Holiday Gatherings

We are now officially in the last month of the year. You know...the time of year where you blow a ton of money on family and friends and squeeze in holiday parties galore almost every week until December 25th. Oh, and probably gain about 15lbs on top of all that...

This week, I have 3 dinners to go to: (1) the Lombardi Award dinner on Wednesday - a non-holiday event, but a big event for NCAA football; (2) the YPE Christmas Party on Thursday; and (3) our End-of-Year/Holiday Dinner with our close group of friends on Friday. How exhausting!

For Friday's dinner, I'm taking the helm on the cooking. So far, this is my menu:

• Salt-, peppercorn- and herb-crusted beef tenderloin with wild mushroom red wine sauce. A recipe I found in Ladies' Home Journal - yes, I read LHJ.
• Thyme-roasted baby new potatoes
• Roasted Asparagus
• Green bean casserole
• Assorted rolls and breads
• And for dessert: Pistacchio Salad - so good if you have not had it and SUPER easy to make!
• And of course lots 'o' vino - Cuz that's how we roll....haha...I love saying that!

So there you have it. I have four days to summon my chi in order to psych myself up for all the cooking. Wish me luck!