The Great Lobster Fly In

And the carnage.

But before they gave their lives we exercised them.

We've been racing lobsters since back in the day in

Rhode Island.

Turns out Ken and Lory were 

familiar with the practice too. 

There was only one female in the bunch

(the red roe tells you that)

and my suspicions lie with the one who went backwards

and foamed at the "mouth".

A local service agency does this "fly in" 

as a fundraiser every year.

Mike and I did it one year for our anniversary.

And then we "biked the drive."

Lakeshore Drive. 

At midnight.

We were way younger then.

This year we just ate lobster.

With good friends.

Except Mike. 

Turns out he prefers a good steak. 

Or salad, but that's another story.

Sometimes I have too many things to write about. 

So I write nothing.

How does that work?

So, it's 4 AM and I feel compelled to post something

on here just to keep Mom and Big 

coming back.

These are the things I would like to write about:

The Lobster Fly In,

the Embrace A Family Happy Hour, 

Ava channeling Jackson Pollock,

a single mom and sheets from Idaho,

and 

Caribbean pork tenderloin with green sauce.

And since I always like to have a visual, 

here:

I'm pretty sure there's a story in me about

father/son projects. 

And, how many times can Mike

install/ uninstall/ install this microwave?

Grilled Potato Salad

This was really good. 

Think German potato salad meets American,

and they get along!

Except they'll give you a heart attack.

This came from Food Network magazine.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/melissa-darabian/grilled-potato-salad-recipe/index.html

You boil the potatoes and then coat

them in a really flavorful mayonnaise concoction.

It would be good enough there but then

you grill the potatoes

(yes, mayo coating and all)

and then toss in a bacon vinaigrette!

So good!

My deviations:

I cut the potatoes in 1.5 inch

(approximately)

discs,

I used extra bacon 

(of course)

and used cilantro instead of parsley

and yukon gold instead of red potatoes

(they're what I had.)

I wouldn't make this every day but 

I will make it 

again!

Cucumber-Avocado Salsa

Thanks, Mom.

Although this recipe comes from USA Weekend magazine,

I would not have had access to it if not

for my mom. 

I wonder if anyone does what we do in our family. 

My sister has a subscription to 

People magazine.

She reads it, 

passes it on to me, 

I read it 

and pass it on to Mom and Big.

Big gets Ladies Home Journal. 

She passes that on to me and I pass it 

on to Carol.

Mom and Big get the Sunday Tribune, 

Mike is interested in 

the travel and the transportation sections.

Mom and Big, not so much, 

but they save those sections along with

any food related items they feel I would enjoy. 

Sometimes it's a food related item that clearly

they would enjoy.

Like lemon stuff.

More often than not there is something

 in there that does interest me.

Like this salsa.

It was just a component of 

what they felt to be the main attraction,

Sizzling Steak Tacos.

Whatever, that salsa spoke to me and it was great!

I had never thought to combine cucumber and avocado.

It's a great combination and I may be 

throwing cucumber into more of my 

avocado dishes.

Today it's found its way into my 

deconstructed guacamole.

I'll let you know how that turns out!

http://www.usaweekend.com/article/20120608/FOOD04/306080008/Recipe-Steak-Tacos-Salsa

PS, Shanna, how'd I do?

The Eyes Of A Child

There is no better way to see the world

than through the eyes of a child.

I got to see Chicago that way today.

 It was Ava's first ride on a train and her first

trip to the city.

Let me tell you, the people around her had about as good a time

watching her exuberance as she had exuberating!

 And while a swimsuit may have been a good idea, 

some suits just aren't meant for the city.

just sayin...

I was really excited to share one of my favorite

places with Ava.

She really wanted to get up there and hug the lion.

Mike thinks they arrest you if you get on one of them.

I'm happy to say we did not make a visit to

the CPD on *this* visit.

We did, however, visit 

The Art Institute's 

website in the morning.

http://www.artic.edu/aic/education/CC/index.html

This link takes you to the coolest thing.

