Our friend Katie had a significant birthday, which called for dinner. I haven’t been cooking much recently, at least not in a big way. It was very soothing to go through my cookbooks, make my lists, do all the mental tinkering, get the shopping done and get down to business.

First, though, the decks had to be cleared. Tragically, this meant the Spanish ham bone had to say good-bye. He’d been lingering in the freezer for more than a year, and much as I took satisfaction in having a little gauze-wrapped cloven hoof at eye level every time I went in to see if I had any more frozen bananas for smoothies…well, the time had come.

I hope it didn’t realize the bitter irony that it was being chucked on the very day I was actually preparing Spanish food. Also, that it never knew that I’d bought the damn ham with the major intention of sawing up the bone in rings to toss in soups and things. But the ham got extremely gamy, to the point where even the smallest meat scraps could taint a huge pot of pea soup. And I never did invest in a bone saw.

So, wave good-bye, everyone!

Nice working with you! Keep in touch!

Then I got down to cooking. That involved cleaning some squid, which I’ve never done before (in my memory, anyway–Peter claims we have). It’s unfortunate to have to pull their heads off. They look a little peeved when you’re done.

I have no photos of the party. Trust me that it turned out well, though because I’ve basically just been cooking meals for one or two the past few months, I trod dangerously into the “undercatered” category.

The next morning, the dining room looked like this.

Not bad, all things considered.