Grilled Cheese!

I don't have any photos to back this up, but we had an epic grilled cheese experience on Sunday evening. When I show you the menu you will understand why this was so exciting. After a day of sunning poolside (thanks, Maria!) we negotiated with Ray an exchange of his grilled cheese ingredients for ours. That's where it all began.

Here is what the options were on the menu:

Bread Choices
Wheat
Sourdough


Meat Choices
Chicken
Ham
BACON


Cheese Selection
Sharp Cheddar
Goat cheese
Colby jack
Mozzarella
Brie

Also available: tomato slices, macaroni salad (though not on the sandwich)

After taking orders, I had them clipped to the hood of the stove, short-order cook style, and the cooking began! Here are what a couple of the creations consisted of:

• Sourdough, bacon, goat cheese, sharp cheddar, tomato
• Wheat, sharp cheddar, tomato, bacon
• Sourdough, tomato, brie
• Wheat, chicken, bacon, goat cheese, mozzarella
• Sourdough, sharp cheddar, mozzarella

That's not a complete list, but the four of us (Joe, Meg, Ray and me) had a great time building our creations. Go ahead, try one for yourself.

Light Summer Salads

Not every night in Hawaii is as temperate as I'd like it to be, especially if down in our little valley we aren't getting a breeze though our apartment. Last night was one of those nights, and we were having company (Hi, Elise!) so I decided that a sampling of cool summer salads would be a good idea. I haven't done a recipe post in a while, so I thought I'd share some of the goodies with you over my next few posts (don't worry, I'll get a hiking post in there somewhere, too, for you view junkies out there).

Here is what our dinner and dessert spread looked like:

Mmm...cheesecake and cookies for dessert with iced coffee!

The menu was Caesar salad, potato salad and garlic bread from Elise, and I made edamame salad, macaroni salad (my Grandma's recipe), cucumber goat cheese salad, and a pear and mango salad. I'm back on a new recipe kick, so I'll try to share as I find or create fun new food combinations. Happy cooking!

Shawn and Kris part one

So before the wedding can happen you have to rehearse, right? Here are some photos I shot of the rehearsal for the wedding. It was super casual and lots of fun:

The Bride's Party

The groom's party

The rest of the bride's party and Amy on the right. She was the officiant.

Excited bride-to-be with dad and flower girl

Of course the pre-wedding festivities also needed to include the bachelor and bachelorette parties. I have no record of what went on at the bachelor party, but I know that they went on a bar crawl down St. Pete Beach, just like we did. Joe and I kept in communication so that we didn't run into each other. As of midnight, Shawn wasn't allowed to see his bride until the wedding. I do have record that we girls had fun:

Kris with her sister, and Matron of Honor, Lauren.

At the Drunken Clam

Kris with her lovely bridesmaids!

That's not the only partying we did in Florida, but more on that later. I also hope to have some wedding photos to post soon. Until then, trust me, it was a beautiful event.