Pioneer Saturday

I seem to have fallen off the bloggy bandwagon (again)… oh well, climbing back on and picking up where I left off…!

It’s a holiday weekend here in our intermountain west state – Pioneer Day! Pretty much just another excuse to hang out on the patio with feet in the wading pool, eat tons of yummy food, and light things on fire.

Mr. Mamie’s cousin SuperGeek (SG) and his wife Mrs. SuperGeek (Mrs. SG) arrived yesterday afternoon to spend the long, hot weekend with us here in the southern part of the state.  Last night we ate big ol’ spaghetti dinner which featured this delicious sauce served over organic, whole wheat spaghetti. I increased the tomatoes and spices and added a pound of spicy organic chicken sausage – delish!  We also had a double-batch of Italian Cheese Bread, which came out perfectly. A giant salad made my Mr. Mamie rounded out the dinner, along with a German chocolate cake (from a box) made almost entirely by Niece.  Mrs. Igor, Nephew, Niece, and GolfDad joined us, making nine for dinner. Afterwards we watched half of Jeff Dunham: Spark of Insanity before everyone conceded defeat and fell into bed.

Mr. Mamie and I were up early this morning (7:30 FELT dang early!) so that we could pick up our Bountiful Basket.  It was a great haul today: 8 ears of corn two huge tomatoes, a bag of Yukon Gold potatoes, two heads of brocoflour, a head of green leaf lettuce, 20 or so peaches and plums, a bunch of bananas, a small pineapple, a small watermelon, and a large bunch of red grapes. I still find it absolutely amazing that we get all that for $15!  We also paid $21 extra for a flat of blueberries, which was twelve 12-ounce containers.

I used one of the containers of blueberries to make a double batch of sour cream blueberry waffles for breakfast.  The five adults in the house ate them ALL, to the disappointment of Niece and Nephew who arrived about a half-hour after we had polished them off.  The rest of the blueberries are getting frozen on trays and then poured into big Ziploc bags for use in waffles, smoothies, cobblers, etc. for the next few months.  SO GREAT to have fresh-frozen fruit available!  We still have OOODLES of strawberries from the flats we bought a while back, as well as some peaches I cut up and froze.

After gorging ourselves on waffles, I got some chicken, lime juice, and chili powder plopped into the crock pot for tonight’s dinner, made an angelfood cake, and cut up strawberries to macerate in sugar for dessert.  Once the SGs had showered, we all (SGs, Mamies, and kids) headed into the Village to buy pop for GrandmaT and the kids at the grocery store and fireworks at the stand outside.  We managed to get away from the fireworks place only $35 poorer, though Nephew and Mr. Mamie could have easily spent double that.  It’s overcast and windy right now, but hopefully things will improve by later tonight so that Mr. Mamie and SG can do their pyromaniac thing in the street in front of the house.

After relaxing for awhile and watching the second half the Jeff Dunham: Spark of Insanity, the SGs and the Mamie headed into the Big Town for lunch at a local favorite.  We had a delicious pizza lunch and a good time telling and listening to stories about Mr. Mamie’s/SG’s childhood (their mothers are sisters) and about the foibles of their various relatives.  As a bonus, one of my best teacher friends and her family came in and were seated at the table next to us.  As much as I love to cook, it’s nice to go out and let someone else do the work sometimes while we sit back and enjoy!

Home again to another round of Jeff Dunham (Christmas special; LOVE "Jingle Bombs" and "Roaskill Christmas"!) while I blanched corn and made dough for cinnamon rolls (tomorrow’s breakfast).  Mr. Mamie is now napping, and while I wouldn’t mind joining him, it’s a little late in the day – I might never get up!

Looking forward to another fun evening… holiday weekends with family and friends are the best!

BTW - yes, I know Jeff Dunham is not particularly "politically correct."  He is, however, pretty dang funny, and his ventriloquism and puppetry are AMAZING!