Eggplant and more

By noon, things were getting pretty hairy. Jeff's and my system of clean as we go (he cleans, I keep going) started backing up.


Luckily, I married a patient man who doesn't mind standing over the sink for a few minutes (hours).

So while he cleaned away, I started on the stuffed eggplant. My first encounter of the day with the broiler went relatively well, as you can see from the brown tops. Unfortunately, my good luck streak with the broiler didn't last all day--but more on that later.




Now the sight of a ruler in the kitchen did make our neighbor (and dinner guest) Bill laugh, but really, when Julia tells you that you need bread 3 1/2 by 2 1/2 by 3/8 an inch thick, what are you supposed to do, just guess? I thought I'd be a bit more precise when making the spinach and cheese canapes. In the end, my measurements really didn't matter that much (spoiler alert--the canapes are what I forgot under the broiler!)