A Dash of Creativity

To ring in the New Year, we are having a couple of friends over and enjoying a time of food and fellowship...traditional Italian style (with a little eccentricity thrown in for good measure). We are all contributing to the dinner tonight. Isn't that the most interesting way to do a meal? I used to turn my nose up at the word "potluck." (It may be the images of green bean casseroles and rainbow marshmallows mixed into fruit salads that it conjured up in my mind's eye.) Tonight is a time for everyone to bring a gift to the table. I'm becoming more convinced every day that everyone has something creative to offer. Everyone. They may not know it yet. I didn't know it about myself until recently. Cooking has been such an inspiration to me this year. Looking back, I don't remember what sparked it. Was it the day I opened up Marcella Hazan's "Marcella Says" for a recipe and found that the first half of the book was like taking a cooking class from her? Or did I get a burst of inspiration from the recent novel "The School of Essential Ingredients?" Or did my husband's creativity and boldness in the kitchen rub off on me? Whatever it was, whoever it was...thank you. Thank you, Matthew. Thank you, Marcella. Thank you, Jamie Oliver. Thank you obsessive food bloggers who actually keep up-to-date on your blogs. Thank you, big-fat-yellow-Gourmet-cookbook-with-everything-in-it. And thank you, Father God...for showing me that You are beautiful and creative; for showing me that I am made in that image; and for giving us all of this wonderful food on our planet that we are able to be creative with...the possibilities are endless!