The 4th

I had a nice July 4th with some friends, who invited me to dinner at their house. Not a party, just me and them. They always do something a little odd with dinner, kind of throwing it together, but it usually works out fine. This time they had barbecued drumsticks, salad, garlic bread and wine, and I brought salmon that we grilled on cedar planks with a maple/dijon/balsamic glaze. The salmon was fresh from the Copper River rather than Atlantic frozen, and while it was a lot more expensive than I thought it was when I picked it out at the store, it really was great, and that cedar added great smoky flavor. We tried a few wines and the $1.99 Chardonnay I got as an afterthought stood up fine with the $15 one. I ended up falling asleep on their couch, not unpleasantly, and then slept in the guest room when I woke up. It would have been great to have the kids that day, but it ended up being nice to just be one guest.

Today I had them and we mainly swam in the pool, after which I made some orange shrimp and fried rice, followed by a little ice cream and several Batman Adventure cartoons in my room. Monday we all leave for Chicago for a week.