Work in Progress

Entertaining is, you might call it, a passion of mine. Some might put me over the edge of being obsessed but however you spell it, I just like doing it a whole lot. From setting up (and even cleaning!) our house and getting to hang out with friends, to menu planning and the subsequent grocery shopping (oooh - my favorite!), I love each and every morsel.

Often I get a little tied up in the planning part... the narrowing down of my stacked-high piles of recipes, combining my choices with what's on sale that week and what we already have stashed in the cupboard... calling what results "side-tracked" is being more than friendly.

Buuuut... once I've righted my ship, usually something at least edible (and on occasion, even repeatable, which is obviously a big bonus) is born. Things like decorating my table and selecting the right mix of serving dishes for the final presentation are still works in progress... and perhaps a call for help will meet your eyes right here one day.

You'd think, then, that I'd be the first to notice things like say, serving an entire vegetarian meal (to self-avowed meat-eaters). Alas, it was only as I was setting individual portions of this delicious lasagna and it's accompaniment of garden-fresh herbed tomato salad on the table that I realized the entire meal, from start-to-finish, was devoid of anything that could even moonlight as meat.

Thankfully one of the uh, meatless items on the table was this Black-Bean and Spinach Lasagna (thanks, Emily!!). It truly saved the dinner. And we were only too happy to feast on the left-overs for as long as they would last... which wasn't long enough.

Luckily, my shame lasted for even less time, as no one seemed to notice my embarrassing oversight in menu-planning until I mentioned it (I will never learn).