Friday Night Dinner

It's coming down to crunch time. Everyone is ready to ship off to somewhere for something. My race is next weekend (11th), Wynn is racing next weekend (12th), and Ian and Joan are heading out west for a tandem ride through wine country. Personally, I'm thinking they are going to wine country and will happen to get a tandem ride in. Wingman is away right now and will return home before my race. I decided to throw together a 'good luck' dinner sendoff for Wynn and Teresa. Ian and Joan were more than happy to join in. So Thursday night I started my prep work.

Letting the bread take shape before baking

The bread is cooling off and I am drooling

The bread was actually baked on Friday, but it's nice to see a before and after photo. Friday morning I got up early and went running. When I came home, I started making the shells for manicotti.

 Just getting started

I'm like a machine, turning them out, I made 20 shells

Beginning the assembly and stuffing them

with three kinds of cheese

One tray done, working on the second tray

Meatballs lined up, ready to be cooked

PS - Jen, this is a roasting pan

I failed to take a photo of the meatballs after cooking, but they were pretty good. I had a tight schedule on Friday because I had to head out for a haircut in the middle of my day. That's why I started so early on the whole process.

My guests showed up and dinner was served. I didn't get any reports about illness after eating so I think it was a success. I love to cook, but it's hard to get the time to do something really nice like this. My fall schedule for school should work out a little better for cooking. Teresa was kind enough to volunteer as a dessert tester in the past, so perhaps she will step up again and offer her services if needed. For now, I have a fridge full of leftovers that should last me until I leave for my race.