On Thursday night, I hung out with my friend, Amy. We had a progressive dinner with the entree at her house and dessert at mine. So, I packed my orange, uber hip bunny tote (that I made in a class at Selvedge Studio) with two Sierra Nevada Pale Ales and two non-alcoholic St. Pauli Girls (I think this the best na beer but am sure there are better ones and would adore suggestions) and walked the three and a half blocks to her house.

Amy made pizza on the grill and it was fab. Fresh dough grilled on one side and then you put your toppings on the grilled side and put it back on the grill with the other side down. Le Petit Outre, the best damn bakery in Montana, makes pizza dough you can buy fresh and raw and this is what she used. As you can see in the picture, one pizza is much larger than the other one…..look closely. Amy let me put my own toppings on and as my friend, Pam, would say, “well, you are eating for two!” Yes, mine is the huge one and I ate it all.

Then we walked back to my house for strawberry mousse. A recipe I found on Food & Wine. Which, by the way, is a fantastic resource for recipes because you can search by ingredient. For example, I have an abundance of peas and lettuce in my garden and I did a search for those two ingredients together and got a ton of unique and interesting ideas for ingredient combos.

So, it was a great night. The day was a scorcher at 96 degrees on my bike ride home from work and then a steamy rain came down for about four and a half glorious minutes. Following the rain, the musty, clean, herbaceous smell was to die for. So was the non-alc beer, pizza, mousse and company. It is summer.

The Strawberry Mousse Recipe:

ingredients
1 pint strawberries, hulled and quartered
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup heavy cream

directions

1. In a medium bowl, sprinkle the strawberries with the sugar and mash lightly with a fork until the strawberries have exuded some juice and the sugar begins to dissolve. Let macerate for 15 minutes.
2. Strain the juice from the strawberries into a bowl. Whisk the sour cream into the juice. In a medium bowl, whip the heavy cream to soft peaks. Fold in the sour cream mixture. Gently fold in the strawberries. Refrigerate until chilled, at least 20 minutes. Spoon the mousse into bowls.

**I wish I had whisked the heavy cream longer….the mouse has excellent flavor but a bit too runny.