Fun weekend

Deidre was here this weekend, and we had a fun (albeit short) visit. We went to our often-used visitor destination, Robert Moses State Park, which is on the westernmost end of Fire Island (click the star on the map for the better view). We took a walk on the boardwalk and saw a lot of deer, and Jess took pictures. We had planned on salmon for dinner, but on the way back, got a more decadent idea and so we stopped at the seafood shop to pick up some peeled, cleaned shrimp to batter and deep-fry. Of course, you can't have fried shrimp without onion rings, so I picked up a couple of onions, too, and we dipped and fried them. And because we desperately needed to have some health food with this meal, I made up some oven-roasted asparagus.

Although it took a good while to prepare, the results were tasty. While dinner was being made, we were listening to tunes on the Bose system and comparing musical tastes and we discovered that Deidre can really belt a fine tune!

For dessert, I made a S'mores-type concoction that I had in my head. I prepared a recipe of graham cracker crust but instead of putting it in a pie pan, I just pressed it out flat and rather thick on a cookie sheet. After I baked it, I cut it into small chunks and lined the bottoms of six custard cups with it. Then I made some Double Chocolate pudding with a favorite recipe of mine, and poured the pudding over the graham cracker "cookie" mixture. Marshmallows covered the top of the pudding, and then more graham cracker chunks and some mini-chocolate chips went on top of that. Then I baked them until the marshmallows browned. It was amazing. At least I thought so.

Then after dessert, we watched Lord of War, which I liked, surprisingly. It had two strikes against it from the start, for me: 1) Nicolas Cage was the star (I don't usually like him) and 2) it was a "war" movie, of sorts. But two things in its favor were 1) Jared Leto and 2) Eamonn Walker, both of whom I really like. At any rate, it was a really fantastic and disturbing film. The opening sequence, shown from a bullets-eye view from manufacture to use, was pretty cool, although the animation was too X-Box to be believable as it was interspersed with live-action film throughout the opening sequence. Still, if you just watched it and let it tell you the story it was driving at, it was hard-hitting stuff.

I would have to say that this was some of Jared Leto's best work ever. He was very convincing as Nicolas Cage's disturbed and drug-addled brother. The "high" sequences were evidence of the depth of his ability. And those eyes...

Anyway, for breakfast I made some frittatas with onions, broccoli, turkey bacon, and smoked turkey, and then we relaxed a little with the Bose system blasting some of our favorites before returning Mz. Ouiser to the train.