It's Tuesday and I think I have finally recovered from this weekend!
This past weekend I got in the car and traveled home to La Crosse to celebrate the 4th of July. This time was a little different then most because I stayed in a hotel AND brought 11 of my friends. We arrived Friday afternoon and stopped at the grocery store for all the essentials: food and beer. I can't speak for everyone else but I had a blast!
If you've never been, downtown La Crosse is a small area of town with a lot of bars and food places.
The bars differentiate themselves by music, decor, and age group. The one commonality: CHEAP. We hit up some of my favorites: The Bodega, Cheap shots, Brothers, The Helm, The Library, and Coconut Joe's. After a night of going out we started the day with Bloody Mary's and Rudy's for lunch. Then we headed to the beach where some relaxed and others played beach volleyball. The weather in Minnesota has been HOT, really hot, these past few weeks so a little breeze and clouds were a nice change. We had a BBQ at my parents house Saturday night and unfortunately I only have one picture preparing the food, but take my word that it was delicious!
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| A little hard to see because of the sun, but this was everyone sat morning! |
What we had:
1. Chipotle marinated grilled chicken (on the smoker): Thanks to Tony for grilling!2. Hot dogs
3. Salad (Romaine, carrots, cucumbers, red pepper, green onions, olive oil and vinegar)
4. Sliced potatoes (cubed potatoes, salt, pepper, rosemary, oregano, olive oil baked at 400 for 30 mins)
5. Corn on the cob
6. Chili aioli sauce (chili paste and mayo mixed together), this was a dressing for chicken sandwiches
Rudy's Drive-In
The only picture of the food :(
I've cooked for a lot of people before but cooking for 22 people was difficult, especially because I wasn't in my own kitchen!
We went back downtown for another night of fun. Some La Crosse friends (Andrea and Kathleen) , my brother Jarrod, and Danielle all tagged along for a night of fun.
Me, Jarrod, and Danielle at the end of the night
Damian and I at Coconut Joe's
Some funny pictures from the weekend. Left: Allyssa struggling as Tony makes a funny face; Right: Brian not happy about Caitlin's hug.
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| Zach, Brian, Caitlin, and Tony at The Bodega |
All in all, it was a great weekend and I can't wait until next year!
In other notes:
I've had a little bit of a sore throat since Sunday so my Monday night's dinner was as followed.From Whole Foods:
- Quinoa Black Bean Vegetable Chili- Greek Pasta salad
- Sliced Mango
- Naked Juice
Back to the grind!
