Farewell to Friends, Marinated Flank Steak, Mahi Mahi Teriyaki Stir Fry, and Our 9th Anniversary

On the plate:  Marinated flank steak and mahi mahi teriyaki stir fry

Soundtrack to cook to:  Stevie Wonder's Definitive Collection...seriously one of my faves if you couldn't tell.  So many great jams that have you dancing in the kitchen, and then sniffling like a little baby at the same time (For Once In My Life tugs at my heart strings every time I hear it).  Love me some Stevie.

I was prepping our beach bag with a picnic lunch while the boys were playing and Alex said, "Mommy!!  Come take a picture of me and William!  We're playing nicely!"  I was absolutely shocked and delighted, and happily grabbed the camera and snapped this pic.  :-)  Our kids are funny.

"Cheeeese!"  See?  Perfect little angels...at this moment. ;-)

Love these kiddos

After visiting the SOWA outdoor market one weekend, we came back with a beautiful 3 lb flank steak.  I've never cooked flank steak before but my mouth was watering for some delicious grilled steak, so I couldn't wait to cook this baby up.
I literally googled "Marinated flank steak recipe" and found a super easy recipe that made Joseph go, "Oh!  This one's a keeper!" and had the boys gobbling it up and asking for more.  We didn't have any leftovers!!  It's seriously that good and cannot be easier to make.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• Juice and zest of one lemon
• 1 1/2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 1/2 lbs flank steak

*Since we had 3 lbs of flank steak, I just doubled everything in the recipe (but only used 3/4 cup oil) and it turned out perfect.

Whisk together all of the ingredients.

Pour the mixture over the flank steak in a casserole dish.
Cover and refrigerate for 6 hours (but can be done overnight).

When you're ready to grill, put it on the grill for about 5-7 minutes per side
(or to desired doneness).

The result was an incredibly flavorful and juicy flank steak.  Cut it against
the grain to serve.  This paired beautifully alongside some grilled potatoes
and a corn, cucumber, avocado salad.

In July, I took the boys to meet our friends for a kid/adult dinner date at Clark Park in Brookline.  We had a farewell dinner in the park for our family friends, the Hearnes, who moved to Atlanta in the middle of July.  We were very sad to see them go, but were happy for the time that we had together.  The kids enjoyed a dinner of hot dogs, carrot sticks, pretzels, and watermelon.  The adults enjoyed a delightful cheese and meat platter that Kate Hearne had put together.  We had a great time chatting, noshing, and reminiscing.

William decided to eat with the adults.

Lucy, Arhan, and Alex climbing the rocks and running around.

Kings of the mountain!

There they go again!

Alex, Arhan, Lucy, and Sanders, enjoying their dinner together.

Our big kids!

Lovely face, Lulu! ;-)

The adults' table :-)

The darling little James joined the adults' table, as well.  He enjoyed
dining on watermelon and crackers.

What a cutie pie!!

Alex, Arhan, and Lucy snuggle time in the grass :-)

William kept running off and then refusing to come back, so Alex,
Arhan, and Lucy grabbed him and were able to coax him back to the table.

William really loved Lucy.  She was so good with him.

"We got him, mommy!!"

Arhan was also very sweet with William.

Brothers :-)

Awww!  A sweet exchange :-)

There they go again, climbing the rocks!  William joined in as well,
because he always wants to do what the big kids are doing.

Kate snuggling with her darling James.

William escaped again!

Thankfully Arhan and Lucy were on top of him. :-)

They brought the escapee back and Sanders was whipping around
on his two wheeler bike!

Alex found a kid's water gun at the park and
enjoyed squirting everyone.  However, he doesn't
like getting wet, himself.  He got quite upset
when his shirt got wet, so Kate took off his shirt.
The result is this beautiful picture :-)

What a goofy guy.

In order to buy us a little more time together, I put on Doc McStuffins
on my phone in order to keep William from getting too fussy.
The big kids enjoyed this as well, while Alex continued to shoot things
with the water gun.

