Joshua's cake turned out pretty well. His dad came to pick it up as we left for breakfast.

 
Buttermilk waffles was a good choice for a chilly summer morning. This was a recipe I clipped out of the Winnipeg Tribune. It was one of the two Winnipeg dailies for many years. The paper no longer exists, but we appreciated the WT as they did a feature on us in their colour weekend magazine.

 
My sister-in-law Rebecca, a terrific cook, prepared a huge fruit platter. This was perfect to tie everyone over until I cooked enough waffles for a first go-around. One of my nieces brought Starbuck coffee beans with her. The aroma in the kitchen was incredible . . . The bacon, pre-cooked on the George Forman grill, crisped up nicely in the oven.

 
Another niece brought BBQ ducks from Chinatown in Winnipeg. Bill and I stole a container when we came home to prepare supper. We finished a small plate of ho fun cooked with oyster sauce. The duck provided Bill with his required protein ;-) Atticus' patient drooling beside hubby was finally rewarded with a few ho fun noodles.

 
FAMILY SUPPER MENU
Food and cookbooks are but two of my passions. My other "collections" are teapots and roosters. I posted tonight's menu to forewarn incoming guests. A pride of lions guard my lair until opening time! : )

 
Bison New York strips are for the BBQ tonight. I will have some with just 4 peppercorn steak spice, and some with a light brushing of Bull's Eye Hot Southern Cajun sauce. My Burnaby niece's hubby, Paul, loves lamb, but no one else in their family likes it. So, to keep him happy, I have a rolled boneless lamb shoulder marinating in crushed peppercorns, red wine vinegar, chopped mint, rosemary, and garlic. It will go into the oven. The heat will be welcomed, especially with me running out for the BBQ!

 
TUESDAY NIGHT SUPPER WITH THE WHOLE FAMILY:

Supper was devoured and the family, with appetite repleted, headed back to my brother's house for the night. The dishwasher is slaving on the first load, and I can sit back with a final cup of coffee. Going back over the menu posted earlier:

I took the shoulder of lamb out of the marinate, coated it with whole grain dijon mustard and crushed mixed peppercorns. At 4:30, I started the roast with the oven at 400F for half an hour. Then I poured the reserved marinate over the lamb, covered it with foil and reduced the heat to 300F. until 6 o'clock. The garlic bread went into the oven while the lamb rested under foil. 

While waiting for supper, everyone munched on the summer rolls I had made in the afternoon with Chinese mushrooms, bean sprouts, bean thread, carrots, cilantro, and shrimp.

 
The new potatoes and baby carrots were cooked and buttered. One of the nieces tossed the salad with raspberry vinegrette and put toasted whole pecans in a side dish for those who want them. I stir-fried the zucchini and mushrooms and scattered sesame seeds on top.

The 20 eight oz. bison steaks were put onto the BBQ over medium flame until rare. (See, we all love to eat!) China had set the table, nephew-in-law Paul sliced HIS lamb and garlic bread, and the girls put the rest of the food on the table.
 

 
The bison was excellent, very tender. There was a subtle difference in taste from beef. These animals were free-range grass-fed on an organic farm. The lamb was so good! Even those who don't usually like lamb tried some. It had a mild lamb flavour, perhaps because of the peppercorn crust. I made a mint sauce with fresh leaves.

We made short work of a couple bottles of Chilean merlot with supper.

Dessert was chocolate cappuccino mud pies that I made last week. They were well hidden in the freezer, away from hubby's grasp. I again relied on my Best of Bridge series for this "guaranteed to please" recipe. The crust was chocolate wafer crumbs, layered with cappuccino ice-cream, chocolate sauce and whipped cream. My camera was no match for the speed of the server!

 
We always enjoy fruit after a meal, and tonight, it was fresh strawberries picked by one of the nieces enroute from Winnipeg. Maybe because of the cooler season this year, the berries were smaller than usual, but very sweet and fragrant. They were great dipped into the extra whipped cream.

My sister and her family will leave early in the morning on a shuttle to the Winnipeg International Airport for their flight home. The families from Winnipeg are all headed home now, for work tomorrow morning.

One of the packages from Burnaby contained century egg cakes (pai dan so). I am so full, but . . . I can't resist!