The reason things have been quieter than usual here today is because I’m hosting a party here at Chez Mustang tonight and I’ve been cleaning and shopping and all those things you do when you’re entertaining sixty people.

I’m not doing the whole thing. The car club has an annual progressive dinner — no, it’s not a bunch of liberals getting together over tofu and granola. It’s a dinner where the guests go from one house to another for each course. Bob and The Old Professor are hosting the appetizer course, I’m doing salad, and a third couple is doing the dinner. I just got back with several large shopping bags filled with all the good stuff for a nice basic salad: lots of greens and toppings such as carrots and diced peppers and cherry tomatoes, and a great selection of dressings. The house has been cleaned within an inch of Martha Stewart, and I even had the lawn guys come an extra time to get the yard in shape. This being Florida, the dining will be al fresco.

Now all I have to do is get everything washed — including myself — and chill the salad forks.