Happy Father's Day

     Cy and I got out of school on Wednesday, and what a summer it's already been.  It seems like the sun waited until the end of school to finally come out. It was overcast on Wednesday morning, but not that afternoon.  We went to Simpatica http://simpaticacatering.com/  for Father's Day brunch, and went on to a whirlwind of a day- working in the garden, making tomato cages, and picking out new rental art.  Now we've finally got a chance to rest, as tonight's chicken is on the grill.
     I'm making grilled chicken sandwiches tonight, and they should be great.  It's a fairly simple recipe. As I write this, Dad is bringing the chicken in from the grill, and I've set up all the other ingredients inside.  Dinner will be ready in a few minutes.
 

     Dinner was really good, the olive tapenade and mayo spread was immensely flavorful, and it set off the roasted red peppers nicely.  The chicken was nice too, and the arugula gave the sandwiches a little crunch.  We had asparagus on the side.  A good meal to top of a good day.  Happy Father's Day.

Grandma Got An iPad

     Yesterday we bought Mimi an iPad.  Cy and I have gotten to use friend's before, but this is a new experience.  As we were teaching Mimi to use it, she was amazed, and reminisced how when she was a kid she had gone to the neighbor's to watch the (recorded) coronation of King George V.  Now, she had a "television" not an inch thick, that she could hold in her hand, take with her wherever she wanted, and watch events of much lesser consequence than a coronation in much less time.  She's playing with it in the living room right now.  While she play's Cy is making us dinner.  Even though this is a really nice day--possibly heralding that summer is here for good (we hope), he's not out on the grill tonight.  Instead, he's opted to try out the reuben's I made a few months back.
     Dad's on the oven, which he and Cy have turned into an impromptu sandwich grill, placing buttered sandwiches in cast iron skillets, and pressing them with pots weighted with water.  If last time was any indication, these are going to be some really good sandwiches.
     In addition to the reubens, Cy is putting together some catalonian asparagus and tater tots.  Both are in the oven, and are heating up the house to the edge of comfort, but I'm sure they'll be good, and in a few months this side of our house will always be uncomfortably warm.

     The sandwiches were a little burnt, though I think that might be Cy's fault for letting him grill them, as Dad is notorious for burning any sandwich that goes on the stove.  The tater tots and asparagus were goo, and all the dishes, Dad and Cy said, were fairly easy and no-frills.  It was a little stove-heavy for a day like today, but otherwise it was good.

The Price of Meat These Days...

     This weekend's been a busy one for me, Saturday was the lifeguard skills test day, 4 hours of practice saving people, and today we had to pick up our uniforms.  It didn't give me much time to think about dinner, so this morning, after I ate dad's excellent waffles, opened up the gourmet cookbook, put my finger down, and discovered I was going to make a rosemary beef fillet for dinner.   It looked quick, easy, and good, if not seasonal.  The last was fine though, as the weather isn't very seasonal either.
     When we went to the grocery store, we were planning to get the cut of beef the recipe called for--three and a half pounds of center-cut beef tenderloin--but the price threw us off.  Seventy dollars for three and a half pounds felt a little exorbitant.  So we got a much smaller piece for the five of us, and forked over the thirty-five dollars.  It's a good thing that was the only thing we needed to buy for dinner.
     When we got home I cut rosemary from our bush outside, working carefully not to bring in any spit-bugs.  Then I patted the thirty-five-dollar roast dry, and rubbed it with the rosemary, garlic, salt and pepper.  Then it was into the oven for the rest of the evening.
 
     The roast is out of the oven and it looks other-worldly, with countless sprigs of rosemary sticking out from it at odd angles. I left it to dad to carve, and he's serving it up too.  It's a great cut of meat, though not worth it's excessive cost.  We had side dishes of a salad, completely grown in our backyard, and asparagus.  While the meat was not worth it's cost, the meal was very much worth the effort that we put into it.  The meat was flavorful, the garlic and rosemary rubbed off nicely, and the outer edges were super salty.  Good, but way to much money for what we got.