Chili, Ceviche, and Strawberries! Oh my!

I wasn't quite as quick with my trigger finger camera-wise on Saturday, so I apologize for the lack of pictures.  I went to the Annual JSC Chili Cook-Off and it was a blast!  The chili was good, the drinks were plentiful (buttery nipple pudding shots are my new favorite novelty drink...), and the weather was perfect.  We wound up crashing pretty early on Saturday night though due to a very full day of food and sunshine.  On Sunday we woke up and headed out the door fairly early to grab brunch at Latin Bites Cafe (I had a coupon deal that was about to expire).  We splurged on a mango smoothie, mint limonada, some of the best ceviche I've ever had, and delicious Latin inspired sandwiches.  It was one of those places that we'd gladly go back to, but probably more so for a special occasion as the prices were a bit steep.  Very good, though!

After brunch we made our way to Froberg Farm where I FINALLY got to pick some strawberries!!!  Due to an unfortunate cross of signals we were unable to meet up with our friends, which I was pretty bummed about.  But I did have a good time stomping around in my pretty purple rainboots with S and filling up a bucket with ripe strawberries (that smelled INCREDIBLE).

We spent about an hour picking around in the strawberry field searching for the perfect berries and then we headed home to make use of our bucket o' berries.  I whipped up a quick strawberry tart that, although delicious, was horribly disfigured.  It was not photo-worthy.  I also concocted a pseudo strawberry shortcake to tide us over mid-day.  I used a whole wheat english muffin spread with some of the pineapple preserves we picked up at Froberg's market.  That was topped with a heaping pile of sliced strawberries and then finished off with a dollop of homemade whipped cream.  It was heavenly.

Those two treats took me through only about 1/3 of my strawberries.  Next recipe I have planned?  Strawberry grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner tonight (this or maybe this) with a side salad (naturally topped with strawberries as well).  And tomorrow I plan to make some of my absolute favorite strawberry frozen yogurt.  YUM!