Effortless

The Dear Man did it all: lamb on the barbie, eggplant and garden zucchini grilled there too. Even a batch of new potatoes -- dug 'em and grilled 'em.

But those sliced tomatoes looked a little too quiet for me. I couldn't resist slicing some feta and adding a few sprigs of fresh basil. Friday delights.

Easy-bites

Remember Easy-Bake ovens? This heat wave must be clouding my thinking to have them on my mind.

Tonight's supper is about as easy as a meal could be. On our way home, we stopped and bought a pre-cooked chicken and an avocado. Along with bread, some feta cheese we had on hand, and some vegies from the garden, we're having a picnic outside while the house cools down.

Ahh, but it's good to be home!

Outdoor livin', outdoor cookin'

The barbie's seeing action again tonight -- it's a mixed grill of bison steaks, beef tenderloin, and sausages. Roasting beside those are some just-dug fingerling potatoes. Last night's pesto salad is even more thoroughly chilled, so it should provide some nice cool contrast to the heated foods. And who knows, dessert might be yet another go at jumping in the lake.

A family effort

Still hot hot hot, so a group effort made sense.

I was particularly honoured to be invited by 18-year-old Henry to work with him on the main. When I offered to make a pesto pasta salad, he countered with the offer of seared tuna steaks.

I used basil from Henry's dad's garden for the pesto; Hen followed a recipe from his sister Kate's blog for the tuna (and the exquisite dipping sauce!).

Henry's dad looked after a green salad with garden goodies while his mum rocked up with some cherry pie.

After a day of swimming and canoeing, a late supper on the deck is hard to beat.

Hot day, cool food

We've moved to yet another island, Saltspring this time. After a long swim in the lake, a cool supper is all we're up for. Lots of local greens (including ones from the garden here) went into a gorgeous salad, along with a big bowl of shrimp for each of us to add. For a day as hot as this one, perfecto!

Oh boy, lazy

We got caught in the crush of traffic leaving Hornby Island, so even though we left our site just after noon, we didn't get over to Vancouver Island until nearly four. Because it's a hot day, we weren't up for the trek down island (and to another ferry) and over to Saltspring. Instead, we took the lazy route again and got a room at our favourite Vancouver Island hotel, the place that has the most delicious restaurant.

Tonight was buffet night, and we weren't disappointed. There were too many choices to try, though try we did. The photo above was what I had for starters: poached salmon, steamed clams (and were they ever sweeeet!), some salady samplers.

The mains were more complex: Chinese style barbecued pork, vegie chow mein, red snapper in lavender butter (with blueberries for panache), tiny little Cornish pasties -- amazing.

But the dessert table was the most magnificent of all. Pies (apple, lemon meringue and more), cakes, and a chocolate fountain fondue with assorted fruits and baby cream puffs for dipping.

Nearly a Greek island

Except for the fact that Hornby's in the Pacific and not the Mediterranean, tonight's meal was a pretty fun imitation of what we might have had in Greece.

Local lamb, dolmades, homous, a Greekish sort of salad (with lots of excellent Saltspring feta). I recooked the failed quinoa from last night, then added garlic and lots of basil, plus lemon juice and olive oil -- not quite tabouli, but nicely acceptable.