By Dave Pratt
Photos by Dave and George Dolak

Another fine time was had at this year's annual AONE Winter Potluck Dinner Party that took place on February 18th at the Josiah Smith Tavern in Weston, MA. This time around, the weather cooperated amazingly well, with temps well up into the 50s and nary a cloud in sight. This, of course, helped us achieve an excellent turnout of well over 30 people — a far cry from last year's baker's dozen in zero degrees!

Everyone arrived in good spirits, bearing all sorts edible goods to share around. Our new scheme that had Tom Lesko coordinating what people were bringing to eat seemed to work well, as we got to enjoy a wide variety of fine food, to wit:

Shrimp Appetizer
Taralli
Antipasto Salad
Vegetable Salad
Eggplant Parmigiana
Roasted Sausage, Peppers and Potatoes
Chicken Piccata
Vegetarian Dish
Chicken alla Cacciatora
Lasagna
Cannoli
Cakes

...and we're sure we missed listing several other dishes. Seems like we say it every year, but the quality and variety of the food everyone brings keeps getting better with every potluck!

As a new feature this year, we had a table set up for a mini swap meet. A number of members brought various Alfa parts, magazines, memorabilia, and odds 'n' ends to sell or give away. A nice touch!

While everyone was milling around before dinner, and also during, Tom Lesko ran a slide show of photos from all of last year's club events, which evoked many memories and several chuckles. After dinner, Tom showed some images and video clips from his recent trip to the Alfa Romeo Museum in Arese. It's really quite an impressive place, from many different perspectives. Thanks, Tom, for putting this together for us!

Then it was time for the door prizes. Tom contacted a few of our valued Alfa parts vendors and they showed their appreciation for our business by making generous contributions. There was also a very sizable anonymous donation that was used to purchase even more Alfa-related goodies. There were different Alfa Romeo hats, various tools, T-shirts, shift knobs, serpent hood decals, patches, pens, key fobs, books, oil filters, shop rags, tote bags, DVDs, license plate frames, badges — something for everybody and then some! Special thanks go out to two Alfa parts and accessories suppliers for their kind donations: Italian Car Parts, Ltd. (a.k.a. Mr. Fiat) contributed a whopping $50 gift card, and AR Ricambi contributed a very nice Alfa Romeo rear view mirror. Please show them your appreciation by patronizing their businesses!

After the door prizes had made their way into the hands of the appreciative recipients, people hung around for quite a long time before calling it a night, an indicator of the fine time everyone was having. Finally, we packed up our projector, banners, supplies, leftovers, and prizes, and took out the trash. Thanks go to everyone, but especially Tom Lesko and Jim DeWaele, who made all the arrangements (and even remembered to bring the plates and utensils), and Deb Donovan, who made it all run like clockwork!

Before the party, the AONE Board of Directors held a two-hour meeting at the Tavern. Planning and dates for this year's upcoming club events were discussed — as things are firmed up, they'll be posted in our Calendar section. Expect another full year of interesting, fun club activities!

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