I want to do that, too. Put Em in her stroller and just wander. Specifcally that park near Deb's house with the big dome thingy in it.

Oh, I LOVES me some Three Olives. Yum.

does your bar carry it? cause they should.

Specifcally that park near Deb's house with the big dome thingy in it.

That would be Golden Gate Park, and the big dome thingy is the Victorian Conservatory of Flowers. Three minutes walk from my house.

We should also sneak out and eat at Louis', a nice reasonable diner food place with the most breathtaking views imaginable. Perched up the hill from the Cliff House restaurant, which is neither diner nor reasonable.

That would be Golden Gate Park

Yeah! That's the ticket!

I'm not particular about the brand of my gin or vodka, but I do want to request that the bar have fixings for appletinis.

Do we have any dessert wine options like reislings or muscat d'astis?

Food choices listed sound perfect to me.

BTW, for everyone doing Monterey on Monday: the distance between SFO and Monterey is roughly 100 miles each way:

the map

Remember that traffic can get congested as all hell. So leave yourself enough time on the road, and plan on a very early start, so that you can get everyone with an evening flight back to the airports on time.

(end "nagging mama" moment)

Matt, I was thinking of asking them about dessert wines - I actually do drink Baume de Venis, but I'm insanely picky about it.

There will be a drunken fruit salad, fruit macerated in muscat to produce a sort of boozy icy slush, either in the HS or at the BBQ or both.

First—thanks for all the work. Overall, this sounds great. However, there's one thing I feel pretty strongly about that I need to voice. I believe an open bar between 7-9 is a waste of money. My experience as the hotel coordinator last year and as attendee the year before was that almost no one gets to Prom until 9. Most people are having dinner and then going through the time-consuming process of corsetting/dollying/prettying up. I understand your concerns about drunk driving, Deb, but most people are staying at the hotel that night, and I truly believe that those few who aren't have the good sense to either have a designated driver or stop drinking early enough on their own. Many people pay extra money to stay at the hotel on Prom night for exactly that reason.

Ideally, a 9-1 bar would serve the most people, though I'd be okay with a compromise of 8-12. I don't mean to be a pain in the ass, but I really believe that an earlier bar time would be wasted money.

ETA: Not trying to slam your work in any way here. Just speaking as a rare drinker who would really like to be able to drink without watching the clock that night.

Kristin is wise. I hadn't thought about it specifically, but I think that matches my recollections from other proms as well.

brenda, any chance you have any of your yummy Ponche left?

Don't think I'm going to chance taking it on a plane. Guess you'll just have to come up to Chicago...

My experience as the hotel coordinator last year and as attendee the year before was that almost no one gets to Prom until 9.

Oh, good call -- I hadn't even thought about that.