Weekend Without Labor....

We'd been working 60 - 70 hour weeks just before Labor Day and really needed a break! We couldn't decide what to do when Melinda called and made our day! She had decided to spend Labor Day weekend at the cabin and WE were invited! You just don't know how my heart jumps at every invitation....it's such a relaxing and fun place to be.

So we headed up late Friday afternoon.....Melinda, Dennis, Me, Shugs and Chloe....it was a smooth trip with lots of chatting, as always. When we got there, Melinda turned on the power and we discovered that we had no internet! Either lightning had struck the line or the power surge from when she turned on the power (and everything in the cabin was on...almost) blew out the box!

Well....moving on. We broke out the wine and relaxed on the porch, just breathing in the mountain air and feeling each part of our bodies and minds start to relax.

The next morning we made a quick breakfast and packed the car with a cooler, the dog beds and some snacks and headed out for a drive.....first stop (GUESS!), Chateau Morrissette! The previously bought cases of wine were loooong gone and it was time to buy more, taking advantage of our new Kennel Club memberships! Of course, we got a chilled bottle to go and headed out!

We went to Stuart, a small town not far from the cabin, to pick up some items Melinda had previously bought on her way home and had them store until the next time she was up.....great place! Then we grabbed a killer BBQ sandwich at this gas station (once we saw the cooker sitting on the side of the road smoking!), along with these awesome onion rings!

When we got back to the cabin, Melinda's daughter, Anna, was there! She is at college at Radford, which is about an hour away and came up for a short, but sweet visit....so good to see her! She is soooo sweet! Since she wasn't able to stay for dinner, and we had eaten the BBQ at around 4, we decided to eat light.....bruschetta and French onion soup!

While Dennis watched a movie, Shugs slept on the porch, and Chloe kept vigil at Melinda's feet (hoping for droppings), Melinda and I started in preparing dinner. She chopped the tomatoes, onion, basil and garlic for the bruschetta, while I chopped the onions and starting them carmelizing.....then we added red wine (Chambourcin from Chateau Morrissette, of course!)....reduced to nothing....then added the beef stock....then added the toasts.....then added the Gruyere cheese....then toasted.....then served! Melinda had a bottle of Merlot from a winery owned by a friend of Brad's that was phenomenal.....Naked Mountain. It was "wow"! And Melinda's bruschetta was to die for!

As usual, there was some great snoozing under that tin roof that night.....the next morning, we were all up and ready to roll for our last full day at the cabin! What up on the agenda? There was a great event at Chateau Morrissette that day.....great music, great food and great wine! I really wish I'd taken the camera.....we had a rack of ribs, some delicious sliders and a fabulous cheese tray....all reasonably priced. We relaxed on the covered terrace and enjoyed the event while the rain started to roll in.... it was so cool to watch the clouds come up over the mountains.

After that, we decided to take a drive down this road that Melinda had told us about..."a teeth clencher" she said. And it was great fun....for us.....but I don't think the dogs enjoyed it very much. We stopped at this one house to see this horse that had been built out of random pieces of wood.....awesome, huh? We also saw this plant n the side of the road....anyone know what it is??

After our hair raising ride, we headed back to the cabin to prepare our dinner.....roasted garlic roasted potatoes, grilled romaine with Caesar dressing and steaks! We roasted a garlic head, pulled all of the golden cloves out, smashed them in olive oil and them tossed it with the cut potatoes (I used russets), then baked at 400 degrees until golden brown. They was delicious! You've seen in a previous post how I make the grilled romaine and the Caesar dressing recipe, so I won't bore you with that!

Brad and Melinda had been up a few weeks before and had brought up this fabulous new grill......Dennis was so excited to take it out for a ride! The steaks turned out great! While dinner was cooking, Melinda decided we needed a fire......."oh dear, Adam isn't here to make our fire".....so she decided to do it herself. It didn't take long......long as in a day or two! But she didn't give up and the next thing we knew, we had fire! Uhhhh.....and not long after that, we had rain.....relaxing raindrops on a tin roof.

We ate our dinner, watched movies and snuggled in for a cool night's rest. The next day, we'd be leaving, but I pushed that thought as far away as I could...."can't we leave tomorrow?". I have to say that we do this everytime......everytime.....and sometimes we do!