Have friends calling, this evening, and I don't want to heat up the kitchen. So made baked macaroni and cheese after morning calisthenics to be left in the fridge and later served at room temperature. Diced the remaining salami ends and rendered in a pan before draining and measuring the fat. Added bitter to get up to the volume needed, returned fat to the pan, sweated a diced onion, then in with freshly sliced garlic and dry ajika. Finished the mornay by cooking in my flour and then slowly whisking in the milk. Used about 2:1 ratio of pepperjack:cotija for cheese and a dab of fermented Thai chile paste. That was mixed in with slightly undercooked and unrinsed macaroni before baking.
As a finger food with tea service, dumped the last half-pound of liverwurst into ye olde food processor with sour cream, pickled jalapeño, and dry mustard. Pulsed until almost smooth save a fine mince of chiles. That's in the fridge to set and marinate together until evening. The dish will be placed on a cutting board with a baguette, bread knife, and spreader. Will also set out a dish each of olives and some sliced tomato to accompany.
Sweets will be limited to one storebought melon mochi roll per person as I happen to have exactly that many left in the pantry. Cold drinks will be more comprehensive with cucumber infused water and iced fruity/flowery rooibos tea lightly sweetened with honey, both prepared yesterday. Booze will be covered by bottled Coors Banquet and home-infused cherry rum with Coke and limes available.
Veggies aren't being disregarded. But tossing tinned beets with extra virgin olive oil, wine vinegar, salt, and freshly milled black pepper is hardly worth fussing over however delicious it is.