An Excuse To Light Fireworks In The City

We hosted a small celebration on the 5th of July for family and friends, the first official gathering at our new home! The City of Milwaukee held each of the local parks fireworks shows on that Monday and we hoped folks might stick around with us to see the Jackson Park show from our patio. It served as a reason to get some of those last boxes unpacked and last little things in order. We didn't have much going on in the days prior to the soiree, so we slowly accomplished some of those tasks and of course went overboard with the meat-free cooking. For those of you that are wondering, we are still mostly dairy and animal product free, though we've loosened a little. Sometimes, it's just not practical.

It wasn't a huge gathering, but I was surprised by how many folks came. When we had everyone out on our patio, the space seemed relatively small. I was happy to see some much-loved faces I haven't been able to connect with in a while though the way of hosting a party dictates that it's tough to actually sit down and have a meaningful conversation with everything else going on. Nonetheless, it was wonderful to see friends with whom I haven't had the opportunity to connect in a long time. All in all the following folks were there: my Mom, Dad, sister Greta, bro-in law Jon, friend and close-enough-to-sister-in-law Megan, friend Andy, friend Cindy, friend Ryan, friend Elise, baby Chloe, friend Colin, friend Courtney, and friend Janice.

It was also nice to invite people into our home, even in its semi-finished state. I can be a perfectionist and sometimes I won't invite people over or share what I'm doing with others until it's just right. Of course, nothing's ever perfect and this is a habit that keeps me from living life to its full potential. So, it was a good test for me to invite people in despite the unfinished nature of things in our house. It's going to take a while to get settled and what a sad state it would be if we didn't invite anyone over until it was "done". Loved ones help make your house a home!

We chilled out on the patio until it was mostly dark sampling mostly vegan delicacies. Ry and I combined our efforts to make vegan italian sausages (Ry), homemade hotdog rolls (Ry), gazpacho (Ry), hummus (Ry), guacamole (Megan), chilled pea and garlic scape soup (Megan), grilled broccoli and green beans (Ry), homemade coconut ice cream sandwiches (Ry, but Megan helped assemble) and potent sangria (Megan).

People came and went throughout the afternoon and just a few stayed for the fireworks: my Dad, Jon and Megan. We could only see the high ones from our patio, but that was fine. Eventually the horrible mosquitos chased us off anyway and we didn't watch the end of the show. I was surprised by how many people were lighting fireworks in the neighborhood. I wondered how our neighbor the policeman would have reacted, but he was out of town. All in all, I found the sound of explosions did not make me comfortable, it made me worry about guns. Ry assured me the sound of fireworks is supposed to harken back to guns and cannons and all that. Pretty to watch, but makes me feel less than patriotic.

It was a nice night, the rain stayed away and I was glad to see friends and fam.

A few pics. isn't it just like me to only take pictures of the food projects? I guess I was too engrossed when our guests were actually over to even think about pics.


Part of the big pile of fruits and veggies on our counter prior to the event.


Mint, pea and garlic scape soup cooking. Before it was pureed.


Homemade hotdog buns.


Gazpacho in process. Ry just added chopped parsley from the West Allis Farmer's Market.


Beautiful sangria in my punch bowl. First time I've been able to use it, score!



Sangria up close and personal.


Assembling the ice cream sandwiches. This was a fun little task. It reminded me of making these with Babcock ice cream and cookies at my college cafe job with the UW Food Service!


Cookies sandwiches all wrapped up and ready for the freezer.