Kickoff to Summer
Happy Memorial Day!
Last night I spilled a glass of water and it got to our new expensive Macbook and now it won’t turn on. So I’m using our old Dell and I think it took about 20 minutes for Windows Live Writer to even open.
Happy Memorial Day, indeed!
I’ll worry about my laptop tomorrow. For now, I’m going to enjoy what’s left of this perfect weekend. I know summer doesn’t officially start till June 20th, but I say it starts during Memorial Day weekend. And if this weekend has been any sign of how the rest of the summer will go, I think it’s going to be an awesome one.
Full of laughter.
Friday night entertainment.
And colorific fun.
I ran the Denver Color Run on Saturday with my college roommate and can I just say best race concept ever? It’s basically like having a colored powered sugar food fight. And then you look like this afterwards.
I’m suddenly glad I didn’t buy new running shoes last week.
If you’ve never had to wash green paint out of the inside of your ear, you haven’t lived.
And delicious summertime food. Obviously. Who do you think I am?
We made this on Saturday night (with shrimp instead of salmon) and I thought it was simple and delicious.
I love anything with mango salsa lately.
And outdoorsy Boulder things.
I’m sort of ashamed to admit I’ve lived in Boulder all my life and this was the first time I’ve ever been to the Boulder Creek Festival. There were a million tents selling this, that and the other, but I actually thought the best part was this random guy balancing rocks in the creek. I mean, how cool is that?!
Second best was watching kids tumble around in these giant inflatable balloons. My sister and I had a good laugh over this.
And of course, no Memorial Day is complete without the Bolder Boulder.
Plain and simple: I love this race. Marshmallows, Otter Pops, Slip n’ Slides and all.
Somewhere in there I also fit in napping, shopping and laptop-ruining.
Now it’s dinner and Rockies. Guess where I’m going, guys. Just guess!
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How did you spend Memorial Day weekend?
Ever ruined an electronic device?
Anyone else run a race this weekend? I’ll share all my other BB pictures later this week. Granted I have a working laptop…
What I’m Loving This Week
1. Fridays!
Oh wait, I have always loved Fridays. And really who hasn’t?
2. Strawberry margaritas.
I made a simple syrup by boiling strawberries with equal parts water and sugar then strained the liquid out, mixed it with some tequila, triple sec, lime juice and ice and voila, an amazing margarita.
I won’t lie, my mom, my sister and I each had 1.5 margaritas on Tuesday night and I think we were all feeling it. #lightweights
3. Dinners with my family.
As if you didn’t already know that.
Why do all the dinner pictures I take at my parents’ look better than any I take at home?
4. Purple nails.
And no, not Rockies purple because I’m kind of basically ashamed of our team right now. Kind of.
5. Ducks.
And not just because I got a total kick out of seeing one floating around in my apartment swimming pool, but also because the duck family floating down the stream next to the path I run on was completely adorable on Sunday evening.
Okay, it was most because of the duck in the pool.
6. Spring roses.
My parents sold the house I grew up in a couple years ago and although there are many many things I miss about that house, my mom’s rose garden is pretty high on the list. Seeing roses still makes me smile.
Even if they aren’t the same roses my mom would “say hi to” in the morning at our house.
7. This song.
And seriously, you should take the time to watch that weirdo music video.
Things I’m not loving this week:
- colds that sneak up days before you have to run two races in one weekend
- bowling a 50…
- and temperatures that aren’t in the 80′s
But I’m willing to put that all aside because it’s a 3.5 day weekend and that cancels out all bad things.
Happy Memorial Day weekend!
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What are you loving right now?
What are your Memorial Day plans?
Tropical Lime Squares
Look at this.
Now’s that’s vintage.
On Saturday, I committed a breaking and entering and stole this cookbook. Except I’m not sure it’s considered breaking and entering if you used a key to get in and I’m not sure it’s considered stealing if you ask politely if you can take the item.
This cookbook has been in my life since I was born. Clearly. And while the peach cobbler recipe has always been a family favorite the lemon square recipe certainly can’t be overlooked. I recently saw a lime square recipe and thought the gorgeous green color was worth switching out the lemons for limes in Betty’s recipe. We’re on a first name basis.
Between margaritas, tropical burgers, a Mexican flavored side salad and lime squares I squeezed more limes than I ever want to squeeze again. I now have carpal tunnel.
Let me be honest. This crust is delicious. But it’s made of butter, flour and powdered sugar so I don’t know how that could not be delicious.
And here’s where my poor little heart broke. Turns out anything you mix with 2 eggs turns out yellow even if you expect it to turn out bright green. Nothing 3 drops of food coloring can’t fix though.
Tropical Lime Squares
Ever so slightly adapted from the Betty Crocker Cookbook… circa 1978!
