BLACKLIGHT T2 (the morning after)

Last night we hosted T2 (thanksgiving 2) at our apartment in Bed Stuy, with the theme this year being “blacklight.” Truly, one of the most tripped out dining experiences I’ve ever had. Someone best described the evening as a “lost boy’s feast,” (“Hook”):

because we mainly hogged out on cakes, frosting, shredded coconut, starches coated in melted cheez whiz, meringue, candy, marshmallow, devilled eggs, meats, popcorn, chips, flaming hot cheetohs, etc… We sure were lucky this year with this potLUCK! With the majority of the dishes people brought being of a vague processed sweet or salty flavor, underneath a blacklight, we were all definitely left with the feeling, “what the fuck did I just eat?” and “who cares!” Thanks to Erika Neola for taking these sweet photos.Here are some photos of food:

Dana Strasser made this very elegant pineapple meringue.

Those devilled eggs were so trippy, and so was that FACE!!

Jess Laskosky made this elegant chocolate cake with marshmallow icing, garnished with candy buttons and decorative windmills.

Even these cheap plastic utensils looked very elegant underneath the blacklight.

In the tradition of T2, we prepare TWO birds, this year they were “baby turkeys” (wamp wah), but very moist and delicious. They came out during dessert time, after people had already fully gorged themselves on frosted cakes, candy, and macaroni. I did not get any good photogaphy of the birds this year except for this blurry shot that I took:

This particular chicken was brined and basted in MOUNTAIN DEW and stuffed with crunchy CHEETOHS. For the basting sauce, I made a mountain dew reduction to intensify the citrus flavor. The second chicken was brined in salt and honey water, glazed with honey (because honey looks like uranium underneath a blacklight), and stuffed with WHITE BREAD.

To enhance our dining experience, Lisa Ramsey was on make-up duty. We wound up doing make-up on each other as the night progressed, and here are our weird results:

Here is Coco, one of our favorite faces of the evening.

Chris Duffy had this skull on his face to match his t-shirt.

Zachariah Durr went with a “text” approach.

Daren has some very confusing make-up done on him.

Shawn Lovejoy took advantage of “chiaroscuro.”

Erika Neola has something that is tribal themed done to her by Shawn Lovejoy.

Pete Koelsch reenacts Edvard Munch’s “The Scream.”

Here are some others:

Afterwards, after everyone had left, we turned the lights back on and realized what we had just eaten (Erika Neola did NOT take these sloppy photos):

Here is a photo of our evil-looking blacklight chandelier:

So in conclusion, foods that we found to have reacted well underneath a blacklight are:

• honey
• tonic water
• meringue
• devilled eggs
• candy buttons
• shredded coconut
• icing
• potato chips
• pasta
• meat bones

Foods that did NOT react well were:

• chocolate
• fried rice
• meat
• baby corn
• black beans
• salad greens
• onions
• NERDS

This T2 was truly a very valuable learning experience. On a final note, here is a photo that looks like a cat’s face, do you see it?:

Happy T2!