my sis and i made a belated father's day dinner for my dad and stepmom tonight. (on actual father's day, ungrateful daughter number one was camping and ungrateful daughter number two was hiking.) i decided to go with tried-and-true well-tested favorites. 
here is a wilted arugula salad, topped with bacon, chopped walnuts, and shallots cooked in the bacon grease, a little olive oil, and a drizzle of blood orange basalmic. drizzled a bit on the tablecloth too. oops. a small cat toy was on the table for some reason, and also made it into the shot.
i repeated the shrimp recipe i did a couple of nights ago (baked in a sauce of pureed olive oil, shallot, garlic and red pepper flakes, with a few splashes of chicken broth). i suppose it would have been nice to have mixed it with some veggies or put it atop a nice bed of something or other, but we had four dishes going at once in the kitchen, and were trying to time them. it kind of felt like we were on an episode of top chef.
the spanish tortilla with rutabaga i've done a couple of times now turned out great. on top are some chives and the purple blossoms of the chives, which lend it a nice peppery, floral flavor.
and this was sheer awesomeness. my sister made these raw, vegan, gluten-free, grain-free brownies, using only ground nuts (walnuts and pecans), raisins and dates. the frosting is coconut oil brought to liquid state, then whisked with cocoa powder. it's then chilled to give it that shellacked frosting crust. top that with some fresh peaches, raspberries and strawberries tossed in lemon juice, lemon zest and mint, and i have a new favorite dessert.
we then sat out on the deck and watched anna's hummingbirds at the feeder. a pretty perfect evening all around!
