Flying and Feasting

After enjoying the Zip Line Canopy Tour, I went back with Mary and her family to their timeshare at the Resort.  I've seen these places and wondered what they were like inside.  They've got an amazing view and lots of wildlife.

I had fun taking photos from the balconies and enjoying the wild life.

The sun was starting to go down.

The sky turned more beautiful than usual.

They are all lined up like soldiers, very orderly.

It was dusk, the sun was setting.

Such a pretty sky.  So we jumped in the car to go up to the top of the ridge.

I grew up in a house with a view of Massanutten Peak, it was the landmark of my youth.  Whenever I got lost, all I had to do was look to the Peak and then I would know exactly where I was.  Now I'm looking out at my "home land" from the very mountain that I looked to.

The sun had set, we were hungry, it was time to make some dinner.

We played with the groundhog, who didn't mind eating right from our hands.

Fat ol fella.  That peanut butter cracker seemed to slow him up a bit.

Later on the night shift came out to gather up whatever the groundhog had left behind.

Jody did steaks on the grill.

I fried up some green tomatoes until they were nice and crispy.

Now THAT'S a feast!  I don't think I've ever eaten such a big steak!  And there were hot fresh biscuits also.  And yes, I ate it all.  And it was good!

A lovely time around the table with friends from a distant time in my life.  It was so fun to enjoy their time together, it was a place of warmth and lots of laughter and stories of practical jokes.  I nearly laughed myself off my chair with the tale of the imaginary bear.  Mercy, it was good!

Some moments in life are so sweet, often made more so when in contrast to the darker things.  This was one of those and I'm so grateful.  I have the best friends in the whole wide world!

Flying and Feasting to you,
-Carmen Rose

Tasty Treats

This was dinner last night. And yeah, it tasted good. Maybe even better than it looks even. To start out I sautéed up yellow squash, green beans, red onions, and zucchini in the jalapeño flavored oil that I made the other day. So they were spicy and cooked so they still had their color and were still crunchy. I did potatoes with some salt and balsamic vinegar and they had a little crunch to them. Then the steak was sautéed up quickly with mesquite smoked pepper. The spaghetti was left over and I opened a can of mandarin oranges for a little sweetness. I layered everything up with lime juice and fresh basil over the top.

This was so fun to experiment with the creative process when it comes to food, I enjoyed it very much.

It was an interesting combination of the spicy kick from the jalapeño oil, the sweet/tang of the citrus and the flavor of a great Omaha steak. Mercy it was good. I was a little concerned about what hubby would say because he likes his food to be pretty conventional but he really liked it.

I love the Food Network, it makes me consider cooking with things like texture, spicy heat, sweet , tart, fresh herbs and… of course… COLOR!

Yum.

Then hubby felt inspired to pull an old cake out of the freezer, saw off a hunk and set it to thaw on the kitchen counter. We both ate a piece before we went to bed last night.

And Hope had her piece this morning. Leaving her whisker and tooth marks for us. I walked into the kitchen this morning and looked at the cake and she looked at me and started to growl. So I guess we know it was her and not Misde. What an opportunistic brat-dog!

Yeah, go ahead, look innocent. We all know better!