Recursive selection, elegantly

Any suggestion on getting this to work? I can do it in four steps but not in
three as attempted here!

Thanks, Stephen

XML (snippet):

  <menu ref="main_menu">
    <item resource="/" />
    <item resource="/who_we_are" />
    <item resource="/contact_us" />
    <item resource="/disclaimer" />
  </menu>

  <page about="/">
    <name>Home</name>
  </page>

  <page about="/who_we_are">
    <name>About us</name>
  </page>

  ...etc...

XSL (snippet):

  <xsl:template match="/">
    <xsl:apply-templates select="//menu[(_at_)ref='main_menu'" mode="main_menu"
/>
  </xsl:template>

  <xsl:template match="menu" mode="main_menu">
    <table>
    <tr>
      <xsl:apply-templates select="//*[(_at_)about = item/resource]"
mode="menu_item" />
    </tr>
    </table>
  </xsl:template>

  <xsl:template match="*" mode="menu_item">
    <td>
      <xsl:element name="a">
        <xsl:attribute name="href"><xsl:value-of select="@about"
/></xsl:attribute>
        <xsl:value-of select="name" />
      </xsl:element>
    </td>
  </xsl:template>

Required HTML:

  <table>
  <tr>
    <td><a href="/">Home</a></td>
    <td><a href="/who_we_are">About us</a></td>
    ...etc...
  </tr>
  </table>