Celebration!

Today we had a little gathering to celebrate my DH's end of interferon treatment (for cancer, that lasted a year). We had some friend's and family in, people who have been very supportive to us this past year and a half. We chose this weekend because Gerry's good friend Dave was visiting from Ohio, which he does each Feb. I wanted to cook myself, but waited till the last minute to decide on what to make. I wanted something simple, tasty and easy to make earlier in the day so didn't have to fuss when guests were here. My daughter Alison gave me a delicious recipe from Kraft foods - 15 minute Italian Chicken & Rice w/vegetables. I made 4 times the recipe in two batches and it was GREAT! The night before I made a maple pecan pie...and almost killed it. I took it out of the oven and part of the crust lookes raw (beige, dough colored). I put it back for 10 more min...same thing...then another 5 minutes more. Finally I took it out and as I was putting in onto a cooling rack I noticed...paper! I had left the paper that separates the frozen pie crusts - on the crust. Luckily I was able to use a spatula to s-l-i-d-e the innards into the crust as I pulled out the paper. Miraculously, the pie tasted fabulous. Guess it's a hard pie to kill!

My cousin Ann came with her hubby Ray and their 2 yr old daughter Genia, and a surprise visitor...my cousin Steven from NY. He came with his dad, my Uncle Mario, who had been spending the day with Steven. Also here were my mom, my son Adam (who brought a fabulous tiaramisu cake) and his girlfriend Melanie, visiting from NYC for a few days,

and some of our good friends...

Gerry was exhausted but had a nice time,as we all did. It's great to have good friends and family to share your good times with you.