(I made it safe and sound to Cancun!! 🙂 Miss you all but having a marvelous time. 🙂 )

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It was a wild, stormy night when my friends and I gathered to cook dinner and hang out. Wind hurtled through the trees sending them into a wild dance that only added to the mysterious feel of the evening.

We sipped wine and visited happily as we dipped tortilla chips in various sorts of hummus and salsa. Half the folks gathered around the big screen TV to cheer and groan as they watched UFC, and the rest of us parked ourselves cozily in the living room to get caught up on a life and our latest adventures.

Cameron, Robin, Jason and Darren had worked hard that afternoon chopping and juicing apples for our annual hard cider making, but they set aside one jug of juice for our drinking pleasure. Oh my. Is there anything better than cold, freshly-pressed apple juice? So refreshing, tart and scrumptious. 🙂

Cameron and Robin gutted and seasoned the gorgeous fresh salmon they’d found for only $3 a pound, then slow cooked it in the smoker with Rooibos tea leaves until they were fragrant, tender, and absolutely delicious.

Ben scrubbed up beautiful little red potatoes, tossed them with olive oil, garlic, dried dill, salt and pepper, and roasted them for a good 45-50 minutes until they were soft and sweet and salty skins. Mmm.

Dana (my brother), Rachel (my sis-in-law), Bekah and I chopped red and green bell peppers and sweet onion for kabobs, and a whole pile of asparagus. Darren grilled them up beautifully until they were lightly blackened and oh so sweet.

We ended our evening at the hot tub, talking about all sorts of interesting things and soaking up that gorgeous warmth as the winds continued to go wild in the tree tops.