I can't believe it's August.

Family is not an important thing. It's everything. - Michael J. Fox

Despite the weather, I had a wonderful weekend.  On Friday night, I saw King Lear at the Delacorte theater in Central Park.  My brother and mom waited on a very long line at 5am in order to get tickets. Getting to Central Park before it opens is quite an accomplishment in this night owl's book. Side note, if you are going to attempt this, dress as nice as possible for 5am and don't go too close to the front of the line.  Apparently the tickets are given out at random, however the man who gives them out judges you based on whether he thinks you are going to resell them on Craigslist or use them for yourself. The Shakespeare in the park is free but people have been scamming the system and waiting on line multiple times and creating an after market for tickets.

The line was 700 people deep by 7:00am Photo Credit - NYDailyNews

The show had an all star cast, John Lithgow, Annette Bening, Susan from friends (I am sure this woman has a real name, but that's how I will always think of her. The theater is small enough that there really isn't a bad seat in the house, trust me we were in the back row. I wasn't very familiar with King Lear, but I got familiar very quickly as it was 3 hours long with a very brief intermission.  All you really need to know is that King Lear is old, he has three daughters and two of them are awful humans.  I enjoyed the experience but given that it was such a long day for my mom to procure the tickets I think it may be a one time affair.  It was extremely nice to snag a ride out to Long Island on Friday night after the show, any time I can avoid the LIRR is a bonus in my book.

Photo Credit - NewYork.com

Saturday arrived quickly, guess that's what happens when you fall asleep close to 2am.  We headed out East for the annual Roses family wine trip.  The cast of characters always varies but is usually at a minimum the five Roses.  This year my brother's girlfriend Robyn joined us, she was an excellent addition to the trip.

The six of us all smiles despite the rainy weather.

Robyn & Richard posing at Duck Walk after they finally found beer.

Brrrr it's cold at Corey Creek but we had such a cute seat on the porch

I may have wanted a second cookie, this face is only made more amazing by the fact that I am sober given that I am the designated driver.

We finished up the day at LIV Vodka, finishing a day of wine tasting with 3 vodka shots may be a questionable decision.

Just ask Cousin It.

I love these two and I love this photo, I am glad the wine tour is becoming an annual tradition.  Being the DD definitely kept the weekend in check for me in that I didn't overdo it with food and alcohol.  I did however enjoy ALL the CHEESE that was available.

Back to reality on Sunday, I headed to Whole Foods to get some food for the week.  In my quest to keep things exciting I am tried two new recipes this week.  Both of them come from PaleoOMG.

The first is Pumpkin Cashew Curry for the full recipe check out this link - http://paleomg.com/pumpkin-cashew-coconut-curry-coconut-rice/ I didn't make the "rice" as my food processor is out of commission.

If I could go back in time, I would put less Cayenne Pepper in as this Curry is SPICY.

In my opinion this is a year round ingredient.  I love pumpkin in everything so whenever I find a recipe that I can include it, I am excited. 

The finished product, spicy and delicious.  Thank you PaleoOMG.

The second recipe for the week is Bacon & Spinach stuffed Chicken also complements of PaleoOMG. http://paleomg.com/bacon-and-spinach-stuffed-chicken/

Any recipe that starts with cooking bacon, is OK in my book.  Bacon was my crutch during the Whole30, and while we haven't seen each other in a good 2 months, the aroma that fills my apartment as it's cooked is lovely.  Not to mention the bacon fat I now have in the freezer to incorporate in to future cooking.

Butterflied chicken breast stuffed with bacon, spinach and mushrooms.

A blurry picture of my Sous Chef (Side note, this guy is definitely a better cook than me but he more than tolerated my cooking skills and overall we made a good team for the Sunday prep day). 

Now we return to our regularly scheduled Monday at least I have the gym to look forward to tonight.  I can't believe it's August already.