I hosted my mom from Minnesota and my brother from Los Angeles over 4th of July weekend. We had a great time! We did a lot in one weekend: whale watching (it's my go-to activity these days), day trip to Maine, walked the Freedom Trail, won a night of bar trivia, Cirque du Soleil (TOTEM), and Harpoon Brewery tour just to name some.
Celebrating our big trivia win in Cambridge! (yes, that's Ryan's happy face.)
Then, the following week, my other brother was in town from DC for work, so we did dinner and drinks and bar trivia (< once I had the taste for winning, I needed more).
And then last weekend, 6 friends from Minnesota and I flew into Chicago to surprise another friend. She had no idea we were coming, and as she appeared at the bar to meet her boyfriend for happy hour after work on Friday, there we were! It was great. :) We had so much fun catching up with one another, enjoying some good drinks and food, and seeing Chicago.
The whole crew in Chicago, enjoying the Grant Park Music Festival
I'm now looking forward to my dad visiting in a couple of weeks. It's his birthday weekend and the Twins are playing the Red Sox, so we're going to spend some time at Fenway, check out the original Cheer's bar (he's a big fan of the show), and possibly do some exploring of the North Shore. Should be great. :)
I made a batch of my mom's peanut butter cookies when she and my brother were in town, and since I had a few leftover, brought them along to Chicago. This is one of my favorite cookie recipes (do I say that about all of my cookie recipes??). You literally cannot taste any difference between the original recipe and my veganized recipe. Give 'em a try!
Mom's (Vegan) Peanut Butter Cookies
Combine shortening, margarine, sugars, egg replacer, and peanut butter in large bowl and mix well. Blend in the remaining ingredients. Cover (I use wax paper) and chill in fridge for at least 1 hour.
- 1/2 c. shortening
- 1/2 c. margarine
- 1 c. granulated sugar
- 1 c. brown sugar
- Ener-G Egg Replacer = equivalent of 2 eggs
- 1 c. peanut butter
- 2 1/2 c. flour
- 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
Put a little additional flour on a small plate. Remove dough from fridge and form into balls. Place balls on cookie sheet (I prefer a baking stone) and - using a fork dipped in the flour - press down in a criss-cross pattern. Bake 350-degrees for 10-12 mins. Enjoy!
