Dh and I celebrated our 21st anniversary last week. Here's a neat shot my daughter got of us at the coast after our hike (hence the wild hair - lol). It's nice having someone old enough to take pictures. Most of our married life we have pictures of one parent with the children, but very few of us alone together.
The garden is producing a large amount of squash now. In fact, some have overgrown and it is time to "bless" some friends with some I think. My children will enjoy dropping it off at the doorstep, knocking on the door, and then running. My kind of fun. Here was today's lunch: Sauteed patty pan and crooked neck squash with Walla Walla onion and garlic, topped with grated cheddar cheese. Yum. I just found this recipe for patty pan squash. I personally like to eat mine when they are smaller, but this recipe looks great for overgrown size. Patty Pan recipe
The whole family went hiking at Neahkahnie Mountain at the Oregon coast. This was my first hike with the family and of course it was PJ's first hike, too. It was gorgeous. The top was very steep and actually a bit scary thinking about my little children up there. Surprisingly, our 3-yr old kept up with everyone and even meandered around trees making it harder on himself. Our 6-yr old needed to take a few stops. On the way back down, I spotted what looked like a green ball in the greenery. Upon closer look, it was part of a plant of some kind. I took a picture of it and a picture of the leaf that is attached to the vine with the "ball". Does anyone know what this is?
I normally don't put up cherries, but my friend came across a good deal on organic cherries (2nds). They were 20-lb cases for $20, so I ordered 3 cases. I froze half and canned the other half to put on yogurt throughout the year. And this little cherry pitter saved the day ($14.99). However, the little gasket already is mangled and there is only one replacement (with no place to order more).
I wonder if I can get plain rubber at the hardware store so I can cut my own gasket to match?
We celebrated my forty-somethingth birthday today. Dh made his wonderful lasagna (I've told him that I cannot compete with perfection). It was out of this world. My parents and sister-in-law came over. And more raspberry pie for dessert. My parents gave me a gift certificate for a day of pampering at a spa. Whoa - having a hard time wrapping my head around such royal treatment.
Oh, and on Saturday night, my 16-yr old son prepared fried chicken and had help with the mashed potatoes and gravy. All of this good cooking is definitely going to require a heavy dose of gym activity this week. Boy, am I spoiled.
Boy, where does time go? I can barely keep up with anything around here. Raspberries are in and the children and I picked 50 pounds earlier in the week. We made thirteen pies: 2 are eaten and 11 are in the freezer! Woo-hoo! Last year we made a bunch of pies and I mixed berries, but we all decided that our very favorite pie was 100% raspberry. It is truly out of this world. I had to make 2 recipes of pie dough (10 pounds of flour total) from the Make-a-Mix book (Moist Pie Crust recipe). Now with the remaining berries, I'm making 10 half-pints of freezer jam. A few years ago I discovered Pomona pectin. It is great because I can double, triple, or even quadruple recipes. The pectin you get at most grocery stores allows you to only make one recipe at a time - total waste of time for a family like mine.
Oh, and it's definitely popsicle weather. I used yogurt, orange juice concentrate, raspberries, and a bit of honey for these.
19-yr old daughter was making almost 4-yr old his burrito, but he didn't want to wait. He wanted it now!
19-yr old: “M., you need to be patient. Do you know what patient means?”
M.: “Yes, it means be quiet.”
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