Suburban Homestead

Dinner in Croatia

I wanted to share some images of a simple but incredibly delicious meal we shared together when we first arrived in Croatia. It was a tiny spot in Lovran, a small coastal town in Istria, called Wine Bar Loza. The area is known for its wines and truffles, however this night, we shared a plate of mixed cheeses and cured meats, a basket of *grandma's bread*, and a side of salted cod pate. To call any Croatian meal *locally harvested* or *sustainable* would be redundant, I gather. I get the feeling that it goes without saying - when you sit down at a restaurant in this part of the world, your food did not travel far to get to your table. I hope you can both see and taste this with these photos taken while dining beneath a walnut tree, listening to church bells chiming and savoring the local traditions.

Hunting for Truffles in Croatia

This is an incredibly special time for us as we take a week to celebrate ten years of marriage and three wonderful kids -- only, we didn't take the kids along on the celebration. ;)

Today, the two of us ventured down quiet, winding country roads, lined with massive family gardens of pumpkins, squash, corn and fruit trees, to partake in a bit of truffle gastronomy.  It all began at the Karlić family house, where the mother, Radmila, prepared us an incredible lunch of all things truffle.

There was salami with truffles, cheese with truffles, cream cheese on bread, olive oil and honey - all with truffles. And after the first course, we were treated to a look at all the truffles that would be added to our second course omlette!

After lunch, Radmila's son Evan walked us past a small vineyard, and down to the forest below where his grandfather began the family's tradition of truffle hunting in 1966. There were no promises that we'd find anything...

...and yet their sweet pooch found three! It was such a cool experience and one that I know we could only have had here.

Click here to learn more about the Karlić family business.

Summer Vacation Wrap-up

If everything had gone along as *planned*, I would have broken up our adventures at our friend's Northern California cabin into subjects such as The Food We Ate, The Wildlife We Saw, Spoosy's Magical Garden, etc. But I did not plan well, not at all. I did not post for almost two weeks and now instead, I'm just going to post one big collection of photos as colorful and scrambled as the thoughts that run through my mind this time of year. Here is to the end of summer and to the beginning of my favorite season!

We found this big guy hopping around Spoosy's squash blossoms. Nothing says wonderful childhood moment better than a little man's dirty hands wrapped around a giant toad.

Did someone say squash?! One day's harvest from Spoosy Moose's incredible vegetable garden. We made pesto gnocchi for lunch, and then stuffed the leftovers into blossoms which we fried for dinner that night. I also fried up zucchini and corn cakes with cheddar cheese. We ate fresh kale chips every day.

Spoosy contemplates her garden in the early morning while a young man enjoys reading one of his birthday gifts.

Like I said, Spoosy is just about as four-wheel drive as a grandmother can be. After she caught this salamander for the kids, she swam a half-mile up river where we met her (in the boat). There she taught the kids how to look for salmon underwater.

Spoosy's Garden

We are having an apple kind of day today. For breakfast we enjoyed rolled oats topped with the last of 2011's apple butter, and today I'm making a 2012 batch while preparing for friends to come over tonight to can apple sauce. It seems like the right time to pick up where we left off and post about Spoosy Moose's fruits and vegetables at her summer cabin.

It's been two weeks now since we returned home from our two week RV trip. The kids are back in school, twelve loads of laundry have brought us back to a state of *normal*, and I'm slowly chipping away at getting the house organized since our move in May.

But I want to step back a few and wrap up the last four days of our summer vacation, spent at Spoosy's homestead way up north. It all just seems like a dream at this point.

Here is a shot I snapped from the cabin porch looking at the big kid stringing his line before going out to catch his mama a salmon in the river. (Little Miss daydreams on a swing, beneath a walnut tree.)

Mr. Noodle dons some Davy Crockett attire before heading out into the orchard.

Fallen walnuts rest on top of the kitchen's half door.

Center stage in the bear-proof orchard of mixed summer fruit is a fallen apple tree that still puts out a hug production.

Spoosy told us to help ourselves to all the (organic) fruit we wanted and so we loaded up a box for home. Then we all chipped in and helped her clean the orchard of fallen fruit that could not be used.

The raspberry patch in the upper garden where more vegetables used to be grown for the endless friends and family that visited the homestead through the decades.

I LOVED this feature of the lower garden. The large space was fenced, and around it a wide path was maintained by cutting back the endless blackberry bushes and creating a sort of *wall o' berries* that make harvesting easy and painless!

For as long as I have been hearing about Spoosy's cabin, I have been making pies that never quite live up to DH's memories of hers. This summer I finally got to enjoy the legend first hand - and it did not disappoint!

Our Neighbor's Blackberry Forest

I live for mornings like these...

