Lunch Prep

The two schools we're touring to today are both within 15 minutes of my house. So I decided that we would eat lunch at my house. We had a local actor host us for lunch between shows last week and it was such a treat to be able to relax in someone's home, eat the delicious food she made for us and recharge before our next show. I couldn't resist inviting the cast over today.

I love entertaining and I've thoroughly enjoyed planning and prepping for this afternoon's lunch.
Truth be told, I didn't have time to prepare opening night gifts for the cast (it's tradition to give small gifts or cards to everyone who worked on the show on opening night) and I really love this cast so it's the perfect opportunity to thank them.

I wanted lunch to feel really special, so I decided to use all my vintage coloured glasswear and ironstone to serve lunch. I prepped and arranged everything yesterday. My crockpot, bread machine and coffee maker are all set to turn on at the correct times so lunch is hot and ready to be eaten when we walk in the door. 

For lunch I'm serving:

Homemade Crockpot Chilli 

and fixin's

Sour Cream, Green Onions, Grated Cheese and Multigrain Chips

Homemade Bread and Butter

Pickles

For desert:

Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies

Grapes

And:

 Coffee 

Tea 

Iced Tea 

Bottled Water

Sounds like a lot, but we are ravenously hungry! We unload and load the van (which contains our set, costumes and props) as well as perform the high energy show (well, the actors do, I sit and run sound while they act) at each school. It really works up our appetite!

I'm excited to have my peeps over today. I'll be sure to post some photos from lunch later this week.


Lisa.xo

Belated Birthday Post

Ok, this is the last birthday post for this year (I swear!). I wanted to post this earlier this month, but my computer wasn't recognizing the memory card from my camera and I couldn't find the USB cable for the life of me.
Blah, blah, blah, enough excuses...

This was my last birthday celebration. With my family! All of my siblings and my new nephew went over to my Mom's for drinks, delicious food (my Mom is the best cook, no really...) and cake!

But first, how about some gratuitous shots of my adorable nephew Casey first!

 

That's a Johnny Cash Folsom Prison onesie he's wearing...yup! He's a cool kid.

Casey and Mom! (Or Kim as we like to call her)

Casey insisted that he take over the picture taking so I could enjoy my own party!

My Mom made these delicious focaccia bread things. One kind had tomatoes and basil and pesto and the other was potato and caramelized onions. Yum! And my brother brought Half Pints' new beer over for us to taste. It's not on the market yet...it was a Mexican dark lager they're calling "Noche De Los Alebrijes". I'm not sure how drunk people are going to order it. I can barely say that sober! lol! It was delicious! I can't wait for it to be in stores this fall (Half Pints is a local brewery that my brother works at). 

We love Half Pints beer. And this Transformer does too! (maybe he was a Dinobot, I'm not sure)

This photo really encompasses the chaos that my family is!  Never a dull moment!

I really wish I had some more photos to share, but I was busy visiting and it's really hard to take photos that aren't blurry when there are 2 dogs and a 10 month old flying around the room! lol!

So instead, how about some pictures of cake! Yeah, cake! This is a vegan spice cake my Mom made. My brother Matt's girlfriend Katie has some severe milk and dairy allergies so we eat a lot of vegan food when she's around. We call it "Katie friendly". It was Lisa friendly too! This cake was delicious! lol!

Thanks for indulging my in one last birthday post. You won't have to put up with any more until next year!

Lisa.xo