Recipe: Tomato and Salami Salad

Tonight Jamie brought a boy over for dinner.  A he’s-not-my-boyfriend yet, but she wants to know what we think kind of boy.  At first blush, I felt honored that she wanted my opinion.  Given the fact that I’m going through a divorce, that means a lot to me.  The last time she brought someone over for us to meet, it was a guy she had been seeing for a few months, and it was two days before Christmas.  After meeting him, and him spending some time here with us, I gave it a month when she asked me what I thought.  Three weeks later, they were done.  Of course I didn’t want to be right, as long as she’s happy, but it seems I established a bit of a track record for myself.  I even met tonight’s guy before her parents, which tickles me.

So what to make for dinner?  Jamie put in a request for Buffalo Chicken Dip and Penne with Vodka Sauce, both easy recipes that everyone likes.  I added this Tomato and Salami Salad that, although she hadn’t had it before, the kids like, and Chocolate Decadence for dessert, another can’t-go-wrong crowd pleaser.

Nick took the above shot. I love that he grabbed a chair to get a view from the top, something he hasn’t seen me do before. Maybe I have a budding photographer on my hands.

As far as meeting Jamie’s guy, I think we’re an easy group to hang out with, and having kids around is a great equalizer. They usually make people feel comfortable right away, getting rid of any awkwardness, assuming, of course, that they happen to like kids. And with Nick and Maddie, well, we’re a pretty lively bunch.

Within minutes of walking in the front door, Jamie’s friend had taken off his shoes and was being dragged on the trampoline for some pre-dinner fun, in his work clothes. Big bonus points for going along with the program. Not like the kids gave him a lot of choice though.

For some reason, many dinners with company end with us displaying some of our, um, family talents. One of which being the fact that Nick and I can hang a spoon from our nose. I’m not sure what that says about us, but as a group, it’s a good icebreaker.

Project 365
April 13, 2010, Photo #77

There are a couple of things that Madeline has her own made-up words for. Sometimes they have no resemblance to the original word. I have no idea how she comes up with them. Oh to have the mind of a two-year-old. Probably some mix of Dr. Seuss and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory going on inside that little head. She calls pretzels “putt-putts.” Recently, she discovered marshmallows, and had her first one few. For some reason, she calls them Body Biddie (that might not be how she spells it, but we’re going with the phonetic approach here, folks), with her voice inflection going up high on the last syllable. I wish you could hear her, it’s the cutest thing ever, and we all giggle just a little bit whenever she says it. It just might be our new favorite household word.

One last thing before I sign off for the night … the folks at Babble put together their Top 50 list of Mommy Food Bloggers.  If you haven’t checked it out yet, do give it a look.  You just might discover your new favorite blog right there amongst the glitterati.  I like that the list, while it still contains several popular, familiar names, it also has many new-to-me blogs.  One of my dear readers nominated me/Sweetnicks under the write-in-your-own-favorite category.  I don’t know who did it, but thank you so much – so deeply honored!

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