Strawberry season. Love it. Our friends Barb and Tom came to visit and brought us two quarts of strawberries from their garden. Perfect strawberries. My head was spinning with ideas. But, simplicity won. Two different salads then strawberry shortcakes won the day.
I had a package of smoked salmon that needed to be used up. And, we'd found halloumi cheese. What if I grilled strawberries and radishes and halloumi then picked lettuce and spinach from our yard and topped it all with smoked salmon and a mustard tarragon vinaigrette? Perfection.
My next salad was a little more simple. Spinach from our garden, strawberries, pecans, feta and a strawberry balsamic dressing. The dressing was strawberry balsamic, extra virgin olive oil, Dijon mustard, crushed garlic and shagbark hickory syrup. Maple syrup or honey would make a fine substitute.
Along the way, we had a pretty tasty drink... Here's a hint. You'll find it on the blog I was assigned for Secret Recipe Club...
We had another quart left. Our grandkids were coming to visit. They'd get to Indy about 5:00 Friday evening. Connie had plans for that epic water balloon fight Friday evening. I did not want to spend the evening cooking and miss the festivities. So, Black Diamond BBQ it was. Beef brisket, pulled pork, rib tips, mac and cheese, green beans, greens and cole slaw.
YUM!!! Strawberry shortcake for dessert.
Saturday morning we headed to the Broad Ripple Farmers Market. Got to see our friends Susan and Paul, Connie and Rick and Liz, aka That Skinny Chick Can Bake. Lots of fun was had by all. From there we headed to the Children's Museum. Indianapolis has a world-class children's museum. The special attraction this time was the terra cotta warriors. Just amazing. They had a room set up where kids could sculpt a face. Turns out each of the 8,000 warriors had an individual face. They used molds for some of the body parts but the faces were individually done. Then, we were off to the exhibit about China where the kids had a great time in the kitchen. They even got to learn some kung-fu moves. Then, we were off to Sam's Gyros for a fun lunch. Enjoyed more by the adults than the children... But, as Daddy David said, someday they will be very grateful that we got them to try so many things and have adventurous taste buds. Last but not least, we went to see Civic Theatre's production of Pinocchio. Grammie and Grampie were tired by the time the kids headed home!
