Our friends, the E's, invited us to dinner last night. Andrew cooked a chicken recipe from a Patricia Wells cookbook, along with carrots and some other veg, a beautiful salad and I brought my gnocchi. Unfortunately, I cooked it at their house and it should have been in the oven a little longer. We also brought some blush Cava and it was a nice meal with nice people. I am quite fond of their little ones and we had some lively discussions going around the table.

Got to see son #2 for a little while yesterday afternoon and sent him on his way with cash, homemade meatballs and fresh fruit. He also absconded with my Dutch oven. He's a pretty good cook himself.

Today is a super bowl gathering at the B's. I had big ambitions yesterday when I planned everything I would bring but today have just been reading and relaxing so will be taking a simple dish - smoked trout, cream cheese, capers and grated hard boiled eggs. The trout comes from Sunburst Farms, here in the NC mountains. They have had some problems with their business being closed off and on due to a robbery and then a fire, but I was happy to find their products again a few days ago at Earth Fare. The smoked trout had been a staple of us for appetizers. Hooray!