There's A Nightmare in My Closet

We have guests coming over for dinner tonight. Guests that I don't know all that well, but one thing I do know is they are picky eaters. They definitely stick to what they know they like. They've already been over for "build your own taco" night (that's my usual go-to meal) and after the Lasagna Disaster of Easter 2010, I can't bring myself to try that again. So, I'm doing something completely irrational - a definite no-no. I'm making something I've never made before. I know, I know it's risky, but I have the word of someone I've come to trust after months of reading her daily blog: The Pioneer Woman. I'm making her braised beef brisket. She says it's no fail. I've seen it on other blogs (like this one) and they say it's really good. It's been marinated for 36 hours and in the oven for 2 1/2 hours so far...only 5 more hours to go! I'm trusting it to work out. It's going to be good....no worries. Besides I happen to know David slipped a $3 off pizza coupon on top of the fridge - just in case!

So, since I stumbled across this brisket recipe, I decided to go all Golden Corral on them and serve up the beef with rolls/buns, bbq sauce and the aus jus. Then a green salad bar and a sweet and white baked potato bar. Then they can decide what they want and don't want. Genius, right? I thought so - that was until I realized to put together a "bar" presentation, you need LOTS of small, but still cute, containers. So now I find myself running up and down the stairs from kitchen to basement to find just the right container for everything from candied pecans to chives, honey cinnamon butter to croutons.....and this is what I see every time I head down to rummage through containers:  

Reminds me of that old book: There's A Nightmare In My Closet. There next to the Christmas decorations and the cloth napkins, skeleton appendages sticking out from under a garbage bag on the top of a storage shelf....Really?

Well, better get back to it.  I'll let you know tomorrow if we still have that $3 coupon on the top of the fridge!

UPDATE:  Well, dinner turned out nice. We had a great time here - hopefully our company did too. There was lots of wii and setback playing. (Girls beat guys of course!) As for dinner, the meat came out flavorful and tender, but it wasn't all that different from a crock pot roast. I don't think that I would make it that way again.  It's cheaper and easier to make a traditional roast. We need to get that smoker - that's what really makes it brisket!! So the coupon remains on the fridge for a busy day when we can't bare cooking.