Independence Day 2009

Here's what Dave and I have done (mostly together) over the past several 4th of July's:

2008: I was on a two week soils class trip and saw fireworks while camping near the horse barns at the Marysville, CA fairgrounds. Dave stayed home in Davis with the dogs but didn't see any fireworks. This was the only time in the last 6 years that we weren't together on July 4th. 2007: We celebrated with a huge family/friends gathering at Dave's papa's coast house in Gualala and then watched the fireworks from the ocean cliffs below. The fireworks were launched from behind the grocery store his family owns but won't ever happen again because a bunch of bird lovers at the Sea Ranch have claimed that the noise caused some birds to permanently flee their nests.

2006: We were on our honeymoon in Aswan, Egypt, staying at a rundown resort on Elephantine Island. This place was supposed to be "4 star" but only the views were (everything about this resort screamed 1970s and it was being rennovated at the time...but even the pool was closed while we were there!) It was so hot that the guide made us go back to the hotel for most of the day to avoid the heat. So we only toured for a few hours in the morning and then again later that night.

Bored with the tv shows in our room we ventured out on the island to look at the feluccas sailing by and the ancient stone temples built into the hills across the river. I remember we ordered dinner in our room that night--Dave had a burger and I had tikka chicken. Strange, the little things that you remember years later.2005: We saw the fireworks on the warf in Point Arena, CA with our nephew, Bear.

2004: We were staying in Amsterdam on our post-college Europe trip with a bunch of our friends. That night we took the train to a beach and played frisbee until we almost missed the return train back to the city.2003: We got to see fireworks, drive-by style all across the bay area as we drove to SFO to pick up our friend, Prav, from his flight.
_________________________

2009: This year we made a bunch of different types of food--shrimp skewars, veggie skewars, jalapeno poppers wrapped in bacon, grilled corn, and steak. Holy crap, it was so good! Most people think of burgers, hot dogs, and potato salad as standard 4th fare. We wanted lots of veggies, I wanted shrimp, and Dave wanted steak. This way we had it all! (Eating for two rocks!)

Dave's grilled corn is so yummy--he heats it for a while wrapped in foil with butter and then takes it out for a few minutes to char for flavor.

The best shrimp marinade of the three (the other two aren't worth mentioning) was Firecracker Shrimp from The Pioneer Woman website (my latest blog-obsession)--one part Shiracha red chili sauce, one part olive oil, a dash of sugar, and some minced garlic. Holy moly these were amazing. But next time we'll skewar them with pineapple chunks in between each shrimp.I saw the recipe for these poppers on The Pioneer Woman and just had to try them. They were soooooooooo good. We were thinking they'd be even better with some bleu cheese mixed into the cream cheese and put as the topping on sliders. (I'll try it and let you know.)
We finished dinner just in time to bike a few blocks away to a grassy spot near a business park to see the fireworks. The business park is across from a field of tomatoes so there was nothing in the way of our view. It has been 5 months since I rode my bike (the cardiologist said to avoid it) and it was strange to feel my belly hit my legs as I peddled.

For dessert I made festive red, white, and blue shortcakes--mini cakes layered with strawberries and blueberries and topped with freshly whipped cream.
Happy 4th everyone!
Oh, and I can't believe that at next year's fireworks show we'll have our 11 month old son with us. Weird.