I made this wonderfullly yummy "pie" this weekend. The recipe came out of one of those pricey recipe books masquerading as a magazine, Gourmet Summer Entertaining. I usually don't indulge in those grocery store checkout aisles temptations, but this issue had lots of recipe I thought I would make. 

This pie was made using a purchased graham cracker crust. On top of that was an easy to make chocolate ganache. The marshmallow topping I made according to the recipe and it came out great. You could also use marshallow fluff since the consistency was about the same, but I'm not sure it's available in the west? Then after it's properly chilled it goes under the broiler to make a nice crackly brown crust.

We had a hard time eating just one piece. Care to indulge yourself? Here is the recipe. It's sure to leave you wanting s'more.

The figs are starting to come ripe, finally. They are a little bit late by about one week. Yummy! We are getting maybe three or four per day and at last count there were over 80 figs.

Our tomatoes are coming ripe at a rapid pace too. We have three plants, all heirlooms. They may not be pretty, but they are totally delicious. I don't know why they are cracking on the top. Too much water? Not enough water? They are just in big pots on the deck, so maybe they are root bound. They are producing though!

Pool time on Saturday afternoon.

Saturday night dinner: Margarita Shrimp & Scallops with Mango Salsa

The sky as we ate.

Early morning canoe trip on Green Turtle Pond on Sunday.

With water like glass.

A heron.

Reflections.

A lady duck.

A trip to the Warwick Farmer's Market.

On Friday night we went out to dinner at the Rogowski Farm. It's a local farm that has a farm to table supper club once a month. We've been twice in the past and it's always been good. Almost everything on your plate comes straight out of their fields, greenhouses, and bee hives. This particular dinner featured tomatoes, zucchini, radishes, pickled green beans and fresh honeycomb. 

The setting is rustic: one big (or two) communal tables set up in their farm store. The chairs surrounding the tables are mis-matched. I'm sure there are a few chairs that are identical to each other but it's hard to say. The back door is open with a view of the fields. 

The communal table is always interesting since you are sitting next to people you don't know. We've always had lively and interesting conversations here, and this night was no exception. We met a couple that basically live right down the road from us in Awosting, and we got along so well together that we exchanged personal information with them and hope to get together soon. We also met an interesting man who owns a restaurant in Hoboken and learned about a farm-to-table restaurant, Damon Baehrel near Albany, New York that is run only by one chef where the waiting list is four years for a reservation. Four Years! He does all the farming, cooking, etc. all by himself. Not sure if it's worth the wait or not but Rick has put us on the list. We shall see if we ever get there!

Saturday dawned rainy and wet. It rained all morning and it was so cool that we were able to take the dogs with us in the truck to the grocery. They were thrilled to be along for the ride. After lunch the skies cleared and it turned mostly sunny so we took advantage of the pool for a short while.

Sunday found us once again participating in the Del-Val Miata club's run. We couldn't resist since this one started very close to home and ended up at a popular old-fashioned burger joint, The Chatterbox.

Some of the road were familiar, but others were new to us. The run took us through Harriman State Park, over and back up the hill to Warwick and then deep into the countryside between Warwick and Lafayette. There were lots of turns and at one point we lost the car in front of us and we took a wrong turn thanks to my bad navigation skills. (Everyone gets a printed copy of the run with all the turns and roads listed.) It only took us a few minutes to realize our goof and get back on track.

It's interesting to participate in one of these runs because it's not like just driving around by yourself. You need to be aware of the car in front of you and the car in back of you while watching the road. 

The day was beautiful: sunny and warm without being hot. Perfect tops-down weather!

Our burger at the Chatterbox was excellent and we got to talk to a few other couples a little more in depth. I doubt we'll make a habit of going on so many runs, but once in a while it's fun. Right now they don't have any September runs planned and the next one is called Punkin Chunkin in mid-October.

All in all, a very satisfying weekend. This coming weekend we are planning on sticking around the house and we hope to get the canoe out on Green Turtle for the first time this year. (Note: the canoe spent the first part of the summer at Camp Andy getting a spa treatment--buffing out scratches on her bottom, getting a new coat of varnish.) We are looking forward to a laid-back weekend and hopefully get in some pool time too.

Eight degrees? That's how much our pool dropped in temperature between last week and this week. 80 degrees feels a lot different than 88 does, but we still enjoyed hanging out and floating around the pool on Saturday. It was a pretty nice day weather-wise and both Rick and I got more sun than we intended to. 

We ate lunch pool side: a refreshing and delicious ceviche with calamari, shrimp and scallops with tomatoes, red onion, red pepper, avocado and cilantro. Rick made the recipe up and I must say, I was impressed.

Yesterday we met up with the Miata club once again for a short run. The weather was not the best however, and on our drive down to the meet-up point it poured. And poured. And then it poured some more.

Have you ever been in a rag top convertible in the pouring rain? It's very loud. Rick and I had to raise our voices and practically yell at each other just to talk. Yikes. Thankfully the pouring rain stopped when we got to the meet-up point and it turned into a drizzle. Its was a tops-up kind of day I'm afraid. About ten cars showed up and a few people didn't come, and I can't say that I blame them. 

Blairstown, NJ (the only town we drove through)

The drive was very pretty and mostly through hilly, densely wooded terrain.  The trees formed a tunnel over the road and it got very dark. It was a bit eerie with patches of fog hanging closely to the ground and in between the thick woods. It would have looked much different on a hot sunny day, but it had its own peculiar charm. 

We finally braved the elements and about 3/4 of the way through the run we put our top down. We finished the run at Lake Mohawk and the rest of the club stayed for lunch, but Rick and I opted to just come home.

We plan on joining them next Sunday too, but after that there aren't any planned runs until October. We're enjoying the runs! It's a good way to see countryside we haven't seen before and meet new people at the same time. Next week we plan on staying for lunch (which will be at an old-fashioned drive-in) and getting to know the people better. Here's hoping for good weather!