Cooking for friends

Last weekend, I cooked for my friends. Every other month, we have a dinner date with a group of our friends. We call it “dine in/dine out“. I got the idea from my friend, Lizza, who does a similar get-together with her friends in Spokane. There are eight of us (four couples) in our group and we each take turns organizing what the group will do or where the group will eat for that get-together. This is our way of ensuring that we all see each other at least once every two months, since our schedules tend to be pretty busy. Most of the time, we eat out or order food in.

But I was in a cooking mood. Ed and I have not been home a lot the last month or so. I don’t think I cooked a meal at home the entire month of August. So I found myself missing my kitchen and wanting to do homey stuff. Like cooking. I chose dishes from the Wild Rose cookbook that I can prepare for our friends. Simple, healthy yet delicious dishes. I made salsa, rice pilaf (basmati), steamed vegetables, lemon tahini dressing, lentil dahl, and baked herbed red snapper. I quite enjoyed preparing the meal for Ed and our friends, and I was proud of it (I don’t normally cook). I felt quite happy having friends around the table, enjoying the meal I prepared. But it can’t all be healthy stuff - we balanced it out with some cake from Pine House bakery.