A dinner party in which I helped

There has been a distinct lack of cooking in my world recently. Combine long days at the office and therefore me being stressed out and tired when I get home with this recent sinus infection or whatever it is and then that trip to Seattle and then all of it leaking over into being uninspired... And you have about a month-long gap in cooking.

It's rare that I have these phases. Actually, I made that brisket a couple weeks ago but now it's sadly going to waste in the fridge and I noticed that I have to throw it out and clean out the fridge yesterday...

Having this sickness has basically ended up that I get home every day, heat up some spaghettios or some pastina, and then head to be around 8 or 9pm. It's a revolutionary amount of sleep.

Yesterday, some good friends threw a hatch chile party, the 3rd annual. Tim doesn't call on help for prep very often, but when he broke his ankle a couple weeks ago, we put out the offer. So we headed over there a few hours early and set to work helping. It's rather refreshing to be back in the kitchen -- even if it wasn't mine -- and to be given simple tasks that really involve no thought process. Small dice this onion. Pick through and then rough chop this cilantro. Saute these onions. It wasn't even that much to do with both of us helping. I think Tim did the bulk of it the day before prepping and cooking the meats.

And then, the party was fun as always. I was in some kind of weird hosty mentality so I set about making sure people had drinks and clearing stuff away. I feel a weird sense of accomplishment in keeping things going. I was tired at the end but I had a good time. And my feet hurt, but the new sneakers lived up to expectations.

I did go to bed at midnight, far later than any recent bedtime, and I forced myself to get up at 9.30 to keep my schedule aright. And let me tell you, I am exhausted. Now, Miso is cuddled up with me on the couch and I'm rubbing her head in between sentences while I type this and then go back to food blog reading. Josh is still sleeping so I'm staying on the quiet side.