Perfect Thursday

Tonight we had some great friends over for dinner.  One couple was visiting from Boston and the other are local.  We wanted to treat our friends to a great, late summer BBQ and some of our household faves. 

To start, I picked hydrangeas from our yard (my favorite flower) mixed in with a few roses and orchids leftover from a bouquet my husband sent me for our engagement anniversary.  Yes, he actually remembers that date every year!

One of our appetizers is a new favorite.  Grilled watermelon topped with blue cheese crumbles and strips of pancetta.  Oh so good and easy! 

And no party is a party without margaritas!  For this occassion I made pink cadillac margs and they were way too good. 

As a salad course I made a three layered crab tower.  We had some fresh caught crab from an outing my husband took and were excited to use it up!  Recipe is here.

And the main course was ribs.  Slow smoked ribs that had been bathing in low heat and smoke since 8am - a 9 hour adventure.  Tender and fall off the bone moist.  I consider our Traeger BBQ my 3rd child.

To cap off the evening we were given beautiful flowers from Pike Place Market and we had yummy cake and ice cream to celebrate Kellie's birthday.