Yes, I've been MIA on my blog. It's because I really wanted to take a whole day off and go play. To do that meant putting every ounce of energy into the office. Weekends are normally my clean up from the last week and prep for the next week time. I wanted to take Saturday and spend it with three of my closest friends. After all, I was going up to Lafayette on business on Friday so I'd already be near Donna and Phil's house. And, Doris and Patti were could both come up on Saturday. Sounded like a perfect excuse to me too!
What an adventure we had. Donna and Phil own an rv. Their driveway is half a mile long. Here's looking toward the entrance:
And, here's looking toward their house:
Oh, and along the side of the driveway is a pond:
What a perfect place for camping. I got there Friday a bit before Donna got home from the office and fixed a couple of Scotch's for us.
We spent a pretty uneventful evening in the rv. Cooked a lovely cowboy ribeye on the fire. Pittsburgh style. If you're not familiar with that, it's charred on the outside and rare on the inside. No, I didn't remember to take photos. Bummer because that was a beautiful piece of meat.
Saturday came and we spent the morning running errands. First stop was Route 66 for breakfast. It's owned by the same folks who own Triple XXX of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives fame. Breakfast was good. Not fantastic but good. After our errands we headed back to the rv in time for Doris and Patti to show up. Lunch was my award winning Puttanesca Salad.
Here's everyone enjoying lunch:
As friends are wont to do, we sat around and gabbed. I clipped recipes. Shocking, I know. They read the papers. We had chairs set up under the rv's awning overlooking the pond. Couldn't have been more perfect. Max stayed put with us.
Then, Phil, the bearer of bad news showed up. There's a BIG storm heading our way. Really? Seriously? The sky is a gorgeous blue. We grabbed Donna's ipad and confirmed. Ugly storm. Should we go to the house? Nah? We're plenty stooopid to stay out here in the rv. Patti headed back to Indy ahead of the storm and the other three of us hunkered down. We put away all the outside stuff. The awning was rolled up. The chairs were moved. We were ready. The storm hit. We had to close all the windows and turn on fans. (Remember the fans, they're important for later.) Torrents of rain. Lots of thunder and lightening. And, the rv didn't rock or roll. Whew! I got the soy sauce, dijon mustard and lemon juice out to fix the marinade for the salmon. The potatoes, apples, onions, sweet potatoes, butter and shagbark hickory syrup were put together for one of the sides. The broccoli was chopped for the roasted broccoli. But, I was out of soy sauce. And, I knew I needed it for the broccoli. A trip to the house was in order. Dash to my car and drive half a mile to the house. There sat Phil and one of his buds. With a bunch of oil lamps going. No electricity. Heh, heh, heh. We still had electricity and he didn't. That's what boondocking will do for you. New soy sauce in hand, I headed back to the rv to share the funny.
That's when things really got funny. Ok, better to say, that's when this really turned into an adventure. We couldn't get a fire going even under an umbrella.
The wood was just too wet. So, we decided to cook in the rv's kitchen. Easier said than done with one burner and a microwave doubling as a convection oven. Let's just say that when a bunch of fans are running, fuses do not like convection ovens being turned on. Nope, they don't. They blow. We're now on to plan C. And, the best thing to do is laugh. Really. Crying rarely accomplishes anything but making your nose red and runny. Besides, laughing is so much more fun. Into baskets go all the goodies to fix dinner. We pile into my car and head to the house. There, I fix dinner on the grill. Did I mention it was pouring rain? Did I mention the grill is not under a canopy? Ok, you get the picture. Drowned rat. That was me. Dinner was served at 10:00 pm and was very much enjoyed. And, no, I didn't get a photo of the finished dish. Suffice to say it was very good and I'll make it again.
Potatoes and Apples
Ingredients:
2 small potatoes or 1 large
1 large sweet onion
1 gala apple
1/2 large sweet potato
1 T butter
1 T shagbark hickory syrup or maple syrup
Directions:
Tear off a large piece of heavy duty aluminum foil. Spray one side with cooking spray or drizzle it with cooking oil. Slice the potatoes, onion and apple. Layer them on the foil and dot them with the butter.
Drizzle them with the syrup. Fold the foil tightly and cook on the grill over high direct heat for about 20 minutes.
1 comment:
You guys are troopers!! And so much fun! Love hearing your adventures, Kate~
Post a Comment