Awesome Saturday!

On saturday morning, I got up at 8:00(!!OH MY GOD!!!) and I felt very disoriented. I had a cup of iced coffee, that made me somewhat alive. But why 8? MY alarm was set for 8:30. But my dad and I left for the farmers market around 9:15, and that was fine.
We did some shopping, I had to buy all of 3 things. Strawberry jam, powdered sugar, and an apple (for my brekkie). My dad did a TON of shopping, so I got to sit on the benches for a while and sip at (yet another) iced coffee.
We headed out for the cottage, and I started on my cake straight away!! Can you guess what it would be judging by 2 ingredients from the previous paragraph?

We had appetizers (oh my god it seriousley equaled to a meal!) And my dad did most of the appetizer work, although I did make pesto for him. Fresh basil from our garden.. YUM!

Crostini with ciabatta bread, pesto, and baked tomatoes
The rest of the samosas, heated up.
Some more coconut mint chutney

Marinated olives in rosemary and orange (so yummy!) Just mix 2 cups unseasoned olives, some orange zest, a few rosemary sprigs, a handful of chopped parsley, a few garlic cloves, and a good drizzle of olive oil, then let it marinate and YUM!!

Peach and mint iced tea

Grilled watermelon with feta cheese

Unforunatley, my tummy has been... BLAH! Since saturday-including today. It's really weird! So I didn't have much in the form of appetizers, I think I had a piece of cheese-less grilled watermelon, and diet soda. :(

Hung out with my kitty while they were on the boat.

Like my toes?

After my dad took our guests for a boat ride, we started on DINNER!! (But...there was already so much!) So he started with that while I chopped veggies and such. I didn't have a dinner dish really, just dessert:)

Opa! Lamb and grilled veggies on the grill. Or is it a bonfire?

Pretty pasta salad our friends brought

More watermelon

Grilled veggies (yes, the picture sucks.)

DELICIOUS bread baked by our friends that day!!!

Yumzy greek salad
Salmon
Lamb...I actually carried it to a table but no one got a picture of me holding it!

The whole spread! There was also AMAZING stuffed tomatoes, which I had one of tonight. Stuffed with bulgur, carrot, celery, chickpeas...so yummzy!

My plate...yes my tummy was not happy, and didn't feel happy after eating. But I did anyways, and it eventually got better later in the night.
Speaking of that night...

I made cake! Sponge cake with strawberries and mint. I added some orange flavor too! It was from Fresh and fast vegan pleasures.

Right after assembling

Sat out for a while-covered the blemishes with mint and strawbs.

Still perfectly good! It was actually amazing, if I may say so myself. I can, since it's not even my recipe and even though I tweaked it a bit, I give credit to Amanda Grant.

1/2 cup earth balance

1/2 cup turbinado sugar

2 1/4 cups self rising flour (yes, this is NOT a typo)

3 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

9 fl. oz soy yogurt (1 1/2 cartons)

1/4 tsp vanilla

I added about 1/2-1 tsp orange liqueur

1-2 tbsp vegan milk (I needed more)

Filling/Topping:

1 lb strawberries, sliced

sugar and orange liqueur to taste

4 tbsp strawberry jam (My dad made some on the spot...we forgot it!)

Decorate:

Handful of mint

confectioner's sugar

orange zest

Preheat the oven to 350'F. Put the margarine and sugar in a saucepan and heat gently, until the sugar has dissolved. Let cool.

Grease an 8' cake pan and line the base with grease proof paper. (Or spray lightly. I Used a large cake pan, and made 2 cakes then layered them on top of each other with filling in the middle, they were quite thin.) Sift the flour and baking powder, then add the salt. Pour the margarine and sugar into the dry ingredients. Add the yogurt, vanilla, and orange liqueur. Mix well with a spoon until it is a soft drooping consistency, add vegan milk if neccacery. Spoon the cake mixture into the pan and bake for 20-25 minutes, until it's risen and golden. The center will be springy, then let it cool.

Cut the cake in 1/2 horizontally (I had 2 thin cakes) and put the strawberries in a bowl, then add the orange liqueur and sugar. Spread a layer of jam on top of both halves of the cake. Cover one half with a layer of the strawberries. Put the cake, jam side up, onto the other cake half. Arrange the top cake with strawberries, powdered sugar, mint, and orange zest. Enjoy!

I sliced the orange and a peach to go with dessert.

This morning (11 ish!) My dad really wanted me to make him french toast out of that amazing bread. I threw together:

1 cup almond milk

splash vanilla

3-4 tbsp flour

TONS of cinnamon

3 tsp brown sugar

drizzle of honey (the only kind of honey I'll eat, from a bee farm literally in our neighborhood.)

pinch of salt and baking powder

JUst simply soak the bread for a minute or two, then fry for 3-4 minutes on a lightly greased pan on LOW MEDIUM! Crucial.

My dad loved it! He even parted from his computer.

It was really delicious! I had a bite, but still my tummy was NOT HAPPY.
My dad took me tubing on our boat, which was super fun!

On the car ride home, I was dropped off at a little strip mall to hang out with my friend. Hi Sagen, if you're reading!

Poor kitty in the car.
Our purchases at ulta: She got a clean and clear cleanser thing, an eyeliner with a free mascara, and I got an eyeliner (plum shade!) with a free mascara, and a $3.50 TURQUOISE eyeliner! Plus an unpictured lilac lipstick in the clearance.

Plato's closet! Nice jacket, Sagen.
Like my heels? I wish I was that tall. I ended up getting an unpictured black and white tshirt thingy.

Love this waterbottle! We went to whole foods, she got this water and a bag of pop chips, salt and pepper flavor. I got a panda bar, (chewy black licorice) for my dad, and a bag of vegan carob chips. I haven't had those in a while!

I'm going to be doing a t-shirt making class with sagen this week, we'll be biking downtown for a 1:00 class every day. Excited! What should my designs be? I need advice!