saturday brunch

Last weekend the house was chock-full of visitors.  J’s dad came to town, and lots of eating ensued.  Much of this took place at restaurants but J hosted a brunch on Saturday for all of us, including my sister, brother-in-law and nephew.  The meal had to be gluten-free since Dave has celiac disease, and Lenny has a phobia of carbs.  J went with a pumpkin polenta (gluten, but not carb, free), sausage hash and eggs.

{gluten-free brunch}

He forgot to include these sauteed tomatoes, which he had prepared the night before, so we ate them with leftovers on Sunday night instead.  I think they look extra pretty simmering in our caribbean blue pan.

One of my favorite things about living upstate has been hosting.  For one thing, it’s just so nice to finally have the SPACE to do so.  Secondly, although our activities don’t differ much when we’re alone (eating, hiking, fire building, repeat), there’s something special about showing someone around, and we always end up doing more of the things we love rather than allowing laziness to creep in.    In addition to taking Lenny to some of our regular spots, we discovered two new hiking trails and went to an amazing restaurant that we had been hearing about but hadn’t yet visited.  By Sunday night, instead of having the blues, we felt like we had really made the most of our time off.  It didn’t hurt that the weather was picture perfect all weekend.

{tea town reservation}

{like father, like son}

I expect that our upcoming trip to Los Angeles/Paso Robles will provide opportunities for lots of scenic and food-related (Thanksgiving!) photos, especially since J just got me a DSLR camera as an early birthday present!  He really outdid himself this time, and even though I yelled at him for spending the money, I cannot wait to learn how to use it.  In the meantime, I’ve taken a few shots of our dinner tonight despite my lack of real photographic skill:

{pork leftovers}

{brussels}

{dinner}