Monday, July 6, 2009

4th of July

Saturday we hosted a little 4th of July get together at our flat

I thought my strawberries turned out pretty darn cute:) (gosh they were GOOD too!)

I also made red velvet cake - my great Grandma's recipe

Berries made a nice topping!

Steve & Selina & Amelia & Clara brought these CUTE cookies - loving the stars & stripes!!!

Also - of course - I made spinach dip with the ranch spice my Mom sent! oh it was GOOOOOD!

Helen also assembled the bean dip (which Betty Crocker calls Mexican dip) - everyone LOVED it !!!!

Cute Clara was collecting flag sticker to put on her cheeks!

She also popped over to the table now and then for a snack, then had to peek over the sofa to see the TV - toooooooo cute!

We also made tater tot casserole which went over really well!

From left Steve, Me, Ali, Anna, Amelia, Selina, Tom, Helen, Nicole & Cameron

Helen, Nicole & Cameron

Of COURSE we made hot dogs! With all the fixings of course - chili, sauerkraut, onions, etc)

Murray & Steve (and the very festive hats Steve & Selina brought along!)

Amelia, Selina, Me & Clara

Tom enjoying a brewsky on the balcony

Amelia & her Daddy

Tom & Murray with a hot dog........... enjoying the BBQing a bit too much I think!

Cameron & Nicole

Ali & Murray

Selina & Anna

Me with the lemonade! (I admit I couldn't find any lemonade mix, and I couldn't be bothered to make lemonade from scratch, so I used 'lemon tang' and then added slices of lemon. It was pretty good though!

Super festive Amelia - even her outfit is red white & blue! So cute:)

Nicole & Helen

Murray, Ali & Anna

Clara joined me for dinner - she did LOVE the hot dogs!

Me & Murray (do you like my t-shirt that I got at Target in the states when I was back in April?). I totally didn't realize it matched the cake until I put it on........... lol

A VERY lovely evening. I am just sad we didn't get a photo of the AMAZING 7 layer salad Helen assembled - it was SOOOOOOOOO nice (especially since we put ranch dressing that we made from another one of the packets my Mom sent on top). I really do think the peas & radishes made that dish AMAZING! :)

And can you BELIEVE I forgot to take a picture of the Minnesota cookies??? Bummer - but gosh they were yummy!

8 comments:

  1. VERY patriotic and fun!!! LOVED your desserts! God Bless America (and Australia!!!) ~Joni

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  2. Love the strawbs... what was the white made of - cream? Stunning idea!

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  3. I Loved the hats! They are especially festive! And your strawberries look really good! I laughed cuz I have a pic on my blog of the same berries! I made them too :) Great minds think alike....

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  4. Oooh, I love your spinach dip :) So yummy!

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  5. How wonderful that you celebrated the 4th of July in Australia with your friends. The cake looked absolutely beautiful and the strawberries were terrific, too. Did Murray like the tater-tot-hotdish after all? I know he was kind of put off by the soup in the recipe.
    Love You, Mom

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  6. Monique, it looks like you put on a fabulous 4th of July get together! I love the dipped strawberries, and may just steal your idea! Glad it went so well, looks like everyone there had a great time. Congratulations to you for bringing a little America to Australia :)

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  7. Awesome expat 4th of July! We did the same! Though I think that yours was a bit more "festive" in the decorative sense! Love the cake and cookies and all the decorations! Wonderful! I love red velvet cake! I have a recipe that isn't mine, no one special, but if you are ever willing to share your grandma's I'd love to try it out. (Only if you are open to that) Anyway, I'm so glad you had a great 4th!!

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  8. Sorry it took me so long- when I make the chocolate covered strawberries I first put them on wax paper on a cookie sheet in the fridge until I am ready to bring them to the party, then I put them on the fancy platter and they dont really stick too much.

    Hope that helps! Miss you!! XOXOX

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