Winston and I spent our Labor Day weekend with friends in the NC Mountains at our good friends house “Overlook Lodge” in Deep Gap, NC. The weekend was full of rest, relaxation, laughter, long walks and drives… and lots of cooking. We ate out only one meal at our favorite Great American Backyard Cookout at Fred’s General Mercantile in Beech Mountain. We ate our hamburgers outside in what felt like Swiss Alps temperatures. Saturday was the last day for grilled burgers as the summer season wrapped up. Peter, the chef, was pleased to report that he had grilled 17,000 burgers this summer.  He mentioned that they only had 60 days until snow fall in Beech Mountain as he rubbed the beard he was starting to grow in preparation (check out these photos of the store at Winter!).

 Whe stayed home the remainder of the weekend and I took the lead on two of our meals – Saturday Supper of grilled pizzas on the deck with all local toppings – apple, country ham, heirloom tomatoes, peppers, onions and potatoes – and a Sunday Brunch of Shrimp and Grits topped with Fried Egg (don’t worry we walked up-hill 4 miles to prepare).

They say that all good things must come to an end – and Tropical Storm Lee brought us back home for a rainy Monday. Hope ya’ll had a tasty and relaxing weekend also. I’ll post some of the recipes this week.