On the Fourth, I didn't get as many naps in, but it was still pretty lazy up until our cookout. We had a nice (Read: manageable) turn out including surprise visitor John Kushmaul.
O.K., I had to liven up this photo some, everyone looks like they're being SO GOOD! I hope you don't have a seizure looking at it, though.
It was a classic Fourth cookout w/ bocci ball, burgers, fire crackers & cold drinks. On the food front, Donna made some KILLER pickles that I can't get over. So crunchy, so dilly, so fresh! KMHD made homemade ketchup (creativity points!) & a tofu cheesecake w/ strawberry topping. She also made her own black bean burgers AND buns. What?! YUMG! Seth made deviled eggs & gazpacho. My handcrafted contribution was homemade vanilla bean ice cream. There were the usual burgers, veggie burgers, hot dogs & sausages, too. We never busted out the elote because 1. I got distracted by fireworks 2. There were too many people and 3. There was no room for it. We broke in our brand new Weber grill! Here, KMHD lays down some black bean boigas:
Man, I'm totally kicking myself for not getting one sooner. I'm talkin' 'bout the charcoal chimney! I don't know what held me back from buying one until now. I've admired them for a long time, but it doesn't really mean anything until you possess one. Aside from the obvious perk of eliminating the need for lighter fluid, it takes the guess work out of "is it ready"? ATM & I are good at keeping folks at bay until the coals are ready; one of my biggest annoyances is when someone (a guy) thinks the grill is ready when it is not. They think 5 minutes after lighting it, it's good to go. I roll my eyes as I write this! Why? Because if I try to intervene (gently and in a way that is humiliating to me) I get rebuffed & usually in a rude manner. I've since given up on trying to avert other people's (guy's) disasters, but we do have a loose "our grill, our rules" thing to ensure that no one eats a burnt-on-the-outside-raw-on-the-inside ________. This works! Yes, you can grill your own food, but not until we say! I've learned that people (guys) don't like grilling advice from me. Whatever! Anyway, the charcoal chimney. Fear_ants approved!
Yep:
I love firecrackers with surprise endings. There's the one that shoots out a little parachute; it's like the tossing of the bouquet with everyone gathering in the street to see who can catch it. Like last year, the oak tree won. "There's always next year!" That's what everyone was saying, patting each other on the back, heading back to the safety of the porch. Some went to go watch the city's fireworks display, but a lot of us stayed and shot roman candles at targets.
Friendship Pagoda!
On the Fif, we did a whole lot of nothing. I guess I managed to set up the grill to cook leftover sausages (Thank you, Peeks!) & grill some corn. We had to eat elote. We couldn't let the holiday pass without doing it. It was delicious, of course!
The day started out overcast, then it rained some, then the sun came out, but it didn't get hot/humid, and then it got overcast and then we got dumped on BIG TIME. It totally distracted me from watching True Lies because it was a raining really long and really hard.
This is what all of the ladies are sippin' on these days. Sweet Carolina! It's totally nasty & totally good.
Perfect holiday. The ideal balance of caffeine, naps, good food, rain/no rain, no mosquitoes, reading & hanging out with cats & agreeable humans. Even the cookout was easy and hosting things like that can be a lot of work.
Now it's back to the grind and I am totally struggling. I think I got used to having a mid-morning nap. Boo!
Me & ATM come home for lunch usually. To. Get. Away. From. The. Crazies. We. Work. With. Last week, our usual viewing of The Bernie Mac Show got replaced with Wimbledon, which was great. Wimbledon has since been replaced with Tour de France, which is like 3 weeks long! We've got things going for us.
1 comment:
I'm getting the hang of maxxin' & relaxxin' a little too well. I haven't been doing what I need to do around the house. Remember our discussion of the current state of our bathrooms? Mine is still the same.
What an exhausting weekend the Fourth was. I notice my dishes of late have been more and more from scratch. I read recipes and convince myself it isn't difficult or time consuming but the components definitely add up. Last Sunday I made enchiladas. I made my own sauce from scratch, corn tortillas and a sauteed filling of baby portabellas and onion. Dang they were good. I definitely need to make some for you both.
Again, it was another testament to our friends' culinary abilities. Congratulations on the new grill and charcoal chimney. They cook real proper. Grill Masterz 4 Life!
!Viva la elote!
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