- 1 cup flour
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar (+ more for dusting)
- 2 eggs
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup lime juice (about 4 limes)
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- For crust, mix flour, butter and powdered sugar together. Press into an ungreased 8x8x2 square pan, building up edges.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until golden.
- In the meantime, beat remaining ingredients until fluffy. Pour over hot crust.
- Bake until no indentation remains when touched — about 25 minutes.
- Cool, cut and dust with additional powdered sugar, if desired.
It was the perfect dessert for a tropical-themed celebration.
Serving alongside a margarita is optional but totally recommended.
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Do you have a favorite classic cookbook?
Lemon or lime?
What’s kind of dessert with you serve with a tropical dinner?
A Celebratory Occasion
Last Sunday was a lot of things.
It was Mother’s Day. It was my friend Hannah’s Birthday. And it was Joey and I’s 5 year anniversary. Figures he would be out of town. So we postponed the celebration till yesterday and it was worth the wait.
There were margaritas.
Complete with homemade strawberry simple syrup.
And burgers.
And gorgeous green lime squares.
And lots of reminiscing about the past 5 years.
It got really mushy. Gross 
But really, it was the perfect celebration for an occasion I’m truly happy about. Here’s to many more margarita-filled celebrations in the future!
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What’s your favorite celebratory meal?
Are you a fan of margaritas?
What did you do this weekend?
Here’s to Bowling
One time, in a moment of weakness, I gave Joey my permission to sign us both up for a bowling league. It was a Christmas present to him.
And that was two years ago.
And I’ve somehow managed to weasel my way out of actually bowling in any leagues for the past two years. It’s an accomplishment I’m quite proud of.
It’s not that I hate bowling all that much. Okay, it’s kind of that. But it’s also because I plain suck at bowling. Once I turned 16 and bumpers were no longer an option, bowling became way less fun. And the other thing is… Joey is good. Like has his own rolling bowling bag good. Like has bowled in weekly leagues since he was born good. Like bowled two perfect games already this year good.
Why he even wants to be seen with me in a bowling alley is beyond me.
Also beyond me? Why he felt this sudden urge to actually take me up on my Christmas present offer now. Two years later. And I’m having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that we’re actually signed up and tonight at 7 PM I will be embarrassing myself bowling in front of a bunch of people who actually know what they’re doing.
We’ve already bought me a pair of my own super stylish bowling shoes that are going to look great with skinny jeans. And then we hit the lanes, you know, just to practice. And I proceeded to bowl 4 gutter balls in a row. It’s all getting a little too real.
Hey look, I broke 100!
And right now, I’m really wishing I had put an expiration date on that Christmas present.
On Mother’s Day…
I hope you celebrated all the amazing mothers out there.
I hope you realized how much you appreciate your own mother.
I hope you spoiled her with brunch.
I hope you told her how much you love her.
Because Mom, I truly do.
Hoping all the mothers and mother-figures alike got the recognition they deserved today!
Firsts
My mom and I have this relationship, you see.
It goes like this. She invites me over. Actually, more like she lures me over with the promise of delicious things. Then she feeds me those delicious things. In her nice remodeled kitchen. With her nice cooking gadgets and appliances. Then she whines, “Noooooo” when I say I’m going home at the end of the night.
It’s nice. Except that last part. That’s kind of annoying.
So that’s how it works and it’s never the other way around. Meaning, I never have my mom over. I mean she’s the seasoned entertainer, the better cook and the owner of a much nicer home than mine. But after hearing that we had had Joey’s mom over for dinner a couple weeks ago she was all in a huff than we never have her over. Mom envy. It’s serious stuff. Coincidentally, my uncle had sent me some fresh crab straight from Louisiana and said “find a good crab cake recipe and surprise your mama.” I have the best family.
So, I invited my mom over and then out of courtesy I invited my dad and sister. Just kidding, I was glad to have them. And I made something I’ve never made before and that I needed to be just as perfect as everything my mom makes when I go over to her place. I really enjoy putting as much pressure as possible on myself.
Anyways, as flustered as I felt at the beginning, everything turned out really great. And the crab cakes were pretty delicious if I do say myself, but I guess the credit for the recipe has to go to my uncle. I guess. But really, I’m so glad he found me such a good one.
And I pretty much wanted to drink the ravigote sauce. Which is still an option, seeing as we demolished the crab cakes and still have extra sauce left over.
Then afterwards we all went out for froyo, where my parents met Joey’s dad for the first time. Yes, we’ve been together for five years and yes, I said for the first time. Froyo brings people together.
And now I’m ready to go back to that relationship where my mom has me over and cooks me things.
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Do you live somewhere where you can get fresh seafood?
Do you ever have your parents over or is it usually the other way around?
