Housewarming Party

We went to a barbecue yesterday and it was a very fun, laid-back summer barbecue - one of the best things about summertime, spending time with friends, family, good food. It was a housewarming party of my brother's wife's sister and her husband, Courtney and Travis, who moved to Boise from Texas. Their house is a log cabin that makes you feel like you're in mountains in the woods. Perfect for Idaho. I love it.

Their bonus room features a big, western bar which fits the decor of the house perfectly. It's an antique bar from Idaho City that the previous owner put in. You can't find a more convenient place to spread out food for a party.

They acquired a couple of kids (literally - baby goats!) to help eat the weeds on their one acre new property.

And since they have an acre now, it wouldn't be complete without backyard chickens! And they have such a variety.

Travis built this super cute chicken coop to match their log cabin house. Such a nice home for the chicks, too.

A friend and neighbor of Travis and Courtney brought his 4 week old German goshawk who got quite a lot of attention at the party.

Falconry is very popular here and he plans to train this one to hunt. He brought the youngster to help with socializing her. Look at those soft, baby bird feathers.

Here I am talking to my brother and his wife.

A great way to start our summer.

Looking forward to many more summer barbecues.

Comments

Meatloaf by Mark Bittman

Once again, I turned on the television yesterday and saw that Mark Bittman was on the Today show and was making his version of meatloaf . This must be meatloaf season. It was surprisingly similar to the Pioneer Woman's version who was also recently on. I was a little surprised of his version because Mark Bittman is into healthy eating and has lost a lot of weight and improved his health by changing his diet which he writes about in his book, Food Matters . His meatloaf recipe also included bacon and cheese! I must be doing something wrong. The thing to remember, which he writes about in his book, is that you can eat healthy without going extreme or changing your whole life. If you don't know who Mark Bittman is, he is a food writer and a four star chef with multiple cookbooks who loves to eat but changed his food philosophy to improve his health. He tells his story in Food Matters and provides a plan for responsible eating that covers a no-nonsense rundown on

Trader Joe's Gluten-Free Oatmeal, Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Cookies

I don't have very many gluten-free cookies on my blog because quite frankly, I usually don't like gluten-free. But occasionally, I do find a good recipe and this is one that is from the back of the Trader Joe's oatmeal and it's a good one. My friend brought some over to our house last weekend when Nick and family were here for our birthday celebrations and we all loved them. My friends lives a few blocks away and we walk the neighborhood together on weekends. We can easily go 5 miles in no time, talking non-stop. She loves exploring our neighborhood as much as I do and we discover so many favorite little spots. We even found a property with a horse (or more like a pony, I should say.) The views are always quite lovely, too. Bruce and I had our thirty-ninth wedding anniversary on July 18th and I made a point of walking past the house where we had our wedding reception. I told my friend, "Thirty-nine years ago today, there was a big party g

Spinach Stuffed Cod

Last night, I was in the mood for a healthy dinner so decided to experiment with a recipe I found from a blog called Creative in My Kitchen . Lauren and Ari brought us French cookies back from their trip to Paris and I basically inhaled them. They were so good! We were cat-sitting their two cats while they were gone. They liked lounging in the strangest places... I found one of their toys while I was cleaning so Lauren stopped by last night to pick it up on her way home from work. I was experimenting with this recipe which originally called for chicken breast but I thought it sounded good to substitute fish instead since I'm always looking for good fish recipes. We all thought it was totally delicious. When I went to the grocery store, they had Icelandic cod on sale so I bought about 2 pounds of that. You could use any white fish for this recipe such as: true cod or other cod rockfish halibut had

Sylvia's Scenario

Search This Blog