This weekend I had the great pleasure of hosting my fifth annual lakeside meet-up. Lots of food and more than a dozen wonderful people..... just the way I like it ;-)
This year's meet-up ended up being a weekend event.
Actbriniel and her non-Kossack (but wonderful!) husband arrived on Friday afternoon (courteously arriving late enough that I had a chance to run into town for the opening of the annual library used book sale, where I got 18 books for $15.75 ~ supported a good cause, got some good reading and stayed under budget.... win, win, win ~ just the way I like to do things!). Since Friday was her birthday, I made a brisket in the crockpot for a celebratory supper.
Larger dishes for the meet-up lunch Saturday, smaller ones for Friday night birthday supper:
Poor Hobbs ~ he thinks the crockpot is a feline torture device. He had fewer comments on the aroma of bread baking ~ it was a beautiful day, so all the windows and doors were open, yet the whole cottage still smelled liked baking bread!
And there was carrot cake for dessert (photo of cake in process ~ admittedly, I now cheat and buy the pre-shredded carrots, as the time savings is worth it). I'd asked Actbriniel what her favorite kind of cake is, and she refused to choose between carrot cake and cheesecake. So unhelpful!
On Saturday, the 'real' meet-up happened. Fourteen of us total ~ from five states. Amazingly, Actbriniel and her husband, driving from CT, didn't have the longest drive ~ that honor went to rb608, who rode his motorcycle up from MD. It was great to finally meet him ~ and to have everyone else here. Really nice group of people ~ some who have come all five years and some attending for the first time. Special thanks to the two motorcyclists ~ much easier to find parking space for them ;-)
Thank you note: extra special thanks to Common Sense Mainer and to NHOx42, as they helped considerably with the publicity for the meet-up. Wouldn't have been anywhere near as nice without their assistance!
Also ~ many thanks to those who brought goodies ~ especially rebereads, who was amazingly generous with appetizer-style nibbles.
Debbie in Maine brought her blueberry pie, which sat there tormenting me with its goodness until it was time for dessert:
Haley, canine companion to Bill in Portland Maine and Common Sense Mainer, thought the cat food looked very good:
The appetizer course, mostly provided by rebereads:
Hobbs even joined in the fun ~ although the lure of treats likely was the cause of that bravery:
The main course:
Front row: cucumber salad, pineapple noodle casserole, grilled chicken
Middle row: pesto pasta salad, Israeli-style salad (with watermelon and tomato), a wild mushroom risotto (brought by beverlywoods) and a three layer kugel (green = zucchini and spinach, white = potato, and orange {gotta have something orange} = sweet potato and carrot)
Back row: kitchen cupboard salad (open whatever cans of vegetables are in cupboard {while avoiding cat who thinks anything out of can is for him}, add a bit of dressing and some chopped up celery and pickles, and you are done....), Asian slaw (soy sauce based dressing and crushed ramen noodles with coleslaw veggies), and a curried potato/sweet potato/pea pie (a.k.a. the vegetarian entree).
Lots of great conversation ~ some sitting by the lake, some on the screened porch (yeah for screens ~ no bugs!).
And then it was time for dessert:
Several people very sensibly had some of all three desserts ~ I had made carrot cake and cheese cake (recipe for both of those in an old diary I posted ~ these two actually in comments), plus there was Debbie's DKos famous pie. Why choose?
Several people chose to spend the night (a result of long drives), so in the evening there was euchre for the midwesterners, while the east coasters found other ways to be entertained ;-)
Cheesecake for breakfast, to accompany the Tim Horton's donuts that Actbriniel and her husband had brought ;-)
Bill in Portland Maine and Common Sense Mainer demonstrated their Eagle Scout skills by camping out in a tent:
PS: I know others got more/better pictures.... would love to see them in the comments ;-)