I like to try new recipes. Especially unusual ones. I would say that 30% of my experiments turn into recipes I use often, 50% are good but nothing all that special, 19% aren't that great, and 1% are just gross.
The recipe I tested the other night? Totally part of the 30%.
Soooo good. So very good. Pretty and tasty. And easy. So good that I'm dedicating a blog post to it. Yes, it's a bit unusual to have strawberries on a pizza. But trust me - it's worth trying.
*Hopefully this doesn't need to be said, but just in case: I'm not a swearin' kind of gal. Never have been, never will be. But perhaps after today I will be...
**I never thought I would become so frugal that I would make my own laundry detergent, but my usual brand (which is pretty cheap to begin with) just nearly doubled in price. Since I am CONSTANTLY doing laundry I figured that experimenting with making my own would probably be worth it. We'll see. (In case you're interested, here's the site I used.)
Tess, following in the footsteps of her brothers, has adopted a clothing optional dress code for the summer. Especially on days when we go swimming. (Which is almost every day now during this ridonkulous heat wave.) Because why get dressed when you're just gonna get changed into your bathing suit later?
Tess prefers wild, uncombed hair. I think she's going for the "beach" hair look. The food she keeps sticking in it kinda takes away from the glamour of it, though.
She has recently started accessorizing with one of the 4th of July necklaces we had at our Back Yard of Fire party. (Red, silver, and blue necklaces, of course.) During the course of the day Tess will take a necklace and put it back on approximately 397 times.
It's a sophisticated look, but Tess pulls it off smashingly.
This year's Back Yard of Fire started with so much promise. The invite this year was inspired by this year's seemingly never-ending political campaigns:
"My dear fellow Americans,
Are you dreading the traffic and the
crowds you have to deal with for the city's fireworks display? Do you
like to have 15 side dishes and desserts for your barbecue, but your
spouse is only willing to make two? Do your kids whine all day about
wanting to play in the sprinklers, but once you set it up they whine
about not having anyone to play with? Do you like to see grown men
giddy with the thought of blowing things up?
Then Back Yard of Fire is the event for you!
Back Yard of Fire promises you'll get to: enjoy a yummy potluck
barbecue, spend time with and/or meet really great people, watch your kids have hours of fun in the sprinkler, and witness
the best (very) amateur fireworks show ever! Back Yard of Fire's
opponents can't make these kinds of promises; in fact, Back Yard of
Fire's opponents vote for gross food, boring people, kinks in the hose, and a terrible
fireworks show. Back Yard of Fire allows you to have the convenience of
a fireworks show without the expense of buying all those fireworks
yourself. Other candidates would make you buy all the
fireworks, and that's a lot of money that could be spent on other
patriotic things.
Vote Back Yard of Fire in 2012 by rsvp'ing to (email address) and sending in a $15 campaign contribution (a.k.a. the fireworks fund) by Monday, July 2nd.
We hope you can make it!
Maren & Lance Madsen
**We're the Madsen family, and we approve this invitation.**"
I tried to design an invite that looked like the infamous Obama Hope poster, but there was too much info that I needed to put on it, which kinda ruined the whole thing. So I stuck with a basic fireworks in the back yard design.
A week or two passed. It was hot. And dry. Really dry. And the county decided to ban consumer fireworks. The horror! What is Back Yard of Fire without fireworks?! (Back Yard. Back Yard of Fire without fire works is just Back Yard. Lame.) But, we decided to still have the party anyway because: a) we Madsens like a good party, and b) my freezer and fridge were full of food that someone had to eat.
So the following Q&A email was sent to everyone attending:
"We here at BackYardofFire
Headquarters have been receiving many questions from the public
concerning certain controversies that have crept up in the media
lately. This informative (and hopefully entertaining) email will answer
any and all questions you may have.
Question #1 Are we still having BackYardofFire even though consumer fireworks have been banned?
Answer #1 Of course! Our freezer is full of
hamburgers and hotdogs, our storage room is flooded with buns, and our
fridge is filled to capacity with soda - somebody has to come eat all of this food! BackYardofFire has a contingency plan, though: in lieu fireworks we will pass out glow sticks and have an evening of fireworks-themed interpretive dancing.
Just kidding.
Instead, if the ban is still in effect we will start the barbecue at 6pm (instead of 7pm) so that people will have plenty of
time to eat, mingle, and play in the sprinklers and then still make it
to the city's fireworks display. (Because what's the 4th of July without fireworks?!?)
Question #2 Couldn't we still just shoot off a few fireworks and pretend that we didn't know about the ban?
