Today's Joy: Everybody Gathered Around for Dinner.
As I was headed out the door to work this morning, Reader, and feeling a bit sorry for myself to be working on a lovely Sunday, Aunt said those magic words,"Everybody's coming over for pot roast tonight!"

Of course, it could have been BBQ chicken, potato soup, polenta, duck with orange sauce or one of a hundred other succulent, spur-of-the-moment dishes. My reaction is always the same: Hurray! After all, Aunt Chef--whose culinary training includes a stint in Austria--makes food that is 14 kinds of delicious. Even the stuff she doesn't think is up to snuff is pretty darn good.

But the conversation at these get-togethers is what I most look forward to. My family is full of characters. I don't mean the garden variety kind of nuttiness you find in every family. My family is a character writer's dream. Each a unique and autonomous soul whose strengths play well off of one another. It's just plain fascinating to watch them interact. They also seem to get into mischief en masse and you never know what they'll be up to next. I can't wait to tune in and hear about their latest & greatest adventures. Like the time my uncle dressed up in a gladiator's outfit with a blond wig and drove a team of four ponies around the indoor arena at a horse show. Or the time Aunt Chef was herding escaped cows with Uncle's truck.

There are many, many more wonderful stories, of course. Some of which might be a tad incriminating. So, apologies, dear Reader, but posting them to my blog would be bad form. However, if you happen to join us for dinner some evening, you can hear them in all their juicy glory for yourself. I promise, you won't be disappointed.

Today's Joy: the Gourmet Cook-a-thon. Reader, one of the biggest perks of being back home in Chicago is being able to attend the monthly(ish) cooking sessions held by a group of family & friends. I've been waiting for that phone call with the magic words: dinner at Todd's. Tonight, it happened.

Todd Evanson, co-owner of Beef Villa (a delish chain of eateries in the northwest suburbs) and a good family friend, has a fabulously-appointed kitchen and usually hosts these over-the-top foodie nights. The gist is, we make dinner. But it's oh so much more than that. This group includes a restaurateur, a chef, a baker and several of us to eat the food and ooh & ahh. My job is to photograph the results.

What I enjoy most about it, is the fearless way these people I love try new dishes. They collaborate and read recipes to each other and put together a game plan. Then they dive in, sharing ideas & techniques, teaching as they go. It's like watching a culinary think-tank at work. When a dish works, they pull it off brilliantly and a delicious array of culinary creations parades across the table. On the rare occasion a dish isn't up to snuff, they sit down and taste it, inspect it and conduct a relaxed post-mortem round-table on how to improve the recipe. There is always laughter, stories to share and a signature cocktail.

I relish every moment of these decadent evenings and feel very blessed to be a part of this unique fellowship. May the love shared always be as good as the food!

Photos: Lemon & Herb Sauce Hand-Written Recipe; Part of the Table Spread.