Living out in small-town America with only your husband and dog as pals, you sometimes forget how great it is to have good friends around. Though I’m far from the world’s most sociable person — I probably require quite a bit more down time than average — I do in fact love to have friends over, especially for a good meal. This weekend, when Esther and Adam visited, Dan and I decided to show them how we roll, taking them on a strenuous hike up the Appalachian Trail, and then stuffing them with an all-local grilled lunch and homemade sorbet.

Clockwise from the top, everything purchased that day from farmers at the Walloomsac Farmers’ Market [Bennington, VT - 18 mi], unless otherwise noted:

• Goat and Flower cheese from Berle Farms [Hoosick, NY - 20 mi]
• Grilled corn [Williamstown - 5 mi]
• Grilled leeks [Peace Valley Farm, Williamstown, MA - 5mi]
• Grilled pattypan squash
• New potato salad with local dill, chives, and non-local garlic, EVOO, salt, pepper, mustard
• Fermented dill pickles
• Heirloom pink tomato quarters

For dessert, we had strawberry and peach sorbet made with New York State peaches, Williamstown strawberries, honey from Copper Dog Hill [White Creek, NY - 28 mi], and non-local sugar.

Folks, if you can’t have good friends over for lunch, you can just make up for it with a midday dessert. Luckily, this weekend I had both.