Air Frying and Family Reunion

The air frying is from tonight, the family reunion happened at the end of October. Funny how some things get posted quickly and some not.

Since it's older news, I'll tell you first about the gathering. It was on a Sunday morning two weeks ago tomorrow. Sweetie's ex-wife, Chris, has always been a friend. They were one of the smart couples and figured out how to stay in each others' lives in a positive way. She babysat our kids and we babysat her son. Now she lives in St. Mary's county in Maryland, just as my brother does. They have never met, but we thought they might enjoy each other's company since there is a mutual love of sailing. Same for Chris's sister. Just to make it extra special, we also included Sweetie's niece from Baltimore and her daughter. Olivia is a freshman at St. Mary's, so she was already in the area. On a cloudy Sunday morning we all gathered at Chris's sisters home and had a true feast, mimosas, and lots of great conversation. The gathering included Sweetie and me, my brother, his wife and their two adult sons, Chris, her partner Patrick, Chris's son, his wife, and their toddler son, Chris's sister and her husband, Sweetie's niece and her daughter. Fifteen folks who are sort of family and who made some new contacts. Great fun and great food!

While we were in St. Mary's we also visited Old St. Mary's City, which is a combination of archeological dig and collection of buildings to invoke the spirit and substance of on of the first settlements in Maryland. One of my nephews works there and he not only showed us around, but managed to bring us there when there was a wonderful choral performance in the chapel for us to enjoy. Such beautiful music. It made us think of Sweetie's sister in Lexington and her sweetie, both music lovers. The chapel is built like the original chapel, with brick walls and a grand front, plus a barrel ceiling that provides great acoustics. (See photos above.)

We also met a fellow worker who tans hides and did a demo that day. It is a magical place and I wish we had had more time there. Maybe next time...

So air frying...I recently bought a new toaster oven that had air fryer capabilities, so I decided to dip my toe in the water and air fry frozen french fries before I got fancy. I chose sweet potato fries because Sweetie was going to be eating them and he loves sweet potato fries.

I set the temperature to 360 degrees F and once the oven had preheated, shook a serving of frozen fries into the basket. I cooked them for 14 minutes, with a good shake and some moving around of the fried happening at 5 minutes.

These were as good as oven baked french fries and maybe a bit better...crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. Sweetie was very happy.