…with a full belly.

I’ve been gone for a while. Sons Eric and Brian produced a fabulous party for us to mark the occasion of our 50th Anniversary. Wow. They were ably assisted by Alison and Natasza and anybody else standing around — except us, the gracious honorees.

Sister Amy does a set with the band at Hidden Valley Regional Park in Reno.

They prepared lots of good food, including:

grilled leg of lamb,

latke and cream cheese “sandwiches,” and…

crepes suzette for dessert.

I was too busy eating and schmoozing to take food pictures, but in addition to the above, the menu included a 21st Century twist on the kids favorites from their childhood:
pimento cheese spread, stuffed mushrooms, Brunswick Stew, and agretti dressed with olive oil and lemon juice (a ringer).

The very next Saturday, we attended the wedding of our nephew Matthew and his new bride Andrea Robb in Pismo Beach, Shell Beach and The Hudson Ranch.

Pre-nuptial festivities on Friday evening featured the opportunity…

to burn your own meat or fish over a roaring hickory fire.

The wedding was lovely, on a grassy bluff at Shell Beach.

At the party that followed at Hudson Ranch, plenty of Mexican inspired food awaited us.

And to follow dinner, a very architectural and delicious wedding cake.

How could we resist the chance to throw an O-H-I-O in front of the mariachi band?

Now, we’ll get back to the food-on-the-table stuff, starting with a feature on cherry tomatoes… ‘tis the season.