Cousin time

This weekend, my brother's wife Kelly was gone to spend some quality time with her mom and her sisters, so we took the opportunity to let the cousins hang out. I love how even at ages 1, 3, 6, and 9 they still get along and have a great time playing together.

Enjoying some mini golf

A new nickname perhaps?

After mini golf we went on to have lunch and hang out at Birch Bay. At first the plan was just to play in the sand, but it soon became clear that the kids wanted to get completely wet and do some swimming! Fortunately, we had thought ahead and brought their suits, and they all had a good time tiring themselves out.

Trying to catch fish

"I bet this water will taste great...

... or maybe not!"

Gotta love the intense "swimming face".

Trevor was having a good time.

A rare moment of sibling bonding. =)

Andrew gets in the mix

A leap of faith!

Kherrington had a great time tasting the "local cuisine"

We took a lot more pictures, the best of which can be viewed on my Facebook album. What a wonderful summer day! I feel like we have to enjoy these now before they are just a memory.

Local adventures

For the past few weeks, I have been trying one new recipe a week in order to expand my repertoire of culinary adventures. I have been especially interested in branching out into different ethnic varieties, including Indian, Mediterranean, and Greek. After a semi-disastrous attempt at curried chicken, a new friend gave me a packet of curry paste to make a second attempt.

Inside the packet was a thick paste, which was then mixed with water and butter. It was really easy, and turned our much better than my first Indian excursion. Curry is definitely a stronger flavor than I am used to, but is nicely complimented by sour cream and rice. 

After our experimental dinner, Trevor surprised me by taking me on a dessert date. It was a beautiful night, with the temperature finally dipping down below 80 degrees, perfect motorcycling weather. We rode to Lost Lake Lodge, where we had dessert and coffee while we enjoyed their outdoor seating and peaceful views of the bay.

I had the chocolate cake, which turned out to be more of a torte. It was very rich and so dense you felt like a little hammer and chisel may be needed. However, the cake's bitterness along with the right hint of sweetness from the chocolate and berry caramel sauces hit all the right notes. I really enjoyed it. Trevor had the Bluebarb crumble, which turned out to be sweet creamy deliciousness.

After our gourmet desserts we were having such a good time riding around that we couldn't head home just yet. We decided to go pay my grandpa a visit at his new house. Neither of us had been there before, so it was exciting to see him and to get a tour. The house is situated on a very nice piece of land, five acres, and has a peaceful view of rolling bluffs. Between the house, the garage, and another outbuilding which used to be a stable, the tour was quite extensive! However, the house had been built in 1910, and had a lot of interesting quirks, which made it fun to explore. The grounds had been planted with some beautiful perennials, and they were busy filling up my grandpa's outside spaces with color.

Who knew that so many adventures lay just beyond our front door! I can't wait to see where our next one will take us.

Grilled Marinated Pork Chops

This weekend, we had the pleasure of hosting a bachelor LAN party for one of our good friends. These types of gatherings are notorious for lots of junk food, so it's nice to have some "real" food thrown in the mix. I found this great recipe at allrecipes.com, and it turned out amazing.

Grilled Marinated Pork Chops

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup vinegar
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon prepared mustard
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 6 (1 inch thick) pork chops

Directions

1. Combine the first 10 ingredients in a large resealable plastic bag or shallow glass container; add pork and turn to coat. Seal bag or cover container; refrigerate overnight. Drain and discard marinade. Grill, covered, over medium coals, turning occasionally, for 20-25 minutes or until juices run clear.

When I made this, my pork chops were about half as thick (about 1/2 inch) and I had twice as many, so I just made the same amount of marinade and it turned out fine. I heard somewhere that a marinade with acidity helps to tenderize the meat, which would explain why this works so well!

Cars too!

This past week we were able to go to the Car Show in Aitkin. It was a beautiful day, which was much needed after the perpetual cloud that we have been under in the month of June. We took advantage of the good weather, hopped on the motorcycle, and rode off to see what we could see. If you don't know much about antique cars, be sure to pay special attention to my informative and knowledgeable captions.

Old car.

Not so old car.

Classy interior.

Beige car.

These 2 look sort of alike.

I can tell this car is old... it's front engine cover has rotted away.

Pipes!

This one has a pretty blue bird on it.

Cool matte black finish!

I love this 50's era info panel-thingy

Some of the car owners were a little stiff.

Our future ride!

This last picture may seem out of place for a car show, but the show itself was located at an airport, so there were some cool airplanes there too. We found out that the plane above gets some great gas mileage: only 14 gallons/hour! We best start saving our pennies.