Always a treat to make food for a good party. We started off this morning by baking a chipotle cheesecake. Think dreamy, creamy, spicy cheesecake that eats like a dip and is served with little round tortillas.
then we move on to baked good. Where to start, how about with cookies, like triple chocolate, or oatmeal
Then we moved to some lemon squares. This picture doesn’t do them justice, they have a shortbread crust and a zesty, tangy lemon filing.
The next baking feat was a 4 step bar. A cranberry streusel bar. First we made a shortbread crust. 
then we made yummy filling of cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk
then we spread it out nice and even.
then we pour a yummy cranberry and brown sugar mixture on it
We top it off with a pecan streusel mixture and bake it til it’s golden brown. Mmmmmm!
As you see I didn’t finish the coconut cream pies, the chicken shish kebabs or the empanadas but they are first on the agenda for Friday. Stay tuned!
I will be spending a little while up at Go Home Lake. It looks like my friend Jeremiah is back. He sings to me and doesn’t mind when I get up close. He lives at the bottom of the stairs of the dock. He’s been there for a couple of years and he’s a lot bigger. 
I am always impressed by the plants that grow around the cottage. I don’t introduce any cultivated plants and this is what I get:
I know that this is crown vetch and it’s considered a weed but I like it
This year the raspberries and blueberries are plentiful. I hope that this means that the bear has lots in his neck of the woods and doesn’t need to visit my little patch.
I am on my annual visit to California. Once school is out I pack up my son to visit his aunt and we take over her little place in Laguna Niguel. Most mornings when we wake up it’s very foggy and misty, this is known as the marine layer and usually burns off by around noon. Today Nicholas has gone off to his uncle Doug’s work today. Doug is a Sargeant, 1st class in the California National Guard and Nicholas is over the moon to spend the day with him at the base. Ah to be a 7 year old impressionable boy. While my DS is off working the tanks I’ll be touring L.A. Be home soon!