Summer 2014 @ Monteverd

  
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The communal bond between friends is deservedly reflected with the sharing of food, and everyday news, and the wish for more – for a long time.
          And this was amply practiced at the Monteverd deck and pool on an early-August late afternoon, with the core of six and the complement of those who have shared meals with us somewhere in our 140 dinner history!
          After four swimmers tested the inviting water, we gathered on the deck and deck steps to soak in the sun that waxed both comfortable and just a degree warm.

Classic summer food:

Appetizers: The start of the evening could have been a meal. Chay & Deb–tangy sauced chicken wings; Mike & Sheila–deviled eggs with a variety of toppings; Kerry–pepperoni & cheese & crackers; Den & Julie–a fruit tray; Ross & Lynda–salsa with a tropical slant; and Ken & Kriss–cashews, Krause’s malted chocolate balls, and jelly fruit slices, shrimp with red sauce,

The main course: Ken & Kriss–burgers and foot long sausages, grilled to satisfaction by Ken.

Sides: Ken & Kriss–homemade potato salad; Don & Deb–a fresh tomato & cucumber salad; and Mike & Sheila–zucchini casserole; Ken & Kriss–broccoli-rice casserole

Dessert: Don & Deb–chocolate cream pie (a Charlene pie); Ross & Lynda–chocolate brownies; and Chay & Deb–the ice box pie, layers of chocolate chip cookies layered between chocolate & cream cheese & whipped cream

Drinks ran the gamut of soda, water, wines of red and white and rose, choices of beer, with everyone pitching in

Dinner was timed (right, Ken?) as the sun had just set, with no one having to squint, and we watched the sky fade from its earlier marbled robin blue and cream into indigo and then almost black. Cackles of laughter, a hubbub of interlaced conversation, an occasional moment of interruptive silence merged into consensus that the good life was being lived this evening in a small corner of Freehold. Missing from the bliss: Tim & Judy, Mark & Joyce, Julie Q.

Topics of chatter, serious debate, and innuendo? Nameless, for a change.

Happy Summer, to all of us, and thank you, Kriss and Ken, for hosting, and for the pool, and for a day nicer than forecast.