Answer #2 BackYardofFire doesn't believe in breaking the law, you hooligan!!! Plus, BackYardofFire doesn't want to pay the $2500 fine. BackYardofFire is cheap.
Question #3 We've been getting some rain - what if the ban is lifted?
Answer #3 That would be awesome, but BackYardofFire is not holding its breath. But, if it does happen, we will send out an email to let you know, push the start of our barbecue back to 7pm, and send a very happy Lance and Paul out to buy a ridiculous amount of fireworks.
Question #4 So... should we still make a contribution for the fireworks?
Answer #4 Nope. BackYardofFire
isn't out to make a profit. Let's just wait and see what happens. If
the fireworks ban is lifted, please bring your contributions that
evening or soon after. If you keep "forgetting" to pay, Spencer and
Josh will come to your home with a baseball bat and brass knuckles to
collect, and nobody wants that.
Question #5 What if we've already sent in our contribution?
Answer #5 If you have already given us your money for the fireworks, don't worry -
we haven't spent it. BackYardofFire is very careful with its funds
and will return all contributions in a very timely manner.
In all
seriousness, we're still really excited to have you all come to our
party - with or without fireworks. If you have any other questions or
concerns (or even suggestions!), please let us know.
We look forward to seeing you on Wednesday!
-Maren & Lance"
I only include this because I think the writer that Back Yard of Fire hired is fairly clever.
And then the 4th of July dawned. And it was HOT. As in, literally, the hottest 4th of July on record. Lance and I spent the morning getting the back yard ready and it felt like we had just run through a sauna. So. Very. Hot. 99 degrees, 100000% humidity hot.
But no matter, because the back yard looked great! Inspired by Pinterest, I made these pennant banners. True story: everyone in Lafayette must have been making pennant banners at the same time because I could not find double-sided bias tape anywhere. So I used single-sided bias tape, which worked but kinda shredded a little. Dang. But still cute, right?
I also used Pinterest-inspired table decor. (I'm kicking myself for never getting a picture of all the food everyone brought. It. Was. Awe-inspiring.)
Cute and inexpensive - my favorite decoration combination!
I bought a few too many beans and filled this vase for our front entry, too.
That afternoon Tess got into the 4th of July spirit with a little red, white, and blue romper. Not that she would let me take a decent picture of her in it.
Tess and Lance taking a little break. She kept kicking him in the face and enjoying it thoroughly.
Here are the desserts I made for the evening. First, my hopefully-award-winning s'mores rice crispie treats. So yummy. So s'morey.
I also made these watermelon-inspired rice crispie treats. Aren't they cute? And not really all that difficult to make.
The recipe called for chocolate-covered sunflower seeds, but I used chocolate chips cut in half instead. Because who keeps chocolate covered sunflowers around the house? Heck, I don't even know where to buy something like that...
The party finally started. And I promptly forgot to take many pictures. I was too busy gabbing and having a good time! Maybe some year I should hire a photographer to take pictures of everyone. Of course, this year everyone looked pretty wilted in the heat, so maybe it's just as well I didn't get too many close-ups.
We had lots of people. Final head count was 35 adults and 42 kids.
That's a lot of kids. Nice catch, Spencer!
Here's a good picture! Kanien, your hair is always so cute! The Wallins were super smart in bringing the umbrella.
All the kiddos had a grand time playing on the slip-n-slide, in the kid wash, in the sand box and water table, and, of course, swinging on the swings.
Tess made it quite clear that she did NOT want to go to bed that night. (I tried. And failed.) So she spent most of the evening in my arms, stealing sips of my drinks. I'm hiding behind her because my lips decided to have a fireworks show of their own in the form of a couple of nasty cold sores. Seriously, lips? Seriously? Between those and my frizzed out hair from the humidity and sweat, I was feelin' pretty attractive all evening. Sheesh.
Cole spent the evening sneaking desserts. Aren't those cheeseburger cookies so dang cute?! (Side note: notice the empty porch in the background? That's where we usually keep the fireworks. *sob!*)
And tasty.
(Side note: is it white trash to keep our drinks in empty Rubbermaid totes? Oh well. They're cheap and on hand. And, most importantly, they work.)
Close to sunset we headed downtown with the Reams to watch the city's fireworks show. In an effort to keep the kids entertained I let them take a few pictures. This one is actually not that bad! Good job, Spence! (Isn't Tess so cute?!)
Our good friends the Reams. Logan, you goofball! (Gig, I think you look great in this pic!)
