Dinner with old friends

Last week a dear old friend from college came to town with her family. They live in Virginia and have lived in many far-away locations since they were married 11 years ago. Suffice it to say, we don't see eachother very often. Julie and I were thrilled to be able to get our families together for a few sweet hours. My new favorite style of salad. Greens from the yard, fresh shucked corn, tomatoes, chopped fresh mozzarella (wish I could say that I made it... not yet!) and a splash of olive oil and red wine vinegar, some s & p. I used to fret a lot over dressings because I don't care for the bottle variety very much. Every salad dressing I made was painstakingly researched and usually good, but not worth making again. I was never quite happy... until now. Go figure..I just toss in a few good ingredients, no measuring... and it is perfect!
Re-visiting the mushroom risotto we invented this summer. Three kinds of mushrooms. Yum!
A quick trip to the farmer's market for local veggies... and my own red onions saved from the garden.
A fruit tart with the last of the red and yellow raspberries fom our garden.

Four boys and a girl... imagine the wild evening we had! Thankfully our husbands took care of the kids for a while in the yard while we sipped wine and finished making dinner in the kitchen.