Down the Path Dining

"Once fire was discovered, the instinct for improvement made men bring food to it. First to dry it, then to put it on the coals to cook." Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755-1826)

Granna, Grandpa, and Mamaw live a foot beaten path away from our home.
We have lived in our home for over 14 years separated from my in-loves by some trees and this cozy path. Our oldest three sons paved it themselves… bare footed, in tennis shoes, cowboy boots, and with whatever dog was running with them at the time.

They are all three living on their own now. Hard to believe they have their own yards, own places to go… own paths back home.
They still come home and when they do, right through that path to Granna’s they go; for her Christmas breakfasts, Italian dinner welcome home dinners, and much more.

Granna & Grandpa lived in an old, big, white house with a long porch and heavy paned windows for many years. When it was time to tear down the old place, Granna planned and prepared every detail herself. She wanted happy color schemes and every room has one to go with the open, beachy, cottagy feel with lots of windows, French glass doors, and glass doors for each bedroom.

She wanted open space from the kitchen, through the dining and living room and for that to expand into the front porch and back decks. She wanted family to feel comfortable and for every visit to be a celebration. In the few years she has had this new home… it has been what she worked towards and more.

One thing Granna loves to do is have meals out on the back deck. She loves setting the table up, having white lights adorning anything they can, candles flickering all along the deck rails and kerosene lamps on the tables.
She has a small grill and it is fast becoming a dear friend. We can smell the smoke dancing through the air night after night now. Most nights, she calls down to see if we want to join them so we do.

Grandpa comes out with his walker or wheel chair and Mama comes out in hers. Everyone talks, laughs, and eats together in the soft breezes by surrounding trees. Sometimes we eat starlit dinners with twinkling lights all throughout the sky and a moon’s glow to get home by.

Lately, we’ve been having hamburgers, potato salad, and/or baked beans, and SMORES. Delicious, sticky, chocolatey smores.

I usually can't wait for the cold weather but this year... I am enjoying the pleasant temperatures as we walk to and from Granna's on our humble little path...

Thursday Night Dinner 10.02.08

I’m sharing the dinner I had planned for last night. We got a last minute invite to walk through the foot beaten pathway to Granna’s. She had her little grill smoking with some hamburgers on the back deck and even if we could have resisted those… the smores to follow sealed the deal;)

Last night’s dinner plans carried over into this evening’s and they were a big hit for two families! Our oldest son, his wife and our two grand littles sat around the table with us. Pops played outside with bit one and bit two while we had micro bit crawling all over the floor inside.
After eating, we talked and looked over some things online before watching the Biden/Palin debate. Isn’t everything more pleasant when shared with loved ones?

Here was our simple meal. One main and no sides! We did drink down a pot of coffee hot from the vacuum pot after the meal was eaten!

Barbecued Hamburgers

Note right from the cookbook:
These spicy sandwiches are great favorites with men at country sales.

3 T. shortening
3 lbs. ground beef
3 large onions, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 T. salt
1 ½ T. black pepper
½ tsp. ground red pepper
2 tsp. chili powder
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
¼ c. flour
1 ¼ c. canned tomatoes (I used one regular 14 or so ounce can)
¾ c. Ketchup

· Melt shortening in heavy skillet. Combine ground beef, onions and garlic. Cook in skillet until lightly browned.
· Add seasonings. Stir in flour. Add tomatoes and ketchup, mixing well.
· Simmer 15-20 minutes until thickened. Spoon between split buns to make hot sandwiches.

Makes 20 servings.

Taken from: {Farm Journal’s Country Cookbook}

The big B had his requested breakfast again this morning: Scrambled cheese eggs and two pieces of toast. A glass of fresh water to wash it all down!

For lunch, we had tortillas with some heated meat from a previous cooking session, seasoned with taco seasoning. A bit of melted cheese over that and a generous spread of homemade hummus on the hot tortilla and that was all of that meal.