Food as Art

I went to Rachel's for dinner last night. She called on Tuesday, unsure of what she wanted to fix and asked me to challenge her with an ingredient. I told her that the 2 new things i am trying to figure out if i like them or not (cause i wasn't really exposed to them as a kid) are eggplant and asparagus. We talked about it for a few minutes and as I hung up i said that if she was uninspired with either of those she couldn't go wrong with sweet potatoes cause i love sweet potatoes. She was excited because there were several recipes with sweet potatoes that she'd been wanting to try. Problem solved. Yesterday i get a message that i could bring either Ouzo or baklava. hmmmmm... obviously she'd decided on a Greek theme, but i couldn't even imagine what Greek dish would feature sweet potatoes. There was a simple Greek salad waiting on the low table when i got to the house. As we finished the first course, Rachel pulls out the main dish - moussaka. Eggplant and sweet potato moussaka with lamb. She also roasted asparagus with sage as a side dish. Yes, she managed to use all three challenge ingredients. And if you think i am a psycho hostess, she set the table with plates and linens that MATCHED THE FOOD: Kudos, Rachel. Thanks for the completely unexpected, but yum-tastic dinner.