Most of the week I’ve been gearing up for the Lanternfest held every year in our little town. It’s a town-wide party and you run into almost everyone you know at some point during the event. Some you’ll see during the parades on Saturday and Sunday night, others you’ll run into during the bands and events at the fair grounds, and others you won’t bump into until the last event on Monday night – the closing fireworks. It is an event we look forward to every year, and quite possibly get a little bit more excited about the approaching weekend every year.

Since I’ve been in hyperdrive since yesterday doing cooking, cleaning and shopping, you won’t hear much from me until next week. But then you will be bombarded with recipes, photos and maybe even a few videos!

Here’s what you have to look forward to:

Friday’s dinner: Lasagna with fresh salad (from our garden) and garlic breadsticks

Saturday’s snacks & drinks: Spicy pretzels, party punch and more

Saturday’s dinner: Smoked brisket, smoked corn on the cob, sweet potatoes, baked beans and coleslaw

Saturday’s dessert: Banana split buffet with bananas (obviously) homemade cherry vanilla ice cream and the most heavenly chocolate ice cream I’ve ever tasted, sprinkles, whipped cream, chocolate & caramel sauce, mini-gummy bears and other yummy goodness

As you might have guessed, we’re looking forward to the food almost as much as the party itself…but when you live in a town of about 2000 people and they all get together for 3 1/2 days and party like animals, you either join them or find yourself complaining a lot about the noise and all the people. We prefer to party like rockstars right along with them! 😉