The Weekend: A Cottage, some Coq au vin, a new pair of Capris, Church, and a Chocolate Candy bar from Kazhakstan

The weekend was crowded with lots of good c-words, including a chillin' good time carpooling with friends and conversing with fellow clubbers at a cottage "up north".

It was the annual book club/golf event on Saturday, six couples participating. I have a short tradition of contributing a 7-layer salad to the after-golf cuisine. The salad was assembled the night before with the help of the vegetable-chopping husband. The ratty recipe card dates back to a 70's Thanksgiving dinner but the salad still pleases the palate every time it is consumed.

It was another 90-degree, deadly dew-point day--and I declined to participate in the annual singing of the national anthem at the ballpark on Friday night. Instead I watered the flowers for a full hour at church, shopped for salad ingredients and purchased a much needed pair of cotton capris.

Rising early to get packed and travel north for the 11:00 tee time, I hastily pulled on my new capris, pairing with a favorite top trimmed in black. When I looked down by the light of day in the car the capris were blue, not black! (I think I had my sunglasses on when I shopped.) I was mortified. I do not like mixing navy and black. When I got to the golf club I pulled a full price polo off the rack in a pretty blue color. And paid for it.

Brats on the grill, baked beans, potato salad and fruit salad filled out the food buffet.

But the dessert by Jeri was more unexpected, and I thought, photo-worthy: a chocolate mousse trifle with a delicious brownie base. So I attempted some creative camera shots:

Dessert on Deck

But the best thing about the day (although I should say fellowship with friends) was the deliciously cool lake breezes that wafted up to the deck and into the cottage! It was amazing--so much cooler than parts inland.

On Sunday morning after church we attended the presentation of our young Russian-speaking friend Jeremiah who we support to teach and work in Kazakhstan. He gifted us with some chocolate from Kazakhstan:

Then we enjoyed a Coq au Vin dinner with cousins D & A. Carrots, too. Homemade pies were peach and rhubarb, ending the string of good things starting with c--but served with coffee! Too bad not peach cobbler and rhubarb crumble!

Oh, and all this deliciousness followed the encounter (close and personal) with that crazy corpse plant! One would hope that a whiff of this disgusting plant would have taken away my appetite for a few days, but no such luck!

One more photo of Putricia!