Food for ???

It is never a good sign when you don't remember exactly how many people you invited over for a *small* dinner party, or how many are actually coming... Are they actually coming?

My saving grace? Soup. Never host a dinner party without a large pot of soup and (generally) a large salad. Well, if people said seven was good, I can expect to wait about another hour.

I even made dessert today, arroz con leche - my secret is steaming the rice before-hand, then boiling it with enough milk to cover all cooked rice, adding lemon and orange zest, cinnamon sticks, a dash of salt, and sweetened condensed milk.

Of course, everyone is supposed to bring a food typical to their country. Yeah, I know, Mexico isn't my country, but I am like a strangely displaced citizen and frankly, all-beef patties just weren't happening... what else is American? Chicken pot pie (which I have never made, nor plan to) tuna-noodle casserole... an all-time fav... no nothing dinner-party worthy that comes to mind. Oh and Collard greens... ha! I could more easily pass for Mexican than a black southern belle... Cuisinistic appropriation seems to be the only thing this country has going for it.

Anyway, me surrounding myself with people is a surefire way to chase the lonelies, if only for a few hours... and it is a fabulous, oh so fabulous procrastination technique... Of course writing an epistolary novel is an even more *novel* distraction, how many more can we come up with??? I'll work on the list... later.