Citrusy Cooking Club

Nancy hosted cooking club this month, and the theme was citrus! She had also attended a cheese-making workshop recently, so we got to sample her homemade mozzarella. It was AWESOME! I was impressed!



Yumi made a citrus and spinach salad with spiced shrimp.



YUM!



Emily made a spicy Thai soup with lots of lime and lemongrass. Kicky!



I was planning to make grilled pizzas, but we could not get Nancy's gas tank open!! Three of us tried as hard as we could, with a multitude of serious tools, and could not get that sucker to open! (Where's Mr. Studlyhunk when you really need him?)



So I cooked the pizzas in the oven instead! Everyone was great in helping me with this quick change of plans. The pizzas ended up being super delicious this way, so it was a good thing. Lemon and piave pizza with red onion and rosemary:






The pizza, Nancy's salmon with grapefruit sauce and Valerie's citrus pesto pasta. What a great plate of food.



And for dessert, Summer's Seven Layer Lemon Cake! The poor cake fell over in her fridge. So instead it ended up being a Bowl of Cake. It just made it that much easier to put into my mouth! It was incredible.



We ended up the citrusy night with some delicious limoncello straight from Italy. YUM.

Poolyball

Another hot day, another HOT afternoon of Poolyball at Summer and J's! Mr. Studlyhunk got things off to a great start by fixing up a round of drinks for everyone.



He makes a mean strawberry daquiri. He also just happens to be the new spokesmodel for Blendtec blenders — keep your eyes peeled for their sexy upcoming ad campaign.



You can always tell Ralph's had a few too many when he starts wearing the Smirnoff cap as a hat.



Brad and Carl brought a cooler of Bud Light Lime to share.



It really hits the spot on a hot day!



Emily and Carl.



Time for Poolyball!












Emily checking out the goods.



We spent the rest of the afternoon just floating around. Those boys sure know how to make floating around look good!



Ah, summertime.

Memorial Day Pool Party

Today was our first time going out to Summer & J's pool this year. That means Summertime has officially begun! YAY!



Poolyball!



Lori was telling Summer and I about these drinks that she had in Brazil, Caipirinhas. They are made with sugar, crushed ice, lime juice, and this liquor called Cachaca. Lori was saying that when she gets her hands on another bottle of Cachaca, that she'd love to make some for us. She wasn't sure if you could get it in the U.S. or not, she'd gotten her last bottle in Brazil.

Summer said that sounded oddly familiar, and had a hunch that she might possibly HAVE a bottle of Cachaca in her liquor cabinet! We went in to see, and sure enough, she did. Summer definitely wins the prize for having the most thoroughly and impressively stocked liquor cabinet ever!!



So obviously we had to make some! They were delicious.



We played some more cornhole, rounding out this amazing three-day weekend with FOUR days of cornhole in a row!



Here is a picture of a bag that Summer threw, as it blasts into the hole. CORNHOLE!!!



Summer and Lori!





Happy Memorial Day, everybody! Here's to a fantastic summer! I hope it's a hot one!

Sanibel Island

Ben and I just got back from a week in Sanibel Island, Florida. We spent the week with Pete's Dad Harry, his stepmom Kandee, and Pete, Mer and Baby Kate. It was AWESOME. We went to the beach every day, swam in the pool every day, hunted for seashells, bicycled around the island, went kayaking through the mangroves, ate tons of delicious meals, had lots of great conversations, and really soaked up the sunshine. We also got to witness Baby Kate take her very first steps! It sure is a treat to get away from Ohio in the dead of winter!



Click here for photos.

Speaking of the dead of winter, we couldn't have picked a better week to go. Athens was hit with a massive ice storm, closing O.U. for the first time in over a decade! There was snow and ice everywhere. Look at these photos that Mom sent to us. Yeah, I would rather be in Florida!

Mermaids

Today we were just hanging around at Summer's pool, when she decided to bust out her underwater camera attachment! Scroll to the bottom to see an underwater MOVIE.

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MERMAID!

OW! We couldn't see where we were going and I totally did a face plant on the bottom of the pool.

MERMAID!

MERMAID!

Time for some fancy jumps!

CANNONBALL!!!!!!!!

One problem we kept having with the camera, was that when it was inside its waterproof shell, it was hard to see whether it was in picture mode or movie mode. Thus, we captured a lot of accidental movies. Here's a little underwater medley for you to enjoy!