I found a way to celebrate the end of summer. And it is a simple recipe…it is the end of summer after all! So take one fabulous summer, add in a dash of a promising fall and what do you get?? The first thing I got was having to go back to teaching. Wah, wah (sad trombone). Real life. The second thing? Look!

Lobster!!!

Now I confess…this lobster

…was steamed at our local grocery. The result was a perfectly steamed lobster with notes of sea salt. It was fabulous! Sweet, tender and instantaneously brought me back to beach vacations on the coast of Maine. Sadly, we were not able to head to the coast of Maine this summer. When I suggested to my roommate and beach vacation pal (Hi, Mom!) that we grab a few lobsters for dinner the other night? She was all smiles. What did we pair it with?

Champagne, al fresco!

Oh, and a little of this…

Summer Salad with black olives, zebra tomatoes and local goat cheese

After we had our fill of lobster dipped in butter and finished the bubbly (Hey, the cork flew out of the bottle right after I removed the wire! It was crazy! And, I was SO happy I opened it outside AND that the camera was not close)! I whipped up a simple and ‘fancy’ fuss free dessert. Fresh strawberries layered in a cinnamon-nutmeg-lime-agave mascarpone cheese ( – yes – simple!) and sprinkled with some triple ginger cookies. I had chilled martini glasses in the freezer – it is my cute trick to turn a simple dessert into super fancy…without a lot of fuss!

Hello, darling!

So there you have my back to reality work. I feel as though there are some great things coming my way! Thanks for reading and have a great start to the week!!!