Memorial Day Weekend

Our friends C and A came up from Atlanta to spend Memorial Day weekend with us, hence my brief hiatus. We divided our time between eating out and cooking, but I still managed to get plenty of food photos out of the weekend.

First up, breakfast on Saturday - scrambled eggs, bacon and diced tomatoes.


I cooked the bacon in the oven like I always do, but this time I cooked it on a rack so it wouldn't sit in its own fat. While it turned out nice and crispy (and greaseless) the flavor of the bacon was too smoky for my tastes.


I scrambled the eggs with a little milk so they'd be nice and creamy.


And for the tomatoes I diced up some grape tomatoes and seasoned them with salt and pepper.


On Sunday we decided to take go all out with a grilling feast. We'd done our shopping at a specialty grocery store where we picked up some fun cheeses for an appetizer while the food was grilling.


I marinated the shrimp in my usual oil, garlic, pepper flakes, salt and pepper combo, then threaded them on skewers for easy grilling. They always take on this amazing smoky flavor from the grill.


I also marinated the asparagus in a combination of balsamic vinegar, oil, salt, pepper and garlic. After they came off the grill I put them back in the marinade so they could soak up more of the good flavors. There was a ton of asparagus for four people but they were so good we ate them all.


Our friend C had been thumbing through my Ina cookbooks and wanted to try something fun for dinner, so after much deliberation we decided on Ina's Sagaponack Corn Pudding.


We made a half order and ate all but two spoonfuls (which SP and I devoured the next day). We used fresh corn and you could really taste the difference between fresh and frozen. It was almost like a really light and fluffy omelet, with bits of basil and cheddar running through it. I think I'd use more basil next time since it kind of got lost in the mix, but overall this was an outstanding side dish.

My plate with some shrimp, corn pudding, asparagus and steak. C and A graciously bought us a steak to grill for dinner, a nice piece of sirloin. I seasoned it simply with salt and pepper and we grilled it to a perfect medium-rare. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of it except on my plate.


And for dessert - pumpkin gems. The Amish farmers market in our town has a stand that sells these mini pumpkin cakes with cream cheese frosting and other amazing baked goods. A friend bought us a container of these when we moved into our house and I've been dying to go back and get more for months. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for more on the market; now that we've been we plan to go back as often as possible.


C and A left on Monday, but not before we had a huge lunch, so SP and I decided to keep dinner simple with chicken sandwiches. This time we topped them with roasted red peppers, provolone and red onion. We didn't feel like firing up the grill so I baked the chicken in the toaster oven. The flavor wasn't nearly as good as when we grill the chicken, but it was still a mighty tasty sandwich.


While we were eating I saw this baby bunny hop past our window. I quickly grabbed the camera and managed to get a few shots of him before he scurried away. The babies are much faster and jumpier then the adults. Fat Rabbit always lounges in our yard and it takes a lot of noise to get him to move. This little guy was hopping all over the yard.


If you look in the back of the photo you'll see the bottoms of our new patio chairs. Unfortunately we didn't have the full set for Memorial Day weekend, so we had to sit inside for dinner. Of the three components we have the umbrella and the four chairs. All we need is the table, which they assure us will be here sometime in July. Two to six weeks my...