TWD and BB Catch-up Day!

It's been pretty crazy around here for the past week.  All kinds of progress has been made in the pool house and we almost got everything finished in time for Memorial Day weekend.  I'll be posting the finished product later this week, but there was a minor punctured gas line snafu that needs to be fixed first.  Cross your fingers that it won't involve tearing out a stone wall.  Ugh.

This is what my driveway looked like most of last week while they were finishing up the landscaping.  Crazy busy, but it came out beautifully.

And while everything wasn't perfect, we were able to spend the weekend out there enjoying the pool, the pizza oven and the fabulous ambience that we've been looking forward to for over a year now!

And some beautiful sunsets!

And while I was too exhausted to actually post the recipes, I did find time to get them all made.

Let's start with last week's TWD selection...the Banana Coconut Ice Cream Pie that was chosen by Spike of Spike Bakes.  As you can see from the picture, this was a disaster for me.  The one good thing about this is the crust.  I'll definitely use this crust recipe for something else in the future, but it won't be for this ice cream.  Disregarding the fact that my ice cream mixture was the consistency of soup by the time I poured it back into the crust shell, we just didn't like the taste.   Oh well.

Next up was Ina's Grilled Herb Shrimp that was chosen by Penny of Lake Lure Cottage Kitchen.  This was really easy to throw together, but it was at the end of a long day outside and I didn't have the energy to make anything to go with it.  It didn't matter.  These were perfect all by themselves.  And just as good the next evening thrown into some quesadillas.  I could also see tossing these into some angel hair pasta for a light summer dinner.  Very versatile little suckers!!  Check out Penny's site for the recipe.  

And to bring me up to date, today's TWD is the White Chocolate Brownies chosen by Marthe of Culinary Delights.  (TWD is truly an international group....Marthe is from the Netherlands!!)  I kind of mutilated Dorie's original recipe here.  I DO NOT like meringue...at all!  So that wasn't going to happen.  And I was out of raspberries, so again....not happening.  I did have some white chocolate chips, so I threw those in instead.

These have more of a cakey texture than a brownie texture, but they were still pretty good.  I topped mine with some of Jeni's Splendid Goat Cheese and Roasted Red Cherries Ice cream and some fresh cherries.  If you want to see the finished product as it was intended, visit Marthe's site!

And if you'd like to cook along with us every week, pick up Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours.