We're having vegetarian for dinner tonight.

Friday, March 4th:

We had a friend over for dinner. I was fixing lentil soup, and he's vegetarian, so we invited him to join us. His wife couldn't make it. I was a little nervous but I tried not to think about it. I make a great lentil soup with ham, but I was unsure about how this would turn out. I didn't even follow a recipe. And I was out of cumin. Did I mention he's a local chef? A celebrity chef to our little town, at that. I still am laughing at myself. I didn't even get home till 5 and he was going to arrive at 5:30. Raeley put the sweet potatoes in the oven for me, and I had cooked the lentils earlier, so I just had to season them. Mark wasn't even there when he arrived (due to our daughter's busy social calendar), so he sat in the kitchen and watched me cook. Uhg. I must say I am so proud to have kids I can leave the house with, tell them to get the house company ready, and when I get home, it will look great.

Along with the soup and sweet potatoes, I also served carrots and onions and a loaf of sesame bread with Hubble and Hudson olive oil imported from Italy with Cypress black salt freshly ground in the oil. One of my favorite things that my mom turned me on to. Too bad I didn't have some Hubble and Hudson bread to go with it. I didn't even plan dessert.

It was pretty funny to me that he opened his sweet potato all fancy. Something little to add beauty to the mundane. Ok, for a second it was kinda intimidating. He even swirled the potato up cool. And did I mention the sweet potatoes weren't quite done yet? Done enough... good thing I'm not a perfectionist!

It was just a typical dinner for us (except for the guest with his fancy sweet potato). He and Mark had a Corona (I didn't even have limes), but I had a glass of Sterling Cabernet Sauvignon. It was a pretty good wine for the price.

In the past, I would have thought of a full course meal with all my favorites, and spent all day in the kitchen. That would have been excited, nerve racking, and fun! When Mark and I first moved to Houston, I had a friend named Cheryl and we'd kinda compete on who could outdo the other when we invited each other over (which was about once a month). It was all in good fun and good food! Cheryl's husband was a vegetarian also. I do miss having the time for things like that.