the goose loves july fourth

So here is the official AND officially late 4th of July post. After spending all of Saturday and Sunday working on unpacking and organizing the house, Billy and I (and the dog!) enjoyed a fun and relaxing Independence Day.

We started with pancakes, per Billy's request, and made them festive with sprinkles. Yum!

Billy had gotten up earlier that morning to bake bread... what a homemaker! He had brewed beer the day before, so instead of wasting the spent grain, he used it in bread. It turned out quite tasty!

Then we packed up the dog and put on our Keens and headed to Sauvie's Island for some adventuring. We went for a hike, which you will read about soon.

Then we went strawberry picking on the island! We were able to bring Bentley, as long as he was on a leash. And he LOVED it!

He would just stick his head in the bushes, which were right at his level, and would grab a strawberry off the vine and chomp it down. He probably had about 20. Then he would wander over to our box of picked strawberries and check those out, as we firmly pointed him in the other direction. Lazy little dog - just wanted to eat the ones we picked! We told him to go find his own.

Here I am, decked out in my HOT 4th of July attire. That's right, displaying my country's colors all at once. Not the most attractive look, but patriotic, right? Also note my white-as-heck legs. Thank you, cloudy Portland.

And our loot, early on.

Another glamour shot, with Bentley carefully eyeing the other pickers out in the field. Or maybe he saw a bug flying in the air? Or a UFO? Who knows.

For dinner, we whipped up some easy and delicious summery foods. I made an orzo pasta salad, but instead of traditional orzo, I used "stelline" (translates to little stars, in case your italian is outdated or in case the picture below didn't help). Fitting for the holiday, right?

I mixed in sundried tomatoes, chopped artichoke hearts, olive oil, and some fresh chopped parsley. I would have added parmesan cheese, but I forgot. Oops! I then refridgerated it so it was more pasta-salad like.

Meanwhile, Billy grilled up some cow meat for us - mmm steak!
He also grilled romaine hearts and some slices of his homemade bread! Delicious. By the way, that's an artichoke heart in the pasta salad, not a large pat of butter. That'd be gross.

For dessert, we figured we should use some of those freshly picked strawberries, and what better dessert than strawberry shortcakes? Except there's no reason to use white cake when it's the 4th of July! Feeling patriotic, I throw some blue food coloring into my cake batter. BUT I made the mistake of starting with a yellow cake mix, so I couldn't get to blue. San-Jose-Shark-Teal was the best I could get. Note for next year - start with WHITE cake.

I used my new cake pan from Sur La Table, bought for $2.99 at their big sale! Here's what the bottoms look like...

...Because here's what the tops look like!

They're cup shaped so you can fill them with delicious things. Like strawberries. Or ice cream. Or hot fudge sauce. Or chocolate chips. Or whipped cream. Or all of the above?

We of course filled with strawberries, and topped with whipped cream. YUM. (Sorry about the poor lighting).

And my sweet friends Jackie and Carolyn graciously came over the next day to help us get rid of more strawberry shortcakes. How nice of them, right? :)