I also remembered to bring an old pack of glow sticks. The kiddos sure loved them! I think a combination of all the sugar they had eaten and the lateness of the evening contributed to their wildness. Gigi, how in the world did our kids get so big so fast?! Man, I love all those kids!
Cole the angel. (HAHAHAHAHAAA!)
Silly Bergen.
"Take my picture, Mommy!"
Goofy Spencer. He sure was sad the night before at the prospect of no fireworks in our back yard. Tears and weeping and wailing and such. Which is funny, because we NEVER had fireworks in our back yard while I was growing up - we always went to a show. I think he got over it, though.
The fireworks finally started. Tess was upset at first, but I stuck a bottle in her mouth and held her tight. She eyed them very suspiciously for most of the show. Cole, who was afraid of them last year, enjoyed them thoroughly and even consoled Josh when he got a little nervous. Tres cute.
Despite the fact that we couldn't have a fireworks show of our own this year, I think Back Yard of Fire 2012 was a complete success!
In this global economy we can pretty much get any kind of produce any time of year.
It doesn't mean we should - just that we can.
Take, for example, sweet corn. Since moving to Indiana I have become a very big local-farm-grown-only sweet corn snob. I turn my nose up to any bought from the local mega-mart. (Not that I won't eat it if it's offered to me - I'm not a rude snob! I just won't buy it myself.)
I buy my corn from the "Krazy Korn" farmer on the corner of Creasy Lane and McCarty, in case anyone's wondering. He's kind of an odd farmer with an even more odd wife or mother. Actually, I can't determine what relation they are to each other, which only adds to the oddness. But who cares? I'm there to by Hoosier Sweet Corn, not stand in judgement of questionable farming relationships.
I enjoyed corn on the cob when I lived out West, but I never knew what really, really good sweet corn was until I moved here. I
still remember the first time we had it, sitting in the kitchen of our
ghetto grad-student apartment... okay, no I don't really remember. But
I'm assuming it was transcendent.
My point is, people (and I do have one): there are few things better than farm fresh Indiana sweet corn, slathered in real butter and sprinkled with salt.
I think I created a new snob the other day:
Then again, this is the same girl who considers eating the day-old crumbs she finds under the table fine dining. So there you go.
A few things have fallen by the blogging wayside. Time to play catch up!
A couple of weeks ago we participated in Relay For Life with the American Cancer Association. Although I'm not quite sure the kids *really* got what we were doing this for, it was a good experience. Lance and I enjoyed the few laps we got in and decided that next year we're getting a babysitter and walking the evening away. There's something about walking that really allows for great conversation.
The kids got to have their first snow cones that evening. I know, I know. We are TERRIBLE parents - how could we have waited this long to give them snow cones?!
I think Cole has already forgiven us.
I like that his smile matches his eyes and shirt.
Tessie did pretty well, considering it was pretty warm and past her bedtime.
Cole is going through a crazy growth spurt. He's eating enough for three kids and sleeping a ton. You can tell he's not quite used to his ever-growing size because he's always falling at about every 20 steps. He has these huge puppy feet that keep tripping him up. Mark my words, the youngest brother is always the biggest! As you can see, his forehead felt the results of one of these falls.
My garden is growing and doing great! Well, except for the green beans. Something (I suspect rabbits) keeps going out there and chomping on them. But only one little section right in the middle, which is very strange. Well, if the rabbits have to eat something, I guess I'd rather it be the beans than the tomatoes. I have a bajillion tomatoes on the vines right now and I'm just aching for them to ripen!!
I'm not sure what the kids were doing that day, but they stood out there looking at the garden for a good 15 minutes. Future horticulturists, perhaps?
I've been trying to get Tess to switch over from a bottle to a sippy cup. Don't let the photo fool you. Things went well for a day or two, but then she got sick and started getting around 39 teeth at the same time and decided she wanted nothing to do with the sippy cup. So oh well, no biggie. I'm torn - should I get her to switch before our trip to UT, or should I just wait until after? In the grand scheme of things I guess it doesn't really matter...
It's been HOT lately. Oppressively hot. I walked outside the other day and the humidity was so high it felt like I couldn't breath. This is perfect weather for the kid wash! The kids sure were excited to get it out and played with it for a good hour. Notice how yellow the grass is - it's been so dry here lately. It's like living through a Utah drought again.
Pigtails sure are cute. But they're also a pain to put in when Tess won't hold still. She also likes to rub them out. Doesn't she know that she's much easier to have patience with her when she looks so dang cute? Especially when she's a super-grouch from all the teething and having a cold and such? Apparently not.
