HAPPY - Father's Day, Birthday, 4th of July AND . . . Eating!

Seems that we have been doing some summer celebrating.

And each of these celebrations involved some seriously good eating!

Father's Day found Roger and I home and he celebrated his most excellent fatherhood 

with wonderful church meetings, heart-felt calls and cards from his children 

and a delicious grilled salmon dinner. 

I fixed a Mexican street corn salad that was yummy. 

I made a vanilla bean pudding from scratch and baked an angel food cake, 

then made a strawberry trifle. Roger loves strawberries!

We made a quick trip up north for a wedding reception (Jeff's youngest sibling, 

Steve, got married in the Payson Temple) and I got a long-overdue haircut from Jessica. 
And Roger and I visited my Aunt Grace in her lovely new surroundings. 
She recently sold her home and moved to a Retirement Living Center. 
It was wonderful to surprise her and we visited for over an hour. 
She looked great and I wish we had remembered to get a pic. 

Blake had recently turned ten and we took him out for his favorite for his birthday present - 

a burger and fries!

The 4th of July found us back home in St. George 

and Roger and I decided to invite some friends over for a hamburger cookout.

Our friends Kathy and Lorin Nielsen and Suzanne and Neil Dixon were our fun guests.

Kathy brought a delicious potato salad and green salad and Suzanne brought a large fruit plate. 

I fixed summer tomato bruschetta, baked beans and double-fudge brownies 

to go with Red Barn's maple nut ice cream. 

Red Barn in Santaquin is our favorite stop when we travel up north in the summer 

and we always get their delicious maple nut ice cream.

I told the kids that the only form of fireworks we had - 

Trader Joe's "popping" candy cookies!

They were delicious, by the way. 

Trader Joe's doesn't make a bad cookie!

Las Vegas has a Restaurant Week every year to raise money for charity 

and to allow people to try a pris fixe menu in participating restaurants. 

There are so many wonderful restaurants to choose from and I finally picked one 

for us to try for lunch on our day trip to Vegas.  

(I read through every single lunch menu!) 

It was Public House on Restaurant Row in the Venetian. 

And their food was even more delicious that it sounded on the menu!

Roger and I shared each other's picks:

Heirloom watermelon and fresh fig salad 

Wagyu beef nachos

Fresh halibut on lobster mashed potatoes

Wagyu short ribs on truffle mashed potatoes - and we had create your own dessert, choosing your base and toppings  - I had butterscotch pudding base and Roger had blackberry cobbler base, each topped with amazing toppings, including homemade ice cream, cookies, sauces, etc. YUM!

And while we are on the topic of food, I've just thrown in a couple of pics of recent food I've fixed.

One of Roger's clients gave us some delicious fresh apricots from his garden.

Tyler Florence's pancakes with apricot syrup

Grilled salmon marinated in apricot gastrique with grilled fresh apricots

Happy celebrating Summer and Happy Eating to all!