Hi Kissers! What a wonderful time we had on Lopez Island...and what a process to get there! It seems apparent to me that, by "process," I mean, "Whoa, what a gorgeous view!" Let me give you a few examples:
I do believe that's Mt. Baker over there... (Isn't it? Anyone? Bueller?)
Here's another kind of gorgeous view... Fernando and Shawn decided to splurge on some Ruffles Sour Cream and Cheddar potato chips (I know, I know...), so as not to spoil their appetites for the sure-to-be-amazing dinner which they knew awaited them on Lopez... Of course the gorgeous view part of this photo has nothing to do with the Ruffles! Ain't he cute?
What a lovely evening...
The sunset promised to be spectacular...
Here's me snapping our dear F, who's snapping the beauty, too - very "meta!"
Oh, hi!
This is why we love the Pacific Northwest:
Fernando and I arrived and it was a super mellow crowd! Meg, William, Damian, Anne, Joyce, and Jessica had all made it up before we had, and there was some cooking already afoot. Juli's house was absolutely stunning, and FULLY appointed. Shawn felt a tad sheepish to have brought along most of her kitchen, "just in case," but, after all, it's better to be overdressed than under-dressed, right?
We learned that a deliciously aromatic stew was already ready, and that a new Brussels sprout recipe (Does anyone have the recipe? Send it on and I'll post it!) was in the works. Here is some torn sage and some sliced apples which were destined for that...
Someone had been baking fresh focaccia! Maybe Anne? (Was there a recipe, folks?)
A light was a-lit and the stew was stirred...
Here are the apples co-mingling with the brussels sprouts...
And a beautifully-dressed green salad with nuts, apples, and croutons - can you say "hazelnut oil?" Yum!
What a welcome we had! Look at that!
Mmmmmm....
A little closer...
Post-supper, Fernando ducked in to take care of some bio-business, and he received a special message, directly from the Pope! Glad (and surprised!) to see that he's such a supporter of water conservation!!
Look at those sprouts! Love!
And the stew....My, oh my, the stew...A savory mixture of pork, beef, and lamb (instead of veal), it was richly flavored with the help from some Guinness (wasn't it?). William, it was incredible - if you're reading, and you'd like to share the recipe, I'd be delighted to post it here!
Here's how tasty it all was:
A yellow jacket made its way into the house, which seemed curious since it was so cold and dark outside by that hour... Damian managed to deftly trap the poor critter in a salad container - our hero! He even transported the little guy safely outside and sent him off to fly away to his little yellow-jacket house in the country.
I posted the photo of the yellow jacket mostly to distract you from the fact that I didn't manage to capture any photos of the extraordinary buttermilk cardamom pie we enjoyed for dessert. Oh. Em. Gee. WHAT a marvelous and decadent treat! Again, responsible parties, if you are willing to part with the recipe, "enquiring minds want to know!" Be a dear and pass it on, won't you? I'd love to make (and eat!) it again!
Abuzz from the sugar, we all enjoyed a demonstration by Fernando and Joyce of what a weekend on Lopez should actually feel like. Behold, the Island vibe:
Post-dinner, our low-key evening went even more lower-key. Listen up, kids: THIS is the way to relax! Here's how Rick found us when he arrived late that night. He reported that we were so relaxed when he walked into the house that he wondered if, collectively, we still had a pulse.
We giggled our way through a few silly YouTube videos, including one preview for the British TV show on BBC, Walk On the Wild Side. Note: Fernando believes these YouTube hijinks occurred on Saturday night after dinner. He might even be right. Nevertheless, since I have no recollection of most of Saturday night, and I DO remember sharing these videos, my conclusion is that this must have happened on Friday. If I'm wrong about that and we need to edit for accuracy, let me know and I can change accordingly. Muchas gracias!
We cracked up watching, "Alan! Alan! Alan!" decide he was actually calling out to "Steve! Steve! Steve!" Here it is again for your viewing pleasure:
And, a bonus!
From there, things just deteriorated. How else can we explain the sudden presence of the voice of Rick Perry? Check out ~1:05 to catch a real American's call to true patriotic action: Hot Yellow Kool-aid, and save a pretzel for the gas jets!
The next morning's brilliance allowed us to peep outside to enjoy the amazing view behind the house. That's a hot tub, and farther out, the Sound:
We got started making breakfast. Meg's Eggs (saved from 'the girls' starting several days prior) were to play a big role, and are shown here in all their orangey glory:
A veggie scramble was to play a big role in breakfast, but in spite of this beautiful display of zucchini and mushrooms, the scramble wouldn't be the real star...
Post-breakfast, everyone eventually dispersed to go wander around the island. What a cute town it was, and what wonderful weather we enjoyed! It was sunny and dry the whole weekend. We headed back to the house to begin cooking our Cuban food extravaganza, orchestrated by Fernando in honor of his uncle Joaquin, born and bred in Cienfuegos, Cuba.
