September 14, 2009

Party Like a Black Belt

On Saturday night, I hosted a party to finally celebrate my black belt. My graphic designer made me incredible invitations that matched my blog design. My good friend and chef extraordinaire helped me create a menu, shopped with me, and ended up cooking throughout the first part of the party (not to mention the days before). My friend and neighbor showed up early to get the bar ready and to serve as bartender for the night. Man, he did an awesome job, as anyone who had one of his drinks can attest.

My daughter helped me create paper lanterns with the kanji for "Nintai" (Persevere) written on them (seen hanging from the catwalk above in the picture below.) They were also burning brightly outside all night.

And friends and family who played a part in helping me get my black belt were invited. Most attended. Some even took crazy pictures of all of us sticking our tongues out. Thank you Jeff.

There was chicken and beef yakitori with ginger, teriyaki and peanut sauces, shrimp wontons (made from scratch), asparagus with sesame oil and black sesame seeds, salad with ginger dressing, fried rice, teriyaki meatballs, vegetables with ponzu dipping sauce, crunchy noodle salad, fruit and vegetable trays, three different amazing salsa's, Japanese inspired snack mixes, enough Wasabi to make your eyes burn, homemade green tea ice cream and an incredible cake that said one word only in addition to the kanji that the cake lady actually wrote onto my icing belt with pretty much flawless precision.

The word? "Finally." The obi even had the seams that made it look like actual fabric and it was three-dimensional and actually looked like a belt was on top of the cake. When Big I saw it she said, "You're not going to cut that right???" It was almost too pretty to eat. Almost.

As guests arrived they were given a white ribbon to wear and throughout the night there were opportunities to get their yellow, green, brown and black ribbons. There were corresponding colored jello shots, Alton Brown's Cape Fear punch with green tea in it and enough liquor to kill an elephant, sake and more.

People got really into the rank promotions and by 10 p.m. I was asking my karate teachers to please school people on not asking for rank. I was very excited about how much everyone got into earning their black belts. I do have to admit though, that giving my 8th and 9th degree black belt teachers their "white belts" was just a bit uncomfortable. They were very good sports though.

Everyone seemed to be having a really good time. . .

As I was about to cut the cake, I asked everyone to come into the dining room and I gave a little speech.

I talked about Randy Pausch's "Last Lecture." I told them that just as he has a head fake at the end of his speech, I had one for the night too. Several neighbors thought I was going to say I was pregnant at this point. Clearly they had not seen me hitting the punch bowl on a regular basis. My "head fake" was that this party wasn't really for me; it was for them, my friends, family and teachers who helped me in ways that some of them may not have even realized. Then some people said some nice stuff about me and I got all teared up.

In attendance were my karate teachers and training friends, my physical therapist and his amazing graphic designer wife, my neighbors who volunteered to watch my girls on a regular basis so I could get out the door to train one more night a week, and friends who continually encouraged me on my journey.

We ate cake, consumed entirely too many color-coordinated jello shots, played beer pong and flip cup on the patio until I demanded we move it to the garage because I didn't want to get arrested. . .

This would be me "demanding". . .

. . . and we eventually broke out the karaoke machine too. And oh my God, the video evidence I now have to ruin people.

I also started a new fashion trend. All the cool girls are doing it. Those would be chopsticks, a required accessory for doing jello shots throughout the night. And I thought I had to work hard for my black belt! Geez!

I spent an entire week preparing for the party that finally ended around 3 a.m. and it was so worth it. For those of you who missed it, who played a role in helping me get to black belt, thank you as well. You weren't here to have the cake, but after I finish polishing it off, I'm going to need all the help I can get just to get my black belt back around my waist. I'll be relying on you once again.