Lazy Days of Summer

Mondays can be nice, I think. They're especially nice when you don't have to work. Since it was Independence Day yesterday, we were lucky enough to get today off. It's a lovely feeling to know that it's a Monday morning and you don't have to get up. Extra long weekends are wonderful things. I only wish we could have them more frequently.

Still, it's best not to be greedy, especially when the past extra long weekend was so nice. It was a perfect 4th of July weekend, weatherwise. It was breezy and cool-ish on Saturday; tolerable, even in the sun. Sunday, being Independence Day itself, was very hot. The coolness faded, replaced by a warm, sultry breeze that was only slightly refreshing. Even though my family is British and thus really don't celebrate July 4th, we decided to do a traditional thing and have a family barbecue.

It was my dad's idea and so he was in charge of the grill. The thing with my dad is that I think he secretely likes to compete with mine and my mum's new love of cooking. Thus, instead of just having hot dogs and hamburgers, he decided to also make marinaded steak and salmon steaks. The salmon steaks were grilled in a sauce that was Asian-inspired. He put me in charge of potato salad and guacamole.

Mostly, the food turned out ok. The salmon, I admit, was not to my taste and I think we would have been better served to keep things a bit simpler because only half the food was ready at the same time. This meant my sister, the lone vegetarian in the family, didn't get her protein- the salmon- until long after the rest of the meat was ready and she'd had time to eat all the sides.

Still, for the most part, it wasn't bad. There were a few slight annoyances. For example, my mum and I spent quite a lot of time getting the patio furniture set up so that everyone had a place to sit on the deck which was very pleasant since it's under trees and always has a pleasant breeze. It didn't just entail moving the patio furniture but meant we had to get it out of the storage shed which has a door that doesn't open. After much effort, we got the door open wide enough to get the furniture out and set it up so that all 14 people who would be at the barbecue would have a nice outdoor place to sit and eat.

We tried to tell everyone that we'd be eating outside but, alas, for the most part, everyone wanted to stay in the air conditioned house. Thus, only my older brother's family, my mother and I sat outside. I get that it was cooler inside but it was a barbecue and, well, isn't the point of a barbecue to eat outside?

Nevertheless, it was a pretty pleasant evening. My mum and I cleaned up. We don't have the type of family where people say, "I'll clean up." No, everyone sort of just...left when it came time to clean up. They actually went to sit outside.

Yes, I groaned.

Still, it was a fun, very traditional July 4th for the "American" members of our family and it's the first time we've all been together since Christmas. It's nice to see how the children play together. It's also sort of interesting to watch them fight because it makes me look back on how my siblings and I must have acted when we were young. We were always bickering as siblings. We still bicker as adults but we no longer are able to scratch or bite one another the way little children seem to do so freely. Sometimes, I think that might be best- we'd get it out of our systems instead of silently sulking and harboring resentment for something that ends up being rather silly but seems significant enough at the time it upsets us. I do think my sister would look twice if I reached over and poked her repeatedly with a sharp pointy straw the way my nephew did to his older sister though.

I did end up watching fireworks with my sister and her husband and brother and his wife. I'm the lone unmarried in my family which bothers me at times but no so much at others. Thanks to the magical Off Mosquito Fan, I didn't get bit whereas my siblings did. Yes, I was a little smug about it.

The fireworks were pretty but never seem as exciting when you're watching them as you think they're going to be. It didn't help that we had a surprise rainstorm about ten minutes before the city fireworks were supposed to start and the rain came down hard and heavy enough to flood the streets for a few minutes.

In the end, it turned out to be a pretty good holiday, even though it was hot and humid. Today was also hot but it was one of those 'lazy hazy days of summer' where it was hard to find the energy to do anything but sit outside and enjoy the breeze. My mother and I made a point of sitting on the patio furniture that we dragged out yesterday.

All in all, it as a lovely long weekend. It also is lovely because it means it's a short work week this week and another weekend isn't too far away. It's supposed to be hot again but given that it is summer, that's not wholly unexpected. It's not really unwelcomed either, despite the fact that it's not always comfortable out there.

After all, what would summer be without a little heat?

Happy Tuesday!

Cookies make Awkward Social Gatherings Better!

At long last, it's Friday. As far as weeks go, this hasn't seemed as long as other weeks. The time went much more quickly than I anticipated. I'm very glad of that fact. There have been times when I have needed to hide sharp objects from myself because the week has been so long and so tedious.

