Hey, Neighbors!

I spent this afternoon, upstairs, cooking with our neighbors, Kate and Doug. After the Giants lost, Kenny came up too, and we all chopped onions, and other stuff, together, in preparation for eating lots of food on Christmas Day. There was only one small debacle: Kate and I could not figure out how the lentils for the red lentil pate were going to soften up, since they were really hard. I thought that the 8 hour lounging time in the fridge would cause them to soften through osmosis or something. Turns out I missed the crucial part where you COOK the lentils. Oh, gee. I read this part just as Kate poured the lentils into the food processor on top of the cream cheese and butter mixture. Doug thoughtfully picked out the chunks of cream cheese-y lentils, and after a quick rinse, we were back on track. Since we had to mash the puree through a seive anyway, the raw lentils that we left in were, hopefully, strained out.

This is the stuff that tv sitcoms are made off — scenarios where the whole house is friends with one another and you hang out in your neighbor's house cooking, or borrow a dish of olives during a party because you are feeling a little snackish. I feel like we are so lucky to have such cool neighbors, that are now our friends!