When we woke up to another Sunday of gloomy grey skies and moisture in the air, we were so bummed. All we ask for is a sunny weekend and somewhat warm weather for May. It was so gloomy and chilly that we put the gardening on hold, again and spent the day in the house baking. The sun started to peep out around 230ish, so we headed out to get stuff to throw on the grill – damn it, we want summer and if we have to create it, we will! Basically you have to throw on some warm clothes, pour yourself a big glass of red wine, turn up the patio heater, move the weber closer to your dining table and start pretending that you are in summer mode” in San Francisco.

We had beef burgers on the brain but once we got to the market and saw the chunky freshly ground buffalo meat, we went with that. Grabbed some baguettes for the bun part of the burger – don’t you HATE that they sell burger buns in a package of 8, like two people will eat 8 burgers at one setting – and then we headed home.

Seasoned the meat with this great Chipotle seasoning, that we also use often on ribs and some panko and an egg. While the meat was marinating, Lenny (yes, Lenny) whipped up some hummus as well as some fresh fennel pita chips , and I worked on an Asian Inspired Slaw, chock full of purple and green cabbage, carrots, baby red onions and green garlic and a special secret dressing.

We tossed on our warm coats and headed to the somewhat toasty deck and grilled out. The burgers were burned on the outside, just the way I love them and ultra moist and flavorful on the inside. Lenny topped them with some goat cheese and toasted the baguettes, which added a nice buttery and creamy taste to spiciness of the meat. The slaw turned out perfect, the secret dressing was fantastic! We were on the road to being fat and happy, not too warm, but not too cold!

Helen of Tartelette and Jennifer of The Domestic Goddess, are hosting this months Sugar High Friday.  This is the first time we are participating, we always want too, we just never have the time or I can’t find the info.  So here we are, submitting our dessert tonight in honor of Citrus.  We made a Meyer Lemon Buttermilk pudding cake, served with fresh berries.  After eating it tonight, we realized that we only have this in summer and that we should make it more often, when we have the chance to use the Meyers. It is very simple to make and the ending result is a smooth and ultra creamy cake which is loaded with a wonderful citrus tang.  The perfect ending to a summer time dinner.

Recipe

Fennel Pita Chips

Bag of Whole Wheat Pitas
3 T. Olive Oil
2 T. Fennel
1 T. Sea Salt
Fresh Ground Pepper, to taste

Cut the pitas into triangles.  Toss rest of the ingredients into a big ziploc bag and add the triangles of pita.  Toss really well to coat.  Lay onto a baking sheet and make sure that they are evenly spaced to allow room to toast.

Put into a preheated oven, 425 and bake for about 8 minutes or until golden.  Serve with your favorite dip.