Mid-Atlantic Gardening: Think Spring! (Chinese) Tea Party & Seed Swap for Feb 23, 0 by critterologist

critterologist wrote:
Since I've had some health issues pop up, I've reluctantly decided that we need to switch to a "Plan B" for our get-together next Saturday. Meeting at a local restaurant rather than at home means that our party will be a success regardless of whether I've bounced back by then. I really appreciate all the offers of help that poured forth when I asked... but I think this will be an even easier option. It will let me concentrate on fun things like seeds, and maybe a couple of door prizes...

Hopefully, this new thread will make all the information easier to find.

THE NEW PLAN

Saturday, Feb 23, 12 pm, meet at Chef Lin, an Chinese-American buffet that's one of our favorite Frederick restaurants. I said I thought we'd have at least 20 people, and they will let us use their back room. I'll be able to set up a table there so that we can get name tags as we arrive, and we can use a separate table for our seed swapping. They said we can stay and chat and do our thing, no problem. Hooray!

At 2 pm, we'll do a little thing and give away some door prizes. If you have something you'd like to donate as a prize, please Dmail me.

We'll concentrate on seed swapping from 2 to 3 pm. Of course, seeds can be swapped outside of that time, and of course anybody who doesn't want to swap seeds can just keep chatting and visiting.

I'll post directions, but you can also find them via Mapquest or GoogleMaps... Chef Lin Buffet, 417-A South Jefferson St., Frederick. 301-620-0664.

The Saturday lunch buffet price is $7.99 for all you care to eat. Please figure $10 per person with tax/tip. If you order a soda (water and hot tea are included in the fixed price), please add $1. If you want snow crab legs, add another $3.50. I don't want to ask them to run 20 separate tabs for our party, so please give the money for your meal to my husband, Jim, and he'll take care of the accounting. (I know $2 is a generous tax/tip calculation for buffet service, but they are really attentive here, and we'll be staying for several hours, so it seemed fair to me.)

With the sushi, mussels, steamed shrimp, fish, and other seafood on the buffet, I've never felt the need for the snow crab, but it's an available option. The buffet has everything from soups and stir-fries to fried chicken and mozzarella sticks... there's salad, fruit, and an array of desserts, including soft-serve ice cream and hot little fried doughnuts. The selection is remarkable, and even if you don't like Chinese food you'll probably find plenty of possibilities.

I know this is a last minute change of venue, and I know some folks might be on tight budgets. If the cost of the meal might keep you from coming, please Dmail me, and we'll be glad to cover you. I don't want anybody to miss out.

Some folks are planning to come early and go to Dutch Plant Farm before the swap. I can see I need to add a review to the Go Gardening entry, http://davesgarden.com/products/go/view/3903/ They're located at 151 Baughman's Lane in Frederick... That's just off US-40, behind JoAnn's. Their Saturday hours are 8:30 to 6 pm.

Be sure to catch my article tomorrow (Sunday), with lots of photos of DPF! :-) http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/769/

I'll copy our sign up list in the next post... If you're a "maybe" or if your plans change, please let me know so I can edit the list and get a head count. I don't want to surprise them by saying 20-30 people and then showing up with 8... or 48. :-)


This message was edited Feb 20, 2008 12:50 AM