Of course, leisure is relative. Sometimes it means discovering a new restaurant. Sometimes it involves digging rocks into a slope and planting rudbeckia. Sometimes it involves a cookout with friends, brined chicken in a lime, fish sauce, mint, and hot pepper marinade sauce. Sometimes it even involves a beer festival. This weekend was all of the above.
The gardening is almost self explanatory—it spanned Friday night through Sunday afternoon, with breaks for the other activities. Friday night we went to Restaurant Zoë, which rocked our worlds. Lisa had king salmon with a blood orange sauce over lentils and fennel. I had veal cheeks with prosciutto. We shared a lamb carpaccio that was to die for.
Saturday—after gardening, and putting teak oil on our new patio furniture—we headed over with Ed and Gina to the Northwest Brew Fest. Lots of fun, as it was two summers ago (this year I was smart enough to wear sunscreen). There was a keg toss this year again, and I got photos with the Nokia, though none of them came out super well.
Sunday’s cookout was a lot of fun. In addition to the chicken, which was brined all day and cooked bone in on the grill before tossing it in the marinade sauce, I grilled some asparagus on the top rack and tossed it in olive oil, salt, pepper, and lemon juice. It was really nice just to sit back and enjoy the evening.