Frantic food

Here is a look at how the food I prepared yesterday turned out for Selma's baby shower.

The Spinach Lasagna turned out cheesy and creamy.  The simple appetizers of fruit and veggies made a nice presentation and guests were not shy about helping themselves.  All in all the final results turned out well and were well received.

Needless to say, I wish the behind the scenes with me had been a little less amp'd.  I had all day but time kept slipping away from me.  I couldn't get hold of the time and things just kept taking me longer and the clock kept ticking and I knew I had a deadline I didn't think I would meet and still put out the food needed for this gathering.  Yeah.  I was pumping myself up with stress.  I didn't even start to tackle the two extra dips I was going to make.  A thought passed through my head to just leave it all and go out for another run...but, no, I didn't do that.
I didn't get home from the grocery store until noon and I had been going since early morning.  My run, taking Jay out to get the tint and OnStar for his new SUV, the groceries and here it was already noon and the party started at 4:00 and the food (and myself) needed to be there a bit before to get food in order.  Right?  Okay, so I started out with all this...(plus more with cheese, pasta, spinach, pork...)

Most people are carving pumpkins this time of year but I was carving watermelon.  It took an entire hour to get the fruit all washed, sliced and diced, mixed together and refrigerated to be served cold.  Vegetables took another 20-30 minutes and then I put the water on to boil for the lasagna noodles.  I cooked up the ground pork and Italian sausage, grated two kinds of cheese, and had everything ready (spinach, ricotta-third cheese) for an assembly line to start layering my pasta.  Time, time...how could it possibly be 2:45 already!  My white sauce wasn't thickening enough even for a thin sauce...remedy that...then I run out of it, so hurry! make another batch.  Instead of two pans of lasagna I was ending up with one and a skimpy half..will have to do.  It's after 3:00 and I'm not dressed and I still have to pack it all up and drive over to the house.  I'll bake it there.
I got my frantic self there and I think it went well.  I left at about seven after the party and was extremely tired.  But today is another day.  I have a full kitchen of dirty pots and pans to clean up from yesterday.  That will need to be the first order of business.  Then...then after that...I'll see.
I've got another bright day to look forward to, don't I?
TT