Heal the World, Cook Dinner Tonight
Cooking with love and hope
Making mayonnaise in the rain
It was my 70th birthday and I had decided to give a party. I bought a tent, borrowed tables and chairs, and planned a menu with only food that I especially loved. My friends Don and Argy volunteered their beautiful lawn and gardens as a setting and helped with everything.
My family went to a lot of trouble moving and lifting tables and chairs, erecting tents and cooking my favorite foods. I had set out some posters that were a kind of pictorial retrospective of highlights of my life. I sent invitations to about 35 guests. I was happy about the whole thing. It was just what I wanted.
Everything was complete except for the last minute things- making mayonnaise to mix with lobster for the lobster salad. Painting my toenails. Setting out the glassware on the bar, buying and chilling the beer. Just a few last-minute things.
Unfortunately, it was raining. Not just a polite occasional shower, though there were some of those. Most of it was a hard, right-down-your-neck, driving kind of rain. And things were not going smoothly in the kitchen.
I broke the bright orange yolks into the bowl of the food processor, added dry mustard and salt and began slowly adding the oil. My…
