July 27, 2009

Weekend on the North Fork

It was like Camelot on the North Fork of Long Island this weekend; rain at night, beautiful during the day. I arrived Friday noon to spend the weekend with my friends Sam and Karen. They'd had torrential rains the night before but by the time I arrived it was lovely and sunny. Then it rained again Friday night and cleared up early on Saturday, rained Saturday night then cleared up during the day on Sunday. See? Camelot.
It was a lovely weekend with my dear friends, a trip that's been a tradition now for 6 or 7 years. They have a gorgeous home in a wooded setting with fabulous, elaborate gardens and a lovely deck and pool. It's always a relaxing time, lots of laughs, a chance to catch up on our lives, and it's always, always, always a gastronomic delight. They're both fabulous cooks.
On Friday we broke open the Prosecco as soon as we got back to the house, and ate lunch at their pool, a delicious eggplant spread on pita and a salad with prosciutto, watermelon and mint.
Seems like we just finished lunch when we were shaking martinis for cocktail hour and eating crostini either with tomato, mozzarella and basil roasted red peppers. Dinner was grilled lamb, salad of arugula and snap peas with herbs, and for dessert...........oops, can't remember what we had for dessert but I know it was delicious.
Saturday we took a drive to Shelter Island (took the ferry), then to Sag Harbor where we wandered around then got some yummy panini and ate them at the harbor. Then we drove on to South Hampton (LOVE South Hampton!) where we got gelati at Sant Ambreous, Sam and Karen's favorite gelati place. Yum!
By the time we got back to the house it was...surprise...cocktail hour. Dinner was FABULOUS! Whole lobster with roasted small potatoes and salad, wine (of course) and berries and cream for dessert. OH MY GOD. Do you think we ate enough?
For an after dinner drink (we NEEDED that) Sam served Fernet Branca, a vile-tasting digestif and another nearly-as-vile-tasting concoction. By that time I could barely move.
On Sunday, just in case we hadn't had enough to eat, Sam made a delicious fritatta stuffed full of goodies; potatoes, corn, peppers, cheese...with turkey bacon, and then I helped them to set up a blog. Check it out, it's a work in process but it'll be lots of info about living on the North Fork of Long Island (they call it Raggedwood), including recipes, gardening advice and fishing experiences. What a way to live.
Alas, then it was time to go home. Can't wait til next year.

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