It's a series of games that familiarizes kids with

some of the artwork and then you can 

stroll the museum and find the actual

art that was part of the games.

Way cool and I'm so glad we did that.

I decided to just let Ava roam.

We saw rooms I never go in.

And then I thought of 

The Thorn Rooms.

You know, the miniature rooms.

Well, she went NUTZ!

There are 68 rooms and she was as enthused

about the 68th one as she was about the first!

Well, maybe not the early American rooms

so much, but very enthused nonetheless.

A lady was so taken by Ava's excitement 

that she told us a bout a book titled,

"68 Rooms". It's about some kids

who go on a field trip to The Art Institute

and get locked in at night, shrink and then 

run around through these rooms.

We'll grab that tomorrow.

I learned a few things today.

Take a swimsuit to the Millennium Park fountain.

Take a towel.

Take a visit to your museum of choices 

website before you go.

Take the kid's lead.

And most important,

take a kid!

Happy Birthday Shanna

Don't you love how it looks like the bow is stuck to her head?

It's stuck to the chair.

The crown however, IS

stuck to her head.

I love me some Shanna.

Thai Style Pizza

I took one bite of this and knew I had to share.

It's kind of a riff on a recipe I found on line.
The "sauce" is:
1/3 cup peanut butter
3 T. hoisin
2 T. rice wine vinegar
1 T. sesame oil
1 t. chili paste

You spread that on the pizza dough and then top with
bean sprouts
green onions
shrimp
Monterey Jack cheese
and a sprinkling of cilantro.

Next time I'll add some chopped peanuts and
 julienne carrots.

The other really fun thing about this pizza
is that we cooked it on the grill.
I put a pretty thick pizza stone on the grates
and heated the grill up to 400 degrees.
It took about 20 minutes to cook
and probably could have benefited from
being rotated half way through.
Live and learn.
That's what I'm here for.

But no hot kitchen!
It's a win-win!
:o)

The man who swore up and down

he didn't like the 

School Bus Yellow

harlequin diamond

spare room

Lory and I painted in their old house

is the same man who asked me 

to recreate this shower curtain

on a wall in the guest bathroom of their 

new house.

So I did.

I think he secretly liked the school bus room.

Just sayin....

Lance

Just in case I think I'm all that clever.

Lance is clever-er.

He's 3-D Val's husband.

He threw a surprise retirement party for 

Flat Val.

And he wasn't satisfied with just surprising

3-D Val. 

He surprised us all with Cyndi. 

That's her in the purple on the end.

He went so far as to have me make a 

Flat Cyndi. 

You see, she lives in Tennessee.

None of us in on "the" secret expected for 

a minute she would make the trip up here for this 

little soiree. 

Wrong!

Lance is up for husband of the year award. 

Well, for the month at least.....

And he may have wormed his way into the sisterhood.

Well, or something. 

Thanks Lance!

Margarita Frosting Shooters

When on Pintrest I pin anything "Margarita".

It is my goal to make all things

 "Margarita" by the end of the summer.

And so it begins.

http://keepitsweetdesserts.com/margarita-frosting-shots/

I am not a big sweets or frosting person

but I am always interested in things I can

fill these little glasses with.

(thank you Nancy and Steve)

Well, I ate 2!

I was a little leery of the graham cracker/pretzel

layer but it totally works.

That salty kick is just what the 

sweet, limey, tequila-y frosting needs. 

I used pre-smashed graham crackers

because I had them but next time I'll

smash my own and not pulverize them like

these were. 

Other than that,

Yum!

These?

Pretty but, not so yum.

In all fairness the recipe did state that they were a bit

"stiff" and you may want to substitute

water for half the tequila.

I am of the opinion that when making a recipe 

for the first time you should make it as written. 

I may reevaluate that stance.

But, pretty, yes?

http://jelly-shot-test-kitchen.blogspot.com/2010/07/ocean-margarita.html