Shawn tried her hand at making mojitos. It took a few to get the ratios right (not that anyone was really complaining!), but before too long, she was mixing them up like a pro! You will feel proud/surprised/horrified to learn that we managed to consume most of our 1.5-liter jug o' rum in a single sitting!
We chopped up some aromatic veggies - don't these look lovely?
Joyce chopped and chopped...
Fernando, our chef du jour, got serious. Here he is, concentrating on his black beans - he was not fooling around!
Shawn took advantage of a lull in the black bean-stirring to steal a kiss (Come on, wouldn't you?)
Looks like the mojitos are working!
Necessity is the mother of invention, as they say, and here's our dear Fernando proving that adage himself. He needed to smash some of the beans to add some body to the broth, but he found he didn't have a proper bean-smasher. So, no fool, he used the back of an ice-cream scoop. What a smartie-pants!
Here are Jessica and Shawn mugging for the camera. If you look close enough, you can see Shawn's tonsils. Please accept her apologies!
We were having a ball...
Hello, lovelies!
Anne did a little stirring...
I can't be sure, but in this photo, there appears to be some serious roof-raising going on. Wine-fueled? Or was it the mojitos? You be the judge!
Now that I think about it, I suspect all that jubilance may have been related to the "Mayonesa" song (really bad video quality, but no less fun!):
Here is some beautiful skirt steak we evidently browned up...I believe this must be around the time I had my little meltdown, since I really can't recall anything being done with the steak. My dear friends William and Joyce (and probably others, I was pretty fuzzy by then) listened to me whimper and cry, and generally offered me some seriously supportive shoulders to boo-hoo on...I apologize for the drama, and for any snot and tears that ended up all over y'all's clothes! Meg later consoled me by saying I should feel more like I'd come of age than anything else. I learned that our teensy group just naturally and historically lends itself to offering that kind of safe forum for some seriously magical support among friends. Thanks, y'all - for reals...Many thanks!
I know I emerged, surely splotchy and red-nosed, to eat a bunch of yuca frita--one of my favorite comfort-type foods, hands-down. Also known as cassava or manioc, yuca is a delightful tuber which represents the third-largest source of food carbohydrates in the world. Wow! It was perfectly par-boiled and then deep-fried, and absolutely DEE-licious with a sauce we whipped up from mayo, garlic, lime juice, and dill. Yum!!
Things a-simmered, and we prepared for dinner...Can you see that it's nearly 9pm?
While things simmered, we relaxed some more...
Meg and William tore it up on the dance floor...
And dinner was served! Post-meltdown, my emotional exhaustion was apparently such that I somehow managed to erase all of dinner from my memory. ALL of it! Boo! Very sad outcome, truly, since the photos look like everything tasted amazing.
Word on the street was that I sat through all of dinner and excused
myself just before dessert (someone saved me a square of flan, you guys
rock!) to go upstairs. I remember enjoying the yuca, then Meg and William dancing,
and then nothing until I woke up after 3am feeling certain I'd missed all of dinner...How could I not recall this? Eeeek!
Here's Rick serving up the flan...
Yum!
Anne woke up extra early and snapped a few amazing photos of what promised to be a stunning sunrise...
I really like this photo!
Shawn emerged from her amnesiac fog and set up the camera with a filter to best capture the colors of the sunrise, very cool...
Look at that!
So beautiful...
Overall, we determined that we hadn't done too badly for a couple nights' work...13 bottles of wine, and more than a full liter of rum...Way to go, Kissers!
Sunday morning really felt like a Sunday morning is supposed to feel...
We were moving about the same pace as this guy!
Joyce told the superior joke of two proper Southern ladies, discussing the true purpose and utility of charm school. In short, it's so you can learn how to say, "How nice!" instead of "Who the fuck cares?" Since I know you wouldn't expect anything less, here's a fabulous and timely remix of that sagely-stated declaration. Hope you enjoy - I'm feeling very impressed with myself for putting this together!
Here's a super nice photo of J&J - ladies, I'll send you the originals to crop and fool around with as you like - there were some super cute ones!
Ain't they sweet?
Joyce and Jessica, how I love thee! Let me count the ways!
Too soon, it was time to head back to Seattle. We headed out to the ferry, and enjoyed another beautiful afternoon. What a view! Thanks, Pacific Northwest, for being so awesome! And many more thanks, Kissers, for also being awesome!
I'm looking forward to seeing everyone on Nov. 19 at William's for our annual business meeting event! Thanks in advance, William - See all y'all real soon!
Our group has been cooking together at least once a month for more than a decade. From French Laundry to homemade s'mores to flavors of Asia and pastry experiments, we love to cook (and eat!) it all!
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