Friday was a delightful day… the sun shone and the temperature rose to 25°C…
throughout the day, I prepped for a dinner party… between organizing and setting the table on the deck, there were plenty of opportunities to sit, read, and relax…
preparing a space or food for special people is always enjoyable for me as I think about those who I am doing this work for and how important they are to me…
for this gathering, it was mainly about making the space comfortable and considering what dishes we would need as the food was being picked up from a Charleswood Rotary fundraiser…
they provided a whole lobster, baked potato, fresh bun, coleslaw, brownie, small bottle of wine, with a bib and a lobster fork;-)… each person received a shopping bag with all of the goodies in it… I added a few fixings for the potatoes, warm facecloths with lemon for our fingers, and garlic butter in warmers…
once the food was warmed up, we had a lesson in how to eat the whole crustacean… I was a bit slow, lol, so had to keep having information repeated…
the weather was perfect, well, except that the wind kept blowing out some of the butter warmers… lots of conversation and story telling kept us busy throughout the meal…
my housemate took the requisite group photo which he was happy to do (and not be in) before we spent time around the pond…
happily, the fish came out for a short visit before returning to their favourite spot under the bridge…
and before you knew it, everyone headed off into the sunset;-)…
we had prime rib… for many years we would have steak and lobster with twice-stuffed potatoes…
so this was fun to try… cooking the prime rib was interesting… first, it had to sit on the counter for six hours to reach room temperature, then it went into the oven at 500°F for half an hour, and finally the oven was turned off and it sat inside it for two hours…
quite the process, but it came out perfect for those of us who enjoy rare meat;-)…
there were mashed potatoes, mushrooms, Brussels sprouts with carrots, little Yorkshire puddings, and gravy…
the strawberry plant, from last year, is doing very well…
we found a hamper at the store on July 5th, after either the birds or squirrels had eaten the ripe strawberries before we got to them, lol…
I kept the cover on them until a few ripe ones were ready to eat and then after we had those ones, I took the cover off so that the flowers could be pollinated…
as a number of yellow/green berries started to appear, the cover went back on the plant…
on Thursday I could see the ripe berries, through the screen…
removed the cover and picked three beautiful strawberries…
it was a beautiful day for an adventure yesterday… and we hadn’t been on one for awhile…
my adventure buddy and I drove out to Pineridge Hollow for lunch and a wander around the new shops that are there…
we had a lovely drive out and only got a little lost, lol…
we were just in time for our lunch reservation so we ate first… we shared a number of things…
rosemary and salt beet chips with a goat cheese ranch dipping sauce… my oh my, those were addictive…
next we shared a small Pineridge salad with mixed greens, apples, candied pecans and smoked Gouda tossed in a maple Dijon dressing… I forgot to take a photo before we dived in, lol… the small was more than enough for the two of us… and it was delicious… actually it was my favourite of all we ate…
she had the pulled pork tacos and I had the carpaccio – seared beef tenderloin, pickled rhubarb, strawberry gastrique, fresh herbs, arugula, pistachios, and a garlic scape aoli…
it was fun to try something different;-)…
and because we hadn’t eaten enough, she had schmoo and I had panna cotta with haskap berries…
we could have just had the beet chips and salad, maybe with a bit of chicken in it…
but we enjoyed everything and had leftovers to bring home…
from there we wandered through the shops and picked up a few items before heading home for naps, lol…
this morning I discovered OEB… it is a restaurant that my daughter had encountered in Calgary and said was excellent…
we ordered last night and it was delivered first thing this morning…
I chose the French Toast Trifle… it looked delicious on the website and was exactly the same when it arrived…
there were two pieces of brioche smothered in custard with blueberries and strawberries… and to top it off there were three cute little meringues on top…
herbiggirlpants 