INDEPENDENCE

Well, last night's 4th on the 5th celebration was on the verge of decadant, just how I like it. The pool is still refreshing, the yard is still mosquito free, and the grill is still smokin. Curt's burgers were stellar, especially topped with the garden fresh tomatoes. I lost the mayo/miracle whip vote on the potato salad, Vicki pulled a complete veto when she learned the MW was fat free, we used new potatoes, it was still awesome.

We did kick it up dessert-wise. We usually depend on Whitney and/or Erin to bust out a pan of brownies, but being that it was the day after a national holiday, all bets were off. Haley brought a killer banana creme pie with a layer of Nutella, Whitney brought a red/white/blue trifle with blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries, and I made homemade vanilla ice cream. I made an excellent fresh peach and rum compote to top the ice cream, as well as a chocolate sauce. We determined that the chocolate sauce was required on everything, a can't miss proposition.

Add 90s dance music, a mix of Curt's Herbal Fire, Coronas, and gin and tonic, and declare your own Independence.

Peaches in Rum sauce:

1/4 C butter
1/2 C brown sugar
1 t cinammon
6 ripe peaches, pitted and sliced.
1 T vanilla extract
1/4 C dark rum

Melt the butter in a heavy skillet over medium heat. Add sugar and cinnamon and cook, stirring often, until sugar begins to dissolve. Add peaches and vanilla. Saute until peaches are tender, stirring occasionally, about 4 minutes. Remove skillet from heat, stir in rum. Return skillet to heat and cook until sauce thickens, stirring frequently, about 2 minutes.

Let cool, and spoon over ice cream.