William really loved Lucy. :-)

Sanders was very adventurous and was quite interested in eating
the delicious Manchego cheese that Kate had brought for the adults.

Lucy and Arhan are such kindred spirits. :-)

They're so sweet together.

Ok, time for a group picture!  (Minus James and Rayaan - Arhan's younger brother)

Uh-oh, where did Arhan disappear to?

Peek-a-boo!!  Arhan was a sneaky little photobomber.

The boys, minus James and Rayaan.

The big kids :-)

Love our little posse

These kiddos have known each other since they were 18 months old.  We're very sad to see them go.  We had lots of fun during our play dates together over the years. 

Here's a quick and easy recipe that my mother-in-law Linda concocted:  Mahi mahi teriyaki stir fry.  You don't have to solely use mahi mahi.  You can use any kind of fish, chicken, or even shrimp.  Once you make this basic sauce, you can pretty much pour it over anything and that dish would be delicious!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups soy sauce (we use Tamari)
• 2 cups pineapple juice
• 1 lb Mahi mahi (or any other protein of your choice)
• 1 tray of stir fry vegetables (I had a coupon at Wegman's for it.  Otherwise, I would use 1 sliced onion, 1 chopped bell pepper, 1 container of cremini mushrooms, and 1/2 lb chopped broccoli)
• Salt
• Pepper
• Garlic powder

Over medium/low heat, pour the soy sauce and pineapple juice into
a pot and allow it to reduce by half.

Season the fish with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  Cut it into bite-sized pieces
and place it into a skillet with some extra virgin olive oil.  Cook on medium/high
heat for about 4 minutes.

Chop up the vegetables and cook in the same pan as the fish for about 8-10 minutes.

Once the sauce has reduced by half, pour it over the stir fry and serve it
on top of a fluffy bed of brown rice.  A quick and easy recipe that's packed with flavor!

And now for some cute boy head shots!  We're planning on traveling soon and I thought I could get good head shots for their passports.  Unfortunately, these pictures were too close and we had to end up taking pictures at the post office.  Here's the out takes from my attempt to take decent passport pictures.
Alex, the goofy intellect and charmer.

This would have been a great one, don't you think?

And William Billiam, our silly and very determined jokester.

He was cheesin' too much, so I tried to get him to tone it down a bit for the passport picture.

He lit up for the camera.

Love this one!

Our happy, beautiful boys.

Cheesin' for the camera :-)

On July 31, Joseph and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary.  That weekend, we decided to have a very small party to celebrate our anniversary.  We gathered a few of our close friends and family members and had a small celebration to celebrate 9 very happy years of marriage. :-)

I'm so bummed that I didn't take a picture of the beautiful tablescape that featured a cupcake tower, pictures from our wedding, our wedding invitation, and other delicious goodies.  So please, just close your eyes and picture it.  It was fabulous.  ;-)

We didn't want to just set out beer and wine, so we made a Make-Your-Own
Mojito bar!
I found green mason jars, put chalkboard stickers on them so people could
write their names on their jar (and use it as a cup), and lined it with lilac ribbon (because our wedding
colors were lilac and sage).

The guests had an option of making mango, pear, or peach mojitos.

Once the guests left, I rinsed their glass, and then had fun green gum balls
to fill up their glasses with to take home with them. :-)

Kay, Sharon, and Vena (with a Kristen photobomb in the back)
helping themselves to the mojito bar.

Sorry Kristen, this is the only picture that I got of you and Pete that day. :-)

Gaurav, Shikha, and Rohan.  What a cutie patootie!!

Such a happy family :-)

Candids

A lovely, intimate gathering of our close friends and family.

I caught Joseph sneaking a treat over the trash can as he was cleaning up.
He started cracking up.  Gotcha babe! ;-)

Friends, family, and celebrations...July was packed full of fun and farewells.  We're very lucky to be blessed with such wonderful people in our lives.  Until next time...

Love and kisses,
Nikki