Ah, the parties are over. In the last week, we've entertained almost 100 people (30 on Tuesday, 70 on Saturday), and I have to say, it all went off without a hitch. Whew! And both were really...FUN, which is the point of course. Reconnected with old friends, met a lot of new ones, ate good food, drank good wine, and in preparation, really got our house in order. Feeling good. Next big one: Thanksgiving, woo hoo!

I luckily didn't have to prepare food for 70, since Saturday's party format - parent party - had folks bring either an appetizer or dessert. You know what that means - WAY more food than everyone can eat, but lots of fun tasties to try! I did make a few things, to get the party rolling, including gougere (cheese pastry puffs), a platter of cold sliced beef tenderloin surrounded by couscous, and a plate of toasts topped with ricotta and roasted tomatoes (I'm into them lately, what can I say?). I was even able to take leftover ricotta and tomatoes, puree them together, and make a quick-n-lovely pasta for dinner last night. That's about as far I was willing to go with 1) prep, or 2) clean-up, no surprise there.

Today, back to reality. Few things to put away, but not much (thank you John and Nathan, my official clean-up crew; thank you also to my extremely polite guests, who tossed almost every plate and napkin and deposited every bit of glassware in the kitchen - if that's Minnesota Nice, I'll take it). The pool gets put to winter-sleep this week, so it's time to think about putting away patio and porch furniture. The lights and lanterns have come down. Flower and herb pots will soon be emptied (I've still got a few tomatoes coming in, although they are the obviously the very, very last). Yes, the parties are really over. Sniff.

Guess I'll just have to cheer myself by...going out for dinner with Kim & Suz! To celebrate Kim's birthday - Happy Birthday Maven of Mischief! Look out, True Thai, here we come!

Moderate it: there's nothing like hosting a huge party to get a good workout. I'm not kidding! I hauled around four cases of wine, 100 bottles of water, 80 lbs. of ice (up and downstairs a couple of times), furniture, trays of glassware (I rented wine glasses), not to mention all the groceries and trash. I felt it in my lower back, for sure!

Geez (OMG, John just said the word 'geez' right while I typed that - perhaps coincidence, or as he cracked, because we're 'yoked', ha), I really need to pull out my damn cam when we socialize. Argh! Last night we had dinner at Morton's, with Mack's and Zimmern's, to celebrate Aaron's birthday. No pic, unless Aaron scans and sends me the picture the maitre d' took (hint). Lovely salads, steaks, scallops, crab cakes, broccoli, and hash browns floated by and disappeared with nary a record of their greatness, other than the shadow of flavor on our palates, swallow. Or perhaps a bit of creamed spinach in our teeth. Shame, really, I'm all about the pic. All I can say is good times, as always, good times.

Tonight, we hosted Sheri and Darin Lynch for dinner - man did we luck out not only with cool guests but with the cool breeze that blew through around 5:00 pm, whoooo, effectively removing all humidity from the sultry air and thus creating a damn-near perfect July's eve. NICE. We noshed pre-dinner on grilled bread, grilled tomatoes and red onions, and paper-thin slices of Molinari dry salami. For din - al fresco, baby, due to that fabulous breeze - a beef tenderloin roast, smeared with garlic and herbs, then seared on the grill, served alongside crushed new potatoes topped with creme fraiche, mushrooms sauteed with garlic and lemon, and sugar snap peas sauteed in a bit of butter. With warm fruit crisp (peach, plum, blueberry) for dessert, we polished off a pretty sweet evening of summer chat, if I do say so myself - again, good times, good times. (And again, no pic, argh! However, recipe for fruit crisp posted in comments, below.)

Tomorrow, a little baseball, a splash of swimming, dinner a la Chinois, and Batman, baby. Bat. Man. Yep, once again - good times, good times. Happy Summer!

Moderate it: as I mentioned below, I knew I was making steak for din tonight, so I passed on the steak at Morton's on Thursday. Grilled scallops wrapped in bacon fit the bill nicely. The broccoli with Bearnaise was delicious. But I did not get away before the hash browns - or even tastier, and just as rich, the potatoes Lyonnaise - arrived. Ah well.

Grillin' & chillin', that's the goal for Memorial Day weekend, right? Our lovely sunshine disappeared, but that's OK. The grill still works in the rain! (Although the griller will be tucking her hair into a hat - no steak is worth frizzy hair, even if it is tenderloin, sniff.)

