Sometimes I think we try to make preparing for big gatherings more complicated than it needs to be. Whether it’s Thanksgiving or the middle of summer, when people get together, there’s always food involved, and the cooks are often bent on outdoing one another.

If you have the can’t-resist-buying-cookbook gene that I inherited from my mother, when faced with a picnic or potluck dinner, you may pour over Korean,  Polish or Indian recipes. But you are just as likely to skim over those to something more familiar, but hopefully spectacular if you want to impress the boss and his wife. This isn’t the time to bring out gullet-searing Thai or Indian food.

For such occasions, I’ve learned to prepare what I enjoy eating. It’s never fancy, but is sufficiently outside the potato salad, macaroni salad, baked beans and relish tray typical fare to be interesting. And I seldom have to take anything home.  That’s the best part!