Recipe For A Perfect Weekend

           

What goes into making a good holiday weekend?

   It helps if you can get at least three to four days off work. D. was able to maneuver his three-day Memorial Day weekend into four by taking a PTO day so he arrived on Friday evening around 7:00 P.M.

 It also helps if the sun cooperates and actually shines long enough to warm up these cold northeastern Pennsylvania hills. After weeks of cold and dreary weather we finally got some warm sunshine…ahhhhh. Saturday got off to a slightly cool start.  D. and I went into town to pick up some last minute items for our little cookout later that day. It was to be a simple menu: hamburgers, hot dogs, and brats on the grill with potato salad and rolls. Nothing fancy.

 The only thing we did that was slightly decadent was to make Bananas Foster for dessert. YUMMY! Here’s a simple way to make them. I did not have any banana liqueur on hand so I eliminated it. It was still great.  

Bananas Foster-                                    

4 tablespoons butter (1/2 stick)
1 cup dark brown sugar
2 bananas
2 ounces banana liqueur
4 ounces dark rum
Ground cinnamon
Vanilla ice cream (optional)

    In a frying pan combine butter, sugar, and liqueurs and cook until liquid and melted. Add the sliced bananas and cook for a couple of minutes . Do not overcook as they will fall apart! Sprinkle lightly with cinnamon. Place a scoop of vanilla ice cream in dessert dish. Spoon bananas and sauce over. May be served with whipped cream (but you won’t need it!)

  My daughter, son-in-law, and grandson came over around four and we grilled and ate and played with the hula hoops until they had to get the little one home for a bath and bed. It was such a nice afternoon.  The only down-side is that we here in the northeast have had a plague of Forest Tent Caterpillars for three years running. This year they are as bad as ever if not worse. They fall down out of the trees onto everything or crawl up your foot or they are on the chair when you sit down!  They are nasty, nasty creatures who’s foul shit, in the form of tiny, hard, round balls of manure is on every surface, too! I have to use my Toro leaf blower every day on my deck or I can’t stand to walk out onto it. 

Needless to say, we ate indoors!

 BUT that didn’t stop D. and I from having a great weekend.

On Sunday we got up fairly early to the most glorious sunny day we’d seen in over a month. We started the day off on the lower deck with coffee, just sitting in the Adirondack chairs sipping and lazing in the warmth of a beautiful morning.  The birds were chirping and swirling all around us. We decided that this was to be our laziest day so went inside and changed into tank tops and shorts, got the chaise lounges out and rolled them down the yard to a sunny spot away from the big maple tree and its resident caterpillars.

  We opened a bottle of sparkling wine and made the best Mimosas and I scrambled some eggs for our brunch.
 Mimosas are the easiest and sexiest drink for making a brunch feel luxurious. It couldn’t be easier: Fill a champagne flute a bit more than halfway with a dry sparkling wine and then fill the rest of the way with orange juice!

We made a few of these even after the eggs were gone!

The afternoon went quickly with another bottle of champagne down the gullet!

I lingered a little too long in the sun and my back and the backs of my knees got a pretty nasty shade of red. Oh, did that hurt later when I took a warm shower!  !!! @*$!&#& !!!!!

Later that evening we decided to take a ride in the Miata (top down, of course) and scooted north a few miles to a lovely restaurant where we sat by a window overlooking beautiful Starlight Lake and enjoyed a bottle of pinot grigio and dined on rack of lamb (for me) and a NY strip steak( for D).  Returning home the sun was changing the evening sky into gorgeous shades of gold and peach. We watched it set as we rocked on the front porch swing. The hummingbirds kept us company as they busily swarmed the feeder I hung on the porch hooks. We basked in the glow of the most perfect day.

 Monday we made a wise decision to let our sunburned bodies rest out of the glare of the sun. We drove to Scranton where we hit a few Memorial Day Sales . D. got the best deals on long-sleeved T-shirts ($2 each!) and I got a pretty pair of sandals.  We called it an early evening by lighting the fireplace around 7:30 and watching an old movie on TV. We cuddled and held hands and just enjoyed being together. I did not want our time together to end.

 D. had to leave early this morning for the drive back home. He was out of here by 6:30 and I tried not to get all mushy and teary as he pulled out of the driveway but it was hard. As I turned to go back inside I heard him roaring away and then came the faintest little “beep beep” that I knew was his way of saying “Me,too!”