Four Fine Friends…Let The Food And Fun Begin!

Even though we had barely unpacked, I couldn’t wait to whip up some simple appetizers before our McMinnville friends arrived, so I headed to the tiny kitchen to get to work. Connie (our AirBnB host) had even provided a cutting board in the compact kitchen cupboard…and it worked just fine as a serving platter!

We had made a quick stop at the grocery store for some “snacky” items…

Those glorious Hood River donut peaches were a great addition to the cheese and crackers and nuts on the board. I even had some balsamic glaze to drizzle over the cheese. And who can go wrong with some pickles! And since I knew red wine would be the drink of choice I added some dark chocolate too.

I added some torn up toasted bagels with a tub of spinach dip…

And I popped open a bottle of wine.

I know it’s not Oregon wine. (That comes later!) This was was an Australian Cabernet Sauvignon…

Then…finally! Our long-awaited reunion with our friends Candy and Rick! You see, Peepaw and Rick met when they were 19 years old. Peepaw had just moved to Oregon after high school, and those guys would get together with friends and simply ride up and down 3rd Street…or as they called it back then…”Draggin’ the Gut.” The guys lost track of each other years ago. But thanks to Facebook those two friends were able to reconnect two years ago and it’s been a fantastic reunion for them…and Candy has become a BFF for me! And, to top it off, Rick is now the MAYOR of McMinnville…so he and First Lady Candy are the PERFECT guides to the city and to the surrounding wineries and restaurants all over Yamhill County. (In fact, Rick is now a newly elected County Commissioner.)

Since the day was quite hot, we sat inside in our air conditioned cottage to catch up and plan our strategy for the coming week. And after consuming all of those appetizers we were not really hungry when dinnertime rolled around, so Rick suggested we head to his local American Legion Post 21 for a simple meal.

We love going to places like this! Nothing fancy…just honest food and nice people!

This was definitely one time when Peepaw and I should have SPLIT a meal!

The portions were HUGE!

And Candy’s tater tots could have fed an army!

After that giant meal it was time to call it a day…Whew!

Peepaw and I had MANY plans for the next week with Rick and Candy, but our first order of business was a special reunion the next morning. We were having breakfast with a “long-lost” niece and her family.

Our trip just kept getting better and better…