Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Fourth of July food and funnies!

I had today off with pay for the Independence Day holiday. That's always nice.

While I would have loved to go see a fireworks display somewhere, every place to do that in this area involves crowds of drunk rednecks. Not my kind of scene at all. And honestly, it's so hot outside right now that anything that takes place outdoors is sure to be uncomfortable. So instead, I did what I always do on holidays and special occasions: I cooked. Since grilling out is traditional on the Fourth of July, that's what I did. Here's the little celebratory feast I made:




Summer BLT salad with avocado and feta.



Grilled hamburgers, baked beans with brown sugar and bacon, and corn (also cooked on the grill).



What our plates ended up looking like. Gregg's has the least amount of salad (he's not crazy about green vegetables).



Today's choice of cocktail: Tom Collins. Cool and refreshing on a hot summer's afternoon.

Not pictured: the delicious Blueberry-Peach Cobbler I made for dessert. It's hard to get a good picture of a cobbler, and the one I took doesn't do it justice. I love to combine blueberries and peaches. The flavors pair beautifully, and our local peaches seem especially good this year.

I hope all of my fellow American bloggers had a nice 4th of July! And for my British friends, here's a great video I stole from someone's Facebook page to share with you:




And for my friends in other parts of the world, here's a link to The Oatmeal that made me laugh:


                                                 America explained to non-Americans



8 comments:

  1. Happy 4th of July Jennifer ;)

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  2. That food looks wonderful. Hope you had a great day.

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  3. The food looks great although I can not imagine what beans with sugar and bacon taste like :-)
    What's a Tom Collins made of, and what is the meaning of the name of this very refreshing looking cocktail?
    Glad you had a great day, and I don't blame you for not going to see the fireworks - the kind of crowd you describe wouldn't be my cup of tea (or cocktail glass) either!

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    1. You've never had BBQ baked beans?! You poor thing! They're delicious, very sweet and savory. I bought a large can of them ready-made and added brown sugar, spicy mustard, and bacon. Delicious!

      Tom Collins is an old recipe first created in New York in the mid 1800s. It's a variation of a drink popular in London at the time called a John Collins. The modern version is made with fresh lemon juice, simple syrup, gin, lots of ice, and then the glass is topped off with cold club soda. I bought a bottle of Collins mixer rather than make simple syrup and squeeze lemons. And I added a lime juice and a slice of lime to the glass instead of lemon, because I prefer limes. And I like a lot of club soda, too!

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    2. O.K. loves gin and has many bottles of some very special brands at home; I still have some leftover home-made simple syrup from my last party, so we could put our stock together and create Tom Collinses for us this weekend :-)

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  4. When it is that hot outside, we stay inside and watch the fireworks.
    Two resorts very near me always put on a great show.
    Your dinner looks so wonderful.

    cheers, parsnip and thehamish

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