California Dreamin

Over the weekend we had a few of our closest friends over one last time while here in our home in California. We did a "California Dreamin" themed party inspired by our memories here {game nights & s'mores on the beach} and the delicious, fresh produce found at our local farmers market that we enjoy weekly. We had such a wonderful time enjoying the company of some cherished friends and sharing many laughs during highly competitive battle-of-the-sexes rounds of Catch Phrase and Guesstures.

 I am a little obsessed with the gorgeous {and cheap} flowers available at the farmers market. My flower arranging skills are a bit lacking... but the natural beauty shines through even when you just plunk them by the handful in some old mason jars.

 I had fun going down "memory lane" and creating this photo banner of some of our favorite CA memories. Since we moved here we have been blessed by the birth of both our children. We've enjoyed road trips to visit friends, friend's visiting us, sporting events, birth's of friend's babies, military balls, birthday parties, halloween parties, Christmas parties, charity fundraisers, and lots of globetrotting. It was tough narrowing down the photos to contain them on just two walls! This has been such a wonderful season in our lives.

 Sam and I love California cuisine. In all honesty, we are a little obsessed with it! Everything is so fresh and, for the most part, healthy. The menu was completely inspired by California favorites and almost every menu item featured a key ingredient from our local farmer's market.

 Anyone who knows me at all knows that I am completely in love with peaches. Hands down my favorite food on the planet. I prefer them plain, right off the tree, but since peach season is so short and I can't bear to go 10 months without them {and canned peaches definitely do not count}, last year I learned to make peach butter so I could still enjoy a taste of summer on my toast year round. So when thinking of a party favor, this was a natural fit. All homemade with fresh local peaches from the farmers market! Other "peach" menu items included peach cobbler and fresh, homemade peach ice cream. 

 Second to peaches, I think my favorite farmers market item are heirloom tomatoes. I was never in love with tomatoes till living here and now I can't get enough of them. We have the most gorgeous varieties all with their own distinct flavors here. I used a Pioneer Woman bruschetta recipe along with a delicious local CA aged basalmic for these and I think they were my favorite bites of the night. 

 Artichokes are a local specialty. You would not believe the delicious things they do with them around here! I kinda copped out and just used canned artichokes and a less-than-creative spinach-and-artichoke dip but it was still yummy.

 Another local specialty is garlic. During the harvest you can smell it as you drive through Gilroy {nearby town}. So I roasted some with rosemary and added it to our favorite family hummus recipe along with pita bread from our favorite falafel place at the farmers market.

 CA cows must be anatomically different than "other" cows because here we have a cut of steak called "tri-tip" that is pretty much unavailable in the other parts of the country where we have lived. It is the easiest and most delicious cut of meat we have ever worked with on the grill and this recipe with homemade BBQ sauce has become a staple in our family and always gets rave reviews when we make it for company.

 It wouldn't be CA without fish tacos! We used Monterey Bay Halibut from the farmer's market for this.

D photo bomb!

 We obviously don't have a beach in our backyard {although you can see the bay from our front porch}, but one of our favorite CA activities are bonfires on the beach complete with roasted marshmallows and s'mores. I maintain that the most useful thing I have ever found on pinterest is that you can roast marshmallows over sternos! Surprisingly good flavor too. So we set up a little marshmallow roasting station on our back porch. 

Deconstructed s'more

Marshmallow mouth!

"Look at mommy and look happy!" haha!

Sticky fingers

I was laughing too hard {and too fully invested} in the games to get any good pictures. Such a fun night! So glad we were able to do this one last time before moving. Monterey will always be a special place for our family and these people will always have a special place in our hearts.