An Afternoon at the Beach with Friends

I spent yesterday afternoon at Lake Koronis in Paynesville with my W.E.T. friends (that stands for Women's Enrichment Time, folks!). We mainly hung out on a blanket and ate our amazing potluck meal. I made the bruschetta with french bread rounds that you can just see in the basket. Yumm-o! We also had curried pasta/tuna salad, homemade bread with homemade blueberry jam, tortilla wraps filled with cream cheese and shredded veggies, homemade monster cookies, watermelon and strawberry lemonade. It was all we could do to move afterwards!

Bruschetta is basically chopped tomatoes and basil leaves with a couple of cloves of minced garlic, a couple tablespoons (or so) of olive oil and a tablespoon (or so) of balsamic vinegar, with salt and pepper to taste. So easy! I didn't even parboil or skin the tomatoes as some recipes call for. We've been finding lots of ways to eat the sweet and tender tomatoes that are ripening in the garden.

This year we have grown (with much success) three heirloom varieties, Red Calabash, Arkansas Traveler, and Garden Peach all from Seeds of Change. Heirloom varieties are the old-fashioned types that are not hybrid, and they tend to be sweeter and more tender than hybrids. Even I can eat them, and I'm not a fan of raw tomatoes generally. Our friend and cousin, Jess, also sent us some seeds from a wild cherry tomato she found growing in her Houston backyard. They are delicious, too. And then we have some regular old Romas, too.

On another night this past weekend we had Caprese salad, above. That is just tomatos sliced into rounds, topped with a basil leaf, then a slice of fresh mozzarella cheese, then another basil leaf (we like lots of basil)--all drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper. We ate it on top of, what else?, slices of a french baguette. After the beach, we hit Vicki's backyard to do some watercolor painting. We watched a DVD, Louise Hay's You Can Heal Your Life. Louise Hay is an amazing woman who at age 80 still runs her own spiritual book publishing house. She discovered years ago that your thoughts create your life--something I've been working on figuring out for the past couple of years. It was a great film. After the movie, we cut up our paintings and made affirmation/wisdom cards for ourselves (i.e. "I have unlimited potential", "I have all the energy I need", "I am debt-free and have everything I want and need"). Kooky, yes! But fun, too. And it really does work to change your thinking.
It was a beautiful day outside, eating and creating and laughing with girlfriends.