The Party�s Over!

It is late and I am tired, so I will try to make this as short as possible, although it may then just sound like a list. From the moment I awoke this morning until putting the last dish in the dishwasher, the day has been all about food preparation. First I made Buddy Boy�s lunch for school, then my sister-in-law and I went shopping for certain supplies I needed for supper. One of those things was ricotta cheese for spinach ric0tta pie from M00sewood. There was none to be found in either Le V�g�tarien or Pr0vig0, nor could I find fresh cilantro. So I bought two litres of 2% milk and lemons and figured I would have to make my own. Usually when I make ricotta, I let it sit for up to 12 hours. Today I started straining it through the cheesecloth after only three, and I lost much of the solids with the whey. What should have been two cups� worth turned out to be just under one.

Anyway, after we arrived home, I set her and my brother and their son up with lunch and started to cook. Hubby had said that if I made the pie crust, he would make the filling. So I made the pie crust. Then I made an apple crisp, Tunisian squash soup (which was absolutely incredible, by the way, as was the apple crisp), a rice pilaf and saut�ed broccoli with garlic. Hubby had a meeting at work just after 2 p.m. and assured me it would only take a half hour or so. It did not. Finally I decided that there wasn�t enough time for him to make the pie filling, since it took 45 minutes to bake. Also, there wasn�t enough ricotta. So I hopped back in the car and drove first to the international food store, where there was also none, and then to Le Coin d�Italie, where there was. Then I hurried home and made the pie, plus a tuna-macaroni casserole for my kids and nephew, since the former had to go to karate, and the latter wasn�t going to eat with the grownups anyway.

Our guests arrived a half-hour early, which really threw me for a loop. Fortunately, they are very loose, relaxed people, and I just worked steadily away at food preparation until everything was ready, and called them to the table. By the time I had imbibed one lichee martini, and had one full glass of red wine with dinner, I wasn�t exactly snockered, but I was feeling pretty damn good. The evening was a success; I am grateful that the dishwasher was invented (by a woman, my sister-in-law informs me, who was tired of her servants breaking her good china and crystal when they washed them) and will wash the pile of crockery left by the sink in the morning.

Now I am so tired I can barely keep my eyes open, so I won�t bother.

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