced a cheese cake option and a giant fruit salad together with the already popular chocolate mousse cake and citrus slice, all home-made naturellment! Another summer surprise was the big bowl of refreshing sangría de cava at the welcome bathtub bar.

Thanks to my friend Charlotte for all her help again and to all my guests for their wonderful friendly party spirits:)

April 30 PARTY REPORT

What promised to be another mega-soirée last saturday turned out to be a very pleasant and civilised affair with a "mere" crowd of 68;) This was due to a record number of 12 no-shows (and only a couple of surprise shows) so it was a pity that quite a few people had missed out because I told them it was way too full.

Continuing on with the vital statistics... as usual we had a feminine majority with 40 women to 28 men, and a total of 31 were first time cosmo-guests. As well as the interesting variety of international people there does seem to be an increasing takeover by the local population, this time over half the guests being españoles/catalanes!

Everyone was in fine spirits and the evening flowed very smoothly and with surprisingly little mess, thanks largely to the efforts of my official helper Monica, who also contributed a delicious tabbouleh salad to the buffet table. I believe a fun time was had by all, and in keeping with the well-behaved tone of the evening the official ending time of 1:30 was remarkably respected!
By 1:45 all had politely departed, continuing into the Barcelona night with new found friends :)

Cosmosoirée *CARNAVAL* Party Report

On a complicated long weekend with a Barça clash and many other parties to compete with, I guess it was bound to be a smaller crowd than usual, so in fact we did quite well to gather 49 high spirited, fancily- dressed international partiers! A handful of heroic hombres staunchly upheld the honour of the male population, most of whom evidently choose to wimp-out when it comes to costume parties;) The 17 guys who did make the effort were justly rewarded with the doting presence and attention of 32 lovely ladies.

photos Cesar Julian

It's good to see that the cosmo-fame is still spreading as we welcomed a relatively large number of 22 new-comers into our midst, 13 women and 9 men.

With my new improved loft layout providing extra space and better buffet access we freely floated about blazoning wings, wigs, swords and sombreros as we enjoyed the excellent company and a huge tasty feast, certainly nobody went hungry!
As an added bonus we were honoured with the services of photographer extraordinaire Cesar Julian, who conducted a photocall in my front room during the course of the evening with some fabulous and fun results! Thanks Cesar!!!

Special thanks also to my friends Brigitte and Philippe for their help on the night, and to all who attended for their great carnival spirits making it yet another very successful soirée:)

PARTY REPORT *VINgt-onze* 22 January

Last saturday we somehow managed to squeeze a record 79 people into my humble loft... it was certainly cozy, but surprisingly comfortable! The final gender ratio was thankfully a little more even than it had threatened a couple of days before, with a respectable 34 men to 45 women, all hailing from about 20 different countries of origin. A massive number of 55 were repeat cosmo-guests and we welcomed 24 new recruits.

Considering the huge crowd the evening went very smoothly thanks to everyone's good spirits and in particular to my wonderful friends Tina, Brigitte and Philippe for lending a helping hand. The food was evidently appreciated, almost all was eventually polished off but I don't think anyone went hungry and many complimented me on the tastiness!

All in all another very good fun and successful soirée, a la prochaine!

18 december 2010 *2éme anniversaire* PARTY REPORT

On this rather festive occasion and with now two years of cosmo-experience I daringly decided to introduce a few novelties to my tried and tested party plan. To kick start the evening we had a big brew of mulled wine steaming away on the terrace cooker, and a new drinks area on the terrace table.
The first course buffet included more warm dishes such as a huge heated pot of my new pasta favorite - with bacon, red cabbage, prunes, rosemary and walnuts. Must have been a hit because it all disappeared! Then came the big breakthrough of the evening… main course MEATLOAF (instead of the usual chicken curry) served with roast veggies and rice. All of this “hot stuff” required a lot of oven logistics, and I couldn't have managed without Tina for all her help with the ins and outs! Everyone seemed very happy and satisfied with this hearty main course treat, but there was still room for dessert, which I served on the kitchen bar for the first time and this seemed to work well. Two warm citrus pies and a panettone were in turn served up, each with ceremonious anniversary candles, and not to forget the accompanying hot apple compote, cream and strawberries, yum yum!

Moving on to the vital statistics… even with my efforts to control the numbers it had promised to be another "overbooking total" but due to a number of naughty no shows the final toll was a manageable 62 people, 34 women and 28 men from about 18 different countries. Coincidentally there was a perfectly even split between newcomers and cosmo-pros, 31 of each.
I think everyone would agree it was another very fun and successful soirée, thanks to all for participating, and special thanks to Brigitte and Tina for their help.

Bonnes fêtes a tous, à l’année prochaine!