We were ready for a little activity in our third weekend in the Hamptons. We kicked it off with an early dinner of fajitas, courtesy of Jessica. Yum! Clearly I am no longer the only house chef. And who am I to turn down a delicious dinner made by someone else! We had so much fun with the moonlight kayaking last year, we just had to do it again. Same surf shop (Main Beach Surf and Sport), only this time we were on Georgica Pond, right around the corner from Camp Fern. And like last year, we finished the night with a visit to an old fave - Murf’s in Sag Harbor!

Peppers and onions

Steak

The goods

Shrimp fajita for me!

Chef Jess knows how to rock a life vest

Angela and Heather

Jess and Amy

Emily

Click on the photo to see the deer

And a fox!

Stalking the swan (this was my view)

Angela and me

We made it!

Jeff and Nicki

Heather on a SUP (stand-up paddleboard)

This week’s Ferners: Emily, Angela, me, Heather, Jess, Amy

Clamming and crabbing

Full moon rising

Bonfire and s’mores!

Em likes her marshmallows burnt to a crisp

Designated driver, drinking responsibly

Dave was an old friend we met at Murf’s last summer

Group hug

Midnight snack - shrimp and taco sauce on a chip. Classy!

Rainy Sundays are a good excuse for wine and cheese. Really though, who needs an excuse?

We had such a great time last summer at our beloved Camp Fern, we couldn’t wait to do it again. Life events have brought a couple of changes in the Ferner line-up - Paige took some time off to travel around SE Asia and is now spending the summer with her family in Nebraska, and Nicki fell in love and got engaged. She and her fiance, Jeff, are hanging out nearby in East Hampton, so we still get to spend the summer with them. Our new Ferners are Angela and Jessica, perfect additions to the Camp Fern family. Our first week back at our sweet little house brought lovely weather, good eats (of course!) and some very accurate predictions by the Magic 8 Ball.

Angela and I spent the entire first week together at Camp Fern. We relaxed, read books, had lots of girl talk, and watched more than our share of crime drama on TV. Turns out we are excellent roommates. On Monday, I made grilled tilapia with mango avocado salsa, and a quinoa salad chock full of fresh veggies from the farm stand.

What’s vacation without happy hour! This was our first cheeseboard - aged gouda, extra sharp cheddar,  blue cheese, crackers, apricots, and grapes. And of course there was wine.

On Wednesday, we had fish tacos, with grilled halibut, spicy red cabbage slaw and avocado. Yummy!

On Thursday we took a field trip to Sag Harbor. The day started off cool and overcast, but turned out to be quite a lovely day to wander around this quaint little town.

More cheese!

Breakfast tacos

We found this awesome CD in the cabinet - perfect for when the rest of the Ferners arrive!

Friday night brought all the Ferners together for family dinner. We did turkey burgers, hot dogs, chicken sausage, seafood sausage, and corn, all on the grill.

I also made a farro salad with spinach, tomatoes and feta. This was also good for lunching by the pool the next day.

My plate

Breakfast - yogurt with peaches, blueberries and granola

Saturday was girls night out! We started off at Cyril’s in Montauk, then had a lovely dinner at the Grill on Pantigo in Amagansett. We ended the night laughing at crazy antics, making new friends, and dancing at the Talkhouse. What a fantastic first week at Camp Fern!

Lori and I took a pasta making class at the ICE. I’ve taken a few classes there in the past and had a great time. It’s hands-on, so you do all the prep and cooking, with the guidance of a chef instructor. At the end, you sit down and enjoy the fruits of your labor. I spent the better part of my Saturday mixing eggs and flour, cutting onions for onion confit, grinding basil and garlic for pesto, and rolling out our pasta dough to make fettuccine and ravioli. I can’t wait to show off my new skills to my family!

My ball of pasta dough, two eggs mixed and kneaded with just under 200 grams of white wheat flour.

Lotsa pasta balls

Twelve cups of thinly sliced onions…

Cooks down to this!

Add white wine, chopped parsley and grated Parmigiano-Reggiano to onion confit

Mashed, roasted butternut squash, straining in cheese cloth

Mix with rosemary, thyme and sage

Add freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Brown butter sauce

Boiled fresh peas

Cream sauce with peas, ham and onions

Browning duck necks and backs

Roasted duck parts

Meat for duck sauce

Mixed sausage for tortellini filling

Sauteed veggies for ragu bolognese

Making pesto in a mortar and pestle is a lot of manual labor. Thank goodness for food processors.

Add olive oil to the ground garlic, basil and pine nuts

Stir in Parmigiano-Reggiano and pecorino Romano cheeses

Fresh ricotta, egg, Parmigiano-Reggiano and parsley

Time to roll out my pasta!

Flat sheets of pasta for making stuffed pasta, like ravioli and tortellini. This is ricotta-stuffed ravioli.

Folded over and sealed with egg wash

Ravioli!

Wide cut paparadelle

Thinner cut fettuccine

Fettuccine with onion confit

Ricotta ravioli with pesto

Fettuccine with peas and ham

Tortellini with ragu bolognese

Butternut squash ravioli with sage brown butter

Paparadelle with duck sauce

Buon apetito!

(Thanks to Edward, Deirdre and Corin for an AWESOME Christmas present!)

Work has been nuts, which means less cooking and eating at home. But this is one of my new obsessions: roasted tomato soup with avocado toast. Super easy recipe for the soup, and with a whole grain bread, this makes a very healthy meal!

Back in June, my Restaurant Club decided to have a guac-off. What’s that, you ask? It’s a friendly little competition amongst a few friends who love food to see who can make the best guacamole! Julie and her husband Ryan hosted the little gathering in their apartment in Battery Park City, and we decided to make it a Mexican fiesta potluck. Here’s how things went down.

Only four of us entered the contest: Sara, Ryan, Lori and me

Aidan didn’t think Post-its were a good way to number the bowls.

The taste test - everyone’s a critic!

Baby Liam, our expert judge, thought all of the guacs were delish!

Based on everyone’s votes, Lori proved to be the guacamole master chef!

Restaurant Club ladies (and Julie’s boys)

Fiesta time - there were fish tacos with Baja sauce, tamales, zucchini and black bean enchiladas, salad, rice and beans. Oh yah, and guacamole.

We also celebrated Sara’s graduation from grad school

Julie is our Cake Boss - how clever are these little graduation cupcakes!