Before the snow flies, I thought that I should get around to writing my summer reflections.  I love many, many things about time spent at our little beach house “Life is Good”: beachcombing for glass and heart stones, family bonfires, strolls through the forest and glasses of wine at sunset.  Not surprisingly, my favourite times revolve around food and the time that my extended family and I spend preparing and consuming it.

This was one of our first sunsets of the season in early May before the leaves had even come out on the trees.

The lake was uncharacteristically calm on this evening.

One of our pastimes is “Robin TV”.  We get to experience two batches of eggs and babies each year when the robin families build a fresh nest on top of their former one.  The ledge of the window keeps them protected from wind and rain and when we are inside, we get a perfect view of the nurturing.

Our lake routine is that we make huge canisters of coffee for people that come and go.  D and J1 play tennis at neighbouring Grand Beach every chance they get, I go walking with the Wee One on the beach while J2 gets caught up on some much-needed sleep.  Then at noon, we make big breakfasts to stave off hunger until dinner time (or Happy Hour which is another lake tradition).

There is often a family member at our screen door inquiring if we want to join them for a walk or a meal.

On this evening D whipped up a batch of bacon wrapped scallops for us to contribute to happy hour at Sister #2’s place.  Her family co-inhabited with ours for years at “Life is Good” and have recently moved to their own place which is much larger and grander than our little beach house.  We teasingly call it “Resch Mahal”.

Sister #2 is an exceptional cook and we love their frequent invites for meals.  This is either her tequila chicken or a curry-sorry that I can’t recall.  The astonishing thing is that she doesn’t yet have a kitchen in their new place and made this on the side burner of their barbeque.

Back to “Happy Hour” for a moment…Our little treats with cocktails, craft beer or a glass of wine are typically simple concoctions from items that we have in the fridge or cupboard.  I had been sent a sample of Matt & Steve’s Extreme Beans  which I rolled with prosciutto and a slice of provolone cheese.  They were a big hit.

We take turns cooking meals for each other.  On this evening J1 and J2 provided a huge pot of their slow-cooked meatballs.

The next evening, Reb & Seb made us taco salads.

The Wee One approved of both.

This happy bunch was photographed at J2’s birthday dinner, which we celebrated on the May Long weekend.

Her request was anything grilled so D made his famous brined pork tenderloin and a bevy of grilled veggies.  We even had a grilled dessert-strawberries, pineapple and cake.

There seems to be more time for just doing nothing at the beach house-like Poppa and the Wee One playing in the hammock

or reading with another one of our little loved ones.

More of those big breakfasts……

and another of D’s grilled masterpieces.

It has been said that our gang can make a drinking game out of every activity.  Here we are playing “Drinking Scrabble”.

Daughter #1’s birthday was celebrated at the lake too.  Her only request was for a pasta salad so I whipped up a oriental one and we enjoyed an Asian grill.

Here was another get-together at Resch Mahal with my eldest brother D at the head of the table.

We always have D & P for dinner while we are on holidays.  Since we will be getting together with them for the first time on Isla Mujeres next spring, P thought that it might be fun to be introduced to island cooking.  So we got into the swing of things by getting out a few Mexican items.  This is an embarrassed Buddy joining in the party.  The life we live on Isla is very similar to our lake life so the theme was very appropriate.

Photos from both ends of the table.  D made Lavender Margaritas and I

coconut shrimp and chilies relleno (pictured here).

This is how you will find me most afternoons-sitting in the shade on the beach enjoying the breeze.

An August sunset.

One evening my Sis-in-Law and her sister invited me to share their Ukrainian dinner with them.  They are inseparable and both have places at Lester Beach.  When my brother Tom was alive, they called them Tom’s two wives.  We started with borscht

and continued with meatballs, perogies and holupchi-yum!

Later that week Wife #2 invited D and I over to watch the Emmy Awards with her (we don’t have conventional TV).  D made shrimp cocktail with these whopping shrimp!

I am not even sure who we invited over on this evening but D was at the grill again making Greek chicken topped with grilled tomatoes, olive and feta.

I often convince myself that the weather will soon turn and I have spent my last weekend at the lake and then lo and behold, I am there again and get to enjoy a bonus stroll down our beloved beach.

Everyone thinks Life is Good at Lester Beach including this little furry guy.

Kath’s quote: “Life is good when we think it’s good.”-Doug Horton

Love-that is all.

My culinary memories of summers at Grand Beach include waiting for the bakery door to open to purchase just-out-of-the-oven cinnamon buns or tasting gravy served on French fries for my very first time, at a bright orange wooden stand called Jo-Anne’s.  Perhaps Lanky’s was the place that you loved or maybe a little place that was fittingly called the Blueberry Patch.  As we vacation in the Grand Beach area every summer and have done so for decades, we have seen many places come and go.  Our favourite in recent years is a place called Ty’s Café at the Sandbar Motor Hotel.  We’ve enjoyed their Friday night Steak Dinner features and their hearty breakfast skillets.  There was a time when they would feature all-you-can-eat pickerel and fries but had to put a kybosh on that when it became enormously popular.  Now the only pickerel appearance is their fish sandwich at lunch time.

We found ourselves seeking out a cool refuge on what turned out to be the hottest day of the summer.  Good thing J2 and I were overheating and hungry too.

She ordered a colossal burger dubbed the Big Kahuna when she spied that it was garnished with grilled pineapple and back bacon.

I lost my head and selected the Meat-Lovers.

What was I thinking? Mine was topped with no less than ham, bacon and sausage!  Needless to say, I could only make my way through a small potion.  These were burgers like you might see on a Food Network show.  You know the kind where the host can hardly fit his mouth around it.  Maybe you thought that burgers this size were an exaggeration.  I am here to say, they are not.  It took an enormous effort to squish mine down to biting size.

Perhaps my appetite for a gigantic burger was negated by the heat and sun. In truth, it was because I had started to nibble on a “few” of the hand-cut shoe string French fries and low and behold, the fries were gone before I even attempted my first bite of burger.

Years from now, when I reminisce about the summer of 2013, I will remember Ty’s two-fisted burgers eaten in that blessed air-conditioned café.

Kath’s quote: “I am not a glutton — I am an explorer of food.”-Erma Bombeck

Love-that is all.