Thanksgiving comes as a wonderful break from work to sleep in and then work on various, small, creative projects. In other words, I truly rejuvenate myself. One thing that I put together was my famous cornbread for the Orphans’ Thanksgiving, hosted by a meetup couple. Not only is one of them a chef, but they live about 15 minutes from me; so it was very convenient to join them. For a potluck dinner, the food was delicious and the conversation very entertaining. We played Scattergories afterwards. I’d never played before, but I was the overall winner since I can hardly go wrong with word-based games.
I came home and watched two movies while addressing 18 “season’s greetings” cards. None of them had anything to do with Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas or Kwanzaa. Instead, they were very artistically stylized cards that I like to write out. Five of them had Day of the Dead themes. Nonetheless, I spent a considerable time addressing them and inputting those addresses into my phone for future reference.
After enjoying a Friday morning yoga class, I put together the sauce for my infamous spicy lasagna, starting with the sauce. I had a minor mishap when I shook the top right off the sea salt container. I think that threw off my cooking mojo, but I recalibrated as best I could. As the sauce cooled, I ate lunch and wrote. Then I put together the ricotta, parmesan and kale mixture. The traditional recipe calls for spinach, but I don’t usually waste my time with anything less nutritious than kale, which was a good thing since my friend who brought the salad had a spinach base. I loved the flavors she’d blended together. I layered the lasagna and put it in the refrigerator. I’m not sure if that’s the best technique for marinating, but since I’d planned to make dessert the next day, I needed the lasagna to be oven-ready.
Coupled with my infamous lasagna was my scandalously named “Screaming Orgasm Chocolate Cheesecake.” I’d never made it in the circular dessert pan before. Not only that, in my haste, I put the chocolate pieces on too soon and they melted and ran together. I took my chef’s brush and swirled the pieces together. I learned my lesson about patience since that chocolate layer defied being broken neatly.
Originally, I’d invited two girlfriends over for this special dinner, but when one canceled due to work, I scrambled to find her replacement. In the end, two guys were invited because I’d spent two days preparing food and they were available on short notice. My friend and I managed to have about an hour of female bonding before the guys showed up and it was an invaluable time to reaffirm that we were both sane in our pursuits of life, love and happiness.
The unlikely dinner party was a huge success mainly due to the fact that we all loved dancing, spicy food and were lively characters in our own way. In the end, one of the guys made quick and thorough work of the dishes as we talked throughout the night. I’m glad that I’ve started this New Year’s resolution early. It’ll get me in good practice for 2014.