I missed something -- the threads got too long. What decided everybody
that "Lucy" was troll, not just an exuberant, arrogant MD as claimed?
What was this about the Ph.D?

Ob Food:

The birthday party for the 5 year old went off well, although we had
too much food. (This isn't a problem). I made potato salad from
scratch, using a recipe. I'm out of practice with potato salad and
wanted to get it right - always did it by instinct before, but the last
time I made American style potato salad was sometime in the 80s. Adding
mustard to the mayo was presented as an option in the recipe, and in
the frenzy I just forgot it. Missed the flavor. Hubby asked why not add
it in after but you really have to get a small bit of mustard well
mixed into the large quantity of mayo. It was still pretty darned good
potato salad. Think I'll get me some right now.

COld cuts were hormone & antibiotic free roast turkey, roast beef and
ham. (Thank you, Niman Ranch and Diestel!) Also a large selection of
cheeses. My dad brought tabbouli and a new dip that's like baba
ghanoush but made with cauliflower, not eggplant. The dip was a big
hit, even with the picky 3 year old. I'll try to get a recipe.
One of the moms is Indian and brought an enormous tray, basically a
foil roasting pan, filled with a lovely saffron rice that had peas,
carrots, tiny chilis, cumin seed and other flavorings. She assured me
we could freeze the leftovers, which we did after distributing
quantities to all the relatives. MIL made green goddess and blue cheese
dips for the mounds of crudites. I served up vegetarian chili beans
adapted from a Deborah Madison recipe - these were extraneous, really,
but folks took lots home. Grandma made applesauce cake with cream
cheese icing, Marion Cunningham recipe. In all, a simple but delicious
and variegated menu.

Leila