Sleep in a little, just because it's summertime and you can, put on your new outfit that you bought on a whim at Target yesterday, and head up to work to catch up with an old teacher friend and snag some awesome new books for your classroom for next year.
After a few hours of good conversation and book shopping, head back home to pick up the house a little and finish making lunch to get ready for your good friend and her precious baby whom you've invited over for lunch.
Pull out the Italian Confetti Pasta Salad you made the night before and give it a quick taste test to make sure all of the flavors have come together nicely.
Then pull out the fruit salad that you also made last night and add a few bananas to the top to finish it off.
As you're preheating the oven for the bruschetta, run out to your herb garden and pick some cherry tomatoes and basil for the topping, then prepare according to the recipe, finishing up just as the doorbell rings. (recipes at the bottom of the page)
Spend the next four hours talking and laughing and catching up with a good friend, while sitting on the living room floor amidst toys and books and one of the most precious, happy almost one year olds ever. Oh, and if your camera just happens to be sitting on the table beside you, go ahead and snap a few pictures of the sweet baby.
Just as your friend and baby are thinking about heading home, have your husband pull into the driveway so they can say hi, and then spend the next hour or so relaxing with your husband, reveling in the fact that it's Friday evening.
Around 6pm, pull out the Astros tickets that you bought for your husband for your anniversary a few months ago and head to the game, enjoying the fact that the tickets almost feel free now, since they were paid for so long ago.
Find out that your husbands parents and a couple of their friends happen to be at the game also, so after grabbing some over-priced ball park food, go over and sit with them for a little while.
Watch it turn into a really exciting game, where the Astros almost give up their lead against the Nationals towards the end of the game...
...but manage to pull out a win. Celebrate with everyone around you, while taking pictures to document the victory.
Even though you have to get up at 530am the next morning and it's already after 10pm, decide to stay for the Friday night festivities and cheer on the kids in the Battle of the Bands Rock Band competition, especially the little kid in red who is hamming it up on the guitar and knows his song so well he doesn't even have to look at the screen, which frees him up to do other things while playing, like dance.
When the roof opens for the fireworks show, move to where you have a really good view and thoroughly enjoy sitting next to your husband in the relatively cool air watching a surprisingly long and impressive fireworks show. If you want, try your hand at different setting on your camera to try and get some fun fireworks shots.
Head home and crash since you have to get up in just a few hours, knowing that days like this don't come every week and feel thankful that today was one of those really good ones.
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Italian Confetti Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1/2 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
- 2 cups colored rotini pasta
- 1 cup chopped tomatoes
- 1/2 cup chopped yellow bell pepper
- 1 cup corn
Directions
- Cook pasta according to package directions. Rinse in cold water, and drain.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, vinegar, salt, black pepper, and garlic until well blended. Mix in basil. Add pasta, tomatoes, bell peppers, and corn; fold gently until mixed. Chill several hours. Stir gently before serving.
Bruschetta with Tomato and Basil
Ingredients
- 6 or 7 ripe plum tomatoes (about 1 1/2 lbs)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 6-8 fresh basil leaves, chopped.
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1 baguette French bread or similar Italian bread
- 1/4 cup olive oil
Directions
1 Prepare the tomatoes first. Parboil the tomatoes for one minute in boiling water that has just been removed from the burner. Drain. Using a sharp small knife, remove the skins of the tomatoes. Once the tomatoes are peeled, cut them in halves or quarters and remove the seeds and juice from their centers. Also cut out and discard the stem area.
2 Turn on the oven to 450°F to preheat.
3 While the oven is heating, chop up the tomatoes finely. Put tomatoes, garlic, 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil in a bowl and mix. Add the chopped basil. Add salt and pepper to taste.
4 Slice the baguette on a diagonal about 1/2 inch thick slices. Coat one side of each slice with olive oil using a pastry brush. Place on a cooking sheet, olive oil side down. Toast for 5-6 minutes, until the bread just begins to turn golden brown.
5 Align the bread on a serving platter, olive oil side up. Either place the tomato topping in a bowl separately with a spoon for people to serve themselves over the bread, or place some topping on each slice of bread and serve. If you top each slice with the tomatoes, do it right before serving or the bread may get soggy.
Makes 24 small slices. Serves 6-10 as an appetizer.
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