Better late than never...

Well here is my very late happy 4th of July to everyone! It was a bit of a stressful day, first in the morning preparing my picnic, then trying to find the fireworks show, but everything actually turned out great! We were going to enjoy the fireworks show and a picnic at Fort Vancouver in Vancouver Washington this year, but they clearly did not know what was going on and blocked every entrance into the fireworks show. We were then directed by a man to go to a nearby mall and ride the shuttle, but when we get there, there were only four cars in the parking lot and it was then that I decided perhaps that man had no idea what he was talking about. So we crossed the river back over into Oregon territory and found a neat little spot right across the river and enjoyed the fireworks from there. There was a lot of people but it was still fun.
As for my picnic, I think it turned out great. For someone who is not the best cook, mostly because I don't get the chance to practice a lot, the meal turned out pretty delicious. I chose to make foods that were cold so they could travel, and were easy to eat on a blanket. I made a spinach dip with feta cheese in it, a cold macaroni salad, some bread sticks, and my most prized creation, some Martha Stewart cookies. The bread sticks were Pillsbury and not that exciting, but the rest did take some time and effort and I was really happy that they all turned out great.
The week before I did some searching online for some recipes that I could use to make my dishes. I found some really simple ones that I think taste great.
First was the spinach dip, which I don't actually care for, but my boyfriend is a huge fan so I included it in my picnic. This was a pretty simple recipe, but I did not include the dill because we're not huge fans of dill. My boyfriend claimed in was delicious though, so it may be worth a try!
Next was the macaroni salad, which I actually ate. Most people call me a picky eater because I do not like a wide variety of foods, including most vegetables, but my goal is to change that. This macaroni salad sure put me on that road because it was very tasty. I would recommend more cheese, but only because I like cheese and less onion. I even put a little too many noodles in and the onion was really strong. Next time I may only go with one tablespoon of onion, especially since I will be using less noodles. Very much worth a try though, and because it's summer right now it's great for the heat and very easy to make!
Finally, what I am most proud of, the cookies. Now let me tell you, I was nervous. Martha Stewart must not actually make any of the recipes she puts on her website because they are hard. This one in particular is very time consuming so make sure you read the directions carefully and have plenty of time to make them. I followed the directions exactly as Martha laid them out in the recipe, but I messed up the ingredients a little. Not to worry though, it still turned out just fine. The ingredients say to use five cups cake flour NOT self rising. Well I only had three cups of the cake flour, which actually is just all purpose flour, and when I went to the store all I could find was self rising flour! Of course I panicked, but as it turns out, there isn't much of a difference between the two, other than self rising also includes baking soda and salt. So I put in the three cups of cake flour and two of the self rising. I then excluded the baking soda and salt called for in the recipe and guess what? They turned out to be very yummy cookies indeed. I beat Martha and I am so proud :)


Here are pictures of my amazing cookies and very tasty macaroni salad. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of the cooking stages because I was stressed, and then my food was devoured by my hungry picnic guests so these are the only items left over. All in all, the picnic turned out great and it was a very fun 4th of July. I hope everyone else enjoyed their 4th of July as well!

My camera's fireworks setting is not as neat as I had thought, but here are the some of the fireworks form Fort Vancouver!