Friday, July 10, 2009

Bunkitty Bunko

On Monday night I hosted bunko at my house. Let me just say that "my month" had been hanging over my head for quite a while. I'm glad to have it behind me! It was really fun though. That was my third time to host bunko in the last few years. It's a lot of work when your turn comes, but it's always worth it. My first year to host in Irving, I was about a month away from having Jackson. I'm surprised it didn't send me into labor. We had just moved into our little house and I remember that the nursery door had to be closed because that room was still filled with equipment, wood, and saw dust. For my second year to host in Irving, my theme was "homerun bunko." I served hot dogs, nachos, giant pickles, and peanuts - stuff you'd eat at a ball park. I also had a cake made in the shape of a baseball. That was a lot of fun. I've wished so many times that I'd taken pictures that night. I miss all of those girls a ton.

I didn't have a theme to this bunko. It was just "Hurry up and get those naked walls covered before your friends come over bunko." I served Sunni's cheesy enchiladas. They're really good and you pretty much can't mess them up unless you let them cool off too much before you serve them. Which, of course, I did. We had them with salad and homemade ranch (from a packet - not truly homemade) and Mexican rice. I'd made strawberry cupcakes for dessert. I've been on a cupcake baking kick this summer. They're so much harder to mess up than a cake. The bunko gifts were jewelry from Aldo - several sets of bracelets, some earrings, and a necklace. I wanted to keep all of it for myself, but that's not how it works now, is it?

I got started playing bunko when Curt and I were newlyweds and we were working with middle school kids at HFBC. The youth workers had started a group years before to have a chance to fellowship with each other. The cool thing about bunko is that you move around to different tables and sit with different people all night. It's a fun way to get to know people. When we got married I became a sub for that group. Even though I was a sub, I was invited to play almost every month. Those ladies were so much fun. There were women of all ages and they were loud and crazy. That group stopped playing not too long after we moved to North Texas.

Once we got to Irving, some of the girls my age got a group started up. That was one of the main ways I got to know my peers since we spent so much time with the students. If you read my blog back then, you know how special all of those friends are to me.

After Curt and I moved home last summer, Courtney fired up the old youth worker group. I was pumped! What's so neat about this group is that half the group is my age and half the group is my mom's age. There are some stinking hilarious women who play. I didn't want to have any regrets this time, so I made myself annoy everyone and take pictures.

Here are the beautiful bunko queens.

Cyndi, Kay, Betty and Stephanie. Can you see the red toy crawfish we used for our traveling twos? That was one of the party favors from my friend Jen's daughter's first birthday.



Eileen, me, Nancy, and Linda/Mama Sproule.



Christine/Fitine, Courtney (who you definitely cannot tell is having a wee babe in several weeks), Michelle, and Dana.



I have some hilarious blooper pictures but I want everyone to still like me after this. This is as blooperific as I'll get. Here everyone is laughing because of everything we went through to get this shot. First we tried to take it using a timer. We never could figure it out. During our struggle, Curt walked in the door and saved us from ourselves. But when he went to take it, the timer started going off. And voila'!



Then we got the timer disengaged...just in time for the battery to die! I had a backup battery, so it was all good. Here we are with our prettiest bunko smiles.



My hair was looking really flat. That's the hazard of taking Jackson to his swim lessons. It's like a sauna in the covered pool and it always ruins my hair.

By the way, one of my groups spelled bunko with a "k" and the other with a "c." I can never keep straight which spelling I'm supposed to use.

Here's Sunni's Cheesy Enchilada Recipe. Thanks, sweet friend! You were with me in spirit and Velveeta!

Sunni's Cheesy Enchiladas

Ingredients:
(Half this recipe unless you're feeding a crowd)
24 flour tortillas
2 lbs. ground beef
2 lbs. Velveeta, cubed
2 cans Rotel tomatoes
4 (8-oz.) cartons sour cream
¼ cup butter
2 med. onions, chopped
1 dash garlic salt
Salt & pepper to taste

Brown meat with one chopped onion. Add garlic salt and salt & pepper. Drain. Coat large sauce pan with non-stick spray. Add sour cream & tomatoes, mix well. Add butter & heat on medium heat. Add Velveeta—stirring constantly. Add the remaining chopped onion. Turn heat to low, and simmer for about 5 min. The cheese/butter should be melted by this point. Add a portion of the sauce to meat. Spoon meat mixture into tortillas. Lay in casserole dish, seam down. Pour remaining sauce over enchiladas. Cover and bake for 15 min. at 350 degrees.

*One time I forgot to put half of the onions in with the cheese and all the onion ended up in the meat instead. Curt is not a huge fan of onions, so we ended up liking it that way. I've also added some spinach in with the meat before and it was good. It might fool you into thinking this is good for you.

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

I miss my bunko girls from when we lived in Allen. We moved to Houston about 3 years ago and I joined our neighborhood group to get to know my neighbors. But that really ended up being a few of those gals with all the old neighbors who had already moved out.

Anyway, I would love to find a new group and new friends, so if you ever need a sub, I am ready and willing!

Anytime I can get out without my 4 little ones in tow is a good time!

