The players (or, more accurately, the eaters)

In every good story there are interesting characters. Sunday dinner is no different. The regulars are a pretty colorful group. One of the things I love most about these people is that we all have different interests, different jobs, different lives but we all appreciate each other and each other's company. We are a graphic designer, a realtor, a lawyer, a professor, a coffee shop manager, a school teacher, a daycare provider, and a tech industry something or other (I'm not savvy in that world...), and a mediator.

Now, let me introduce you to these amazing people:

First, there's Panda. She's not a real panda. Obviously. She doesn't look like a panda either for that matter, being a human, non-furry ultra-marathon runner and all. She got the nickname on a camping trip a few years ago when someone decided that she was as lovable and unique as a panda. And it stuck. She's also one of my closest, dearest friends.

Then we have the boys. They are best friends. They are also grown men but they are basically a package deal so they're "the boys". They are both deeply disturbed but in a good way, you know what I mean? No? Ah, well, they're not really all that disturbed if you're speaking in relative terms. They do have a lock on 14-year-old-boy humor though, which might contribute to their being referred to as "the boys". Anyway, they are a Slovak (and his dog) and Professor More-Right.

The Slovak - I'm calling him that because somehow he has managed to escape a nickname and he is indeed Slovakian - is a realtor by profession and he is very good at it, being a charming funny guy and all. He is also very much a creature of habit so he was the first to choose a seat at the table and never change it. Never. Even I have occasionally (okay, once) changed my seat to accommodate a new guest but not this guy. Always the same spot.

Professor More-Right is actually a real professor, although More-Right is not his name. It's what we call him because he's (nearly) always more right than anyone else. Also, if you ever want to know any kind of trivia, ask him. If I were ever on a "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" type of game-show, he would be my phone-a-friend every time. The man is brilliant. I call his brain a hoarder brain.

The Irish One. Well, she's Irish. She's been in the States for over 20 years and people still sometimes have a hard time understanding her. I have often acted as a translator for her. She's also HILARIOUS! She keeps us in stitches with her stories and her take on the world.

The kids. They're fully grown adults as well. It's just that they are the youngest ones in the group - by nearly a decade. The are my upstairs neighbors and they are a wonderful, smart, and quirky couple.

The parents, a.k.a. the hippies. We call them "the parents" because they are newly minted parents. We call them hippies because, well, they're hippies. They bring their baby girl, who is a source of endless entertainment and gets passed around the table. Panda always makes the poor thing cry though so she's not really allowed to hold her for very long. The parents are both wonderful, easy-going, funny characters, a coffee shop manager and a school teacher who bring out my inner hippy and my environmental and social justice side, which I greatly appreciate.

Those are the regulars. We have some frequent guest appearances as well but I will introduce them as they appear.

Now, everybody has a job to do.

Panda is my sous chef, although she's not really allowed in the kitchen for safety reasons. That means she hangs out near the kitchen while I cook and prep for dinner, making sure I have a beverage, taste testing things as I prepare them. She keeps me company before the others arrive.

The Slovak's job is to bring his dog (whom I adore) and also to open wine and make sure everyone has beverages. He takes this job very seriously and everyone appreciates that. He also keeps us laughing (maybe sometimes it's more groaning?) with his unique humor - that of a 14 year old boy as mentioned earlier. The dog's job is to be the most opportunistic animal in the room. He's usually very good around people food but at Sunday dinners he takes the opportunity to snag what he can when no one is paying attention, like entire blocks of cheese or hunks of salami or prosciutto. Unfortunately, his love of cheese doesn't tend to have very comfortable consequences for him. One time he didn't poop for nearly 3 days. That was a very large block of cheese...

Professor More-Right always says the same thing when he arrives, "I know what the answer is but I have to ask: Is there anything I can do to help?" The answer is always no but he asks anyway. Also, his job is to know stuff. We give him a hard time about it every once in a while (okay, all the time) but he really is brilliant! He also sometimes acts as a guest chef, either when I'm out of town or if we want something he's brilliant at making, like pizza dough. He's also an amazing cook.


The Irish One. Ha! Her job is to keep us in stitches. "Up she flew and never lost a feather!"

The kids have different jobs. Her job is to always ask questions about stuff we talk about (and remind us how old we all are) and his job is to eat like it's his actual job! They are also quite hilarious and they just recently got engaged so congrats to them!

The parents/hippies have the important job of bringing and taking care of another, much smaller, human being. He also is going to have a debut performance as guest chef very soon and she is the more responsible one, typically the driver at the end of the night, for which I am grateful.