Our neighbor's blackberry forest is finding it's way into our yard. This morning I got myself out of bed a little earlier than normal and picked fresh berries for scones. Happy day, happy day! Now I just need to walk up to their door, introduce myself and ask them if I can have access to their forest. Mama's got her heart set on pie and jam!

Saying Goodbye to my Childhood Home

I have been meaning to write this post since I started this blog.  The story about our house is a good one, but not one that anyone would have guessed would’ve ended this way.

I grew up in this house.  My parents bought it in 1970 on a whim. My mother was just out and about, picking my sisters up from a birthday party when she first entered this house and caught sight of the view from the kitchen window. She was instantly in love. When the host told her they were about to put the house on the market, my mother rang my dad, and later that night both families were sitting around the dining room table, finalizing the details of the sale.

I have wonderful memories of growing-up here – roaming free in the backyard, once dense with oak trees and magnolias, watching all the teenage baby boomers playing kick-the-can in the street on warm summer nights,  my dad making wine in the garage, roller skating on the (then) terrazzo deck with my father’s jazz music serenading me through outdoor speakers.

But what’s most interesting about this story is that my parents sold this house in 1983…and that my husband and I bought it back 20 years later.

As a ten-year-old, I was absolutely crushed leaving this house. My parent’s divorce paled in comparison to having to leave my beautiful childhood home on the hill.  For the next two decades I had reoccurring dreams that we were moving back. Occasionally, I would drive-by, wondering who was lucky enough to be living in my house.  Then one day in 2003, only a week after my most recent dream, my sister called, her voice trembling with emotion, “It’s back on the market!!”

Now you can imagine how the rest of that week played out.

Returning to view the house with my family was an absolute hoot. We were all so emotional driving up the hill – what would we find? But the minute we walked through the front door and saw that NOTHING had changed, we burst out laughing and a very loud, free-flowing conversation punctuated with ear piercing screeches and OMG’s followed.  The dark tile flooring, the grass wallpaper in the entry, the stone fireplace, and even the cartoonish wallpaper in the hallway down to the basement that had a perverted old cowboy chasing a naked barmaid, among other ridiculously tasteless and cliché old timey western vignettes.  (BTW, my father still insists to this day that the wallpaper was my mother’s choice… yeah, right.)  The house just had not been touched… even down to the kitchen my mother had so lovingly designed – it was all still there.

At the time of purchase, we were child-free and moving from the city. We couldn’t believe we owned not just a house, but a house with off-street parking, our very own washer and dryer and a yard with our very own trees!!! The first few days here were surreal for me, but after that it just felt like our new place.

As if all of that wasn’t dreamy enough, remodeling was an absolute dream-come-true. We took very careful care to restore certain aspects of this California ranch home, to bring modern tastes where appropriate, and to accentuate the innately beautiful features this property has to offer. My greatest joy came in selecting all the finishes: ones that gave a nod to the house’s mid-century roots, while simultaneously pulling it into the modern day. The walnut details speak to it’s 1950 construction, the terrazzo in the master bath echoes the original terrazzo decking.  Items like the Jack-n-Jill bathtub and the yellow vanity in the guest bath were kept and restored.

Here is the kitchen remodel in stages, all taken from the same spot (and with a couple chicken shots thrown in at the end):

My love of gardening stimulated all sorts of change as well.  The yard had been neglected for years and was mostly covered in ivy when I returned.  We cleared it out and planted 34 trees, many of them fruit bearing: olive and figs, persimmon, pomegranate, lemon, apple, peach, lime, orange, and pear.

Before (above) + after (below) - we lost the oak in a storm a few years back.

We always used to say “They are going to have to bury us in the house.”  As if all the above wasn’t enough to keep us here, we have been blessed with the best neighbors, and now good friends.  I’m still in a bit of shock over the whole change of events and heart – we, somewhat spontaneously, decided we’d love to take on another project close by. We didn’t look hard, but we did find something that also seemed perfect for us, just in different ways, and now we are looking forward to our next adventure together.  

Tomorrow is moving day.  I am not nearly as stressed about the move as I am the fact that we will no longer have an incredible vegetable garden rich with red-worm-infested, nutrient-rich soil that faces south towards the mountain with All. Day. Sun!!  In these last few weeks of almost complete blog neglect, I keep asking myself: Is it even fair that I call this spot Suburban Homestead when I will soon be living in a subdivision that does not allow chickens, and on a property where I’m struggling to find a sunny spot worthy of a vegetable garden?

We shall see.

We take with us incredible memories of starting a family in this house; of late-night dinner parties with the doors and windows wide open, of the annual neighborhood Easter egg hunts in the front, the spontaneous picnics on the lawn, and the gathering of good friends and family in the kitchen and living areas.  But something tells me that this house holds a lot of the same for the next family who lives here. I’ve already had the pleasure of meeting them, and they are everything I would have hoped for in a new owner to my childhood home.

