Fun, Family, and Friends on Fourth of July Weekend

Friday, before the hubs and I met up with some friends, I made the most amazing, tender pork chops with onions in peppers.  I sprinkled each piece of meat with a good amount of salt and pepper and sprayed the sizzling frying pan with Pam then seared each chop.  The veggies and pork were cooked to perfection on medium heat (flipping a couple of times) after about 20 minutes for the man and 25 for me.  Yes!  I am weird about pork, too.  We gobbled the pork with veggies and some pasta salad up and headed off to hang with some buddies.  A very easy and delicious dinner was served and eaten in 35-40 minutes. 

Sunday was the celebration with family and friends and food.  Lots and lots of awesome food.  It was like heaven on earth in Wakefield for a day.  My uncle and aunt have a huge yard with a good sized pool, the perfect set up for a sick backyard bash.  Everyone was either drinking, swimming, chatting, chilling, playing games, or eating.  First we had the never ending amount of appetizers.  Anything from kielbasa, to boneless ribs, to every kind of dip you can imagine with chips and veggies, etc.  I kind of took it easy on that course because I knew I wanted to destroy me some grilled awesomeness.   I started with a good old fave...a hot dog with mustard.  I usually do sweet relish, too, but I needed a bite fast and in the worst way.  So good!  Everyone started digging into the tower of festive cupcakes.  Not that there wasn't a million other options for desserts.  I didn't want to miss out.  So, I proceeded to inhale a yellow cupcake with chocolate frosting (the perfect combo) made by my godmother.  Then I had some perfectly marinated steak tips with some delicious chicken tips.  There were tons of sides which I usually devour.  But for some reason, yesterday I was prone to the meat.  They had green salad, potato salad, two or three kinds of pasta salad, macaroni salad, baked bean salad.  I know I am leaving some out but I can't remember them all.  Later on in the day/evening, after I kicked some major butt in Bocce, I was craving a snack.   Oh!  And when I say kicked butt I mean my teammate and I beat 13 teams to win the tournie.  It was beautiful!!!  The grill was fired up for the fourth or fifth time of the day.  I was psyched to be enjoying a perfectly grilled cheeseburger with ketchup.  All the while my family and my uncle's friends were congratulating us on our win.  I was loving my bragging rights and talking major smack to my cousin who we beat out in the very last game.  It was all in good fun.  If you can't take a joke in my family...you're screwed.  We love laughing with and at each other and just having a good time.  Desserts had been on display for a while but I wasn't feeling my sweet side.  I only had one brownie with nuts made by my madre and a couple of nibbles here and there of other things.  The fresh strawberries and whipped cream looked scrumptious.  There were cookies of all kinds, halfmoons, several different pastries, and a gorgeous truffle.  My family DOES NOT mess around when it comes to food and having a good time.  A great day was had by all!!!