One of the reasons it went by so far may be due to the fact we had one of our Awkward Social Events yesterday at work. Oh, excuse me, I mean...company lunches. It was originally supposed to be a barbecue but then the managers decided to order out from a barbecue place, thus removing the need for the grill we store in the office's garage. Then when the weather proved to be grey, damp and rather chilly, we moved it into the conference room. So...not so much a barbecue as an inside lunch.

Naturally, silly me, I figured when I found out it was going to be catered, I thought it meant it wouldn't be potluck. Silly Captain Monkeypants. We got the meat bought in but we all signed up for sides and dessert.

Normally, I bring in a savory side dish since I prefer the idea of cooking to baking. I think it's because I'm an impatient creature. Baking requires those exact measurements, proper stirring technique, timing and a really good oven. I lack all those things. While I try to measure exactly, if there are more than 5 ingredients to my baking recipe, chances are I'll probably screw it up somewhere. So, in the past, I've brought in Buffalo Chicken Dip, Guacamole, Salsa Verde and Sausage rolls. All of these things require chopping and prepping but, in the end, can be made simply and easily and usually turn out well.

This time, I decided to be bold. I'd watched an episode of Everyday Italian on the Food Network in which the hostess, Giada De Laurentis, made this cookies called "Chocolate Ganache Cookies." They used store-bought sugar cookie dough, dark chocolate, cream and sugar and that was it. So, when we had to sign up for dishes for this past Awkward Social Gathering, I decided to sign up for dessert. I was the second person to sign up on the list and when I did so, the other person was bringing in something savory.

Well, when it came to cookie-baking time, I once again came to the realization that Giada De Laurentis is magical. I mean, the woman NEVER gets messy. I don't know if they cut her show so that she can wash her hands between each step of cooking/baking but she never gets messy fingers, never smears chocolate on herself and never squirts herself in the eye with a lemon. I find that amazing and slightly irritating. When I'd watched her make the chocolate ganache cookies with her niece on the show, they managed to do it it moments, cheerfully taking a melted chocolate/cream mixture, rolling it into neat little balls and wrapping the sugar cookie 'logs' around it.

Well, I'm Captain Monkeypants, not Giada. It took me about 30 minutes to roll out the 'logs' of sugar cookie. That chocolate mixture of melted dark chocolate and heavy cream got in my hair, under my nails and all over my kitchen. I tried to roll the balls the way I'd seen Giada do it and I ended up with brown smeared hands and had to wash them between each ball.

All in all, the 'quick cookie recipe' took me approximately 2 hours to complete and that's not including the time it took to cool down the ganache in the fridge.

I will say that the cookies were delicious. I know because I ate several when they were warm from the oven. I don't even care for cookies that much usually but these were rather tasty and delicious.

When I took them in to the "Barbecue", it turns out that it was more like "dessert with a side of meat." Normally, we have maybe two or three desserts. Yesterday, there were no less than seven. My cookies were ignored in favour of Chocolate Eclair Cake, Pumpkin Spiced Muffins and Hershey Pie. Needless to say, I was terribly thrilled. I was pleased that the people who did try my cookies ended up eating about three of them because they enjoyed them. I just don't like being out-desserted by Hershey's Pie and Pumpkin Spice Muffins. Especially since I signed up first.

Ah well, some potlucks are like that. It is nice to bake when the weather's chilly outside and the smell of warm chocolate fills the air as the cookies bake. I might have to try it again. This time, I'll try to be more Giada-like and not paint the kitchen with chocolate. What I am finding is that now I actually have a kitchen with space for cooling racks and baking sheets, it is a little easier to bake without fearing disaster. Of course, this does mean more surfaces to mess up but it's a trade off, right.

As for the Awkward Social Event....it wasn't quite so awkward. Being a software company with a large amount of geeky males, we apparently have two flat screen TV's and two video game systems. Thus, we spent about two hours listening to people caterwaling on the "Rock Band" game and beating the crap out of each other on boxing on the Wii. It was more fun that working although given the ratio of video game controllers to employee, there was a lot of standing around watching people play. I have always thought there's little more boring than watching other people play video games when all you really want to do is rip the controller out of their hands and have a go but it did beat sitting at my desk contemplating my next project as I'd normally be doing. All in all, it was definitely one of the better Social Events we've had in a while. Even if it was still a little awkward.

Still, the cookies helped.

Happy Friday. Have a great weekend!