Family, Friends and Food

Okay, I apologize in advance for this being a somewhat long post. This weekend was jam packed with good friends, family, food and brews; it seemed to fly by, but there were some great highlights!

Friday
Friday night pizza is somewehat of a tradition in this house, so the weekend started with our good friends Heather and Kevin coming over for a few snacks and homemade pies.

Margherita with tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and basil on homemade crust...

And mozzarella, goat cheese, kalamata olives and mushrooms on whole wheat.

We also had arugula salads dressed with my and Heather's favorite vinegar, and we topped off the night with slices of red velvet cake.

I bought the cake since I already had a baking list a mile long on Friday, and unfortunately it was a little lacking in the flavor department so I only ate half my slice. Oh well. Such a relaxing night with great friends!

Saturday
The morning started off grand with homemade Irish soda bread, and continued with a run/walk in the park. The weather was gorgeous!

The rest of the day was spent in the kitchen coming up with ways to use the grains leftover from Matt's recent beer brewing session (a few good recipes to come!). A few friends stopped by for pints, too of course.

Matt's friend Chris stayed through the evening, so I made us all a good old Irish dinner of baked fish 'n chips with malt vinegar and crispy kale...which I totally forgot to take a picture of. But the highlight of the evening was the simple, yet scrumptious Guinness ice cream float.

Need I say more?

Sunday
After a morning of household chores and a quick workout, we headed off to Matt's parents' house for a family party with a slew of aunts, uncles and cousins. We always have a great time at the family parties, and this one was no different. Riker was wide eyed the whole day, loving all the attention.

I tried to hold back on the appetizers so I wasn't too full for dinner. Once the meal was served, I loaded up  my plate with salad, cooked carrots, Asian noodle salad (it's always at the family parties, and is strangely addicting!) and veggie lasagna. Everyone else was having corned beef, but Matt's mom always makes sure to have something vegetarian on hand so I can get my protein. She's too good to me.

Dessert was a Dairy Queen ice cream cake for the two birthday girls - Matt's sister Melissa and his cousin Monica. I of course also had a little sliver of my Guinness brownies, yum!

After eating, all the cousins went for a long walk until sunset, which was so nice. It felt good to get some fresh air and settle our bellies from the big meal. When we returned, it was fire time!

Nothing like a hot fire, a glass of red wine and a little family time to set you straight for the week ahead.

Hope you had a wonderful weekend as well!