For Labor Day, Christopher, Bear, and I hung out with our friends Mark, Michael, and Lalanya. Mark is my dear friend, who just happened to win an Oscar and BAFTA for costumes he created for the film The Artist – you can read my post about him here.
I’ve known Mark since we worked on Blast From the Past together, 14 years ago. Mark’s brother Michael and his sister-in-law Lalanya have become close friends of ours as well. Lalanya had a vegan pregnancy with her daughter Geneva, and she was was with me during Bear’s birth. Geneva is a total cutie pie and Michael and Lalanya are now expecting their second child. I’m really sad I’ll be in New York and will miss the birth. It would have been amazing to be with her for that and experience such an incredible miracle.
Anywho, Michael and Mark made an amazing meal for Labor Day. We had the best hotdogs ever! I can now confirm, Field Roast makes the best hot dog I’ve ever had. We topped our hotdogs with sauerkraut, ketchup and mustard…so good! Mark also made this potato salad from the book How it All Vegan. It’s his specialty – he’s known for it among his family in Michigan and in LA. We also had a really good kale edamame salad from Trader Joe’s that was just fresh and good.
Michael put a ton of veggies on the grill: little potatoes, and big kebabs that were so fun and beautiful to look at. The kebabs were made with mushrooms, onions, bell peppers, and zucchini. I don’t usually like bell peppers, but these kebabs were so good and had the most delicious sauce on them. They were colorful, big and fat – just looked like they meant business! Mark said he got them premade at Trader Joe’s and marinated them in TJ’s “Soyaki” marinade for twelve hours on one side, then eight hours on the other side. The grilled corn was simple and delicious: locally grown corn, grilled perfectly. Mark removed the husks and wrapped the corn in aluminum foil, then slowly roasted it on the grill. Everyone shared a big, fat watermelon. Geneva and Bear loved it!
Our family is staying in an apartment with an electric stove right now (not fun to cook on at all or as healthy as gas stoves), so we haven’t been doing as much cooking as we would at home. For our friends’ Labor Day BBQ, we opted to bring some slices of key lime pie and chocolate pie from Café Gratitude.
After dessert, we had a mini dance party. We played “Ring Around the Rosie,” and everyone danced while we sang “Rockin’ Robin” and “ABC 123” by the Jackson 5…some of our favorite tunes in our household right now. The whole thing was really, really sweet.
What did you do for Labor Day?