Dan's Mom turns 65 tomorrow, so we hosted a birthday party for her at our place. We've been working for weeks to get the house, and the yard in particular, in order. Weeding, creating entirely new planting beds, stripping out the California poppies that went to seed already, putting down fresh mulch and fertilizer in all the beds, and getting a fancy new firepit for the patio.
And of course, it started pouring down rain just before everyone showed up.
But the inside of the house was scrubbed from tip to tail, too, so we were in good shape. And the rain prepared a surprise for us later on, too.
Dan prepared a big pitcher of Azul Margaritas in our new Palm Tree pitcher to whet everyone's whistle, and his sisters Jennifer & Lisa brought peanuts and a Dembiczak family classic, 'Mexican Haystack' to keep appetites satisfied while I prepared dinner. I unfortunately didn't get a photo of the haystack - a multi layer dip of beans, guacamole, sour cream, cheese, etc. - because I was in the kitchen, but Dan was kind enough to bring me some pre-dipped chips so I could enjoy it.
Peanuts
For dinner, we made Morrocan Carrot Salad, but with lime juice to give it a little more Mexican flair (and because we forgot to buy lemons). I served it on a bed of carrot greens, though I don't think anyone was brave enough to eat any. About half of the carrots were the first harvest from our own garden, which was exciting to share with family.
Mo Rockin' Carrot Salad
And a late addition to the menu was roasted Summer Squash, since we had 3 big squash read for harvest in the garden. I just sprinkled them with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and roasted them in the oven along with the main dish.
Roasted Squash
Which was Krab and Guacamole enchiladas. So quick and simple to make, we thought it would be perfect for the party and serve a lot of people. It's only downfall is that I wasn't sure if I could make it up ahead of time and just pop it in the oven, which put me in the kitchen most of the evening warming tortillas and rolling them up with fake crab and guacamole inside. The work was well worth the effort, though, as they got rave reviews. I also made use of my previous posts on guacamole enchiladas, and kicked the heat in the oven up to 400, while they baked, then cranked it to broil and put the dishes under the element to get the cheese nice and browned.
After dinner, someone spotted a rainbow in the sky, so we all went outside to look at it - which gave us a chance to show off the yard a bit, too. And I was able to capture this picture of the rainbow over our house.
For dessert, Dan's Mom asked me to recreate a baking experiment of a year or so ago, where I mixed white and chocolate cake, and then melted frosting over the cake. This time I stepped it up by creating a four layer cake, with bittersweet chocolate ganache filling, covered in vanilla frosting, then drizzled with melted chocolate and white chocolate. If I did it all over again, I would've made my own buttercream frosting, kept the cake in the fridge until just before serving (on a hot Summer day, for sure), and maybe whip the ganache to make it lighter. But people enjoyed my effort, even if I saw flaws. And Dan picked up some cookies & cream ice cream to go with it, in keeping with the color palette.
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