Cooking and Cleaning....

I had some energy at the beginning of the day, but now I am really out of gas.

Gary has been at a conference for 2 days and tonight the

National Advisory Council for Migrant Health came here for dinner.

It took me hours to prepare everything.

I started by broiling red peppers

 and then I put together mushrooms, onions, peppers and pineapple

in a marinade (to be grilled later).

 I boiled some eggs, 3 of which would go on top of an asparagus appetizer

 and by then the peppers were nice and black.

 I put them in a bowl of ice water so they would be easy to peel.

 Next on the agenda.....biscuits 

 for the peach shortcake.

 After blanching the asparagus I drained it and added a marinade...

 then it was time to put the veggies and pineapple on the skewers.

 I also made some homemade croutons for the salad and crostini to go with the appetizers.

 By then I was dragging and I still had to clean the house.

 Naturally I forgot to take photos before our guests dug into the appetizers.

They arrived at 6:30.  What a beautiful group of people.

 We had roasted red peppers with Greek olives, feta cheese and chives

along with marinated asparagus topped with cherry tomatoes, chopped eggs and crumbly blue.

 I also made fruit sticks and a small plate of rice crackers and extra sharp cheddar cheese.

 The crostini was made with Carina's Italian bread.

DEEEElicious.

 Since Karen was out of town I had to do evening chores.

I was not out there very long, and Jenny had come up to help me before everyone arrived.

 Every horse rolled.

 As soon as I got back in the house, dinner was served buffet style.

Carina's Challah bread

 roasted veggies

 Mac and cheese

 and fried chicken were brought by Lora and Jeff from their restaurant

"The Farmer's Table."

 I made way too much salad.....

 but the dinner was fabulous.

 We had peach shortcake for dessert,

peaches compliments of Karen W.  So good!

 Everyone was gone by 9 and it's going to take Gary hours to do all the dishes.

It was a real pleasure to meet these people, and they were so appreciative.

I am so done.

Night all.