We hosted a pumpkin carving party over the weekend for about 75 of our closest friends and family…and their friends and family…and a few more people I didn’t know. It was actually a lot of fun. THE Daddy recently finished building a bar, family room, bathroom and playroom in the basement, so we had plenty of room to spread out. In case you haven’t read the MommyCosm About page, THE Daddy builds restaurants for a living. We were able to get a ton of stuff for cheap/free. I probably shouldn’t use the word “finished” because, yes, he is in construction. He loses steam about 90% into house projects. It’s probably as “finished” as I’ll ever see it! I realize that might make me sound bitter…I’m not…I’ve learned to live with that reality.

I must say that our basement ROCKS! We have a full bar and a draft system and plenty of room for a poker table. I’d show you pictures, but I wouldn’t want you to drool all over your keyboard. Actually, I can’t find the chord to hook the damn digital camera up to the computer. I’ll try to share pictures soon.

We debated which beer we should put on tap. Should we go with a generic Coors Light, aka. something our white trash friends (I say that with love) would drink plenty of…or do we go with an interesting micro-brew for the more sophisticated palates? The debate ended when we had a friend in the beer business offer to donate a keg…of Pumpkin beer. It was a huge hit. I decided to kick it up a notch and do a “rim” for the beer. I dipped the top of the glasses in apple cider and then dipped it in a mixture of brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Despite a few guys saying “DUDE, what the hell are you doing to my beer!?” it was a huge hit. Everyone willing to tried it loved it. The rest were stuck with cans and bottles out of the beer fridge…yep, we have a separate fridge down there…just for beer.

I was the bartender for the day. I had a blast and can’t wait to have another party. We didn’t even come close to kicking the keg. Luckily, the Red Sox and Patriots are both kicking ass playing this weekend, so we’ll probably have a few people over to watch the games. I was thinking about making steaks on Sunday with a new rub recipe we recently tried out at one of the restaurants THE Daddy built. Here it is:

UPDATE: I removed the recipe at the request of my husband.  Even though it is not an "on the menu" item, he wasn't sure if he would get in trouble.  Fair enough.  If you would like a KICK ASS rub recipe that includes cinnamon and nutmeg, email me at themommy at mommycosm dot com.

It’s the perfect blend of spicy and sweet and should taste really yummy with the Pumpkin beer.

Have any good recipes that might go with the beer? I have a feeling we’ll be needing a few more before the keg is kicked. Please leave a comment.