They had cake. And Booze. And encouraged people to sing 'always look on the bright side of life' and there was whistling involved, which is not my forte. I end up doing a lot of spitting. Over cake. boo for that.
On the fourth we got to Judge the parade!! The town has 600ish people (is that a good estimate, family?) and the turn-out was undoubtedly hampered by the subzero temperatures. Seriously despite checking my iphone every 5 minutes for weather conditions I failed to adequately pack for the forecasted gloomy weather. What i brought was a sundress and sandals. What i SHOULD have brought was sweatpants tucked into rain boots. And puff paint, obviously, to decorate the sweatpants in all of their 4th of July glory.
It was still really fun though. Minus when Dad did this (he was just kidding though)
My sister, John (in a poncho... pause for laughter..) and I as my uncle gives us instructions on how to judge the float entries.
In a fierce pro and con deliberating session. Judging floats isn't easy, you know.
Discussing the float with the goat on it (there was one with chickens too!) ... I think we gave it 2nd place in its category. John found it hilarious that they were holding he umbrella over the goat..... considering I had requested that he hold the umbrella over me all morning. 
The night ended with watching a big fireworks display over the Mississippi River. It was perfect :) !
On to the eats! This week I found a recipe for a california roll salad. It was MUCHO interesting (or should that be reserved for mexican entries?) how about it was most interesting? Anyway it had:
- torn nori strips
- sesame seeds
- imitation crab meat (i know, i know, it's super processed)
- avocado
- cucumbers
- lettuce
- Jasmine rice (i know, i know, it's white and not the healthier option either)
- soy sauce/ginger/rice wine vinegar
the recipe had some sort of combo for the salad dressing, but it looked/smelled weird when I attempted it (through no fault of the recipe i'm sure)... but i thought this was creative and yummy. Just like the 'ole california roll and it satisfied my sushi craving for days!
Next up for my interesting eats last week was this little Ellie Krieger gem from her cookbook. The Shrimp/Tomato Bake had:- shrimp
- diced tomatoes
- feta
- onion
- seasonings
Just how I like it, a SHORT ingredient list! Actually this was pretty good, John even liked it (gasp!) We had it served over orzo and had big crusty sourdough bread and corn on the cob with it too.. YUMM.
I hope everyone had a FABULOUS 4th of July!
