Canada Day is my favourite celebration. I host a BBQ every year and I especially liked it when we have lots of children at it. This is finger jello I made a few years ago.

Simple to make and a lot of fun.

Last year I dipped Oreos and red licorice into white chocolate.

Children seem to appreciate stuff like this more than the adults but it’s a lot of fun.

This year I am expecting about 35 people, only 6 will be children. 😕

Anyhow, my menu is shrimp in garlic butter and watermelon for starters.

Hamburgers with a variety of toppings, honey/ginger/ garlic chicken, potato salad with radishes (for the colour), coleslaw with Craisins and salted shelled sunflower seeds, and a Greek salad.

For dessert I’m serving vanilla ice cream topped with strawberries and bananas in old timey paper cups and wooden spoons. I’m planning on making a party mix with salted peanuts, yogurt covered pretzels, red Nibs and Canuck M and M candies.

I love having a red and white theme🙄🇨🇦

We have a rubber ax game that was a big hit last year, so we’ll do that again. We’ve played Bunnock before that a friend brought but the sets can be expensive so I’ve purchased a Bocce set and my husband is laying out a court right now in the back.

So far, all we have planned is pizza. We'll be in Cathedral City/Palm Springs, and we'll check Gelson's in Palm Desert for fish and sushi. Typically, we grill salmon at 4th of July, since it should be in season by then. I like to buy extra salmon and then make salmon salad with the leftover fish.

It will be very hot there, but we can spend a good amount of time in the pool. I have two new bathing suits that I like.

When is salmon not in season anywhere along the west coast?

No plans this year as everything related to the kitchen in packed in moving boxes. I may hit Gelson's for some ready made salads and their spicy salmon filets.

We’ve always had a party on July 3rd since most people don’t have to work the next day. This year we’re doing it on July 1 which is DH’s birthday. He requested lamb that will be butterflied leg on the grill. Still thinking about the rest but it will definitely all lean Greek except dessert. He loves cake from Nothing Bundt Cakes and my mixed berry cobbler. We’ll see!

June through August is the best salmon season in California, and this is when the supply is normally the greatest with also the lowest prices. This year, however, fishing for salmon is being restricted.

My recipe for salmon salad is flaked salmon (I've used canned in the past), chopped green onion, finely chopped tomato, lemon juice, and mayo. It is based on a recipe for stuffed tomatoes, but I decided that I prefer the tomato to be chopped and added to the salad, which makes it easier to eat, although the stuffed tomatoes are prettier. I serve it with crackers or flatbread.

I've never had salmon with cabbage - I will have to try that.

We are heading down to the lake cabin with a big crowd (20-25) for the long weekend. A buddy and I are tag teaming a BBQ dinner on Sunday. I'm smoking a whole brisket and some sausages and he is smoking 5 slabs of baby back ribs and a couple chickens. Others are making the traditional sides....potato salad, coleslaw, beans, etc. We should also be able to buy some fresh local sweet corn to add to the mix.

Lars, my father often used canned salmon and he’d make a batch just to have in the fridge for munching. The cool crunchy cabbage works for me. :)

LoneJack, add cold beer for starters and that sounds perfect to me.

A batch of homemade chili crisp is in the offing ... may be some, uh ... fireworks.

wow, the mention of fireworks triggered a memory from 10 years ago. I had been transferred and was temporarily working with a completely different group of guys and so I was invited to one of their 4th of July parties. I wish I could get invited to his parties every freaking year. These guys were really into fireworks, and they were amazing engineers, so what they built was incredible. Think of something like the fireworks scene in the movie Coneheads, but lasting longer. lol! They built, planned, and laid out the whole thing with an amazing array of fireworks, then once everyone was situated for viewing enjoyment they set it off remotely and it went off like a perfectly orchestrated set of dominos. Totally illegal, but everyone loved it! Even the cops who occasionally showed up each year when he did it. :)

PM - the ice cold beer and/or wine and mixed drinks are a given.

I'm trying my hand at "Mapo Tofu" for the first time. Link to the recipe I'm using. It says NOT to use firm tofu...but I already have it on hand. Wish me luck....any advice?

Update: My husband doesn't like mushrooms, so I left them out. It was REALLY good! We have left overs...enough for several meals. ❤️

Happy celebrations!

Not interesting. Nostalgic?

Sue's Roadhouse Ribs.

Family isn't getting together because we were all together Father's Day and again this upcoming Saturday for a surprise party! Daddy's 84th.

Glad it's quiet. We have had severe winds and lost large branches off of our 100+ year old trees. We're tired. No damage, but dang, the work to get rid of it. Very very heavy and high up. But it's done. Whew. Time to relax.

Nicole that tofu looks delish!!

I made a Greek-ish feast for Dad and hubs. Greek style potato salad with green and yellow wax beans, balsamic evoo dressing. Another salad with cucumbers, lemon juice and sour cream and chives, similar to Tzatziki but without the mint. Lamb chops for the boys. Lemon yogurt cake for dessert with fresh strawberry topping.

The lemon cake was meh. I think there was a typo in the recipe. It was a cake that called for a sugar syrup poured over it after it was baked, and the syrup only called for 1 tsp. lemon juice. That meant no flavor, even though I used a TBLSP and also some orange zest. I think it was supposed to be lemon flavoring oil. . . .

We're not Greek but love Greek food. The lamb chops made me think Greek and I had the yogurt for the cake and needed to use it up. I've had better lemon cakes, to be sure . . .

LPink, this is the soak for the awesome key lime cake, as a comparison for proportions. The cake is good without it but it makes it that much better! (And I'm usually one to withhold sugar.)

Key Lime Syrup:

3/4 Cup water

1/2 Cup key lime juice

1-1/2 Cups sugar

1/2 Teaspoon lime oil or lemon extract

That totally sounds better. I'm going to write this one into my "Yogurt Cookbook" because the other glaze as a total bust for the recipe. I dunno if I'll ever make the cake again. I might make a key lime cake . . . for some odd reason, hubs doesn't like lemon flavor. And yet he likes orange and lime . . . I think this is just one of his contrarian quirks. It's baked into his personality. He even says, "Well I do like SOME lemon things." But I can never predict . . . whatever it is, I get it wrong . . .

There might be some compound in just lemons that he's sensitive to, which may be neutralized in certain treatments. The syrup for the key lime cake is definitely for soaking. It's very watery. If you want to make it into an actual glaze, use confectioner's sugar (adjust the quantity) or put regular sugar through the blender until it's well pulverized (note that it could etch the jar), and add the water a dribble or spoon at a time until you get the consistency you want.