I’ve spent hours getting nothing done!

It’s been that kind of week.

In reality it started the previous week when I set up delivery of my blog post I've always loved dinner parties, as I’ve been doing for years. And nothing happened—It didn’t go out and I don’t know why.

I’ve spent hours trying to resolve website issues. I won’t bother you with the details; let’s just say that no matter what I did, it didn’t work. What was frustrating was that at the end of the day I hadn’t accomplished anything, and the next day I’d get to do it all over again. It didn’t put a smile on my face.

But let me tell you what did make me happy.

This weekend we celebrated Mark, my husband’s, birthday with a dinner party that included our children and good friends.

Mark decided on the menu and did a lot of the cooking. He claims he learned how to cook from reading my book, Le Kitchen Cookbook: a Workbook. That’s quite a compliment! He’s gotten to be a really good cook and volunteers to do more and more of the cooking.

He keeps saying the best way to teach someone how to cook is to give them a copy of my book and have them read it from start to finish; that’s what he did and he swears by it!

Here is the menu we served:

First course: Smoked salmon with shrimp and greens

Main course: Osso boco

Mashed potatoes

Haricot vert

Cheese course: Green salad with 3 cheeses

Dessert: German’s Chocolate Cake, Mark's family's holiday cake

Coffee and tea

At the last minute, I decided to not serve the cheese course. It turned out that the main course and dessert were substantial, and it was just too much—the host’s prerogative.

Here are some behind-the-scenes photos of the evening.