Company's Coming

I'm stressing out a tad because I love to provide at least one personally prepared meal when company comes to visit.  On Wednesday, Danny Jr,  wife Colleen and girls, Zaria and Keira will be arriving for a couple of days.  The day they leave, daughter Danielle & family arrive.  What I'm doing is planning meals for one family that will segue to the next family.  I have 5 racks of babybacks, dry rubbed and ready to put on outside to slow cook.  We can't cook in my tiny kitchen with heat like we've been experiencing and still be able to sit in there to eat.  Way too hot.

I'll bake potatos at night for my "loaded baked potato salad." Double the recipe. My segue meal will be a fajita pasta salad.  I'm elaborating on a couple of "mexican pasta salad" recipes I found with my own sliced steak addition. 

I've been perfecting my mango cream cake for a couple of months now, so if I can find some good mangoes and can turn my oven on without roasting myself as well,  I'll include it too.
If I cook one day, I feel comfortable ordering out or going out on the others.  With careful planning I can really enjoy company during this very busy time of year.

While writing this, I got a call from a frequent guest who's coming in tomorrow night.  He told me he's bringing me goodies from his garden and asked if he should include okra.  I hesitated for a moment hoping I wouldn't hurt his feelings and then suggested he leave the okra at home.  He laughed, so I guess we're still friends.