use real butter

I slept poorly last night. This morning we went to the store and got some fruit and ingredients. I made a coffee cake, sliced the fruit, and we took it over to the neighbors’ before leaving for work. Work was weird. I learned more of the gruesome circumstances of the accident. Hard to concentrate. After work I picked up groceries and as soon as we got home, I set to work making baklava and a pot roast.

Jeremy called me this evening at work just as I was getting ready to go pick up Sam. There was an accident out by my work earlier this morning.

Our neighbor was killed.

I was numb and sick and sad all at once. No. How could this happen? We weren’t sure what to do because it was Sam’s first night in Boulder from out of town and we had arranged to take her to Comm Night. We didn’t want to bail on her, but we definitely wanted to be there for Marcus. We agreed that there would be a huge number of family and friends there immediately, so we took Sam to dinner and drove straight home after dropping her off at her hotel.

**Jump for more butter**

We had our good neighbors over for dinner tonight – finally! These two are great fun. They ate a lot of the food and wine, which makes me happy. I told Jeremy the worst feeling for a hostess is when her guests don’t eat because she miscalculated the menu. I really plan a menu according to who is coming and how all of the dishes, the wine, and the dessert combine to make a complete fête. Which is why if you are picky, a vegetarian, are a complete food unsophisticate, or have various food restrictions – I have to like you an awful lot to invite you to dinner at my house. Forget about vegans, they will be really unhappy in my kitchen.