We spent a fabulous weekend with dear friends who live in a town from which we moved nearly a year ago. The beautiful thing about dear friends is that they are family one gets to choose! Over the years, we have made the best of friends.
After working with middle school students on their plans for a academic futures, we headed to Bob and Adrian’s sheep farm in the country. Bob and Adrian are travel partners. They are hunting partners, and we share them with other friends, too. When we arrived for this visit, Adrian had prepared a “happy hour” of roasted vegetables and grilled lamb shank. She mixed up a delicious red wine sangria with citrus fruits and grapes adding to the delights of the day. Adrian demonstrates great comfort in preparing and serving food. She comes from a close family who gathered, often, around food. We ate, and we laughed. Bob’s sense of comedic timing both intrigues and frustrates. I think he likes the rise he gets out of me. Always a great time with delicious food at the home of Bob and Adrian! Adrian is one of the most laid back souls I know. She laughs at her husband, which is lovely. I failed to get a good picture of them. I guess too busy taking pictures of the food. Actually the Price farm, at sunset, is my featured photo for this blog.
We left Bob and Adrian around 6:00 p.m., and headed to Carole and Larry’s lovely home in a rustic sub-division set in the prairie. Time for another meal! Carole likes to design a meal. She created an exquisite meal of meat loaf, green beans, and herb infused mashed potatoes. Our friend Lynn joined us. We told stories, gossiped a little, and ate a sublime meal. Carole serve white wine with the meat loaf, and that worked! Who says one must consume red meat with red wine? Here’s her spread:
As if we had not already consumed two meals back-to-back, Carole served tea and apple cobbler for dessert. We stayed up late to visit, digest our food, and to talk about art, music, movies, and life in our communities. Carole is one of my favorite artists. She’s a painter. Stay tuned. I will have to offer a blog on art, so I will save that for another time.
Let’s talk about breakfast the next morning. Have you ever had crème de brûlée oatmeal? I have the recipe from Carole, but I think I would rather describe what I saw when she cooked it. When I arose from the late night and a restless sleep (likely from the great eating the previous day), I noticed that Carole was soaking uncooked Irish oatmeal in water in the sauce pot. Then she added heat, and I noticed sometime during the cooking process, she added brown sugar and cream. She cooked it until thick. In the mean time, Carole prepared our bowls by layering banana slices on the bottom. She had prepared strawberries and blueberries for the topping. She put scoops of the cooked oatmeal on top of the banana slices. Then she sprinkled turbinado sugar on top. The Larry came in with his blow torch to caramelize and “candy” the sugar, in crème de brûlée fashion. The last step, before we fetched our bowls to the table, Carole topped the candied sugar with the berries. She served the breakfast with tea, gluten-free banana nut bread, and I poached eggs that went into little blue ramekins. Pure bliss!
The next day, I decided to count calories for a while. My seems of my clothes were screaming!
This weekend, I have friends coming to visit us! Nancy and Lynn are coming. I’m fixing curry featuring sweet potatoes and fried Halloumi cheese. I will let you know how it turned out. I think I’ll make a lemon cake, too! Thank you for reading me.
Human Ecology: People, Foods, Travel, Culture, and Social Justice 