Super Charger Party!

This past weekend was very fun, and very productive!  On Friday night we just chilled out and I whipped up a batch of guacamole for S to take to the "party" at his parent's house the following day.  We crashed semi-early in preparation for a busy day on Saturday.

Saturday started off with me making some pumpkin pancakes with whipped cream and maple syrup for S's birthday breakfast!  It was basically pumpkin pie in breakfast form (not that I think pumpkin pie itself is inappropriate breakfast food.....).  S then took off to his parents' house to get started working on the super charger install while I whipped up a triple batch of dressing for the kale salad and a modified Hummingbird Cake/Pineapple Upside Down Cake.  I used the cake from the Hummingbird cake recipe and made in only 2 cakes pans rather than 3.  On the bottom of one pan, I used the pineapple "topping" method from the Pineapple Upside down cake as well as the frosting recipe.  While the cakes were cooling, I ran out to the mall to pick up some items I needed, including a tupperware cake transporter.  When I got home I attempted to put the cake together (pretty pineapple and cherry topping on top of course)  - turns out I should have made the frosting before I left the house so it would have time to set in the fridge before I applied it.  Learn from my mistakes...  So I chopped up 4 heads of kale for the salad and mixed it up with the dressing and breadcrumbs while the frosting cooled.  Then I finished assembling the cake (I only frosted in between the layers and around the outside, not over the top, and the covered the outside with chopped pecans)  and ran out the door - I was late!

I arrived at the house to find S and 7 of his good, car-knowledgeable  friends huddled around the front of the BRZ.  My first thought was that it was probably too many hands in one engine, but they all worked so well together!  Two of the guys worked on the intercooler separately while another guy directed from the instructions and the rest of the guys collaborated on the super charger itself.

Once they got the supercharger installed, S programmed the car to recognize it and the rest of the guys reinstalled the bumper.  It wasn't a completely issue-free process, but with all of those guys helping, it went much faster and smoother than it could have been otherwise.  S's parents put out a huge spread of food for everyone and his brother K cooked up some delicious burgers, chicken, and ribs on the grill. 

After the car work was done and everyone had gone for a quick spin in the newly updated car (it was definitely peppier!), we headed inside to sing "Happy Birthday" and let S blow out the numerous candles on his cake (I wish I'd gotten a better picture of it, although it was a bit lopsided due to the non-setting-frosting issue).  S said that between the pancake breakfast, getting to work with his friends on the car, his parents' hospitality, his brother's grilling skills, the gifts he received, and his pineapple bedecked cake, his birthday was absolutely fantastic!

At the end of the day we were both exhausted and crashed hard.  We both had a busy productive Sunday as well - I'll post some pictures soon to show the progress we made in decorating/organizing the reading nook section of our bedroom.  All in all, a fun and very productive weekend!