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Hugh and Christine are amazing hosts and always take good care of us. I thought I’d try to remember all the lovely food they made for us so that maybe I can recreate some of it at home. Most nights Hugh grilled the meat and veggies on his gas grill, which we don’t have, but we do have a regular charcoal barbecue (scavenged when some neighbors moved away) and I suppose I could learn to use it.

Let’s see, one night we had pork chops (my favorite), tiny boiled potatoes, and grilled asparagus. Another time it was lovely butcher-shop sausages with homemade crabapple jelly and grilled peppers/eggplant/zucchini and tiny boiled potatoes. I loved those tiny boiled potatoes so much that they fixed them nearly every night.

A couple times we had chicken brochettes – easy ’cause they came from the butcher shop marinated and pre-skewered with veggies. I think our market sells something similar so that would be something to try, perhaps. Dan loved those especially much.

Several times we had grilled asparagus with dinner; I didn’t think Henry would like asparagus but he did! One night we had broccoli rabe, with normal broccoli for the less adventurous. I liked the rabe a lot. I think they fixed it with lemon juice and maybe garlic?

One night Hugh made orzo with chopped tomatoes, green onion, and zucchini. I’d never had orzo before and loved it; it was so good hot for dinner and cold the next day for lunch. Funny how different shapes of pasta taste so different when it’s all just made from the same stuff.

And of course with every meal we had great conversation. Heck, we could have eaten boxed mac-n-cheese every night and if we got to talk with H and C while eating, it would have been just fine. And we always had bread and interesting cheeses after the main course, and then a sweet after that — Christine’s homemade orange cake, peach cake from Cocoa Locale, strawberries… Yum. Christine often took Henry to the cheese shop to help choose after-dinner cheeses for us. He loved that. :)

I’m sure I’m forgetting something delicious. I was feeling so ill most of the time that a lot of the trip is just a blur. Sigh.