I can't see the pictures here at work, I've got to remember to check them tonight at home. The dinner sounds delicious and I'm sure will look every bit as good as it sounds. Congratulations on a job well done. So SWMBO was suitably surprised and good for the daughter, to allow that the soup wasn't totally "icky", LOL. Annie

I am not proud to say that I've eaten most of the leftovers all by myself :-( I've received several emails from guests thanking me for the event, so that's nice. The cook-ahead workflow was very helpful. As were all of your ideas and encouragement. Thanks everyone! Headed off on vacation tomorrow. Going to spend a week in a Tahoe lakeside cabin with some good friends. We have a physicist, an accordion player, a Chinese guy who cooks, a standup comedian, a person who does hair and makeup for TV, etc. SWMBO and I are driving down with four kayaks (two folding), a bicycle, and a coffeemaker. The plan is to lounge, cook, eat and paddle for a week. I'll get up early and work in the mornings as usual, I'm bringing two laptops and a monitor to set up my work area. Then I'll quit work before lunchtime. I remember we spent two weeks in an apartment in Paris one fall. There I worked from about 5 pm to midnight every day. That was kind of disruptive to vacationing. But a few hours of work each morning is no problem! Especially when the lake is just 40 feet away. If we cook anything cool, I'll post a pic.

Yum, sleevendog, I love brussels sprouts, maybe I'll pick some up for dinner soon and your roasted veggies look really good. My election is over, my precinct had the highest voter turnout in the county at 85.66%. It was very busy but everyone behaved themselves and things went smoothly. Today I did nothing except take naproxen for my aching back from being on my feet for 16 hours and think how nice it was to not have to take the phone into the bathroom with me because I was getting constant calls about early voting (Michigan doesn't have it), absentee ballots, people checking to make sure they were still registered to vote, although they voted in August and it was OK. Anyway, now I can do some cooking again. I got my first box from Wild Alaskan Seafood today, it contained 4 pieces of cod, 4 pieces of sockeye salmon, 2 pieces of coho and 2 pieces of halibut, as well as 2 pounds of crab legs. I also got $25 off, so it was still expensive but I justified it by planning to eat the halibut for Christmas for Elery and I, it's one of my favorite types of fish but terribly expensive here. I haven't had time to load pictures, but some of these look delicious. Neely, your salmon with mustard sauce sounds like something I'd like a lot, as well as the carrot/parsnip mash. I really like parsnips. Congratulations on getting to see that grandson again, nothing is quite like watching them grow. Lynda, I always like shrimp and yours looks perfect. Peke, another Nick Stellino fan!! Stand here with me and Jasdip... Lpink, that sauce looks perfect. I like the lighter tomatoes a lot, they are sweet and mild, almost like tropical fruit. Jasdip, I like that eggroll better without the wrappers, and I'm also terrible at wrapping/rolling. Spring rolls, burritos, eggrolls. Phyllo is the worst, I'll never touch it again, ugh. Tonight we had chili and cornbread, Elery cooked. Annie

Yes i know that. I wasn't clear. I meant for guests, say a party of four, (including us), a two pound t-bone would be generous cut and served as above. As long as i purchase from the true butcher, i can get it thick cut and confident it will be cooked properly. We do not eat big portions. aprox 3.2 oz for a burger and 3-4 oz for NY strip. (i get 5 burgers from a pound) This thread brought up a mistake dinner party. A couple years ago we had close friends over for a lenghty 3 hour+ social casual meal, muliple courses. Commercial fisherman, big meat and potato lovers. (think the DeadliestCatch). Hilariously unfiltered potty mouth. A half dozen shared and individual appitizers, not tweezer portions. Cod cakes, cheeks, tongues, moose meatballs, king crab seafood salad. Mini lobster rolls. Fresh scallops from a neighbor. We caught the cod and were prepping to leave the island after a long holiday so had too much food. They had gifted us the moose and a big box of king crab. I had gifted them, as i do every year, a big box of Jersey and heirloom tomatoes from NY. Not really a mistake, but i must have mentioned a 'steak' dinner invitation. I can't re-peat what he said exactly but it included 'itty-bitty-two-bite'. Hilarious. They can't get good tomatoes or prime thick NY strip steak. This is how i prep it for us. Small portions and hard to overcook while getting a good sear being so thick. I had had enough food by that point. A 2-3 pound t-bone off the grill served platter style would be a generous steak dinner. He would get his fill. They both like tenderloin or any good quality steak. I should take up a big t-bone next trip, 😂. Fair trade for a 20lb box of king crab. The good end trimmings go in our burger grind mix and the other bits go in the pup food.