Weekend with Mom and Dad!!!

Mom and dad came up this past weekend to help celebrate Emilie and Abigail's 15th and 13th birthdays!  As usual, we ran, ran, ran the entire time they were here, and had an AWESOME time together!

It started with pizza on Friday night from Fat Lorenzo's.  If you haven't enjoyed this South Minneapolis wonder, you need to...REALLY, REALLY, REALLY good pizza, and, if you're in the neighborhood...they deliver!!!

After dinner, I headed back to Eagan to make the girls' "special request" birthday cake...Key Lime Bundt Cake "with extra glaze"!  Here's the recipe...should you want to give it a go!  It's actually from allrecipes.com, and I credit Kaye Frickhoeffer, the originator of the recipe.  THANK YOU Kaye for sharing it!!!!

Key Lime Cake II

Yields: 12-24 servings

1 (18.25 oz.) package lemon cake mix
1 (3 oz.) package instant lemon pudding mix
¾ cup water
½ cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
5 T. key lime juice
1½ cups confectioners' sugar
3 T. key lime juice

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease one 9×13-inch cake pan or one 10-inch bundt pan.

In a large bowl stir together lemon cake mix, lemon instant pudding, water, oil, eggs, and 5 T. key lime juice, mixing well. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Pour key lime glaze over cake while still warm.

TO MAKE GLAZE: Mix together the confectioners’ sugar and 3 T. key lime juice (or more if necessary). Spoon glaze SLOWLY over cooled cake.


Saturday, Duane and I got up, got ready, and met the "gang" to go to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.  It was the "Art in Bloom" show, and we've managed to get to it the last several years. 

SOOOOOO cool to see local florists interpret works of art in the museum, and create a representation in flowers!

Here are some of my favorites:

We also had the chance to take some "group shots" and fun photos during our visit...

I was also able to see some of my favorite "un-flowered" works...

After the art institute we dropped a couple of people back at Robin and Dave's, then headed to a few antique stores in St. Paul.  We also stopped at Izzy's Ice Cream for...ice cream, and Sweet's Bake Shoppe for cupcakes.  We then went back to Robin and Dave's (again!), and hung out until the "festivities" for the girl's birthdays' began.

Monica (their AWESOME neighbor next door) joined us, and we had an AMAZING dinner of breakfast brats (from the Minneapolis Farmer's Market) on the grill, potato salad, quinoa salad, fresh fruit, and...for dessert...MY CAKE!!!!

After dinner, Duane and I headed home to Eagan (to recuperate!)!!!

Sunday, everyone (except for Robin, who was starting to get sick on Saturday, and who did WAY TOO MUCH that day and paid for it!) came over for lunch.  I ALWAYS use these opportunities to try new recipes, and bit off WAY more than I could chew with a Cuban "lasagna" recipe, utilizing pork, cilantro, peppers, plantains, and a labor intensive "secret" ingredient called sofrito, which is, basically, an emulsified salsa...

It turned out pretty well, but took WAY TOO MUCH EFFORT...I won't BORE you with the recipe, but if you leave a comment on this post with an e-mail address, I'll send it to you!

After lunch, everyone headed home (Iowa and South Minneapolis), and I spent the next couple of hours cleaning, doing dishes, doing laundry, and getting things put back to "normal"!

AWESOME weekend...AWESOME family...AWESOME "adventures"!!!!

Here's hoping YOU were able to spend time with loved ones recently too!!!!!