1. Today was no ordinary day. The invigoration kicked off this morning when Roger P. called me to discuss my kidney situation, get a report on the All-Class Reunion, and talk about other things. I was fired up when I got off the phone. I immensely enjoyed talking with my lifelong friend.
2. My chief responsibility for family dinner tonight was to prepare the salmon I bought on Saturday at Costco for Paul to grill. Christy gave me a recipe and gave me dill from her garden and lemons from the store.
I began by setting the salmon pieces out in their packaging to reach room temperature. Meanwhile, I sliced lemons, minced garlic, and removed unnecessary stems from the dill. I tore off a length of aluminum foil, covered it with parchment paper, and put it inside a baking dish. I laid dill and lemon slices on the parchment paper, put the salmon on top of it, drizzled the salmon with melted butter, added salt and pepper, and topped the salmon with minced garlic and more dill and lemon slices. I covered the salmon with more foil and repeated this process with a second hunk of salmon.
I also put the three baguettes I bought at Bum Beach Bakery in the oven for five minutes at 450 degrees to give the baguettes a more crunchy crust. I sliced the baguettes and bagged the pieces.
3. The people gathered at the table, the delicious spread of food, and the inclusion of some old school lagers made tonight's family dinner a vibrant and joyous event.
Our guests were Dick and Renae, on vacation in Kellogg from Arizona, and their friend Kathy, in town from the Boise area. I've known Dick for as long as I have memory and Renae came to Kellogg to teach in 1973, worked with Mom, and we have known her for fifty years now.
In a tribute to our fathers, I brought Dick and me some Heidelberg beers to drink together. Well, as it turned out, Brian, Molly's pal, has some fun memories of drinking Heidelberg in his youth, and he joined us. Not only that, Brian, not knowing what I was bringing, brought a few cans of PBR to dinner and so Dick, Brian, and I had a blast drinking a few old school lager beers.
For dinner, others at the table drank gin and tonics to start and Paul made delicious tapenade served with assorted crackers. Renae assembled and brought a crisp, fresh, gorgeous green salad with cranberry raisins and pears, Carol contributed grilled summer squash from her garden, I brought slices of the Beach Bum Bakery sourdough baguettes and Paul perfectly grilled the salmon I prepared. Molly and Brian brought wine. For dessert, Christy brought light and refreshing lemon phyllo cups.
Our dinner conversation covered countless subjects as we all got to know each other better, shared stories and memories, and enjoyed a lot of good cheer and laughter together.
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