Tom and time

Well I have a tendency to not blog when life gets away from me for a bit. It has, and I am flying along like always. Dave was gone, came back, gone, then back again. He has a wicked schedule with his workup training right now, so I am doing so much running around on my own. As well, it is party season, so we have social invitations to this, that, and everything right now. Baby showers, birthday parties, going away parties, you name it. They have all been a blast, but I get worked up preparing dishes to take, always trying to bring something new or different at least. I created one winner, we named it mardi gras shrimp, based on its lovely colors and the occasion I was making it for was a mardi gras theme party. Basically it is small shrimp, diced avocados, red peppers, jalapeno peppers, lime zest and juice, cilantro, red onions, smoked paprika, chipotle pepper, cajun spices, garlic. This is served in mini tortilla bowls. Easy, delicious, goes down so well with a margarita, beer, you name it. At another potluck I made a watermelon, mint, and feta salad, the dressing was lime juice and zest, honey, pepper. Simple, refreshing. I am sure I could create a good cocktail for this, but mojitos go nicely. I have a crapload of mint this year, so I need more creative uses other than drying it for tea.

I baked a girly cake for a friends birthday. The classic blue ribbon cake I have been baking since I was a kid, and Mom baked for us. It is a very old recipe, very odd too. You cut butter into the dry ingredients then beat in milk, then beat in egg whites. It is very fluffy. Mom always used almond extract in this, and I still prefer it that way. I recall the year she baked me one with pale green frosting. It had pink and silver ballerinas on top. I thought it was the most beautiful cake in the world. I filled my cake with raspberry pastry cream, using raspberry coulis I made. The frosting was the classic whipped egg whites with hot syrup drizzled in while beating.
And here I am, almost two weeks later, attempting to finish this. I am working full time, temporarily I might add, so I have little time for such a self indulgent activity. Last weekend we had both girls birthday parties. Lauryn's was to be this nice bash at the beach, with all things ocean, surf, and sun involved. However, we had to cancel the pavilion due to a conflict of times with half the invited guests. So we moved it to our house and had 8 little girls for a beach party on the patio. Inflatable fish and umbrellas hanging from the pergola, a limbo contest, a treasure hunt, fish and flower necklaces. My favorite part was her watermelon cake I made. Not a scrap remained.
Later that day Amelia had a couple of friends over for a sleepover. We took the girls to the aquatic centre to swim in the wave pool and have some diving contests. I swam some laps and they just had fun. Dave, Josh and Charlie went to a friend's cabin on the beach for a visit. We came back and had pizza and the kids held a wedding between two stuffed dogs. It was quite the production. Did I mention Charlie? The shitzu-maltese we have adopted. He is a charming little dog, intelligent and cheery, full of energy just like the kids.
Wow. I come back to this, 2 months later and find I can't meaningfully finish this. I went to Tom Petty in Vancouver, we had super floor seats, it was a phenomenal show, we stayed in a very mod hotel and had large cajun blackened burgers and margaritas. It was bliss....I felt like a teenager at the concert. I crept up past the idiot bouncer, right by the stage for pics. I sang every song, word for word and throughly enjoyed the moment where he thanked the crowd for being so welcoming of his new song off his new album, He really sounded like he did not believe he could have made something successful. It was surreal.