Oh, the food!

It's been quite the foody week over here at chez Cary.

On Monday, we held a baby shower for a wonderful friend of mine at work. Several people offered to bring things, and the cake made by friend Burdean was unbelievable! A life size pregnant woman's chest and belly! (And so delicious - we had a lot of discussions on where exactly we should make the first cut!)

But being Annette's daughter, I had to make sure there was enough food to go around and then ten times that again...

So I made Ina Garten's sun dried tomato dip, and served it with blanched asparagus, carrots and wavy potato chips. (the pregnant girl is craving salt)

And Martha Stewart's spicy noodles, which we served in small portions in cute little cups (it was a cocktail affair)

And Cooking Light's lettuce wraps, with fresh mint, peanuts, bean sprouts, lime and a garlicky sauce (in the cutest tiny boston lettuce leaves)

And Ter's famous BLT Guacamole with bacon, tomatoes and arugula on top

And Pam's Salted Nut Roll Bars, of which I only had to bring half a pan, so we've been devouring those all week

The guest of honor has a deep and wondrous wine cellar, so her hubby brought in bottles of red, white and champagne...all amazing

And I made a recipe from a Nordstrom cookbook (ha ha, I'm really a good customer) for a watermelon, strawberry lemonade.

While I was at it, I decided to just make a kick-ass meal for us, since Cam had just gotten home from school (and only has one summer class plus one semester to go)

So I made a grilled pork loin in a cumin adobo sauce that was so moist and tasty, and served it with a sauce that just magnified those flavors - so so good I almost fell over. And Ina Garten's jalapeno cheddar cornbread (with TWO sticks of butter in it. Egads, it was so good!) Plus grilled fresh pineapple and red peppers. YUM. I could hardly move after that feast, but I had to do all the cooking for the shower!

Last night Whit popped through town as he was on his way to Olympia for work, so we got to have him for dinner. I had a hankering for bruschetta, so I broiled up some garlicky, olive oily baguettes, topped with my own home grown basil and some fresh tomatoes and just a little bit of red onion, and I then when everybody else was eating their entree, I just had some more bruschetta with fresh mozzarella on top because I'd rather eat bruschetta twice!

A foody week and now it's time to head to the gym. And stay there till about November.