a delightfully relaxing Saturday.

...potato sausage...trip to the Polish deli (yes, Leesburg has its own genuine Polish deli!)...cookbook ideas...mushroom soup...zilch! pretty much sums up our Saturday in Leesburg.

I knew I should've taken pictures but I didn't - Saturday brunch was lovely - potato sausage, eggs, blueberry muffins, fruit salad, mimomas - all enjoyed (well, except for the mimosas that started earlier!) just after 11:00 a.m. - a most civilized time for Sara to be up and about :-) and the sausage was so good that Mother suggested a trip to the Polish deli and I said yes, and then Sara said yes, and then Daddy, and soon enough all four of us were headed out. They bought the last two packages of potato sausage (and Mother assured the delightful owner she'd call ahead the next time she comes for it) and a tongue (which I wouldn't even look at - I think Sara caught a scary glimpse, but hey, I warned her). I bought spinach pierogi (can't wait to cook them for Sara - love love!), kielbasa, and hot and mild italian sausage. The sausage was really great - so fresh - love the opportunity to get a really "homemade" taste since there's no way I can see us tackling that in our kitchen!

We spent some time in the afternoon brainstorming about the family cookbook. We took some notes and Sara and I have committed to a prototype page to get feedback. Stay tuned!

Then we started the true piece de resistance of the weekend. Mushroom soup inspired by a wonderful meal that Mother and Daddy shared with Karin and Jim on their last riverboat cruise (Queen of the West? in the fall of 2005?) The first tricky part was getting the big-crowd size recipe cut down to feed a reasonable number. Like 12 :-) Mother had that part under control. Several days before we left Roswell, I had instructions to purchase 12 oz each of shitake and oyster mushrooms. Mission accomplished - sort of - the shitake were gorgeous that morning - I picked up nearly one pound of loose, organic mushrooms. Oyster mushrooms - not so sure - they were pre-packaged in 3.5 oz packages and it was hard to tell how good...so I found three that looked ok. I should've trusted Harry's - they were perfect!

I added some sherry to my trunk and Mother got the button mushrooms, roux, celery and onion. Oh, and mushroom soup base - thank you Harry's from a few months ago! So we started cooking....onions, celery, three kinds of mushrooms - all chopped - in to "sweat" in the pot with the sherry:

then soup base and water:

and a lot more simmering, then the roux and the cream - starting to look like soup:

a few snips of chives - and yummy!

We enjoyed the soup with a good shrimp and lettuce salad - recipe from my cousin's mother-in-law that I've had for years and was glad to finally try!

What can you possibly do to follow-up a meal like that? of course if you've spent any time at all with my parents, the answer is either "Phase 10" or "zilch". Hint - we finished the two-night's long game of Phase 10 the night before. So yes, the correct answer is "zilch"! Sara hadn't played in a while and had to re-learn. Good thing she's a quick study. Daddy won the first game...while keeping score. Sara won the second game...while keeping score. (are you seeing a pattern here?!) I won the third game...while keeping score. And Mother completely zilched - yes, nada points! - on every turn...while keeping score. Go figure!