sunday night meal

Sunday night dinner--pasta salad tossed with mint, tomatoes and peas.
Delightful. Initially, I had some concern over how it would go over with my friends. My friend's husband said--well, she might not like the cold pasta salad. You need to ask her.
Not the biggest affirmation of what I wanted to prepare. I took that into consideration and decided that I wanted to make it. If it was unpleasant, well, than, we could order pizza. I felt that we could make it work.
And, I tossed an arugula salad blend with celery, red peppers, tomatoes, onions and egg. If nothing else, the salad would satisfy them or so I tried to convince myself. I am not that picky of an eater. I will pretty much try anything. Well, outside of liver and onions. I will never prepare that, myself, or order it in a restaurant. Undesireable. My parents forced us to learn to eat what was placed in front of us at the dinner table. I remember trying to complain that I wanted a plain cheeseburger. My mom, turned around, looked at me and said--just wipe off the onions and ketchup. You will be fine. We are not waiting for you to get a plain cheeseburger. Deal with it.
Yes, I would make it work. Pasta salad and a green salad. Simple, summer fare.
And, honestly, I was tired from my weekend. Too much play and not enough sleep. I wanted to make something that I could do with little outside direction. Yes, pasta salad would be perfect.
It worked and I know that the next meal, I want to go more extravagant to up the ante. I want to expand my culinary knowledge. Not only do I benefit but so do my friends.
We dined at a local place, last week. I had been there before and had a few nice meals. Nothing spectacular or over the top, but consistent. I agreed to go and knew that the meal would be pleasant. For the first time, I was extremely disappointed. My salad was awful. It was supposed to be mandarin oranges, avocados and greens. Mostly, the avocados were a disgrace. I was surprised that the kitchen manager would allow the salad to be sent out. I made a point to put the brown slices to the side, hoping, that maybe the server would take notice. She didn't.
This is now on my boycott list of places. I am tired of dining out, spending money on crap meals. Especially when I know that I can prepare the item better. Do you ever feel like this?
I will stick to my intention of expanding my knowledge. There is always room to improve, every area of life, right?