Full dedication to Food

Jason made fajitas tonight which he does fairly frequently - it's a staple in his arsenal.  The kids have chicken and spinach quesadillas and Jason grills the chicken, peppers and onions for us.  We always have chips and salsa - this time from Door County - cherry salsa from my mother-in-law, Mary.  I fork up the guacamole and we usually partake in a margarita or two and dine al fresco.

I don't have a picture of the fajitas but I do of one of the latest - grilled eggplant bruschetta and BLTs - the B from Wissota Meat Market, the L was arugula (we've replanted another crop of lettuce and it's not big enough yet), and the T from the garden - there's a windfall of Tomatoes coming!  More BLTs to come and caprese salads and straight up with S&P, etc, etc.  Estelle eats them like they're popcorn.

There was much food to be made and enjoyed up north. We brought shishkabobs from that Wissota Meat Market - they do such a good job and fantastically make it not worth it to buy, cut and skewer the variety of  pieces.  Jason also scavenged (in a good way) the leftovers and made a beautiful egg bake one north woods morning.

The biggest event in August for us was FAMILY FARM FEST 2011.  I mean.  So great.  Just dreamy.  Jason's (our) cousins Jay and Ken live on a piece of Eden in Prairie Farm, WI, and have had these FFF's for the past few years.  In 2010, their stoic, quaint farm house succumbed to a fire as well as many, many precious, though material, things also perished.  Jay and Ken are the genuine picture of optimism and resiliency.  They keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side.  A lesson in life and something to aspire to.  Their new home is full of character, thought and beauty while maintaining humility and simplicity.

So 'full dedication to food' - and FFF is never an exception.  Lean and flavorful burgers from the a neighboring farm.  Root beer also local.  They have a providing, exceptional organic garden and also a business and labor of love - organic pumpkin fields whose seeds are used to make their Hay River Organic pumpkin seed oil  www.hayriver.net

Jason made a chocolate carrot cake for my birthday - my Mom was here to celebrate with me!  He made it with plain and vanilla yogurt instead of the oil and it turned out dense and damp - really, really gooood!

We've harvested a great amount of tomatoes and cucumbers.  My friend Mary sent a recipe from another blog with the author's favorite garden cucumber recipe - it's couscous, cucs, feta and garden herbs.  Thanks MBS - it's a good one.  And we had a dose of caprese salad and some corn from the farmer's market.

And with more tomatoes, Jason found a recipe for fresh tomato sauce in the Journal Sentinel.  We had it over shells...very fresh and light!  YUM.

We had a packed Labor Day weekend with one beautiful event being Julie and Chris' wedding.  The dinner was excellent and so interesting...I'm betting Jason will take it on...it seemed the chicken was baked in a cupcake tin.  It tasted really nice.  We'll see...stay tuned.