Fourth Festivities Weekend

I’m just going to say from the get go, summer is awesome.  And even though it’s taken me a while to recap our 4th of July, I figured better late than never because these memories are so worth capturing in print.

Kyle had Friday off so we invited friends over for breakfast.  I made a plum clafoutis based on this recipe, but I accidentally changed it rather significantly when I dumped an entire can of coconut milk (as opposed to the 1 cup of dairy liquid called for) in the batter.  I tried to compensate by adding coconut flour (it’s spongelike right?) and it actually worked out in the end with a longer baking time.  No biggie.

I think clafoutis are the perfect brunch option for groups although I would say I could have taken this whole thing down by myself.

Luckily there were treats too.  Kyle and I have been discussing this local Austrian bakery for a few months now – he saw it on his half marathon run and thought we should try it and then it kept coming up in random conversations over the next few weeks.  You know how that goes right?  It’s called Konditorei but if you just google “Austrian bakery in Davis” it’s the first thing that comes up.  Followed by a million glowing reviews from various sites.

Happy to say it did not disappoint, although I’m far from an expert on Austrian baked goods.  I’m actually not a big pastry person…I don’t know why but they aren’t something I drool over in bakery cases the way others do.  Kyle’s a big (chocolate filled) croissant person.  I guess I’d rather have something more doughy.  Croissants seem like a bunch of fluff without substance…Kyle and I have actually talked about it before.  He thinks it’s weird that I would choose an old fashioned donut over a regular (yeasty?) donut, but again, those fall into the fluff without substance category for me.  Also, I can’t think of the last time I ate a donut, so yeah.  Not my thing. [Update: I think the last time I had a donut was when we went apple picking last Fall]

So about this clafoutis.

Everyone seems to have plums going bonkers on their trees, so we have been the recipients of several donations…which is why I decided to go with plums instead of the traditional cherry that this recipe calls for.  I sautéed them with sugar and then poured them into a greased dish, followed by the batter and then baked it.  This was all at 9 pm mind you (we were at a pool party that evening) so I wasn’t sure how it would turn out at all and had to wait until the next morning to find out.

The next morning was an early one, per usual.  We read some books and snuggled before facing life.

The clafoutis was a hit.

We played in the backyard while eating and letting the kiddos run around and chase bubbles until it randomly started raining (?!?).  What a weird start to the holiday weekend.  It was over 100 degrees for most of the time so the unexpected rainstorm was definitely bizarre.  Awesome for my plants though!  I feel guilty about my garden with the drought so a little help from mother nature is always nice.

The rest of the day was basically planned down time.  Our weekends over the next few months are all packed which seems crazy because it’s summer and I associate the warm months with nothingness…and yet, we seem to have our calendars booked to the brim!  It’s all fun stuff but still.  Being home and doing nothing is nice too.

I made a big a$$ salad for lunch (kale, broccoli slaw, edamame, dried cranberries, sunflower seeds, avocado, and this dressing) which I paired with home-made crackers.  I am on my fifth batch of these crackers and I have yet to post the actual recipe!  I will soon I promise – this latest batch was the best yet and is finally worthy of sharing. [Note: I had way way more crackers than shown in the pic but I will say, due to the thickness of this batch, the photo is deceiving.  And another thing that makes these crackers addictive (and super filling) is the amount of coconut oil I use.  I mean the recipe was based off a pie crust, so yeah, it’s kinda like eating half a pie (in shortening).]  Nutrient density, what whaaaaattttt?

After P got up and ate we headed to a couple of stores to take advantage of sales.  Target had a sale on men’s swim suits and Nugget had two things I needed (wanted) on mega sale including Sir Kensington’s condiments (2 for $5) and fancy fresh mozzarella balls.  It was pretty hot out that afternoon so we drove to both places, which ended up being a blessing because things are NOT as in and out as they once were.  So many moving parts as a family of four!

We ended up grilling for dinner.  I’d probably do it every day if it were possible.  I just love chilling in the yard, playing with P and eating as a family when things are hot off the grill.

I pulled salmon out of the freezer (the last portion that I vacuum sealed from Costco a few weeks ago) and paired it with a simple tomato salad.

I told Kyle this when we were eating it, but I’ll say it here too: this dinner was last meal worthy.  Honestly.

All I did was season the salmon with salt and pepper and olive oil, that’s it.  And it was just so so so good.

That portion above on the right – Kyle and I split.  And that slab on the left?  ALL FOR MR. P!  He ate the entire freakin thing.  And I don’t know why I’m surprised.  This happens week in and week out and I still don’t learn.  I thought FOR SURE I’d get two meals out of that piece for him.  Nope!

The tomato salad was actually our appetizer because all that shopping worked up our appetites, so I assembled it first so we’d be content until later to eat.  Kyle and I just stood there in the kitchen over the counter, stabbing bites from the shared plate with our forks.

