Putnam Manor Dinner Dance

After an especially wet winter, my neighborhood association, the Putnam Manor Civic Association, held its annual dinner dance at the gorgeous Solar do Minho Portuguese restaurant in Roselle Park, April 17, 2010. I was the official photographer, but also a neighbor. What a fun group! The people who didn't mind looking silly clearly had the most fun, and the food was delicious. It started off with a Portuguese paella, some fried seafood cakes and calamari, salad or soup, then several main courses, including a chicken français, and a wonderfully tender beef in a cream sauce. Desert was flan/creme caramel in two forms: as a ring mold, and as exquisite short dough cups. One needed self-control to keep from eating five of them. Leo de Oca and I provided photo/video evocations of the beauties of our neighborhood, Leo with a sensitive spring tour, and mine was a four-season account that featured an ice storm, a large hawk in my back yard, the Christmas decorations in the snow, and this exuberant early spring. We had a great live band during dinner and a skilled DJ on his laptop for the dancing. Here's a dynamic slide show that attempts to capture the spirit of the evening.