Sensational Salad

Ever since the delicious blogger dinner at Vlora last weekend, I have been thinking about the traditional Albanian watermelon and feta combination, and I knew that I would have to try it in some capacity at home. And that’s just what I did for dinner.

But first, lunch. We got off to a late start on the 4th. My husband was kind enough to drive our friend Kari to the airport for her flight to San Diego, and while he did that I went back to sleep. . . until 10:30! I never ever sleep that late, and it felt soooo good.

I woke up, blogged, did some cleaning, and then we headed to Yankee Lobster for a little New England seafood lunch.

Yankee Lobster is a cute little place for fresh seafood down by the Seaport area of Boston. They have great, fresh, cold, Harpoon beer on draught (the brewery is something like .1 mile away!), and in addition to all of the prepared foods, they also sell fresh fish and lobsters to cook at home.

We shared the fried oysters and a lobster roll with fries and coleslaw. The oysters were a hit with a crunchy, light batter, and bursting with briny ocean flavor.

The fries were excellent, but they don’t serve Heinz ketchup. . . next time I will bring my own. The coleslaw was really good as well, but the lobster roll was a little disappointing. The lobster was really dry, and while I used to love my lobster rolls with lobster salad: lobster, celery, mayo, I think I have become a devotee of the hot lobster roll with just lobster and butter. Decisions, decisions.

After hitting up a completely empty Trader Joe’s- apparently grocery shopping ON a holiday is a good idea- we had a relaxing afternoon at home and eventually decided to just stay in for the evening.

I cooked up some tofu hot dogs and then got started on this splendidly simple salad.

Chunks of cool, sweet watermelon, crunchy yellow bell pepper, creamy, salty feta, and a dash of olive oil and balsamic were all I used.

And next time, I think I would leave the olive oil and balsamic out and just let the flavors of the fruit shine through. Maybe a tiny handful of chopped fresh mint? All I know is that I am hooked on watermelon as part of a salad (or eaten by the bowl full for snack), and you will likely be seeing it here again.

After dinner, I ran into the living room to get something and discovered this:

Smuckers and Scout, sleeping together on top of the wine fridge. These two usually play and fight with each other, but I haven’t seen them sleeping together, and especially on such a small surface, in a long time. It was adorable.

Yes, that plate is theirs. They have their own plates in addition to their regular food bowls. Cats run the house, I tell ya.

The rest of the night was spent making chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches and watching Shutter Island: cookies from store-bought cookie dough and Trader Joe’s brand chocolate ice cream which is the best ice cream I have had in a LONG time. I am always disappointed when we go out for ice cream, but this has just that perfect chocolate flavor and rich, creamy texture.

Looking back and feeling rested and refreshed, I am glad we decided to spend the holiday together, at home, relaxing.

Do you ever feel pressure that you HAVE to do something on holidays like New Year’s Eve or the 4th of July?

Don’t miss my guest post on The Daily Craic, my Top 5 Things to Do in Ireland