Happy Friday!

My summer holidays always go by so quickly - just like that I am back to work on Monday.  I am going to miss my walks in the morning.  This summer has been so unbelievably beautiful, and basically every day after breakfast I went on a 6 km walk.  It felt so good to get up and get moving early in the day.

This summer I also got really into baking bread, and made a loaf probably at least twice a week.

Over the past couple weeks my homemade bread made it's way into most of my breakfasts:

 

 

 

 

But sometimes breakfast didn't include bread:

And other times I had my friend Keith's homemade lemon rosemary bread:

Other eats over the last couple weeks have included this tomato, basil, burrata salad:

Borscht with perishke (Ukrainian cottage-cheese filled buns with cream):

Veggie burgers:

Ginger noodles with chicken and broccoli:

Goat meatballs with salad, potatoes, and chimchurri sauce:

Ribs with corn and potato:

Christopher made an amazing Korean BBQ sauce for the ribs that I hope he makes again soon. 

Maple-glazed, pepper-crusted salmon with halloumi-stuffed portobello and salad:

Chicken Alfredo pizza with black olives, corn, jalapenos, parmesan, and cheddar:

Jerk pork chops with corn, and halloumi, mushroom, tomato skewers:

I've baked a couple pies in the past two weeks.  Our friends gave us a box of apples from their yard, so first up was an apple pie.

 
And this week I made a bourbon, chocolate pecan pie:

And because we can never resist the special Lays flavours when they come out, we bought a bag of Grilled Cheese Lays chips:

They were okay, but nothing special.

This week has been one of the busiest in recent memory for social get-togethers.  On Tuesday it was my mother-in-law's birthday so we took her and my father-in-law out for dinner to Avenue.  We all shared the pork belly, asparagus, and feature small-plate (asparagus risotto) to start:

I ordered the pork chop, and Christopher ordered the scallops and peas and carrots, but we ended up switching meals after a couple bites (this happens sometimes; actually usually we just share everything we order).  He liked the pork chop dish more than I did, and I thought his peas and carrots were pretty yummy.  

His parents had the chicken and the beef wellington.

We had a really nice night out with them!

On Wednesday evening we met up in the park with our friends Keith and Fanta, as well as Matt and Alissa and their two girls.  Keith BBQd ribs and made some delicious bread and coleslaw to enjoy with them.  We brought a corn salad, and everyone brought beverages.

It was a beautiful evening, and we really enjoyed spending time with these great friends.  We sat outside visiting for hours.

Last night we cooked hotdogs over the fire for a work gathering over at a coworker's place.

Tonight we're headed to my sister's for dinner, tomorrow we're going to a wedding, and on Sunday we have an event as well!  It's the week of social engagements for us!

What are you up to this weekend?