As I am sitting on lounge chair on the back deck reading people magazine mid-day today, Mark walks out and I look at him and say "my life is so rough".... Thanks to these guys, the past month of my life has been entirely too rough. So thankful to have this opportunity!

JonJon is Eithne's nephew from Ireland and he spends his summers on Nantucket working in the kitchen with Mark. Unfortunately we had to take him to the airport last week to send him on his way back home for school. A kid I will never forget - I spent hours making hundreds of crab cakes and risotto balls with him and shucking a few hundred ears of corn - he taught me the ins and outs of Mark's kitchen. Always smiling, happy and laughing - JonJon's room is on the basement level of the house and after he left Eithne said "I keep thinking I'll see JonJon open the door coming from the basement".... me too! It's quiet around here without that cutie pie.

In celebration of JonJon's summer here and sending him on his journey, we spent a couple days focusing on him. Last Tuesday, we spent all day on the beach with him then went to this killer restaurant called American Seasons which I like to refer to as the $100 dinner...that is, $100 just for me! I wish I would have written down the name of my dish - it was grouper with black eyed peas and much more. Fried oysters as appetizers, a gorgeous bottle of red wine, full dessert tray and espresso martini. That night JonJon said he wanted to spend the next day on the boat and see the sunrise in the bay so the plan was to get up at 4:45 and get going. Apparently I'm the only one that got the memo because I was awake for 2 hours before anyone stirred... needless to say we missed the sunrise but did go out fishing for a bit and it was absolutely gorgeous - water was like glass - the calm before the storm. After hugging him goodbye at the airport I had a little tear. He was such a joy to be around and I'm missing him!

Mark and Eithne's daughter Sinead turns 13 tomorrow. Last Thursday she had a birthday/slumber party with 7 of her friends. Eithne rented a blow up movie screen for the back yard. I'm thinking - how cool! However what I didn't realize was that this was way more than cool! This thing was about half the size of the typical movie theater size screen! The picture was clear and sound was unbelievable. So we moved all the outdoor furniture to the lawn, fed them pizza and gave them a bunch of blankets for a girly good time. As soon as their movie was over, we sent them inside so we could watch Titanic on the big screen! Well not too far into it we all fell asleep. Eithne said they tried to wake me up but I wouldn't budge - I woke up surprised to be alone and at the same time loving the fact that I'm sleeping on an outdoor sofa under the stars with the crickets and frogs! So I decided to sleep outdoors that night and woke up to the most amazing red sunrise I've seen!

Now here we are waiting for Hurricane Earl. The weather forecasters are getting all hyped up and everyone is calling us to make sure we are going to survive this storm. I have to say that now I understand the phrase "the calm before the storm" and "red sky at morning sailor take warning". It was a very surreal day and felt like the earth stood still. There was a calm in the air and it seemed as if the birds and bugs were nearly silent. It was a beautiful, sunny, warm morning and the storm started moving in around 4pm. This is the hurricane that wasn't but it was a very cool rain and wind storm - rain came down in buckets and winds were up to 40-50 mph. I was in the hot tub loving every little rain drop with the knowledge that I wouldn't have to deal with the rain after that one night!

Saturday we catered a wedding which was so beautiful. It was held on a cliff top overlooking the sea and such an ideal location for a wedding. The reception was originally scheduled to be held at this site also but the winds were still so high that it had to be moved to an indoor location. Mark's sister Monica and I served lemonade and sangria to the 150 guests as they arrived and champagne after the ceremony then headed to the reception location for the rest of the evening. The food selection was of course dreamy. Originally salmon was on the menu and while it was in the oven, Mark ran to the store and kind of forgot about it - so the salmon dish turned into a halibut dish. We served a tomato salad appetizer and dinner entrees included short ribs (this was the 80 pounds of cow I seared earlier in the week), halibut with a potato-fennel crust, a chicken dish, asparagus pasta dish, to die for french lentils and steamed vegetables - oh so good.

The wedding planner had the creative idea that nearing the end of the night we would serve what all party-goers would want at 11pm - grilled cheese, mac&cheese bites, sliders and hot dogs! Love it.

Sunday was unreal! The annual end of summer labor day lobster boil on the beach. A crew of about 30 of us headed down for one of my dreamiest days of my life. Winds were high but these guys are experienced - our wind shelter was built out of cars, plywood and tarps - the full kitchen was set up and we were ready to rock. The appetizers start rolling out - my favorite spanish torta on grilled french bread rubbed with garlic and tomato, summer sausage with mustard, chicken and black bean and corn quesadillas, clam chowder. Mark taught me all about live lobsters and explained their body parts and this is just before he put a lobster asleep by rubbing the top of it's head - this is the pic where he's standing on his head. After that I walked away so I didn't have to deal with the reality that this poor little guy was going to be dropped in boiling water before I ate him! Dinner is served - lobster with clarified butter, steamed mussels with lots of garlic, grouper, corn on the cob, potato salad, cole slaw and gazpacho with pine nuts!! As the sun started going down we started a bon fire, got out the blankies and s'more fixins. Normally I'm not a big s'more eater but someone brought butterscotch chips to put on them and I couldn't resist!! Ended the night in the hot tub. Only complaint from that day is I dropped my camera in the sand and it's now inoperable! ugh.

It was a long week which explains why the past 2 days have been very quiet, mellow, relaxing. September is here, the sun is at a different angle, school is in session, streets are quiet and the air is cooler. Time to experience fall on Nantucket...