It's party time!

I need to bring food to a party tonight and what is more appropriate than crackers and a dip?

I'm on a bread-making kick and so I decided to make the crackers. I don't remember ever making crackers, but I now know it is very easy.

I used the recipe for Thin Wheat Crackers on the Los Angeles Times Web site. I pretty much followed the directions, using the honey-water basting suggested, and of course incorporating Wheat Montana flour, locally produced honey, and sea salt from Utah (that's sort of close to Montana; and it's called "sea" salt because it's from an ancient sea -- more on that perhaps in a future dinosaur post).

My baking never looks like the picture accompanying the recipe. Does yours? Does anybody's? In this case, I thought I'd make heart-shaped crackers. 

Which was alright as far as it went. But since you brush the dough with the honey glaze before you cut, you can't reroll the dough. So my thrifty nature saved the day by causing me to lay out the scraps on the baking sheet, too.

These bits and pieces are like the crumbs in the bottom of the potato chip bag -- still crunchy and tasty.

For the dip, I opted for healthy hummus. David Lebovitz's is the best hummus recipe I've found; I make it often. Only today I realized I didn't have any lemon juice! What is a Montana girl going to do? 

I searched the Internet and saw the suggestion to substitute pickle juice. Pickle juice?! Well, why not? Heaven knows we've got plenty of pickles in Montana.

The recipe calls for 1/3 cup lemon juice, so I added that much pickle juice and then gingerly tasted. I can only say that whoever made that suggestion is a genius! I may very well make hummus with pickle juice from now on. It's delicious!

I'm off to my party now. There may or not be leftovers, but I stashed away some crackers and hummus for myself, and I'll be snacking happily tomorrow no matter what.

Later that night . . .

The party turned out to be an old-fashioned get-together. There were plenty of homemade goodies, but also food for the soul. It doesn't get much better than this. 

Our hostess (below, left) has a wonderful voice. She entertained us with original songs, and then came the jazz. Another talented guest joined her in singing Misty, while yet another guest did wonders on the guitar.

There were several encores, but finally we got some cake, too. Local food, local talent . . . community.