It’s always good to get out of the city. Kenan and I took the opportunity presented by the long weekend to hop a bus down to the outskirts of Baltimore to visit Kenan’s uncle Ephraim, for the Fourth of July weekend (once again, this post is a couple weeks late coming out, but bear with me – it’s gonna be fun). Ephraim and his wife, Sarah, live in a big old plantation house so beautiful and full of awesome things that it makes me want to rethink my existence as a city dweller. When the weather’s nice, they eat all their meals on their patio, surrounded by Sarah’s gorgeous garden. And not only are the house and grounds stunning, but there’s a trampoline, a ping pong table, a swimming pool next door, and a goofy, friendly German Shepherd who always seemed to be wandering around looking for someone to throw a ball for her. Needless to say, all of this made our stay both full of fun and relaxing, certainly worth making our asses numb from sitting so long on the bus to get down there. In order to repay our gracious hosts for the use of their house and grounds, we proposed that we prepare dinner and dessert on Saturday.

preparations proceed around the bend.

Last Saturday, we finally had a reprieve from the near-constant stream of rain and clouds that have been glowering and pissing over the city lately, and Kenan and I took the opportunity to take a leisurely walk down to the farmer’s market, where we ran across some lovely rhubarb at Red Jacket. I didn’t actually have any baking plans in the works, but after seeing the rhubarb in all its red n’ green glory, and considering the sudden hint of summer in the weather, I decided that it might be a good time for pie. I would even have a venue in which to present said pie, as we were going to dinner on Sunday at Kenan’s dad’s apartment.

the view from the venue, next stop.