Goal 101-- 9/12 COOK A NEW DISH EVERY MONTH

It's September! My birthday month, and if you've read recent posts, you know my mom and David (step dad) are in town.

One of my unwritten goals for their visit was to have a spot for the four of us to eat family dinner. It's a tight squeeze, yet a gate leg table fits in our kitchen and the four of us do fit around it. The call to dinner includes "dinner time! Bring your chair!" because we barely have four chairs in the apartment.

I love David's pose! And look at poor Ian's face. . . exhausted.

I mentioned that my dish this month would be gluten free because the 'rents steer clear of the gluten (David is gluten intolerant). The original menu written on the week's grocery list was "Grill night. peaches," and I think the intent was to grill some defrosted tilapia filets and PEACHES. I love grilled peaches. Ian arrived home, exhausted from work and kindly informed me we would not be grilling. Mostly because the hard topper from our new-to-us Toyota Corolla Wagon is bungee corded to our small deck-- leaving no room for the hibachi. I imagine he was also relieved because this relieved him of any cooking duties. "Just bake it, it's easy to bake," he said. "I don't know how to do it!" I said. "Look it up!" he replied before closing his sleepy little eyes again.

A quick look at one, two, three different recipes from the internet yielded confirmation to Ian's proclamation. Baking tilapia is easy. It takes little more than a bit of olive oil and salt. Oh! Speaking of salt, I took the opportunity to use some Curry salt from my brother (part of my belated christmas present).

Quite a complete collection of yummy salts, the curry is the yellow one far away.

I was plain giddy when I finished cooking the meal. All the elements were simple, steamed green beans, mashed potatoes and the easy baked tilapia. What I was so excited about is that everything was ready at the exact same time! It was all perfect and hot together! That is a skill that has escaped me and I think it about every thanksgiving.

I think this is the first complete meal I've made for four that wasn't a one-dish concoction.

It even stayed hot long enough for my photo shoot. "I thought dinner was ready" "It is! I just want to take a picture, just one more!"