C:M:W said...

oh i want irving BunKo back!!!!!!! We had so much fun... we should have a bunko reunion night!
Miss you friend!

Ashli said...

I used to play with a group and we were so loud we would wake up the kids that were upstairs in bed!

Also, we always forget the rules, or get to talking and lose track.

Fun times! Your house is beautiful, you should have no worries!

Bobbie said...

What fun!! I've always wanted to learn to play bunko--hopefully I will someday. Your cheesy enchiladas sound yummy, I'll try it next week.

I'm having the same problem with the 'hurry and cover those naked walls' syndrom!! We've been in our home since last November and cannot find anything I like for the walls. We've made numerous trips to Willowbrook, Laurie's in Tomball, and Pottery Barn on Westheimer. (Can't wait for them to get their 'next season' new things!) I think maybe I need a trip to Salado!!!!

Have a great weekend! BTW, in some of the pictures of the offices (from last year), there was some verses on the wall. Were they stenciled? I'm trying to build my courage to try this.

Kelly said...

I spell it with a C and love it! I want to come play with you and your friends! I think the theme nights are fun!

Joyce said...

I miss my bunco friends (we've just moved)...my favorite theme was pj nite...we all came dressed in our pajamas and it was so much fun. Plus, you could just go home and crawl into bed.

Your mantle is lovely.

Sunni at The Flying Mum said...

I'm glad I was there in enchilada spirit. And I remember the Home Run irving Bunco! Loved it!

Missy said...

We have a neighborhood bunko group but half the time we never play, we just sit around and talk and laugh all night. Okay, more than half the time.

FitzandMolly said...

those were dang good enchiladas - the Lord bless you and keep you for posting the recipe! you did a great job hosting, by the way. thanks!

Nancy Mon said...

Loved Bunko night at your home. Dinner was awesome and the cupcakes were wonderful. I love the necklace I won and it goes with so many of my outfits. The pictures turned out good and thank you so much for not showing the bloopers. Thanks for having us, it was a blast!

debra parker said...

Is it just me or do those enchiladas sound like a dream. I wish I could change my plans for dinner. Thanks for sharing the recipe.

Heather said...

What a fun night! Glad you were able to find some things for your walls! Your friends have some great hair going on!! And yours looks like it has grown since you got it cut. Fun times!

creative gal said...

I am so excited as I joined a bunco group this year!! I've subbed a few times, but not been an "official" member!

Lauren said...

Sooooo fun! I have never played that game but have heard so much about it!

Kiki said...

I am so stealing the Home Run Bunko theme. Thanks for the great idea!

katiegfromtennessee said...

That is good that you are able to get back together the group and play again. Your recipe does look tasty...I may have to try it:) I like the candid picture the most:) The expressions are more fun to look at:)

katiegfromtennessee

Anonymous said...

I LOVE the baseball theme idea! I'm hosting our bunko in August and I think I'll steal that theme from you :-)

Annika said...

Sometime can you explain what "bunco" is? I don't know if it's a Southern thing but I'm from the north and I have no idea what it is. :) But it sounds fun...any excuse to get together with girlfriends and have a theme...and enchiladas...gotta be worth it.

Colleen said...

Crack me up! My husband is a youth minister and at the first church that he served at, there was a Bunco group that asked if they could put me on the sub-list. (It was actually the Chairman of the Deacons' wife that asked, and she asked while we were standing at the sanctuary door meeting everyone on our very first Sunday!

They had a game three nights later. Those sweet ladies ended up being some of my closest friends! There were not any that were my age! But, boy, did my little boys ever have a lot of Grandma-types loading them up with Certs, TicTacs and mints every Sunday!

The B's said...

Am SOOOO to have a GOOD cheese enchilada recipe...will definitely be making this when hubby gets back from youth camp!!!! THANK YOU!

Fran said...

Amanda...I absolutely adore the woman in the front with the black and white on and the beauitful grey hair. Seriously....how cute is she????

Kelli said...

I am wishing that I had read this before we had our first one. It was at my house and I COMPLETELY forgot to take pictures. It was our groups first time to meet ever and I was so nervous! I had a picnic theme! It looks like you have a perfect group of lovely ladies to play with!

Anonymous said...

I love it! (I always spell it with a c) I have my twelve ladies at our previous church and I had been traveling back monthly for our group (20 - 30 minutes) and just recently I've realized that I'm needing to pull away from those sweet friends... it's just a next step to the move being complete. Ah well... I'm glad you a blast and I totally know the stress of setting up, although each time I've hosted it gets a little less..

Deanna said...

Just had to come back and tell you that I made these enchiladas tonight - I've seen you mention them many times but I'll be honest I really didn't even know what an enchilada was much less what it looked like!

I made them tonight and it was ABSOLUTELY amazing!!

Only problem is that now my family thinks I can cook!! :)

Living day by day for Jesus said...

I am catching up on blogs after taking a couple weeks away from the internet...I LOVE BUNCO! And I miss my bunco girls sooo much since I moved! AND...I love Aldo...I have so many clearance pieces from there! Good job on the prize choices! Glad it was a good time!