Oh, I do so want to cancel my little dinner party. Right now, with the brisket still mostly frozen and my apartment not even remotely ready for company, I can't see how I will pull this off with any style. Vegetarian pate, crackers, and green olives to start; then brisket, roasted potato medley, orange-glazed carrots, green salad with pomegranate vinaigrette, and apple upside-down cake. Challah. Wine.

Tomorrow and Friday morning will be freakishly busy days at the office, and these are all the things I still have to do:

Tomorrow during my lunch hour:

-Buy wine, salad greens, olives, and napkins

-Pick up some flowers

Tomorrow night:

-Cook the brisket

-Bake the cake

-Make the vegetarian pate

-Take out the challah to thaw

-Do a few loads of laundry

-Clean the bathroom and kitchen

Friday afternoon:

-Get three or four cartloads of stuff over to the charity resale shop

-Buy the ice on my way back

-Iron the tablecloth

-Prep the carrots for cooking

-Make the salad dressing

-Set out the china, tumblers, wineglasses, flatware, and serving dishes

-Last minute cleaning

I am very tempted to put the brisket in the crockpot at about five o'clock Friday morning instead of following the recipe I have, which says to cook it the night before and reheat the sliced meat in the gravy before serving. Then I could have my oven free for roasting the potatoes while I make the gravy, slice the meat, and cook the carrots.

Fascinating, I know . . . the ramblings of an insecure, moody hostess with a bad case of the early-relationship jitters. If I don't get some sleep now, I'm sure to lose my head tomorrow.

I hope someone will be nice to me over the weekend. Wink wink, nudge nudge.

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