Duck Continues

Vacation is great.

I get to drink plenty of vino - a random $10 bottle recommended by the kid at the little wine shop down the street.

And - since wine isn't particularly good at quenching thirst - plenty of Pepsi Max on the side.

Bringing your own food means that you pare down to the very basics.

Beautiful weather means your husband grills (and reads a giant textbook while he's at it).

It means multiple levels of deck to sit out on - each one with its own type of furniture.

Steak and roasted green beans, mushrooms and onions?

Okay, fine.

Not a bad first night.

Dinner Party...

...minus the dinner.

PhillyGuy and I love any excuse to have people over for dinner - friends, my siblings, whatever. We recently invited two couples over for a small, random, spur-of-the-moment dinner.

We might have invited more people, of course, if we'd actually thought about having a dinner party earlier than, say, 24 hours in advance of said dinner party. But we can always count on at least a couple people to have nothing better to do, so it was good stuff.

We had a decent, simple menu in mind. Beer and wine and simple appetizers - pigs in a blanket! Pita chips, hummus and an artichoke dip. Steaks on the grill, whatever veggie we had on hand, and roasted potatoes.

You guys, the REAL reason I wanted to have people over? I wanted to make Jenna's Triple Layer Mint S'more Brownies.

It should come as no surprise that I spent a disproportionate amount of my day preparing the brownies.

and then

and then

the most important ingredient:

I don't know about you, but my peppermint patties exploded in the oven. When I pulled the brownies out, they were peeking through the second layer.

...or maybe THIS is the most important ingredient:

SO TOASTY.

While they were baking and the marshmallows were toasting, I assembled the dips.

And set up the bar.

AND THEN PROMPTLY STOPPED TAKING PICTURES. But I swear...we eventually made steak, and I chopped and roasted potatoes. And we ate and drank and were merry. Especially when it was time for the brownies...which came out EXTREMELY chewy, since I let the marshmallows cool completely before we dug in.

oh well. I love my wine markers...that's the other reason I really love having people over. When else do I get to use these adorable little things?