Yesterday was my turn to host again and, although three people from the OMs (Original Mahjettes) were unable to attend, we still pulled together our weekly game. X and S2 (we have an S1 and an S2, in no particular order) were able to play but we were missing J (meetings interfered!), K (on safari!), and S1 (still enjoying sunny California). Our good friends D and G joined us for lunch and lots of games.

Lunch was yet another Barefoot Contessa suggestion and it was perfect for this chilly winter day. For lunch we had big steaming bowls of Mexican Chicken Soup along with lots of chips and guacamole. Yum! Recipes and pictures will follow in tomorrow’s blog.

Dessert was Talenti Vanilla Gelato with a drizzle of Limoncello along with a platter of Tate’s wonderful gluten-free cookies – Chocolate Chip and also Ginger Zinger.

Of course, our Mahj afternoons would not be the same without some chocolates and the ever-present black licorice!

Our first four or five games were played with the gorgeous Bone and Bamboo set that X gave to me for my birthday (along with those fabulous wood racks). I had some great luck with that set and won a game right off the bat with the NEWS hand. Here you can see how my hand was shaping up.

After a while we switched over to my favorite of my Pung Chow sets and played a game or two with it although a couple of people were having some trouble playing with a set that had no indices…

This was my hand soon after the Charleston – you can see how few tiles have been discarded. I had just won the last game with the NEWS hand and I couldn’t believe that I was going to try to play it yet another time. But the Charleston really had dictated what I should do and, much to my surprise, I won again!

Then we switched to an oldie but goodie – the first Mah Jongg set I had ever purchased way back when from the incomparable and fabulous CHarli – and played with this set for the rest of the afternoon. To our great surprise and joy, J showed up after her meetings, sat down to play, and promptly declared Mah Jongg!

Although we miss S1 and K so very much, it was such fun to have new faces – D and G – play Mah Jongg with us. We really enjoyed having them join us today!

This was my last time to host – and play – for a while as I am going into the hospital next week to have Total Knee Replacement Surgery (TKR) – yikes! Send me good thoughts although, don’t you know, I will still be blogging from the hospital – and hopefully picking up a Mah Jongg game or two!

Recipes and pictures from today’s lunch to follow on tomorrow’s posting.