Well, these are cute.
Since Indy is still a little too young to stay up for actual fireworks, I was trying to think of fun ways to include him in the whole Fourth of July thing, and these star jars (which are pretty and festive for non-kid-inclusive celebrations, as well) do the trick. You can put real votive candles inside, or you can use those flameless LED ones if you want to let kids handle them (or if you just want to be extra-safe, which...you know...always a good idea).
Is this photo creepy? I totally think it's creepy. And also cool.
(Please ignore my nails thanks.)
Alright, first: I made ribs. This is extremely exciting, because I've always been intimidated by the idea of making ribs (all that MEAT, you know?), and Google did me proud, because what I ended up with was all sorts of delicious. (If you're curious, I cooked it over indirect heat - we have a propane grill, so I just put the rack on the unlit side - for about an hour and a half, basting with a red wine vinegar/apple juice mixture and finishing with Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce.)
I couldn't help it:
I totally put a rug in our kitchen.
I kept seeing pin after pin after pin of beautiful, fancy rugs in otherwise spare kitchens, and got all obsessed, and then I discovered an old Persian rug of my parents' sitting in their storage closet right before we moved, and:
When you buy a house without ever having actually seen it in person, it's reasonable to expect a few little surprises to come your way...and yup: on our first night in our new place, I discovered something pretty unexpected.
There was no light.
Like, none.
Oh, these are so cute. And so easy. And so festive I can hardly even stand it. Full disclosure: I don't love them with the vehemence that I love my Chocolate Salted Strawberries, but the adorableness factor compensates for the fact that they include milk chocolate's sad cousin, white chocolate.
We had a little pool party for some friends on Saturday, and I used it as an opportunity to play around with some summery recipe ideas I've been meaning to try, and let me tell you: these were quite the hit. More easy, party-friendly dishes coming up, so if you're planning a Fourth of July get-together stay tuned - totally got you covered. But you can go ahead and start with these, because they are Oh So American.
