Ways of Distraction...

Friends and family prove to be the best distractions. My other two favorite distractions are shopping and cooking (bad for wallet and waistline, but at this point who cares). This weekend I got all of them and am feeling much more at ease. Friday Jared took me for gelato (which proceeded to melt and drip all over my massive belly) and to see Julie and Julia. The movie is hilarious and was the perfect prelude to the rest of our weekend where we cooked...a lot!

Since we're in waiting mode and not making many plans, Jared spent most of Saturday smoking different meats on the Green Egg. He started with a Turkey from last season's hunt and continued with shrimp, chicken, and salmon. Luckily we had some hungry friends come over to help eat it all. I made an Almond Berry Cake which turned out much better than expected. This is where the shopping came in. Good shopping = a new tarte pan from Williams-Sonoma. Bad shopping = half an hour at Price Chopper trying to find something called "Almond Paste."

My Aunt Nancy, Cousin Shannon, and second-cousin Patrick were also in town this weekend. I got to spend a couple hours hanging with them as well, which was really nice as we don't see each other very often.

Sunday we finally opened the Cooking Light cookbook I bought in January!! And we made crab cakes with roasted veggies. Mmmmm -- though it did take another half hour at Price Chopper to find something called "Old Bay Spice." I've really got to learn my grocery store better.

The Smokin' Boys - Adam, George, and Jared
Almond Berry Cake - thanks for the pretty cake plate Sondra!

What was left of the cake.