The First Weekend In Which It Truly Feels Like Summer

This weekend was yet again another very eventful and fun time. On Saturday, Catie and I went to Laguna Beach. With all the stresses and things going on in our lives, we decided that we both needed a girls' day to get away from everything, and just relax and have fun. Spending an entire day with a person really shows a person who one's true friends are, even after years apart. We headed down to her family's beach house in South Laguna, and we were greeted with this gorgeous view. Luckily it was a crystal clear day, the sun was shining bright, and the temperature was perfectly in the 80s. I didn't get the photo of the view until we went home after laying out.

this shot is overcast because the sun was setting

As the day went on we stayed for a few hours on the beach eating food, talking up a storm, and enjoying the scenery. Before we had arrived to the beach, we made a pit stop at our local Trader Joe's, and there we bought food for the day. We got finger foods and drinks for lunch on the beach, and then ethnic foods for dinner. The typical food and drink for a beach day may be sandwiches with a choice of beer to cover alcohol....but no, we live and think outside that box and we had our sushis, cheese and crackers, hummus and pita chips, and of course the alcohol was our specialty - Mimosas. (But not any ordinary Mimosa, we used Asti with our little twist of a juice *it's a secret*) Time flew as we ate and talked and drank. I am proud to say I have now opened a bottle of champagne, and on a beach no less.


When we decided that it was time to go back up to the house, we needed to take at least one picture of the two of us together, just to prove that at least we were there.

this is the self taken photo

But just then, a random guy laying out near us took the opportunity to come over introduce himself and take our photo. Turns out that he is from Poland and is a photographer. Needless to say, he took plenty of pictures of us, both posed and candid.







Little did we know that he is more than a self proclaimed photographer, but a sand artist too.

this apparently is our portraits made in the sand??

After we went back up to the house we cleaned ourselves off and Aaron and Don came over for dinner. We all ended up eating way too much Indian and Japanese food, drinking plenty of margaritas, enjoying laughs over a comedy and learning how to play *Golf*(the card game). It was the perfect start to the SUMMER!


The next day was Father's Day. And what else could be the perfect gift that I could give than my cooking which I put all my love and dedication into when it's for someone I love. I had decided that the best thing to do for my dad was to cook a late Sunday Lunch, because I know that that is his favorite meal to end the week.

the guest of honor himself (and yes watching soccer of course)

I arrived at the house around noon and started to prep the kitchen right off the bat. I had three courses that needed to get done, and in a timely and orderly fashion.

first thing on the list, chop up all the chocolate for dessert and get that in the oven

next, chop up the veggies for the pasta sauce

I started to make the dough for the pasta that was to be the second course. Unfortunately, I got the ratio of flour:egg wrong, and worked the dough as hard as I could. When I couldn't knead the dough anymore, I knew I had to go to the expert himself for help. At least I tried.

thanks Dad for saving what could have been a disaster when I started the dough

And just in perfect time, the dessert was ready just when the first course was going on the grill.

40 minutes later, the Crostata was made

Although it was his day, I had to put Dad to work and grill the seafood

finally we are able to sit, sip on wine and commence the meal

We started with a Mixed Seafood Grill in which I mixed Sea Scallops, Orange Roughy and Shrimp in a Lemon Olive Oil Paprika Sauce. The second course was Homemade Pasta in a Young Sauce of Pine Nuts Basil and Artichokes. We topped of the meal with a Hazelnut, Chocolate and Pear Crostata. It was the first time I had ever made any of the dishes, and am proud to say everything came out perfectly. I just hope that Dad loved it! By the looks of the plates after each course, it seemed like it was good.

hopefully, we all can be reincarnated to live a life like Sly's

a Father & Daughter photo in which we are behaving...

but like Father like Daughter , us behaving can really only last so long.

After a siesta it was time we all had a little craving for ice cream and coffee. What better way to finish an "italian" style day than with true Italian espresso and gelato. Therefore, we then headed out to Vito's and had an early evening snack.

It is weekends such as this one, that make me will the weeks to go by and allow me to look forward to what is coming up next.