Baseball, steaks, naan, and um, Volkswagen? Not quite as catchy (or kitschy) as the old Chevrolet jingle but the sentiment, while not pure Americana, is the same - man, there is nothing like a sunny summer's day, ahhh. We caught some actual heat today, which meant real pool time for Nathan and John, a long, sweaty walk for me, and some grilled goodies for us all. And then, to cap off the day, an evening baseball game. What a perfect night for a game! And Nathan's team came from behind to win! Just a lovely, fun end to the weekend. I hear it's going to rain again this week so I'm extra thrilled to steal one of these beautiful days.

So, as for the steaks - I grilled a top sirloin, one of my favorite cuts. On the leaner side, but juicy and full of flavor, particularly good on the grill. Although in my mind it needs nothing more than a generous sprinkle of Kosher salt before hitting the heat, top sirloin takes nicely to a marinade or generous rub of crushed garlic and spices - steak tacos, anyone? Oh yeah!

And because grilled bread in any form is one of the most delicious things on the planet, I grabbed some naan at Whole Foods, rubbed it with a bit of olive oil, gave it a light sprinkle of salt, and grilled until smokin' hot and soft. Soooo good. Works great with pita as well. And of course thick slices of baguette or other crusty bread is The Kill. With soup, or salad, or alongside grilled steaks, chicken, or fish - makes the meal, and that's not an exaggeration.

Now...I'm beat, guess I'm not much used to the heat. The plan is to sleep like a rock and move on into Monday... Happy June! And oh, Happy 50th Anniversary to my in-laws Dot & John - 50 years, my friends, incredibly impressive. Can't wait to celebrate in just a few short weeks!

Cooper! Stacey! Both kids! All my favorite things about Wild Wednesdays (you too Johnny!), love 'em. Add in some sunshine and we're jamming, woo hoo!

Good walk-before-the-snow this a.m., keeping food simple and relatively light for the day. Steak fajitas for dinner, as light or decadent as you want to make them, garnished with jack cheese, sour cream, guacamole, tomatoes, and lots and lots of grilled peppers and onions. Think I'll spice up some black beans to go with our ubiquitous Wednesday rice (oh how everyone in this house loves rice, the white version, they've refused my attempts at passing off less-processed brown, sigh) and call it a meal. Easy. Spicy. Nutritious. Tasty! Done.

Little exercise, plenty of veggies. Make sure to take good care of yourself today!

Glorious day, eh? Wow, spectacular. What a difference a break in the humidity makes - the air positively sparkles in this late-summer sun. Saucy Suz and her kids, Vivian and Sullivan, came over for a lovely swim today, and we just soaked it all in, knowing - and feeling, for the first time - that September is right around the corner. Sniff.

Tonight, John and I had big plans to go out for Date Night, but after I picked up my LaFinca veggie share, and saw all the lovely possibilities (carrots, new potatoes, baby cabbage, arugula, tomatoes, green beans), I called John and said, Dude, let's eat here! Nothing can beat a fresh vege-ful dinner on our own deck on a night as spectacular as this! So John's happily picking up a couple of killer NY Strips at Byerly's on his way home, and I'm roasting those new potatoes with fresh rosemary, garlic, coarse salt, and oil (400 degrees, for about 45 minutes, turn several times) until they're crispy little bombs, perfect for a dippy-poo in cool, creamy sour cream. Yeah, baby! Chopped arugula salad with lots of shaved Parm and cracked pepper, alongside tomato slices, should finish us off nicely. I'd better get to it, tee hee!

Well, I got to it, and it rawked! Especially with the Cain Five 2003 we sipped with all the tasties, ooooh, Napa Nice. And XM Satellite Radio tuned to the 70s, ha, I love it. We could hardly make a dent in the Cain Five, however, with its high alcohol content, ack. Too early to be drinking it, but we went ahead anyhow (decanted it a couple of times) with at least a bit of it, and it was delicious.

Tomorrow, I gotta come up with some way to use the 10 + cukes I now have in my fridge. Sauteed? Raita? Greek salad? All of the above? Ha. Stay tuned...

What can I say? Another lovely summer day. Sometimes Minnesota sneaks up on you and is a damn nice place to live. Sun, sun, and more sun! Visits (and jumps into the pool) with our neighbors the Hatzungs, and Nathan's friend Emmett (who spent the night last night after the close of our baseball season), and Stacey Pooh and Cooper too - all good. At some point I whipped over to Byerly's for, yes, more great steaks...and this time I didn't over-grill them - yay! - so they were juicy pink-n-prrrrfect. We ate 'em on the deck, with nothing more than a big salad. When you've got perfect steaks, it's worth keeping the rest simple.

And for dessert? 'Cuz you've got to have dessert to honor such a gorgeous day...strawberry shortcake, oh my. Everyone loves strawberry shortcake, including The Coopster! No secret recipe here - Pillsbury (frozen) Buttermilk Biscuits, hot out of the oven and filled with lots of fresh strawberries sweetened with a pinch of sugar, and lots and lots and LOTS of freshly whipped and sweetened cream. Summer Heaven...

The weather gods smiled (grinned!) upon us yesterday and There Was Sun. Lots of sun, in fact. So let's hear a big woo hoo for the weather gods, yeah! Wow, a gorgeous day, perfect for chillin' in the pool with Rudy & Ana and Stu & Debbie and (several, ahem) glasses of cold wine. It was so perfect, in fact, that I damn near forgot to make dinner! Three o'clock became almost-7:00 in what felt like 20 minutes.

So we emerged from the water and changed for dinner and made our way to the kitchen to snack on mini spinach-feta muffins, tasty with - yep - a glass of wine. (Recipe posted in comments, below.) And to scope out Rudy & Ana's pics from their recent trip to Italy's Amalfi Coast, the potential site of our next group trip. Paradise, man, we'd rent the home that Rudy & Ana just stayed in, on a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean. With a pool that is filled with sea water, pumped up the side of the cliff. Glorious, glorious, I hope we can make it work, I've never been to Italy, nor the Mediterranean, and that trip would be a very nice introduction, don't you think?

So, back to Minnesota, ha. Dinner was simple - panzanella (bread salad) with roasted green beans and tomatoes, crispy prosciutto, shaved Parmesan, and a garlicky-capery dressing. And steaks, baby. Gorgeous New York strips that I stunningly stupidly overgrilled by a few (several) minutes, uuuuuugh, I'm still kicking myself. They were such nice steaks that they were tasty anyhow, but with every bite I couldn't help thinking about how fabulous they would have been if I'd had one less glass of wine before dinner. Yeah. Ah, well, lesson learned.

And for dessert, we moved out onto the screen porch - where Debbie had graciously lit candles in my many pain-in-the-ass-but-pretty lanterns, sorry Deb! And thanks! - for round two of my Grandma Meyer's Sour Cream Chocolate Cake with whipped cream and strawberries (I had baked the cake in two 9" round pans on Thursday, served one half to Polly and Charlie on Friday, and the other half last night). Uff. We were all happily stuffed, and buzzy, and a little sunburned, which is a very good way to end an evening, I think. John and I were so happy and grateful to share a beautiful summer's day with such lovely friends. From Napa to Minneapolis to perhaps the Amalfi Coast (I hope, I hope!), we sure do have a blast together.

(PS, the spinach-feta muffins make a delicious breakfast. Think I'll have me another!)

And oh, Happy Father's Day!!! Especially to my own dad, of course, father of three daughters and a son, and grandfather to two boys. Hey, the count is even! Three girls and three boys! Niiiice...