Dinner for 4.

Our friends C & L are coming over for dinner tonight. The dining room looks like St. Patty's Day, the dinner menu will be mostly Italian, but we'll be discussing Germany.

My husband has a summer conference in Germany this year, and we're stretching a two-day conference into a week-long vacation. C & L used to live in Germany (L was in the Air Force), and we figured who better to ask about where to go and what to see. We bought a travel guide to Germany, but in all of these books, every single place looks picture-postcard perfect, and being our time will be limited, we'd like to see the best of the best.

I also thought of going by train to see some of the other countries, but we'd really need a lot more time for that kind of trip. If it were up to my husband, he'd plan a month-long trip, but that would just wear me down and wear me out. Ten days away from our home and our "kids" seems to be my limit. Anything more than that and I get tired of living out of suitcases and eating in restaurants. And I also start looking around the street corners for a stray kitten who looks like it needs cuddling. Here kitty-kitty.... let me just pet your little kitty-nose for a minute.

The Germany guidebook gave me an idea for place cards--- I've made them with the colors of the German flag (black/red/yellow). I was going to search for German recipes and try something new for dinner, but I hate serving something to company that we haven't tried first-- and I didn't think of looking for those recipes till just the other day.

I also just read Bill Bryson's book "Neither Here Nor There," which is an account of his travels through Europe. Germany's cuisine is based on meat and potatoes--- both of which I'd rather not eat. They must serve fish there, wouldn't you think? Fresh fruit? Green vegetables? Salad? (Oh please tell me that they have salad bars there.......)