Time with Friends....Priceless

I was going through my photos and found this one of some peas that I had picked from my garden. I immediately thought of friendships and how much they resemble peas. Each pea looks different (different shapes, different sizes, and sometimes different colors), but all nestled cozily within the pod, growing together until ready to harvest. Just like our friendships. Yesterday we went to Linner (Between Lunch and Dinner, so we named it Linner), at some dear friends of ours. They have two children, ages 6 and 4, and our girls are 14 and 10. Did our girls care? Nope, they had fun and played with them. Kat also sat with us adults and partook in our conversation or just sat and listened. Do we avoid friendships because of age differences, whether between ourselves, or our children? No way! There is so much to be gleaned from all friendships, and it is so good for our children to learn to interact with all ages. The other thing I appreciate about true friendship is that there's no need to impress. We just want to be together. I had offered to make dessert. Now, I'm a good cook, but I will say that baking is not necessarily my strength. The things I make are good, but because I don't bake much, I'm always a bit nervous as to how they'll turn out. I decided to make an apple pie and Nan made some peanut butter cupcakes. I also decided to make a homemade crust. I later reminded myself why I always buy pie crust! I have not mastered the art of pie crust making. Rarely do my crusts turn out pretty and smooth. I thought there was hope, but when the top crust fell apart as I was putting it on I was about to give up. But, I pieced it together and called it "Rustic". The girls made cupcakes and didn't thoroughly read the directions. They were supposed to alternate adding the milk and flour but instead added all the flour, so once they added the milk it was lumpy. "Hopefully it bakes out okay" was my thought. The first batch came out and I tentatively opened it. Whew...looked good. Then it was time for the frosting. For some reason the frosting was just too thick, even though I've made it before. When I attempted to spread it on the first cupcake, it fell apart. Uggh..first the pie crust, now the cupcakes. So, I continued to thin the frosting till it was spreadable. "Oh Lord, please let everything taste good", was my plea. I could have easily just given up and left everything at home, opting instead to just go buy something from the store. But, I figured this...these are dear friends, and if for some reason my dessert didn't taste quite right, we'd have a good laugh and just enjoy the ice cream that I did buy to go with the pie. We had no worries though, everything did taste good. The crust wasn't the best (but I'll keep pressing on and learning), but it was edible. The cupcakes were yummy and everyone ate them. Best of all, we enjoyed our friends. She cooked a yummy meal of prime rib, garlicky mashed potatoes, Caesar salad, and Texas toast. She even let me drive her brand new Toyota Sequoia (I really want one of these). We enjoyed great conversation and great food. It was priceless. I wanted to also share that she made a yummy horseradish sauce to go with the prime rib. I do not like horseradish. Let me say it this way I DO NOT LIKE HORSERADISH!! BUT, I LOVED THIS SAUCE... she combined horseradish with sour cream, lemon juice and a bit of agave nectar. It was soo good! Today is a beautiful day. we are off to take pictures of some friends riding their dirt bikes and then to take more pictures of Kat's soccer game. Can't wait!! With Joy UNquenchable,