Fall Grilling

Dateline: Minneapolis - October 3rd, 9:30pm

This has been a really great day. Not only did I finally get most of my photos from my last trip(s) organized (yes... I know I still owe you a couple of days' worth of blogs on those), but today was one of Christopher's Fridays off, so we got to spend the day together.

I know... I know... HE is the one with the day off, so I should have still been working on my job search and all, but according to all of the forecasts it was going to be a gorgeous day, so we planned for a trip to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, followed by an afternoon of lazing about and the possibly-final grill-out of the season. We were not disappointed.

We got to the Arboretum around 10:30 or so and spent the next two hours walking and driving around. The sky was a glorious blue overhead, perfectly setting off the yellows, reds and fading greens of the trees. We spent a lot of time doing what it seems most people do at the Arboretum--window shopping for our own yard and garden. In case you're wondering, we're finding ourselves more and more drawn to ornamental grasses and dahlias at the moment. But who knows what we'll end up with when spring rolls around.

Honestly, our next planned event for the day was dinner, which I had offered to cook for Christopher, since his work week was... well... less than stellar. We had steaks on the grill, seasoned with Szechuan peppercorns and topped with blue cheese. We had roasted thinly-sliced potatoes with garlic, pepper and a little olive oil. And we balanced it all with one of those "Light" Caesar salads that you can buy in bags at the grocery store. We dined with Rossini's La Cenerentola playing in the background and Scrabble being played in the foreground. And, because it may have been the final grilling of the season, we broke out the marshmallows and roasted (and/or flambeed) them to our hearts' content.

Oh. And my lost set of keys arrived in the mail from Virginia.

I ask you: How much better can an early fall day get?