I’d been planning this salad ever since we got the tomatoes from the farm, so as soon as I saw the mozzarella was Nugget’s “secret special” of the week (I get their newsletters via email) I knew I’d get a couple to do the salad a few times.  We have tomatoes and basil for dayssssss.

The corn was local too, which offers a freshness I swear you can taste.  Summer corn.  I tell ya what.

After everyone was in bed that night I put together a quinoa broccoli salad for the next day.  It was requested after I made it a few weeks back.

Things worked out perfectly on the morning of the 4th – timing wise all the wake ups and meals and nursing and everything just fell into place and by 9:45 we were off to downtown for the kiddie parade as planned.

So much cuteness with all the stars and stripes and kiddos.  Much to P’s delight there were fire trucks, police cars, a marching band, and so much more.  He was all excited about the marching band because he knows every instrument and practices marching with them around the house (literally every obscure instrument you may think of, he knows – hashtagbandgeek).

We were “in” the parade and marched all 3 blocks to central park where farmer’s market was already going strong.  At which point, we continued to enjoy the music scene.  Then it was off to watch the bike races.

This is one of my favorite events in Davis and if it weren’t for nap schedules I could easily stay and watch all day.  Plus, I grabbed an iced decaf Starbucks, so I was really and truly in heaven.

These two!  <3

We did have to break away though so that the little man could get some shuteye before the afternoon pool party.

While P was sleeping I did some baking with zucchini I grabbed at farmer’s market.

We also watched the women’s world cup consolation game.  And played with miss smiley pants.

This girl is always so happy.  Hopefully that didn’t jinx my life.

Party time!  Happy birthday America.

Ribs times three.

The spice blends were a mix of home-made and packaged.  Both the packaged blends were by my friend’s friend’s company (Greenpoint Trading Co in Brooklyn).

And my friend’s mom makes that pea salad which is mayo packed and fantastic (I think I’ve raved about it on HHH already).  It has chopped smoked almonds in it which are just about the most addicting things on the planet.

Bikini babe ready to hit the pool.  It was a really fun afternoon of swimming and snacking and grilling and then repeating.  No fireworks for our crew.  Maybe in a few years…but 9:30 is too late for these kiddos right now.  And me, if I’m being honest.  I would much prefer Orange Is The New Black and a plate of chocolate with a 9 pm curtain call.  I’m so lame.

Smoothie for breakfast with my new Vega One chocolate.  Mmmmm…I missed you smoothies (although I definitely still have the itch for my greek yogurt/banola bowls).  As soon as everyone was fed and fit for public we set off for Costco.  We actually got there before it opened!  Whoops!  Never thought to look at the schedule because we are never out the door that early!  Ha.  Fortunately we only had a few minutes to kill in the parking lot before we got our bulk shopping on.

This is the definition of bulk shopping!

Pork belly at $2.24 / lb is (apparently) too good to pass up.  Just wait til I do a post on this (“what to do with 10 pounds of pork belly”).  Oh man.

Since we didn’t really have plans for dinner that night, I made up a rub for the meat and let it hang out for a few hours before it met it’s fate on the grill.

With such a meaty menu, I figured lunch should be animal free – hence the Beyond Meat grilled “chickn” (above) which I added to a bunch of greens and veggies (below).

Topped with pomegranate seeds and edamame.

After that I took advantage of nap time and prepped a bunch of stuff in the kitchen (including the rest of that pork belly).

Washed carrots from the farm like crazy and avoided another spider attack.

Did some pickling without a recipe (we will see how it turns out – still haven’t tried them yet).

Picked some stuff from the garden for dinner.

Brainstormed what to do with it….and went with a super simple salad from Terry Walters’ Clean Food…which led me back to the garden to pick some tomatoes.

Beauties.

I also made another batch of banola.

This stuff is legit.

Ready for a week (ahem, few days) of breakfasts!

Once P woke up it was time for Kyle to get grilling. We had no clue how long the pork belly would take on the grill and everything on the internet was super contradictory.  There were quick high heat recipes and low and slow recipes and we figured it was better to just start early in the afternoon and go by what the meat thermometer said.

Success!

I’ll share all the pork deets later.

We watched the world cup finals while the meat did it’s thing.

Also P helped me make this salad.  Per usual he was very hands on (meaning much of it went straight into his mouth).  Not tomatoes though.  He doesn’t like tomatoes.

Boom.

Such a rich dish that I’m glad it was paired with something lighter because whoa.  Pork belly is some fatty stuff.

Not bad for the first try!

And now we have a million pounds leftover.  Good thing I have lots of ideas on what to do with it!

Dessert (part I) was enjoyed on the couch while kicking our feet up and wondering how the three day weekend left us more exhausted than we felt going into it.  I guess that’s how it goes with small children running the show.