Welcome Home!

Welcome to a week of summer temps that are not in the triple digits! It's been hot here, but we have been too busy enjoying the 4th of July holiday to be deterred by hot summer days! Mason had a cooking demo on the 4th in Calistoga for the Napa County Fair. Though the fair was not a big one, Mason had a full house for his cooking demo - 50 people watched him do his "Food on a Stick" themed demo. He made chicken skewers seasoned with Spike (with a mandarin mustard dipping sauce), salad on a stick (with a homemade ranch dressing), brownie berry bites (with a marshmallow cream dipping sauce), and his 4th of July Sparkler drink. Whew! It was an ambitious demo with so much to do, but he did it like a pro! The coolest part of this demo? Dave joined us and helped make it all go smoothly. We cook as a family at home and now we got to do it together on stage, too. You can see a highlight reel if you want by clicking here. We had a ton of fun in Napa! We did lots of swimming, watched the July 4th parade, of course we saw fireworks, and we visited Castello di Amarosa, a winery that is an incredible castle! We plan to go back and do the whole tour and more wine tasting. We took a day trip to Healdsburg, Windsor, and Santa Rosa before heading back to the hotel to swim some more. It was a great 3 days. We arrived home on Saturday, got settled in, laundry done, picked up some groceries and then had a whole day at home to relax before having to go back to work and school.

 

Now it's time to gear up for the California State Fair! Mason and I both have entries in the baking contests and as you know, Mason is doing two cooking demos at the fair. He will be cooking both kids days, Tuesday the 16th (11 AM) and 23rd (7 PM). Did you know that California has deemed the artichoke the California State Vegetable? Yes! With that in mind, Mason will be making a delicious artichoke pesto pizza with grilled chicken and bacon. We've worked on this recipe and it's good! I add fresh tomatoes and basil to mine, but either way, it's super yummy. He will also do his brownie berry bites and his July 4th Sparkler. It would be fun to see you if you can come to the fair and see Mason do his thing.

 

Time to hit my list of things to do and prep for our first contest on Saturday. I hope you all had a lovely holiday weekend and are looking at a great week, too!