The rain has started to fall on a Sunday morning at the lake.  D will soon be home from the tennis courts as the guys who assemble each week, will be forced to delay their weekly matches.  I would love to be on the overhang of the deck but a Momma Robin has perched upon her nest of blue eggs and every time I have to venture past, she vacates the nest.  So I am in our cozy cottage instead, with the window flung open to hear the birds singing in spite of the rain.  My Mom once told me, that this is the sign of a long rain.  If the birds cease to chirp, it is because they know that they will soon be back at it.  But if they continue to sing, it is because the rain will continue for hours.

This is one of my favourite weekends of the year as we are a family of dancers and this is recital weekend.  There was a time when this meant hours of preparation, but now we just show up and take it all in with enormous smiles on our faces.

We left directly from the auditorium for Lester Beach in order to have dinner with D2 and P.  It was our post-Ireland dinner, when we could relive our favourite moments of our trip.  We certainly get our monies worth out of our vacations, would you not say?

As we walked in the door, the Celtic music was blaring and we were swept up in a quadrille (well not exactly because we only had half of the required four couples) and handed Smithwicks and glasses of Guinness.  I told you we were a family of dancers.  Perhaps we could be described as a family of imbibers too-not as complimentary….

But to the food!  When we were in Ireland, D had a craving for seared scallops which D2 and P remembered.  They wanted to treat D to a little delight to thank him for being our chauffeur on this trip.  D2 sizzled up the butter until the colour was a gorgeous bronze and then quickly turned the nuggets over the heat for just moments-exactly the way that we love them.  They served this with Molly’s Irish bannock that they managed to search out in St. Boniface.

Next up was a hearty potato and clam soup, reminiscent of one we had for our pub lunch whilst circling the Ring of Kerry.  D2 added white pepper to finish the silky spoonfuls with a little bit of heat.

A spring time salad of strawberries and pecans came next.

By this time, we were recreating a Limerick exchange that we had so much fun performing with a related Murphy while we were in Ireland.  That one took place, with an ocean between us and this one with Lake Winnipeg separating us.  At least there was no time difference as the last go round had our sparring partner up until 3 in the morning!

The entree was an amazing meat pie with the flakiest of pastries and a savoury filling.  The honeyed parsnips that I prepared in the city were P’s request from our pre-Ireland get together.

For dessert we indulged in ice cream, topped with Baileys Irish Cream and a plummy glass of port.

By this time it is midnight, at it is time to go.  We do not have far because our cottages are almost across the street from each other.  The journey took longer than one might expect though, as we had neglected to turn on any lights at our little place and did not have the fore-sight to bring along a flashlight.  We managed to find our way without incident back to our summer house, appropriately named: Life is Good.

Kath’s quote:

“For ….we can make liquor to sweeten our lips

Of pumpkins and parsnips and walnut-tree chips.”

-Henry David Thoreau, ‘Walden’

Love-that is all.

Share on Facebook