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(Heather’s Bytes is on Facebook now! Took me long enough, huh?)

As you can see, it was a warm weekend in Las Vegas! We decided it was time to hose off the patio chairs and fire up the grill. Though we can really do it throughout the year, barbecuing doesn’t seem quite right to do any time other than the warmer months.

Not wanting to turn on the oven when it’s 115° outside may also have something to do with it.

We don’t really do anything terribly special when we barbecue. Yesterday we just did chicken breasts with barbecue sauce, corn on the cob and baked beans.

Mike got to use the barbecuing apron my sister gave him for his birthday in January. You can take the boy out of California…

The dogs love it when we come outside with them!

And of course, now that it’s not too “cold” (because that classification is relative in this house) and not too hot, the twins were happy to be outside, too. These two boogers are turning 12 next week!

The teenager, as usual, wanted nothing to do with the camera and I couldn’t work in a sneak attack. Maybe next week.

When do you start barbecuing?

These posts aren’t so wordless, huh?

Anyway, this is one of my most favorite evening snacks. Popcorn made with coconut oil and seasoned with sea salt. Heaven in a bowl.

What’s your favorite snack?

This week’s Tuesdays With Dorie is Lemon Loaf Cake. I was looking forward to this one because I love lemons, and a whole cakey loaf that tasted like them sounded wonderful.

i did eventually remember the eggs

The recipe is hosted by Truc and Michelle.

I love how naked lemons look like they’ve been coated in sugar. The recipe called for the zest of three lemons. It was a lot of zest. I was excited.

It was so yellow and so beautiful in the pan.

The house smelled amazing while it was baking. Mike and the girls kept asking when it would be done. We were all impatient. It took the full 60 minutes to bake since it was still pretty gooey at 50 minutes. Then we had to wait at least 10 minutes before taking it out of the pan.

At this point I think everyone stopped by to take a look. Some of the edges got a little browner than they probably should have, but that sort of thing has never bothered me.

The recipe says that some people think pounds cakes taste better after they’ve sat for a day. So we each tested a small piece on baking day. Then I wrapped it up and we tried it again the day after. And… it was fairly meh. It was a bit dry and dense, and the lemon just really never popped.

This isn’t to say the loaf wasn’t good, it was, but it was nowhere near what I was expecting it to be. I don’t know that I’ll make it again, but if I do I’m going to follow some of the advice given at the TWD site and add some lemon juice to the batter, or find a good glaze or topping to go with it. (Of course, it was delicious with butter, but what isn’t.)