04 May 2012
This Says It All...Doesn't It?
Ah, cousin's weekend...were lovelier words ever uttered? Last Friday I hopped a Metro North train so I could fit in a second helping before heading out of the country for a while...
These weekends hold some of my favorite moments. Cooking and laughing and catching up. Gathering around the kitchen table and simply enjoying being together. Funny aside...my Cousin Elana has been pregnant both times we've done this! LOL. The group keeps on growing!
This time we extended the links on the cousin chain. There was me, Elana, my dear cousin-in-law Frederick (whose laugh is totally infectious), their Son Brayden (whose giggle is totally heart-warming) and two teenage cousin's I had yet to spend time with, Hailee and Kaylyn (So glad to have gotten to meet you both again!). It was truly a full house (not to mention the little one on the way).
Dining Table
It's as if time stands still for a little while in the house. The quiet and safety is palpable. No matter how busy...there is an underlying sense of peace that only comes from a firm foundation of love. I am so grateful to have spent some time immersed in it
I don't really have any recipes to share since I improvised everything (I thought up the Saturday evening menu while meditating in the choir loft as Elana played the organ). So, since a picture is worth more words than I have at the moment...here are our weekend meals in images:
Saturday Breakfast:
"Cajun" home fries and bacon!
Cinnamon Rolls in Lieu of toast
All the pieces together
(I scrambled and cooked the eggs with a little garlic powder and ground sage)
Saturday Dinner:
Spring mix with bosc pears, toasted walnuts and crumbled goat cheese
Frederick Broke out the Whisky for me :)
Egg noodles slathered in lemon-Rosemary infused butter...and salmon cooked to perfection by Elana
(We also had some amazing chicken, which I apparently forgot to photograph)
Chocolate cake pop a la Elana and coconut sorbet for dessert...and the rest of my Macallan
Sunday Lunch:
Green beans with lemon, butter and Montreal steak seasoning, leftover home fries and marinated steak
Sunday evening Elana, Frederick, Brayden and I went out for dinner. I had a beet salad with crab cake, and a flight of Glenfiddich (12, 15, 18)...oh yes and Key Lime pie which I finished for breakfast on Monday morning.
This was a wonderful way for me to start easing into the new phase of my life. I want to fill it with sharing food and time. That is what we are meant for.
Elana made a comment about how long it takes for us to realize our life is our own again when making drastic changes. She now happily stays home with Brayden being a wife, mother and cake decorator (after being laid off from her corporate America job). I have been mulling over these words a lot since our time together. I am expecting that the shift in my life style will take some getting used to...we get so accustomed to things even when we aren't happy...but I had never thought about my life not really being my own until now. I've been burning up a lot of energy trying to hold on to something that is all mine, outside of my day job. This has been part of following my dream. What a revelation it is to see that it will finally be all mine...of my choosing.
I am looking forward to being one person again :)
Good things always come out of Cousin's weekend.
XO
P.S. You can read about our first Cousin's Weekend here:
Family Affair Part 1
Family Affair Part 2
Family Affair Part 3