Gas. Dinner, Secret Garden

I finally got round to figuring it out – we are paying 67¢ a litre for gas at American prices. There isn’t a whole lot of disparity between the US and Canadian dollars at the moment. At home we have been paying something like 99¢ and even, in some cases, more than $1. A lot of this is due to the new Harmony Tax which has been levied in Ontario. But even so, gas has always been cheaper here in North Carolina.

Our dinner party went well although I think our female guest was in a lot more pain than she let on. The London Broil was a tad more done than we like it but was still enjoyable. We did barbecued onions too which we love.

This morning watching Good Morning America I noticed there was a lot of activity in the front yard, I eventually turned to look and discovered it was alive with squirrels, fox sparrows, cardinals, blue jays and blackbirds, not to mention butterflies. I haven’t seen fox sparrows for years, I had almost forgotten about them. We have seen and certainly heard, mocking birds here, they are very active all day long but the other birds seem to hide during the extreme heat of the day. This morning, however, it made me think of the Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I didn’t catch any of the activity this morning, but maybe early tomorrow I will sit out on the front deck quietly with my camera and see what I can see. Mat’s camera is probably better for that type of photo though.

Only thing I have for you this morning is my barbecued onions.

Barbecued Onions

1 Vidalia or other sweet onion per person

1 large knob of butter per onion

Salt (and if you want, pepper)

Clean the onions but do not completely cut the stem off. Cut each onion from the top into four quarters, but don’t cut right through. Insert knobs of butter into the cut and sprinkle with salt. Wrap in tin foil, double wrap if the foil is thin. Cook on the barbecue for up to one hour, half an hour on the high heat, then push to the sides to finish off.