Even Dancing Queens Have To Eat Sometime

{At the San Diego Symphony Pop: The Music of ABBA concert on Sat 7/19.}

The last couple of weeks after we got back from our NorCal trip has been a whirlwind of summer fun. 

We went to my friend Julio’s birthday party on Friday 7/18.  He had a huge spread of Mexican food.

Lots of drinks.

A DJ playing dance music.

I finally got to meet Julio’s brother and sister-in-law.  It was a fun night!

On Saturday night 7/19, we went to the San Diego Symphony Pops concert featuring the music of ABBA with our friends Anne & Gilbert.  There was an ABBA tribute band, and they were even from Sweden! 

They played most of ABBA’s best hits, such as Take A Chance On Me, Dancing Queen, The Winner Takes It All, Fernando, One of Us, Waterloo, etc.  Speaking of “Take a Chance On Me”, try watching this video from the Wake County SPCA without wanting to bring all the animals home! 

Concert selfie.

With Anne & Gilbert.  We brought lawn chairs to the concert.  They even let you bring your own food and drinks, as long as they are not in a big cooler.

We brought homemade pasta with roasted veggies.

There was fireworks over San Diego Bay at the end of the concert.  That is one of my favorite things about the SD Symphony summer concerts!

On Wed 7/23 we tried out a new restaurant called Peri Peri.  It was South African food, which I’ve never had! 

I got the Prawns Peri Peri, which was flame-grilled prawns, shell on with butter, lemon, coarse salt, and Peri-Peri sauce (a very spicy oil).

Todd had the Boerewors House Made “Farmer’s Sausage”, with coarsely ground sausage seasoned with coriander and cloves.

The food there was very good.  I think we’ll be back!

OMG, Todd is famous! He got on the You Are Not So Smart podcast back in June! He was driving home one night and listening to it, and then all of a sudden they talked about Todd's cookie recipe that he modified from America's Test Kitchen! It was SO cool!  Listen to the podcast between minutes 53:30 and 58:30, it's Todd's 5 minutes of fame!  The show even pinned Todd’s cookie recipe on their Pinterest board.  And last week, Todd finally got the book they promised, for having his cookie recipe tried out on the podcast!

On Friday night 7/25, we went to Barnes & Noble after dinner for a bookstore date!  Todd wanted to peruse the new collage football magazines.

I checked out some beauty and crafty magazines.

On Sat 7/26 we went to visit Sally and her twins.  I hadn’t seen them since their birthday party in March!  We had dinner together:  grilled sausages, caprese salad, and roasted asparagus with balsamic brown butter.  Noms!

I brought over some crafty supplies that I purged, and fairly soon everyone was covered in stickers, lol.

Since it’s been hot here, even by San Diego standards, we’ve been eating salads.

But we did try a new recipe from America’s Test Kitchen:  Cauliflower Soup.  (Registration required to see the recipe.)  It sounds unappetizing, but after watching them make it, it looked so good we had to give it a try!  And boy it’s really good!

Ready for some Noodle cuteness?

Sleeping soundly on his perch.

Extreme close-up.

Playing under the dining chairs.  Hilarious!

Hanging out in the craft room with me this past weekend.  So cute how he wants to be close to me, even when I’m crafting.

On the dresser in the morning, where I often find him after I get out of the shower.