The Après and Fun & Sun Luau 1/28-30

Report and pictures by Erin Barnett

Erin Barnett and Birthday Girl Linda Indreboe have done it again with another outstanding event at the lodge for the crazy members of Après and Fun & Sun.

Friday night was kicked off with a killer taco dinner created by master chefs Chris Koknat and Russ Mannas. No canned tomatoes were spared for this feast!

Fashion Queen Erin modeled her new leopard print coat, hat and slippers with snake skin patterned pants while Henry Rees went for the pink flamingo look in his fuchsia sweats. Shawn Harlan loaned him her pink hair flower to finish his look.

The Snow Gods smiled upon us and gave us great conditions for the weekend. We snowboarded, skied or crashed the day away at the ski resorts and terrorized the locals.

Enough of this winter crap -- time to Luau! Everyone sported their brightest and most obnoxious Hawaiian shirts and leis and started beating a large tropical bird. The parrot piñata was nobody’s friend. Sandy Saadi, Janice Melena, Mark Hochendoner, and Birthday Boy Aaron Brown all took swings at the bad bird with a ski pole until the other guests ducked for cover. A badminton racket was then substituted to beat the candy out of the parrot.

Now that we had candy, it was time to drink. Sandy, Peter Porfido, Janice and Cheryl concocted the first drink for the Luau Tropical Drink Competition. The "Orange Volcano" was renamed the "F*cked-up Parrot" after the parrot on Brad Grossman’s hat was used to decorate the glass. It really added to the ambiance of the drink.

The "Blue Lagoon" also entered the competition with Peter disclaiming any credit or responsibility for it. That all went to Cheryl and Sandy.

The "Après Special" was a beautiful but potent tropical blue drink created by the Snowboarding Chiropractor, Richard.

Russ brought forth the fearsome "Black Plague" that was so strong that the fumes made judge Ray cry.

Our Judges, Erin, Mark Hardin, Kris Holyoak and Ray Muggli, sampled away. They should never play poker. It was no surprise that the "Orange Volcano" won Most Exotic. It was as delicious as it was decorated!

Richard’s drink with the secret ingredient of Listerine failed to impress the judges even though they now had minty-fresh breath. But he gets an honorable mention.

The "Black Plague" claimed the Most Dangerous category for Russ. Russ and Sandy won very shiny plastic trophies, bikinied female torso drinking cups and a tropical beach towel.

The crowd cheered and went back to drinking the rum straight up and eating pineapple birthday cake.

On Sunday morning, Lou De Propris cured the hung-over with his incredible made-to-order omlettes. A tired but happy & well-fed group filtered out of the lodge to enjoy a sunny day back on the slopes.