Regarding your question about the team gathering next month, I think we should go with the earlier option since several people mentioned they have conflicts later in the month. The park venue is available on both dates but the indoor space is only open for the first one. I checked with the facilities team and they confirmed we can set up starting at 8am. We will need to bring our own projector if we want to do a short presentation after lunch. There is a grill area we can reserve if we want to do something casual. Let me know if you want me to reach out to the catering company we used last time or if you would rather keep it simple this year. I know some folks wanted to include families but the space might be tight if everyone brings guests. The committee suggested capping it at 50 people total which seems reasonable. We also need to decide if we want to do a gift exchange or just keep it to food and conversation.

I already reserved the smaller pavilion just in case but we can switch to the larger one if needed. The deposit is refundable up to two weeks before so we have time to decide. Let me know your thoughts on the date and I can send out an invite to everyone. I think sending it by next Wednesday would give people enough notice to plan.

HARBOR FREIGHT

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You asked about the pasta dish I made for the dinner party last weekend. It is actually a pretty simple recipe that I adapted from a cookbook I picked up last spring. The key is to let the garlic cook slowly in olive oil before adding the tomatoes so it gets sweet rather than bitter. I used cherry tomatoes that I halved and roasted first with some herbs from the garden. Then I tossed everything with fresh basil and a little bit of the pasta water to make it saucy. I added some pine nuts for texture but those are optional and you could use walnuts instead. The whole thing takes about 30 minutes of prep time if you have everything ready. For the cheese, I used a good pecorino rather than parmesan because it has more flavor and melts nicely into the warm pasta. You can make it vegan by skipping the cheese and adding a spoonful of nutritional yeast instead which gives a similar savory note.

I also added a handful of arugula at the very end just before serving to give it a fresh peppery bite. That part is not in the original recipe but it worked really well. Let me know if you try it and I can send you the full list of measurements. I roughly doubled the garlic from what the book called for because that is just how I like it.