I have so much going on - compared to, say, two weeks ago when I was drowning in boredom & ennui - that I must write up the entire dinner menu. Ray from Accu-Print on Davisville Road, Willow Grove, PA, cultural capital of Pennsylvania (not) gives me free scratch pads, rejects. You would not believe what I could pass as. Among other things, a school superintendent.
My favorite scratch pad is pink. What a cheery color! I told Ray I didn't want any of his blue pads... too depressing.
I write up my menu on the pink pad & then hang it up in my kitchen. I need all the counter space I can salvage. Like you, Dear Reader, I am one of those people who use her kitchen table as both desk, storage repository, and filing things I know not what to do with.
I checked with my guests in advance to make sure they liked what I was serving. Here's what we had, our dinner party for four.
H'ors d'oeuvres
Celery sticks stuffed with (a) Smucker's Organic Peanut Butter, creamy (so the nuts won't stick in your teeth) and (b) cream cheese & olives (remember these sandwiches from when we were kids?)
Salad
Spring mix interspersed with cucumber, green pepper, toasted pecans, cherry tomatoes with a homemade dressing of:
Hellmann's mayo
peanut oil
spicy moutarde
two cloves gralick
real maple syrup
Main course
Large sweet potatoes basted with olive oil
Salmon poached in mushrooms, green peppers, onion, cherry tomatoes
Animated conversation, particularly about Bush's last press conference which we'd all watched on PBS News Hour w/Jim Lehrer. We were amazed that the news commentators wore straight faces as they analyzed his speech. For 8 years, people have observed the Emperor's New Clothes Phenomenon with this guy. He presents his viewers with the truth straight from his mouth but no one appears to hear the idiocy emanating from him. In retrospect, I'm wondering if he perhaps suffers from an increasing dementia due to his early years as a drunk.
Dessert
Homemade yogurt with full-fat milk
Blend of fresh berries - blubberies & raspberries
Drizzling of maple syrup
I had such fun buying the ingredients, just like Bush had such fun during his 8 year tenure over the nation. Dyou believe that shit? He had fun destroying the great civilization of Baghdad, of torturing men in Guantanamo, of losing stature all around the world.
My guests were none other that Ada and Rich Fleisher. At one point, I called up Scott, who lives right next door, and I said, When you get a chance, can you come over & help me prepare dinner? I wanted him to stuff the celery which he did. Then I asked him to arrange them in an attractive pattern on the platter.
I didn't even have to trick Ada into reading two of my poems. They were lying around and she actually said she wanted to read them. Remind me to load one or two later on.
