This weekend my Mom and her best friend Debbie came up from Florida to spend the weekend on Mendenhall and the lead the effort in fixing up my garden for a fundraiser I’m hosting next weekend. We spend most of every waking moment in the dirt, mud or at Lowes. Two and a half days, 3 trips to Lowes, 3 visits to New Garden and 36 bags of mulch later we had an end product that could be featured in Better Homes and Garden. My mom and Debbie aren’t professional gardeners but I don’t know if a professional could done a better job and I’m sure a professional couldn’t work harder. They have both vision and the energy to get it done. I’m one lucky girl to have them in my life.

In between all the labor we enjoyed some great meals (and beverages). Friday night I made Michael Psilakis’s Chicken Souvlaki which was quite the undertaking – three days of prep work and a TON of ingredients. Saturday night Debbie marinated some huge NY Strip Steaks in the leftover Greek Salad dressing and Sunday night Debbie and Mom grilled pork chops, corn and potatoes and served them with homemade chimichurri sauce. Between the tzatziki sauce and the chimichurri we kept the vampires miles from Mendenhall. I’ll post Friday night’s meals this week and in the meantime I’ll track down Debbie’s chimichurri sauce to post later this summer.