Yumi's Birthday at The Buckley House

For Yumi's birthday, we decided to head over to Marietta to eat at The Buckley House. We've been talking about doing so for ages, and now was the time!



We each started with a crabcake appetizer. It came with a lobster sauce, and was AMAZING. Giant chunks of delicious crab.



I got halibut for my dinner. It was so, so, so good!!! With lemon, basil, tomatoes and onions. And garlic mashed potatoes! I LOVE halibut.



Time for presents! Emily got Yumi a yoga bolster.





Presents!!



Whee!!



Several of us chipped in to get Yumi a cool print.



Time for BIRTHDAY DESSERTS!





Make a wish!



Mmm, we got a chocolate torte...



... AND the creme brulee. Both were awesome awesome awesome!



After dinner, we headed across the street to check out the Muskingum River.





So pretty!



We hung out for awhile in the park.



Bye bye, Buckley House! It was a delicious and fun evening!

New Car!

This weekend was very exciting. I got a new car!!!!!!!! I've been driving my beloved white Subaru Impreza sedan for ten years and three months. It has been going into the shop a LOT recently, and it was time to play it safe and get a new one. I won't have to miss my old one though, because Ben is going to drive it! Since he usually rides his bike everywhere, it will work out perfectly as a second car. My new car is another white Subaru Impreza, but this time I got a hatchback.

Signing papers (and papers and papers and  papers) at the dealership.



Whee!!!!! Mom pointed out that it was a neat coincidence that the first ever picture of me driving my new car just happened to have my favorite store Gabriel Brothers in the background. Hi, Gabes!



Last weekend, I went grocery shopping at Kroger. I filled my trunk with groceries, then stopped into Walmart to pick up just a couple of extra things. When I went to add those groceries to the ones already in my trunk, the trunk latch broke off in my hand!! This was an major issue because a couple of months ago, the only key that would open my trunk had  broken in half. So now I had no access to my trunk, which was filled with a week's worth of groceries. There happened to be a pound of salmon in there, and it was 95 degrees out!! I had a little giant freakout breakdown about how I was going to lose all of those groceries and have rotting fish forever locked in my trunk. It turned out fine, I was actually able to pry the trunk latch open when I got back home, but the moral of the story is YAY FOR HATCHBACKS!!!!!! Nothing can ever get locked back there ever!!!



A new car obviously calls for a celebration! We had Mom and Dad over for a summery feast.



I made the Eating Well recipe that I made last weekend, except I used trout instead of salmon. It was even better!!



Plus grilled asparagus and some whole wheat couscous.



Ben got our deck lights up this weekend!



Check out my cherry tomato plant. It has tripled in size in just a few weeks!



Another event worth celebrating this weekend is the arrival of PEACHES. My very favorite fruit of all time!!! I've been watching the lot where they bring the Sweet Georgia Peaches and they were finally there today. Just as juicy as ever!! I baked up a peach crisp to celebrate.



Yay for new cars and yay for peaches and YAY FOR CELEBRATING!!!

Memorial Day Party at Vana & Joe's

Vana and Joe hosted a potluck cookout this evening to celebrate Memorial Day. Derrick, Kayla and Mom chilling on the steps.



Everyone was happy and laughing as Joe threw some hot dogs on the Big Green Egg!



Chips and shrimp cocktail started the feasting!



Watermelon!



Kayla made beautiful deviled eggs.



Dennis showed up with his famous chipotle dip!! Sooooooo addicting.



Gin and tonic! This was hard-fought because Mom and Dad brought gin but forgot the tonic. Then Cheryl drove to her house to pick up a bottle because she lives right down the road. When she got back, we couldn't find the limes!! So we improvised with some orange and they were actually really good.



Mom and Dad just happened to bring one bottle of Joe's favorite beers in the whole world!! Lucky Joe! I tasted it and it was really yummy.



Mom made orzo dill salad!



I made ANOTHER Eating Well recipe. Cherry, Wild Rice and Quinoa salad. I highly recommend this recipe! So nutty and chewy!



Time to eat!!



I LOVE party buns. Smaller burgers on little buns!! So cute AND it means you get to also have room for a hot dog!!!



Happy Memorial Day!



Hi, Dad!



It's FUN to hang out on the steps!



Hello, Iris!



Mmm, Cheryl brought blueberry pie.



So much amazing food! I love celebrating!

Cooking Club at Nancy's - Cookout!

Nancy hosted cooking club this month. Since her pool was open and the weather was hot, we did a cookout theme! Summer made some delicious grilled marinated zucchini with ham and a delicious vinaigrette.



Emily made a chilled cucumber soup with shrimp. It was refreshing!



I made grilled rosemary salmon and tomato skewers. Another successful Eating Well recipe! Check it out: Grilled Rosemary Salmon Skewers



Kramer loves it when all the ladies come over to pet him.



Yumi made a big fresh salad full of farmer's market produce!



Nancy made a big pile of ribs! They were SO GOOD.



Mmm, what a great combination.



Valerie made these apple, gouda and oatmeal cookies. THEY WERE AMAZING!!!!!! The cheese was chewy and the apples were sweet. There were golden raisins, too!



Oh, look who it is!! Mr. Handsome! Hello, Sal! Look at his fancy PANTS!



Thanks for hosting, Nancy! MMM!