First Anniversary

Joshua and I celebrated our first anniversary on June 2. We spent the weekend camping and eating good food. Friday morning we drove to Pinnacles National Park and got settled in our campsite. Then we went on a hike. It was hot, but beautiful. 

There were some little tunnels on our trail.

Pinnacles has a couple of caves that you can explore; unfortunately, they were closed while we were there to protect the bats who are raising their young. 

We stopped at a peaceful spot by the reservoir.   

The next day we drove into Monterrey and went to Point Lobos. We had a picnic lunch by the water. 

  Then we started getting some monster waves!

There were so many pretty flowers. 

After Point Lobos, we went over to Fisherman's Wharf and got ice cream. Then we drove along the beach and watched the waves. For dinner, we went to Demetra Cafe in Carmel by the Sea, one of our favorites from our honeymoon. 

 

Sunday morning we made breakfast burritos at our campsite, which were delicious. 

We headed home after eating and had time to relax, unpack, and repack. We went to Jack and Charlie's in Visalia for dinner and were impressed. It was a wonderful weekend and celebration.

Rhubarb

We spent a lovely few days in Modesto this past weekend; attending a wedding and celebrating Lamar's birthday. Gayle sent me home with the rhubarb that was left after she made strawberry rhubarb crisp for Lamar's celebration. I quickly set to work finding some new recipes that used rhubarb.

Monday morning I made Rhubarb Muffins, which were delicious. They were moist and tasty with just a little crunch from the pecans and sugary topping. Yum!

Next, I made Rhubarb Salsa, which was recipe twenty-eight. It was pretty good, but the recipe said to blanch the rhubarb for two minutes and that was way too much. My rhubarb was mushy. If I make it again I will not blanch it that long. Just a quick dip or not at all. Otherwise, it was good. We took it to the Nickell's house to have with dinner after the baseball game.

Joshua was able to get free tickets to a Rawhide game through his job, so we went on Monday. It was a great day for a baseball game. We were playing the Modesto Nuts; Joshua, of course, decided to root for them and they ended up winning. Afterwards, we enjoyed a barbecue at the Nickell's.

Rice

I forgot to post about making Lime Cilantro Rice, recipe twenty-six, probably because I didn't take a picture of it. Joshua and I made burritos for family dinner last Sunday and included some lime cilantro rice. It was super easy and great in the burritos. The flavor by itself was not particularly impressive, but the point was to eat it in the burritos so I thought it was a success.

Three Recipes

We tried three recipes last night at dinner. Recipe twenty-three was Brown-Sugar Salmon with Strawberries from my Taste of Home magazine, except we made it with tilapia instead of salmon. 

Brown-Sugar Salmon with Strawberries

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 T oil

1 t ground mustard

1 t ground allspice

1/2 t salt

4 salmon fillets (5 oz each)

1 T minced fresh mint

1 T oil

1 T lemon juice

2 t lemon zest

1/8 cup sugar

1 cup finely chopped strawberries

1 small cucumber, finely chopped

In a small bowl, mix the first five ingredients; rub over flesh side of salmon. Refrigerate, covered, 1 hour. For relish, in another bowl, mix mint, oil, lemon juice, lemon, zest, and sugar. Add strawberries and cucumber; toss to coat. Moisten a paper towel with cooking oil; using long-handled tongs, rub on grill to coat lightly. Place salmon on grill rack, skin side down. Grill, covered, over medium heat 8-10 minutes or until flesh flakes easily with a fork. Serve with relish.

So, not only did I not use the right kind of fish, but I also didn't rub the seasonings into it or grill it. Instead, I sauteed it with a little brown sugar, salt, and pepper. The relish I made almost like the recipe said to, except I didn't have any mint, so I left that out. That said, the fish was delicious. The relish was light and fresh and summery and was a great complement to the tilapia.

On the side we had Baked Asparagus with Balsamic Butter Sauce, recipe twenty-four. I didn't actually bake the asparagus, I just sauteed that too and then added the sauce. This was fine, but the soy sauce was overpowering and I prefer other ways of preparing asparagus.

For dessert, we had Peanut Butter Cookies IX, recipe twenty-five. We made pazookie with this cookie dough and it was delicious.

Hummus with a Twist

I made recipe twenty-two for lunch today, Fusion Hummus. It had rosemary and balsamic vinegar in it, which was a nice variation on traditional hummus. It was like eating hummus and dipping your bread in oil and vinegar at the same time. I liked it.

Mother's Day and Birthday Weekend

 For Mother's Day and Gayle's 60th birthday, we all headed up to Lake Tahoe to celebrate. We got to stay in cabin 95 at Zephyr Point. We arrived Friday afternoon and got things started right away by unloading the food and setting out some pre-dinner snacks.

After dinner, we roasted marshmallows for smores.

Saturday we had a relaxed morning and waffles for breakfast. Then we packed sack lunches and headed for Emerald Bay. 

We had a picnic by the lake. 

Then Gayle, Bethany, Laura, Joshua, and I set out on a hike to the point of the bay. It was supposed to be five miles round trip, but I think it may have been more. Regardless, it was great and a beautiful day. 

After returning from our hike, Bethany and I jumped in the lake.

We took a family photo after our celebratory birthday dinner. 

Gayle had made beautiful quilts for each of her children. The quilts were unique and made for each one of them specifically. They were amazing. 

Sunday morning we made omelets for breakfast. 

This is one of many games played over the weekend. 

Bethany and Laura set up a slack line.

 We had to leave after lunch, but it was a great weekend and a fun time with family.