As much as I lurve a grilled bratwurst, covered with raw onions, sauerkraut, and mustard, washed down with an ice cold beer (the Wisconsin t-shirt I'm wearing today does not help that craving and in fact probably put it in my head, ack), I had this plan to keep things on the lighter side this weekend...right. Not that we'll feel deprived, heck no. As I hinted above, Nathan and I picked up a beef tenderloin for tonight - smeared with a little olive oil and lots of minced garlic, herbs, and coarse salt, it should come off the grill with a good crust. A couple of slices over a big spinach salad, simple and delicious.

For dessert? Peaches! They're in the store and tasting great, my fave fruit. Hey, sticking with the theme, I could even grill one - mighty nice with a drizzle of best balsamic and a little honey. Yeah, that sounds like a tasty, lovely plan.

PS If you happen to be grilling brats, enjoy one for me!

Moderate it: beef tenderloin is very special (expensive!) and delicious yet quite lean. It's easy to prepare - perfect on the grill. You can get away with buying smaller portions because there is literally no waste - no gristle, fat, or bone to trim away.

Here we are, Little League baseball season once again, the third time since I started this blog - time flies, eh?! I have to say, it feels good to be back in the fresh air and warm sun, eating a little dust, catching up with the Baseball Moms (outside of McCoys, ha), and watching my nephew Cooper Cuteness running all over the place, thinking he's ready to play some ball. "I want to go in there!" says Cooper, age just-2, pointing over the fence at the Big Boys, the cool ones, the ones hitting and throwing the ball as hard as they possibly can... Eeek!

We had a game yesterday too, an appetizer of sorts before the dinner I made for Dad, Susanna, Stacey, Cooper, John, and Nathan. We all ended up here by four or so, in time for Jake (my parents' dog) to take the inaugural '08 swim in the pool (splash!), while I pulled together some (real) appetizers and Cooper and Nathan ran around chasing Jake. We vegged out - literally - with sauteed artichokes and roasted asparagus, followed by a first course of thin fresh pasta with favas and morels (hey, what can I say, 'tis the season) and a dab of creme fraiche. Oh, don't worry, we beefed up plenty - a whole beef tenderloin roast, rubbed with minced garlic, herbs, olive oil, and coarse salt, grilled crusty and served over slices of grilled bread with sauteed cherry tomatoes, spring onions, and Brussels sprouts. With zabligione for dessert, oy we were stuffed, daring to ring in spring with a truly spring-y meal.

Today, due to a lovely, sunny visit with my friend Kathie, I actually achieved sun rash, itchy and bumpy and...completely welcome. Hey, I'll take any sun at this point, especially on Kathie's pretty patio, especially in comparison to gray clouds and snow. Rash on!

Moderate it: roasted vegetables make delicious - and not overly heavy - appetizers. The goal is to set out a nibble, not fill everyone up before dinner.

Hola! Hola! Back from Mexico, in fact since Thursday night, but I've been having too much fun hanging with the Bryt family, visiting from New York, to scratch a post together! It's been a fast blast of weekend, with Bartley arriving Wednesday for work, and Maud and their daughters Catherine and Natalie joining him (us!) Friday night. We just had dinner here at the hacienda, simple pasta and roasted vegetables.

Yesterday Maud and I stole over to Stacey's to see Cooper Cuteness, Stacey's amazing Stacified house, as well Stacey's studio/new work. Thanks Pooh!

Then back here to cook and cook, with Harry Cunliffe and Suz et al coming for dinner to join all of us. For a little appy I made shrimp paste, a recipe from The Gift of Southern Cooking, basically sauteed shrimps pureed with lots of sweet butter, with a hint of cayenne pepper, sherry, and lemon. We spread it on toasts, but I'm dying to try it stirred into some hot grits, oooh... I'm a little obsessed with it in fact. (Recipe posted in comments, below.) For dinner, I grilled an insane amount of beef tenderloin (lots of tasty leftovers, more than enough to put Bartley & Maud on the plane with thick roast beef, tomato, lettuce, and horseradish sandwiches!), whipped up my new favorite saute of okra, onions, and tomatoes with bacon, and made a pile o' popovers. Ahhh, popovers. Nothing is better alongside beef, especially with pan juices to soak them in. Just kill me. It was a pretty magical evening - literally, since Harry is a sometimes magician and was gracious enough to show off a few of his tricks for the kids. (And adults!) Great, great fun!

And now, the Bryts are gone, sniff. House is very empty feeling, although not for long. Nathan is home from Florida soon (yay!) and then we're heading out for Cooper's 2nd Birthday Party! Happy Birthday Cooper Cuteness!

Many, many highlights from Mexico to share, a little later today, so stay tuned...