family, food & fun . . .

We had a marvelous Independence Day celebration up at the camp! Guess who came to visit?!?

Yes! My darling Sawyer! Look how grown up he looks! He was just a kid at the camp yesterday. He brought his mommy and daddy, too. And Jocelyn and Jason came as well, to make the family circle complete!

Todd was the grill master for the event. Every family brought their own meat to grill and a side to share. It was a good plan!

I decked out a picnic table so it looked rather 4th-ish. I'd purchased some citronella candles for the table, to help keep bugs away. They actually did a pretty good job!

None of us just brought "one dish" to share, so the buffet table was full! It was almost like Thanksgiving!! It was funny -- once the meat was all ready and the lids taken off the serving dishes, someone remarked, "What are we waiting for, let's eat!"

Sawyer knew what that meant -- he ran for his chair. He was ready to eat too!

Such a charmer. He held up his end of the dinner conversation quite well. No one could understand all that he was saying, but his tone was cheery!

There was plenty for everyone. Joc made a yummy, not-your-typical coleslaw and a tomato and corn salad that was *wonderful*! Kim made roasted potatoes and a sugar-free apple pie (which was delish)! Jason even tossed in a pan of brownies he made just for the event! Add to that the prerequisite baked beans and watermelon . . .

And as you can see, plates were full!!

Sawyer particularly enjoyed the watermelon! (Never tell a young child to say, "Cheese!" when they have a mouthful of watermelon. LOL!)

Sawyer had three or four rides in the golf cart. He just loves riding around in that thing and he sits so nicely and quietly while it's moving. Early in the evening, I asked Sawyer if he wanted to go for a ride. He didn't answer me, he just took off running for the golf cart. Oh, I guess he *did* answer me!

Jason was the camera master for the evening!

He used an 8-second exposure to help create these fun effects! I can write my name with a sparkler!

And the star was fun, too.

James, who was having more fun with the sparklers than anyone, was our fireworks master for the evening. Jason had purchased a bunch of fireworks a year ago and brought them. He was having fun filming, so James agreed to light the fuses.

We had some rockets red glare.

And bombs bursting in air.

Giving proof through the night, that time with family is the best.

:)

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cleaning up . . .

Since I'm not working anymore and I've got a *little* more time to think of food prep and meals, I've been trying to test and add some healthier recipes to our meal planning. When I was going through my magazines last week (I go through them, cut out the pages that have recipes, ideas, or projects that appeal to me and scan them to my hard drive), I came across a recipe for Flank Steak Roll (or Meat Rollups, as my husband has dubbed it) out of Clean Eating magazine (which is very fun and full of great recipes).

I was a little nervous about trying it. I've had a tough time with rolling foods to be cooked before, and not only was this rolled, but I had to slice the flank steak in half lengthwise, first, and then stuff it! The stuffing was a wonderful mixture of toasted pine nuts, panko (which I'd never used before this recipe), garlic and vinegar, topped off with fresh spinach. The process was actually very, very easy.

So I got it all ready, then rolled it up and got to use kitchen twine!

All pretty and ready to go into the pan and then into the oven. Forty minutes later . . .

Voila! She is done!

It held its rolled up shape very nicely when cut. I did have to affirm that the pink the middle was the panko mixture (because of the red vinegar) and not the color of the meat! He likes his meat DONE! Once we were cool on that, he was ready for dinner to be served!

And a good dinner it was. Todd said we could add this to our list! The only trouble I had was that it makes so much. I didn't enjoy it as much reheated for lunch today, but Todd really did. Ah well, next time I make it, I'll invite someone over to join us!

Happy Friday, y'all -- I'm off to clean out some of the junk in our RV basement, now. And tomorrow, joy of all joys, I'm off to our Stitcher's group stitch-in!

:)

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whatever works . . .

These are all photos of food or drink . . .

Taken with my phone . . .

And then texted to my daughter . . .

No matter how small . . .

Or time of day . . .

If I put it in my mouth (and subsequently swallow it) . . .

I send a picture of it to Joc.

Pretty odd, huh? Well, I can't knock it! She suggested instead of writing down everything I eat, to take a PICTURE of everything I eat instead. I suggested that I needed a lot of accountability and encouragement, and asked if she were up to it. She said as long as I sent her *everything* she would be there for me, so I did. Don't knock it, though . . . I've lost 10.8 pounds this first week! Isn't technology fun? And fyi...the pink glass with the 8 oz. marked on it is my water glass. Yes, I even send her a photo every time I get a new glass of water. Haha--good thing we have an unlimited text plan!

On a much more primitive level, here's a couple of fun things we've pulled out of the creek recently:

This old snapping turtle did NOT want to let go of the cage. Mind you, he wasn't stuck, he was hanging on! He was trying dearly to get to the minnows and crawdads that were on the inside! Do you see his tail? It's wicked long.


And speaking of crawdads, this is about the biggest I'll fool with 'em. Any bigger than that and Todd can deal with 'em! I can't wait until Sawyer is big enough to go down to the creek and do a little crawdad catching!

:)

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Big macaron

Ok I admit, maybe a weird post, but I HAD to share it with you!

Tomorrow I've exam French, and to bring me in the mood my mum bought me this huge macaron, filled with some lemon cream and raspberries. So sweet of her!!
It's not from Ladurée but it was jummie as well ;)

Doesn't this look so beautiful?! I was scared to break it, haha :)

Enjoy your long weekend!!
And good luck to everyone who's studying as well :) We can do it! (Always have a positive attitude, that's the beginning of a lot)


Love,
Carlota

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Summary of my WE

I can't believe weekend is again over.. It was a nice weekend but not a very special one. My brother and parents came back from their vacation and we went to my niece's housewarmingparty, which was pretty fun!
For the rest I just enjoyed the great weather, studied, made some delicious food and played with my puppy, Bailey :)

Making yummie guacamole 

To eat with my grilled sandwich with mozarella, chicken, cucumber, some veggie ketchup and some tortilla chips.

I'm already looking forward for the rest of the week, they predict beautiful weather and Wednesday I'm going to the seaside with my parents (who already left today :(). And at the end of the week one of my best friends turns 21 (Sara), so that needs to be celebrated on Saturday!! ;)

Have a great week!

xx
Carlota

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