Good evening!
Steve’s birthday celebration was a great one today.
My father-in-law Ken, Steve, and fiancée Joanne. :)
Eric and Margaret.
Kids + doggie view ;)
Dinner was delicious! Dave and Ewa made us an amazing BBQ feast complete with all the healthy fixins’ in a buffet style spread.
I had a veggie burger with tomato, mushrooms, onion, ketchup, and mustard. Along with sweet potato fries, black bean salad, and a salad with mushrooms, blackberries, banana, red pepper, green onion, cucumber, tomato, etc. I just loaded it all on and it tasted great.
I threw together this black bean salad before I came. I always try to bring a vegan dish when I go out to eat somewhere. I really didn’t need it though because they had a huge spread.
The black bean salad contained 3 cups black beans, 1/2 tsp dried parsley, 1/4-1/2 tsp cumin, 1/4-1/2 tsp sea salt, black pepper, 1 tbsp olive oil, and chopped onion. It was simple but tasty!
This was the first time I had banana on a salad before….I was feeling downright crazy.
Veggie burger side view.
Bird’s eye view.
I ate everything on my plate and still had room for dessert!
And brewski…
I was in my happy place. ;)
[Gotta love when the husband takes pictures of me stuffing my face!]
Happy Birthday to you…
Birthday cupcakes were enjoyed by ALL…if you know what I mean ;)
I love that children don’t have negative stereotypes about vegan food and they honestly don’t care. They just know what tastes ‘yummy’!
Steve turned into a 6 year old when he discovered that he got the Kinect gaming system.
You can probably tell by my face that I had no idea what the heck it was. I am not up to date on gaming consoles these days…
Beer was greatly enjoyed after 2 weeks of video madness! Actually, Eric and I celebrated with a drink on Friday when we uploaded the final video, only to find out on Saturday that there was a major issue with the volume. We re-uploaded it today so another drink was enjoyed!
After dinner it was time to play!
We all loved the Kinect system and we laughed non-stop for a couple hours.
I leaned over to Eric and I said, “Do you ever feel like we are ‘in the future’?”
He agreed. :)
Unfortunately no one wanted to race me in the sprinting challenge!
My family and I got on the topic of the Project Food Blog video and how the deadline was extended a week. I told them that I was going to post my video tomorrow as planned since my video is already uploaded (but I haven’t made it ‘public’ yet) and everyone thought it was a bad idea to post it a week early. Now I am not sure what to do! While I am very excited and eager to show you the video that has been 2 weeks in the making, I do also see reasons why I should maybe wait. I also spoke with other contestants who are also finished their videos, but have decided to wait to submit the post until the deadline on the 14th just to be on the safe side. Decisions, decisions.
At any rate, I guess I can now use this extra week ‘off’ and have some free time back in my life. :)
Have a great night!
Angela – I saw these first few pics and my immediate reaction was: your future sister in law looks a lot like Penelope Cruz!! She is gorgeous! Also, I need to slow down the speed reading a bit. I saw your caption under the photo of banana in the salad and thought it said ‘queasy’ instead of crazy. I wondered why the tone of your writing was so enthused about being queasy :) Glad you had a fun evening!
yes she is gorgeous!!
Glad you enjoyed yourself!
It looks like a wonderful family time!
Ok, I was with you until I see banana on a salad! But that’s because I despise fruit on salad. Fruit of any kind does not belong with lettuce!
I think it’s a bummer to have to wait for ALL of the videos, but I do think you should wait and post with everyone else. I don’t want you to get lost in the mix!
Haha that’s what my face looks like when I’m eating a good meal too. ;)
I can’t wait to see your video, even if we have to wait an extra week. It sounds like you put so much work into it, so I’m sure it’ll be epic!!
I kind of thought that you had a good ‘tactic’ with releasing your video early, because people would see it, realize how awesome it was, and vote for it without having the competition of the other blogger’s entries. But I guess it could work the other way, too. That is, if they decide to wait until the rest are posted and then forget about yours.
Please wait before posting your entry. You don’t want anyone changing their video after seeing yours. I just hope that someone “important” out there is actually paying attention to this FB challenge and the fact that you are kicking it’s ass. I do however, just think it’s a matter of time…. :) good luck!
So frustrating about the extended deadline- I feel for you! I think it’s hilarious that no one wanted to race you in the game- they know you’re quick!
Looks like you guys had LOTS of fun! I love the picture of the little guy hidding under the rocking horse…adorable! Mmmm, your cupcakes make me want to have an unbirthday party for myself!
Looks like a very fun day!! I haven’t a clue what Kinect is either, but I’m glad he liked his gift!! And that’s so true about little kids having no stereotypes toward vegan food. I think it will be nice in a few years to see more of that, since being vegan/vegetarian is becoming more popular.
Seems like you had a great day! That’s what I love about kids too- no preconcieved judgements about things! And haha I love the picture of you looking so confused about the gaming system! :D
Shame, I was really looking forward to seeing your video today! But I guess my excitement will just have to hold over for a week longer! :P I do see the logic in waiting to post though, so I think you made the right decision.
The veggie burger looks delicious! I love your site and your photos are amazing. :)
Hi, Angela! The birthday gtg looks like it was a great time:).
You know, I really hope you win the Food Buzz Challenge. You are so talented and such an inspiration!
oh my – what a wonderfully amazing day indeed!
Looks like a great time with the family :)
My hubby wants a Kinect so bad ! He almost went buy one this weekend.
very cool that your bro got kinect! my husband works at microsoft so we got to try it a few weeks ago and think it’s a blast…amazing to be controller free!
you are beautiful! Just wanted to say :)
My husband picked up a Kinect! It is so much fun, especially the dancing!
Angela – What your favorite bread to eat sandwiches/veggie burgers on?! That plate of food looks so yummy!
I just played Kinect last night!! Kinect is basically like Wii Sports/Fitness/etc but without remotes! It’s the new add on to the xBox 360 where you can do lots of fitness/dance/outdoorsy games. Basically the camera in front of you records your moves and has the avatar on screen copy your exact moves. It’s fun seeing the photos of you mid jump or mid run. And it definitely got my heart rate up.
Our mascots were the same as yours! My husband and I were on the blue shark team and beat my friends (the red one eyeball thing). We played until the neighbors downstairs pounded on their ceiling. Whoops. Granted we didn’t as healthy and yummy as the foods on the post but we had a great time.
Aww he looks just like Eric!! I love seeing people’s families for that :) Looks like you guys had a real nice time!