Who wants s'more!? (Q's candy experiment)

So we are still enjoying our newly finished backyard patio - it's been so lovely at night we have been eating out there almost every evening.

Q especially loves it because he's been able to talk his dad into toasting marshmallows a few nights in a row. Last night Quinn was rummaging through his Halloween candy stash for Hershey Bars to use for s'mores and wanted to know if we could do an experiment with his other candy bars.

Well - why indeed not. Don't know why we hadn't thought if it before. Bring on the sugar rush...so he grabbed a Twix, Milky Way, Three Musketeers and a Snickers.
 

 (this was the Twix one)

Consensus was we liked the Twix the best, then the Snickers (although I am keen to try my favorite candy bar - Heath). Meanwhile since I was snapping photos - G took EVERY opportunity to ham it up and pose for the camera.

The Great Outdoors (and our secret ingredient for the best Guacamole ever!)

Mike and I have been working hard to get our outdoor patio in order and we are done! YEAH!

So here's a view of the whole patio...we found our furniture set on Craigslist about a year ago (new), the rug from the thrift store and the fire-pit table from amazon. The Thai umbrella with the fringe is from a friend and a few of the pillows are from Target.

However after sitting out for a year the cushions became trashed! Sun and smog did a number on them.

I searched the internet and the fabric district high and low for affordable, outdoor, washable and colorful fabric to re-cover them with. Nothing! Until this spring when I happened to be buying coffee at World Market. They had all their awesome summer items out on the floor and I spied these amazing ethnic patterned oil-cloth tablecloths. Just so happened that 2 tablecloths and $85 later I had enough to re-cover my cushions in the exact colors I was hoping for. (a good friend did the sewing for me!).

We also found the outdoor umbrella at World Market - and Mike embellished it with a thrift store chandelier I had bought for the patio (but hadn't figured out what to do with it yet). He figured out it fit perfectly on the center pole of the umbrella. Isn't it pretty?

A few more photos of our backyard...a neighbor gave us the awesome Thai wood chair. I found an old Victorian wrought iron lamp stand at the thrift store and we hung a Moroccan style lantern from it.

Home Depot had the best Limey green spray paint that complimented our orange house - so I couldn't resist spray painting this old wrought iron patio chair...

And last but not least - the recipe for the yummy guacamole we enjoyed last night while sitting outside on our new and improved patio!!

2 avocados smashed
1/2 onion finely chopped
1 tsp cumin
1 tomato finely chopped
3 cloves of minced garlic
Splash lime juice
Salt and pepper to taste
and the secret ingredient is 1 tsp of green olive juice (I swear it's amazing!)

Who's the Man?

I have a husband who loves to cook! Which works out best for both of us - because I just don't really like cooking  - but I do really enjoy grocery shopping and don't mind cleaning up (especially after one of his wonderful meals).

So when Mike is home in the mornings I am the lucky gal who is the recipient of a home cooked breakfast. He loves to experiment and has come up with quite a few amazing concoctions.This morning he went out to our garden (courtesy of a lot of hard work on his part and the Squarefoot Gardening book) and selected some chard, zucchini and chives. He also used beets from our garden that he had roasted the day before. In addition he pulled portobello mushrooms, onions, eggs, and bacon from the fridge.

He grabbed our electric skillet and sizzled up the bacon (I like it crispy!). Then using the bacon grease he grilled the mushrooms, onions and zucchini. Next up was frying the eggs - over medium -  and then warming the chard and already roasted beets. And then - drum roll please  - what came next was one of the best breakfasts I have ever had! He assembled - bottom up - the portobello mushroom, grilled onions, chard, egg, zucchini, bacon, beets and a sprinkling of chives.

The whole family loved it - even my little Mr. Picky Eater!