Alright! That's the cast of characters. You'll get to know them better as time goes on, I'm sure. For now, lets get to eating!

Southern Fried Sunday

So, I did this very dumb thing. A few months ago, some friends of mine were having a conversation on a social networking site (yes, facebook) about running a half marathon. At some point Panda dragged me into the conversation by suggesting that I join them and either run it with them or meet them at the finish line. When others jumped in saying that, yes, indeed I should meet them at the finish line, I got all challenge-y (it's a word if I say so, right?). I have a hard time walking away from a (perceived) challenge. It's a flaw that I have tried - and failed miserably - to remove from my personality. In other words, my reaction was "hey! If you can run it, I can run it! Meet you at the finish line, my ass! I'm running that thing!" and I promptly registered for it.

Obviously I was not thinking clearly at the time. But once I accept a challenge, well... I did attempt to train for the thing. I even borrowed the Slovak's dog on a near-daily basis to go for a run/walk for a couple of months. Being me though - read: lazy - I definitely did not train appropriately. The longest run I ever did (and by run I mean a run/walk combo because, duh!) was 8 miles. That's a full 5.1 miles short of a half marathon for those of you not aware of how terrible an idea this was. 

Anyway, Panda, the Irish One, our friend Geeves, and I found ourselves in Sacramento this past weekend all signed up and ready to go for this half marathon. None of us were adequately prepared, to be clear, although I'd argue that Panda is just generally prepared to run even if she disputes this. She's run several full marathons, an ultra marathon (50 miles!!!), and many half marathons. Hell, she's running another one this weekend! 

We all finished - I was the last of the group obviously! Here are a few pictures before the race when I was still fairly happy about life:

And just a few hours later, we were all slightly less excited, with the possible exception of the Irish One, since she's a freak!

Anyway, after that, we took the train back home and needless to say, I was not going to cook Sunday dinner so we had a guest chef! The boy half of the Parents/Hippies was our chef for the evening (the Boys helped out though). He's from Texas so he decided to do a southern fried Sunday dinner. We had chicken fried steak, bacon Brussels sprouts, mashed potatoes, and a green chili cream sauce. Since I didn't make the food, I don't have recipes to share (I will ask him if I can share them and will post them later if he gives permission) but it was pretty freaking delicious!! 

I thoroughly enjoyed the boys taking over the kitchen. All I had to do was hang out and will my muscles into not being sore from the run. Here's what it looks like when three boys take over my kitchen:

There were only limited leftovers this time but we did have some. And they were pretty fantastic as well!

Welcome!

I have decided that my blog (this thing here: Katy's thoughts) - the sole purpose of which is basically grumbling about life in general - isn't the right place for my happier stuff. Sunday dinners and the random brunch or lunch are my happier stuff.

I started Sunday dinners a few years ago. Well, actually, they started over a decade ago without any of my doing but since I moved to California in 2009, I have re-started the tradition here. Now I host them most Sundays. Sunday dinner is a time for good friends to come together to enjoy good food & drink, and great company. It's also a nice way to end the weekend and start the week.

Since I have a very hard time - I think it might be a physical and mental impossibility actually - cooking for a small number of people.Therefore, depending on how many folks show up, there are leftovers for whomever wants them. Personally, I like leftovers and having some during the week makes the week that much easier (people who refuse to eat leftovers are weird to me). So YAY! I can can ignore that impossible challenge of cooking for fewer people than would make up a small army. (Most of the recipes I post are for the standard 4 to 6 servings so I usually double or triple them as needed.)

I have to warn you: I don't have much of a sweet tooth so you probably won't see (m)any recipes along those lines here but you'll see lots of main dishes and sides. I try not to repeat meals too frequently so it's a fun challenge to find new ideas or old ones I haven't tried in a while. I will always let you know how the recipe came to be in my rotation, i.e. the source of said recipe will be disclosed. I'm not in the business of taking credit I don't deserve, plus there are some pretty amazing cooks out there and who am I to deprive you of other stuff they make that you might like? 

Everything will have labels so you can search for things like "main dish" or "chicken" or "dinner" and the like. 

Pictures. Hm. I usually put my phone away as soon as everyone I'm expecting has arrived and certainly by the time we sit down to eat so I will probably often forget to take pictures of the food. I'll try to remember though. I like pictures. 

I will also try to add recipes regularly, both as I come across old ones and as I make them so there will (hopefully) be some regularity to my posts but we'll see about that.

Enjoy and please feel free to steal, substitute, add to, or for that matter change completely any of these recipes to your liking as you cook them. 

And most importantly, have fun!

Now, who wants leftovers?