So I didn't do nearly as much as I had planned or hoped to this weekend - it was just too darn hot, and I was completely exhausted. It's been a crazy few weeks, and it has finally caught up with me - I crashed bigtime.

We did have a lovely, though far too brief, visit with Jen & Alex on Friday, talking and drinking wine into the wee hours of the morning. We were up early on Saturday to see them off, then Mike and I went back to bed for a bit.

We did hit the Renegade Craft Fair and Greenmarket at McCarren Park (with a stop at the adorable Park Luncheonette for really, really good burgers midway through), but after strolling in the 90+ degree heat and sun, we were pretty much done for the day - no concert for us. We ate our picnic goodies at home, indoors, with the air conditioner going, and watched Justice League and the first two Sopranos episodes from the DVDs my dad is loaning us.

Mike ran into the city yesterday morning to pick up a new grill, another bag of hardwood charcoal, some mesquite-apple-chardonnay wood chips, and some room darkening vinyl RediShades (probably one of the best inventions ever) while I waited at home for our FreshDirect order. We relaxed for most of the rest of the day, grilling a whole chicken for dinner which was without a doubt the very best chicken I have ever eaten - I stuffed a bunch of really thinly sliced lemons under the skin, and simply seasoned it with salt and pepper. The wood chips we used gave it a wonderful subtle smokiness, the skin was browned and crispy, and the lemons got deliciously caramelized.

We had a couple of super-ripe peaches to use up, so I halved them to grill for dessert, and in the process of trying to remove the pits jabbed the business end of a Very Sharp, Very Pointy knife nearly clean through the little fleshy webby part between my middle and ring finger on my left hand. (OWOWOWOWOWO) Ah, the hazards of cooking while exhausticated (and again, the little paranoid voice in my head is fearing tetanus, or gangrene, or some other such horrible condition. But anyway.)

Hope you all had a good weekend, and found a way to beat the heat.

Big plans afoot this weekend, beginning with dinner tonight at home with the Kriegers, followed by the Greenmarket and Renegade Craft Fair at McCarren park and/or the Mermaid Parade and definitely the Canada in New York concert at Prospect Park tomorrow. Not quite sure what we're doing on Sunday, but it will involve, in part, the grilling of a whole chicken. And probably beer. But the beer will be for drinking, not shoved up the chicken's ass.

It's been a whirlwind since we got back from Detroit, and shows no signs of stopping... gotta love summertime.