Father's Day Mongolian Hot Pot

For Father's Day, we met up at Mom and Dad's for Mongolian Hot Pot. Blast from the past! Mer, Pete and Kate were out of town so it was a small group. We ate dinner and then played euchre!



Mmm, so many delicious meats and vegetables to cook in the delicious broth.



Happy Father's Day, Dad!

June Cooking Club: Poolside at Nancy's!

Nancy hosted cooking club at her pool this month! The theme was poolside snacking. Emily made cantaloupe rum daiquiris!



Time to eat!



Emily made miso hard boiled eggs. What an interesting flavor!



Nancy made little pots of baked halloumi with tomatoes. I LOVE halloumi. This was a hit!



Nancy made an herby salad with burrata cheese.



Emily made a swiss chard and ricotta galette!



YUM!



Summer made Jhalmuri, a street snack originating from the Bengal region of the Indian subcontinent, made of puffed rice and an assortment of spices, vegetables, and chanachur or bhujia. She used Kix and Fiber One cereals. Cereal snack! You mix the cereal in right before serving, and it's so crunchy and strange and delicious!



She also made cantaloupe rum popsicles! What a great compliment to Emily's daiquiris!



Summer also made these tasty desserts: whipped cheesecake with pistachio crust.



Mmmmm!



They were beautiful and delicious.



What a delicious cooking club! And such a treat to be poolside!

Nelsonville Music Fest/Happy Birthday Jason!

Nelsonville Music Festival 2019 was a blast! ONMFG! Jason turned 40 on the final day of the fest, so all weekend long we recorded happy birthday messages to surprise him with.



Nelsonville Music Festival also celebrated a birthday this weekend, 15 years! Happy birthday, NMF!



I didn't take as many photos this year, but there are a few snaps from the weekend. We loved Orkesta Mendoza on the porch stage Thursday night!



Magical paper cranes in the VIP tent.



Dinosaur Friday!! Anne and I are starting a revolution. Wear your dinosaurs to NMF on Fridays, people. #DinosaurFriday



Orkesta Mendoza again on Friday night on the main stage!



The Breeders are starting!!!



Giant balloon people dancing to The Breeders.



The Breeders were so so so so so so good! Summer and I were freaking out about the goodness! They played EVERYTHING!



We ran into Jenny Wray and Kyle after The Breeders! Jenny snapped this pic of me and Summer.



Saturday! The D-Rays played the Skate Ramp for the second year in a row. This event is a highlight of the festival for me. It's so fun!!



Baby Jasper!



Yang with Vana's nose!



Me with Vana's nose!



Ben with my nose!



Yang with Jasper's nose!



Death Cab for Cutie!









Michele and Baby Scott came out for a bit on Sunday afternoon!

April in May Cooking Club!

We've all been so crazy busy, we never managed to pull off a cooking club in April! And we're finally getting around to it near the end of May! Valerie hosted, with Yumi and me helping cook, and the theme was Vegetarian.

Yumi started us off with an asparagus puff pastry appetizer. Fresh, delicate asparagus from the farmer's market!



I made strawbery ginger tequila cocktails. Cheers!



Valerie treated us to the BEST salad, featuring pea shoots, farro, and pecorino cheese.



I made Smitten Kitchen's roasted tomato pasta salad, with toasted pine nuts, kalamata olives, fresh basil and local feta. Mmm.



Liza was afraid of my camera and hid behind Valerie for protection.



Valerie made halloumi tacos with pineapple salsa and aji verde. They were the BEST!



Nancy brought a bag full of knitted items that her sister Valaree made. We all got to pick some!!



We relaxed outside while the sun set, making room for dessert. Vizslas!



Mwah!



Cooking club!!



Cooking club is very serious. The first rule of cooking club is you do not talk about cooking club.



Ooooh, time for dessert! Whip that cream, Yumi!



Oh, hello! Strawberry galette.



Strawberry galette with whipped cream!

Happy birthday, Ben!

To celebrate Ben's birthday, we headed to Dennis's cabin out on the land! We stopped in Tupper's Plains on the way, and Dad loved this popcorn tree. Mmm, popcorn!



Dad, Felix and the birthday boy!



Dennis's old bridge washed away long ago, so we all had to walk the plank to get across.



Walk the plank!!



It was pretty exciting!



We used sticks for balance!



Go, Mom!



Nina making sure the precious pizza cargo makes it across safely!



We all made it across the stream and up to the cabin! Phil and the birthday boy. Cheers!



Felix and Farro had a fun time playing in the woods.



Jasper exploring!



Pete and Mer!



Joey!



Jasper pointing.



Ben and Rachid!



Phil and Nina!



Mer and Joey!



Me and Dad!



Dennis fired up the rocket stove so we could rewarm the pizzas. It worked great!



Little Kate made the birthday cake! Isn't it gorgeous?



When you're turning 39, it takes three people to light all your candles.






Make a wish!






Cutting into it.



So proud! Nailed it.



Look at that surprise blue layer inside!



MMM! Happy birthday, Ben!



Group photo! Dennis said this party was a record for how many people have been in the cabin at once!



The first group photo was Lara's. This was my attempt at a group shot with my camera. Hahaha!!