Farewell August

If I had to guess, I would bet that we are entering one of the last hot weeks of the year.
And that just might be wishful thinking!


The next week's weather prediction is for temps in the high 80's to low 90's...


which will make for a quiet week for our animal friends.
Have no fear dear (animal) friends, autumn is definitely on its way.

Summer's blooms are fading...


and autumn's colors beginning to appear.
The purple beauty berries are ripening.


That transitional time is definitely upon us...
warm days, cool nights.


It's Monday again and we need to catch up on the weekend happenings.
We drove to Pittsburgh on Saturday for a wedding.
Our friends' son married this lovely young lady...


in the Dogwood Meadow of the Pittsburgh Botanic Gardens.


The reception was held in the Welcome Center of the gardens.


The venue was beautiful!

The food, amazing.  For me, the most incredible part was the donut bar,
where they made fresh hot donuts with your choice of toppings.
I am obsessed.  I need a donut machine.  I could take it on the road
and sell delicious donuts to everyone.
The world would be a much happier place.  Trust me.


Ginger and MaryAnn were happy to hear that I had made a "pig" of myself!

We drove home Saturday night because of a work conflict for Hubbs.
And although the night was late, it was nice to wake up amongst our "family."


I hung out with Ginger and MaryAnn for a while in the afternoon
and had fun posing MaryAnn and Bobby for the following photo.


It's so nice to have such trusting and easy-going animals!


We really do have a lot of fun together!

Yesterday afternoon I made one of our favorite summer meals...
Nicoise Salad.


Salad Nicoise is such a good meal salad.
(carrot strips, red pepper strips, green beans (stir fried just long enough to par-cook),
red onion strips, tiny red potatoes, capers, nicoise olives, sliced hardboiled egg...
topped with wild-caught yellow fin tuna....
and dressed with ⅓  cup fresh squeezed lemon juice, ⅔ cup olive oil,
2 cloves minced garlic, 2 tbsp. chopped fresh chervil, 2 tsp. Dijon mustard,
and a couple tablespoons of fresh snipped basil.
I could eat this every day of every week and never get tired of it!

Being in a salad mood,
 (maybe because I gorged myself on donuts the previous night)
I also made a brussels sprout salad.


If you have never made salad with brussels sprouts, I highly recommend it!
I take my brussels sprouts and shred them (I use a mandolin).
Then I added pistachios, dried cranberries, and feta cheese.
The salad is dressed in pomegranate balsamic vinegar and olive oil.
(a raspberry vinaigrette would work just as well)
Yummy and oh, so healthy!

Comments

jaz@octoberfarm said…
it's almost pumpkin donut time around here! that pic of bobby and mary ann is the best ever! glad you had fun in the burgh.
daisy g said…
What a beautiful place to start married life. Glad you enjoyed a few naughty treats!
Your salads look so appetizing! Enjoy being home again.
Deb said…
Love your photos. The one of MaryAnn and Bobby reminds me of my friend, Natalie's cat, Emerson and her pigs. So sweet. (Knatolee's World)
A personal donut machine! Does Homer Simpson know about this?
nuri said…
Mary Ann and Bobby--so adorable, such a wonderful photo!
I, too, like donuts, but (for me) no donut in this world could compete with either of those salads of yours. It never occurred to me to have Brussels sprouts as a salad--sure looks and sounds like I'll have to try and make one very soon. Thanks for providing your recipes--and for all the rest of the preciousness on this site!
Laura Sudderth said…
Those salads are to DIE for. Yummo!
This N That said…
I hope you are right about the heat..It's very "thick" out there today..Lovely venue for the wedding.Cute picture of MaryAnn and Bobby...They seem to be great buddies..Yummy looking salads..
Lynne said…
Love a beautiful wedding venue . . .
And the two salads sound PERFECT!
Love the animal cuddle pictures . . .