As I was plodding home from where I abandoned my broken-down car, I was thinking about how I’d grade the past week. D, I’d give it a solid D.
Then I got home and uploaded my food pictures for the week and realized I had totally forgotten about these little gems! Somehow I’d forgotten about a really enjoyable weeknight dinner on the patio of roasted stuffed tomatoes and an arugula salad. I’d forgotten the lovely little cheese plate with plum jam that followed and the bottle of white wine that washed it all down. Suddenly, things came in to focus; I remembered what actually mattered instead of thinking of the ailing car, the struggles with a half-broken website, crusty burnt sugar-covered pans, and anything related to work.
So let’s push past what could be just another crappy Monday/Wednesday/week/month/et cetera and put together a dinner that will be worth remembering. We’re going to stuff tomatoes with quinoa, tuna, and capers and roast them ’til they’re a little shriveled and way too cute. We’ll eat them outside while it’s still the season to dine al fresco. We’ll open a bottle of wine just for the fun of it, forget about the crud that’s going wrong, and focus on what’s going right: dinner.
You’ve probably already picked up on this little tidbit about my taste buds, what with the recipes for 
Dinner conversation around my table usually follows a similar pattern: Matt’s office politics, my restaurant shenanigans, and what seemingly inedible item Sammy gulped down that day. But when dinner’s really good, we bypass all that and focus on what’s really important: the food.