simple dishes

I'm having some friends over for lunch on Tuesday so have been putting together a menu.  I made a quick string bean with sesame dressing as a side dish for lunch yesterday, don't know if it will make it onto the menu for Tuesday. The basic composition is rice, a soup and three other dishes.  One can be cold, one hot and the last usually is a meat or fish of some sort.  Obviously within that, you can play with the combinations but if you can put 5 items in front of your guests, you've got the basics covered.  As far as home cooking is concerned, none of the techniques are that difficult, it is a matter of making sure all the different dishes work well together.  When I cook for my family, very often it is one main dish, rice and soup or sometimes, it's just a one dish meal.  Japanese food isn't always delicate and beautiful, sometimes it is hearty and homely.  I'll try and take some photos on Tuesday so you can see.