a summer Friday

Nasty, serious, slow as a snail internet issues, don't even know if I will be able to publish this post...sorry!  It is times like this that we realize how completely dependent we are on our computers....and my phone line is down altogether, thank goodness for cell phones.  At least the telemarketers won't be able to reach me....

Perhaps I need a Laura Ingalls day, where I have to fetch my water, and read by oil lamp, to fully appreciate what an easy life I have!

Thursday was a gem, a lovely Canadian breeze flowing through the yard and floating through my window screens.  After several days of ridiculous dew points it was such a treat.  Made me wish for a clotheline in the back yard to hang my sheets on. 

Did you have a clothesline growing up?  I remember pretending the sheets were my tent, and lying in the grass under them, and peeking at the clouds in the sky as they billowed around me.  I remember how wonderful my sheets smelled, after a day in the breeze, and I would bury my nose into my pillow and inhale deeply.  I remember realizing I was getting older, when I was finally tall enough to reach the line and help my mother peg the sheets.  And then realizing it would now be my job....

And just like many things I hated having to do in my childhood, I find myself wishing for my own clothesline, to recapture the moments.  But I know for sure I won't be canning my own dill pickles....

summer daze

"Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass on a summer day listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is hardly a waste of time."

I borrowed this from an email I received from one of my favorite stores in Chicago.  It seems perfect for this week in August, when it is sticky, and warm, and just breathing in the humid air makes you tired.  The cicadas are calling, the cedar tree near the patio is shedding it's seeds, and the leaves on the plants are drooping in the stillness.

I recently read a ranking of the top ten states with the most inactive people (not sure how they determined that...) and 9 of the 10 were in the south.  And when it is this hot, I totally get it.

Remind me of this whiny post when I am crying in January about how cold it is.

I need to make another pitcher of iced tea, and go sit in my backyard, and read my book. The gardening tasks can wait until the dewpoint drops.

a literary gem

There isn't much better than finding a book you LOVE, and want to share with everyone.

I am not sure where I heard about this one, I keep snips and snaps of paper with books I want to read that I cut out of magazines, and newspapers, and other blogs.  I eventually get around to requesting them at the library, and mostly I enjoy them.  If I don't, I stop reading them and return them.  My mother would be horrified.  She was of the Finish Your Book Club (closely related to the Clean Your Plate Club).

But I am big girl now, nearly 50, and it took me that long to realize I didn't have to finish a book I wasn't enjoying.

But as usual, I digress.  Please run out and get this book, I guarantee you will want to finish it:

(photo borrowed from the author's website)

It is a first novel for Tiffany Baker, and she must be so proud.  They say you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, but in this case, I did.  It appealed to me on multiple levels, with the embroidered flowers around the edge, and the antique dress form (I really want one like this someday-I am keeping my eye out-there is one at Gypsy Moon but she isn't selling it.  Smart lady.)  But it was the idea of the book that reeled me in, and I devoured it and absorbed it and find myself thinking about it all the time.

The characters are beautifully crafted, the language lovely.  I found it reminiscent of Alice Hoffman, one of my top three authors of all time.  There is sadness, and pain, with a sprinkling of magic and hopefulness along with some mystery woven through.  I want to buy it for everyone I know, and can't wait to see what she will write next.

Here is a link to the author's website, I loved reading about how she wrote the book, almost as much as I enjoyed the book. 

http://www.tiffanybaker.com/book.html

By the way, sorry my brain is scrambled this week and I posted Recipe Box Wednesday a day early-must be the heat....

And on another note, Happy Happy Birthday to my dear friend Tracy!  Can't wait to celebrate with you!

recipe box Wednesday

Fun with Nigella continues!

Today I share with you "Eton Mess" (so called as young boys attending school would create their own desserts from ingredients on hand...)

(picture from Food Network website)

I picked this recipe as strawberries are still available for reasonable prices, and also because she made it on the show last week and I have been craving it ever since.  Such a fun change from strawberrry shortcake!

Clearly, you can do all kinds of things to vary this dessert.  I will present it as it is in her cookbook "Nigella Express" (with me editorial comments....):

4 cups strawberries
2 tsp. vanilla sugar (plain sugar is okay too)
2 tsp. pomegranate juice (can substitute balsamic vinegar!)
2 cups whipping cream
4-6  purchased meringue cookies

Hull and chop the strawberries.  Put into a bowl, add the sugar and pomegranate juice, and leave to macerate while you whip the cream.

Whip the cream in a large bowl until thick but still soft.  Roughly crumble in the meringues, you will need chunks for texture as well as a little fine dust.

Take out about half a cupful of the chopped strawberries, and fold the meringued cream and the rest of the fruit mixture together.

Arrange on 4 serving plates or glasses or in a mound, and top each one with some of the remaining macerated strawberries.

never enough time

My sis and her son were just here-we thought five days would finally be enough.  But it never is, right?

We did so much:  Ikea, Galleria (as we both needed a Crate and Barrel fix), the Mall of America, Cascade Bay waterpark, and Grand Avenue shopping.  We had nights drinking wine outside by candlelight, a trip to the Galaxy drive-in for burgers, and movie night with "Sherlock Holmes".  Mike took the boys to Sonic and Grand Slam.  We had a wonderful brunch at Pizza Luce on Sunday morning, and the boys rode bikes and Ripstix and got LOTS of Xbox time.  We hit up SuperTarget and Trader Joes.  She filled her pantry with a trip to Penzeys, and we hit up yard sales and took a morning walk in the rain.

And it still wasn't enough time.

Now they have left, and are winding there way home to Bemidji on Highway 10.  We won't get to have a visit like this again until next summer.  And we did not take ONE PHOTO.  And I am sad.  But I pulled this picture from my archives, it was last summer in Bemidji.  And both Riley and Charlie have grown about a foot since then, I think.

But we took lots of memory pictures, and that will just have to suffice.  Back to work, and laundry, and house cleaning.  Because school for Charlie is less than a month away, and August will fly, and we have a lot to pack in!