My Favorite Dish To Pass

So this story takes me way back. Scott and I were invited to a party in the second year of our marriage. This party was of the annual kind. Same place, same time, always once a year. It was a party with a great group of people. I was excited to go. Scott said to me the day before that he had signed me up to bring a salad. I worked the day of the party and I was at that time extremely kitchen/cooking challenged. What to do, what to do? Well, I put it out of my mind is what I did. Until I got home from work, changed clothes and announced to Scott that I was ready to go to the party. He said, where's the salad? Oops. Don't worry he said, let's rip this head of lettuce up and put it in a bowl and off we go. Silly man. I'm pretty sure that isn't the type of salad that they would be expecting. Now what do we do? I grabbed a big bowl with a lid and we drove to the grocery store.

Upon arrival at the deli counter, I did a wonder woman scan of the salad. That one? Too expensive. This one? Who would eat that anyway? Then I found the one. The price was right and the quantity was available. Perfect. I bought three pounds worth and ran out to the car. When I got in I proceeded to dump my purchased salad in my own bowl and fastened the cover. None the wiser would these party goers be. We made a normal entrance to the party and had a fabulous time. At the end of the party the containers/dishes had all been washed and lined up on the buffet. I grabbed my bowl and Scott and I went home. I was about to put my bowl away when I noticed a note inside. I pulled off the lid and there, written in beautiful penmanship, was a request for my recipe. What? Now what do I do? I'm ashamed to say that I ignored the request and hoped that this incident would never rear its ugly head again.

Fast forward to the next year. We received an invitation to the same party. I contemplated not going for fear of the salad and recipe debacle. Instead, I went to the same grocery store and bought three more pounds of that salad and brought it to the party. We had terrific time. Again. This time I came with a few printed off recipes of a salad that closely resembled the one I brought. Sure enough. The recipe was asked for and I gave it out. Over time I have found a couple of recipes that are my stand by dishes that I bring to potlucks. They are easy and are almost always gone when I go to retrieve my dish. That makes me feel good. And now I feel even better because I actually do make them.

©2011 Ann M. De Broux