My Summer Vacation Part V (last but not least)

On the last night of our vacation in Door County we took the whole gang out to eat at Fred and Fuzzy's.  It's a little place right on the lake, known for its great food, beautiful sunsets, and the outdoor seating.  Say cheese!

My Mom and Dad digging in!

After dinner we stuck around and watched the sun set.  Above are the guys relaxing and enjoying the view.

Perfect time to go picture crazy.. which is exactly what we did.

The "kids" ha, I wish.

My Mom admiring my Dad's tan.  He hails from Florida, all he's missing is his Fort Myers visor and a cigarette :)

So beautiful!!  I can't think of any other word to describe it. 

These are the last of my vacation pictures, sad it's all over.  I had such a great time, and loved spending time with everyone.  Until next summer... :)

My Summer Vacation Part IV

Beautiful lake Michigan.  I didn't mind waking up to this every morning!

The mums putting in some beach time :)

The flies were a little bad one day on the beach.  This was my Dad's solution -- pile up four of the beach chairs, haul them out to the sandbar with your book and fly swatter and relax.  Whatever works!

We went on a bike ride up the coast of the lake and walked around a nearby park.  The views were beautiful.  Nothing beats being around one of the great lakes in the summer.

While some of the ladies were making dinner my Dad and Virgina played bags.  She was a rock star!! 

The lake a night, so peaceful.  The moon looked amazing!!!  Wish I could go back :)

Have a great Monday everyone!

My Summer Vacation Part III

In Wisconsin and in Upper Michigan Friday night fish fry is tradition.  We all know the best places to go, and every Friday our families would meet up.  The parents would drink, the kids would play video games, and when the food came we would chow down.  I would say it's probably one of the things I miss the most about living there!  In Door County, instead of fish fry, they have fish boils.  Although it wasn't a Friday, we made sure to add it to our agenda while on vacation.  Since we're all grownups now we didn't play video games, we just drank :)

For fish boils they put a show on before you eat.  They cook everything right in front of you, which is pretty cool.  Here's our big bucket of fish.

This is how they know it's ready!

LOVE this picture :)  Baby Sienna is the cutest thing ever.

Oh how I miss eating this on a weekly basis.

The whole gang ready to eat. We took up the majority of the restaurant, but that's how we do :)

More to come!

My Summer Vacation Part II

Door County pictures continue.  Here is part of the group sitting on the deck before dinner.

The group of us have been friends since I was born.  We all kind of grew up together.  Now the oldest of the kids has kids of her own (yes, if you wanted to know it does make me feel old.)  Here is my brother with Virgina, one of the grand kids.  Since we're hardly all together, we had one big birthday celebration in honor of all the birthdays we missed, and she was pretty excited. 

Cuddling up!

Saying we like to play games is the understatement of the century!

We also had a turkey dinner one night, why not!  So tasty :) 

Have a great weekend everyone, see you back here next week.

My Summer Vacation Part I

More than a month ago I went to Door County, Wisconsin for a week's vacation, and still have yet to share pictures with all of you!  I'm going to do it up right though - I have a TON and plan to show you all the highlights.  I took this picture the first day we got there, once every one had unloaded their cars.  Didn't include the coolers full of beer and wine, but we were set with drinks.

Shot of the deck of our house that overlooked Lake Michigan.  At the height of the trip we had 15 people plus 2 kiddies, it was a busy house.

Loved this swing over looking the lake, so peaceful.

Hello Lake Michigan!  To those who haven't seen the great lakes, it's worth a trip.  So beautiful - all you can see when you look out is never ending water.

This is one of my favorite pictures of the whole trip.  Christin with her puppy Beans under the umbrella.  It's so colorful, and so summery.

I didn't have to cook hardly at all, which was a nice break. Tim's getting lunch ready for all of us.

First morning's breakfast waiting for me when I woke.  Strong cup of coffee and blackberry scones, started the trip out right! 

More to come...

Wordless Wednesday - Cooking Class

Cooking Class in Door County, WI

Welcome back from the long weekend.  Hope you all enjoyed the extra day off! 

While on my vacation in Door County, Wisconsin a bunch of us were able to take an Italian cooking class at The Savory Spoon.  I was pretty excited to learn a couple new tricks of the trade, also to spend some time in the kitchen with my Mom and old friends. 

I got even more excited when I saw where we'd be cooking.  Hello dream kitchen!

The instructors gave us all a quick run down of all the dishes we'd be making, and then we split into groups and made the different meals.  My Mom and I chose a mushroom pasta, and we teamed up with a couple ladies from the Milwaukee area.  We had a great time!

The rest of the group split up making the dishes that most appealed to them.  Kacy choose a Thai dish that I'm anxious to share with you.

Our pasta ready to go in the oven!

My Mom and I getting hungry.

We had quite a bit of food when everything was finished cooking.  I think we made a pretty good dent in it all though :)

Yummy!!!  This was a creamy Italian dish and if you enjoy mushrooms you'll really like it.  It was my favorite dish out of all of them, and it's not just because I made, it's because of the full flavor!  I will definitely be making this for dinner again very soon.

Conchigle al Forno with Mushrooms & Radicchio

Serves 8

Adapted from Amy Rebhan Savory Spoon

6 oz. shiitake mushrooms, cleaned and trimmed

1 stick unsalted butter

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups finely shredded radicchio, or endive

2 1/2 cups heavy cream

1/2 grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

1/2 cup coarsely shredded Fontinia

1/2 cup crumbled Gorgonzola

2 teaspoons ricotta

6 leaves fresh sage, chopped*

1 pound pasta shells

Preheat oven to 500 degrees F.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

Remove the stems from the mushrooms and slice the caps about 1/4 inch thick.

Heat six tablespoons of butter in a large skillet.

Add mushrooms and 1/4 teaspoon of salt.

Saute over medium heat, stirring frequently, until they're cooking through.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the mushrooms, radicchio, cream, cheese, sage and remaining salt.

Boil the pasta shells for around five minutes, drain and add to the ingredients in a mixing bowl.

Toss to combine.

Divide the pasta mixture into a shallow dish, and dot with remaining two tablespoons of butter.

Bake until bubbly and brown on top, around 8 minutes.

Enjoy!

*If you don't have fresh sage, use 1 tablespoon of fresh tarragon, thyme, or rosemary.