California Road Trip - Day 3 - Los Angeles

Our next stop after Santa Barbara, and before Joshua Tree, was at The Farmer's Daughter Hotel in "Gloss Angeles", as the five-year-old calls it.

What's not to love about trough-like bathroom faucets, garden trellis headboards and chicken wallpaper?

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

My Babies

I know it's a wee bit early to have started my squash seeds, but for what it's worth, they are doing awesome! Fingers crossed this little experiment doesn't end in involuntary plantslaughter.

What a Difference a Day Makes

Reclaimed water and southern facing light -- it's what for breakfast, kids!

I could go on and on all morning long, drawing comparisons between a child's delight on Christmas morning, and mine, waking each day to see what's new in my starter containers. But I won't, because then I wouldn't have enough time in the day to check my babies growth very fifteen minutes. I'm totally obsessed!

Starting Seeds

The best part of a spring vacation, is returning home, with great anticipation, to a garden in transformation.

BEET SPROUTS!!!

There are few things I love more than observing the incremental changes my garden reveals on a daily basis in the spring and summer months.

I planted four rows of gorgeous heirloom beets not long before we headed out to Mexico. We had so much fun last year with all the incredible beets we grew so easily. Unlike other albino varieties I've tried in the garden (squash, watermelon), white beets actually have the same great flavor of their purple and red siblings.

All the excitement of new sprouts caused me to temporarily lose my mind, and I then decided to start all my seeds, completely forgetting that it was still February. (Northern California has failed to deliver us a wet, cold or dark winter, and so we outdoor lovers are all a little *off* this season.)

I started tomatoes (which is OK), as well as chard, peas, broccoli, cauliflower. I'm not sure anything will happen with the flats of watermelon, squash, cantaloupe or pumpkin. However, I just spotted some black zucchini sprouts pushing up. :)

Wordless Wednesday

Petaluma Seed Bank

I love this time of year. Or should I say, since I discovered the Petaluma Seed Bank, I love, LOVE this time of year!!!

Situated in an old corner building, one I can only assume use to actually be *a bank* (duh), is an absolute treasure trove of heirloom seeds from around the world.

Around. The. World!

I’ve seen seeds there from Afghanistan, Northern Africa, Eastern Europe and Asia.

Every year, when the Seed Bank's over-sized, glossy catalog leaps out of my mailbox, and into my little wheelbarrow, my neighbor's words ring in my ear – “That book is like porn for gardeners."

And the store is even better, because unlike the catalog, where there is not room for every plant description to be accompanied by a color photograph, in the store, that’s just not an issue.

Here is what I picked up yesterday when I was in Petaluma:

More beets! I grew all of these last spring with great ease and success. We devoured every last one of them in the form of juice and salad and I can't wait to do it all again!

I wanted to try this Banana Melon SO bad last year that I planted every seed, got all starts going, and then killed them once they were transplanted outside. I have to get some of this exotic looking fruit in my garden this year.

We had surprisingly good luck with watermelon last year even though we had a mild summer. Our garden faces south and no longer has to compete with any shade during the day since we lost all our 150-year-old Oaks last year. (Mixed emotion facial expression goes here.)  It's a recipe for success. However, I only planted exotic varieties of watermelon last year - albino and orangelo - you know, just to be different. Neither had very good flavor until late in the season (October), so this year I decided to go with a sweeter, more tried and true variety - red.

OK - I'm SO excited about this package of 25 Tomato Reisetomate seeds! I have seen this variety in the catalog for two years now but it's always been sold out. I just think it's terribly cool looking. They had it in stock yesterday at the store and so I grabbed one. The man at the store told me they don't taste very good (after all, they are mostly skin) but that they make good decorative pieces (ta-da!!).

And last, but not least, I spotted these great veggie markers. I've tried several different kinds of metal markers in the garden but they always fade, and never hold up. I love how these are just so simple, and a compostable product at the end of their life too. I started to grab a bunch but they didn't have all that I required, and they added up quickly. When I realized they were just simple cuts of wood with names stenciled on in ballpoint pen(!), I vowed to make my own this year.

I should have lots of extra tomato and melon starts this year. So if you are nearby us, and something looks interesting, let me know. I'd be happy to give you some!

Wordless Wednesday

 

The Gift of Gobble-Gobble

One of Daddy's oldest and dearest friends is giving us the most incredible gift -- he's offered to raise a heritage breed turkey, of our choice, for our 2012 Thanksgiving table.

Um, let me think abo--- YETH PWEEZ!!!

We were directed to Murray McMurray Hatchery where, together with the kids, we selected our breed, by way of a highly competitive game of drawing breeds, scribbled on Post-it notes, out of a melamine bowl. We were all sitting on the kitchen floor.

And the winner was - Bourbon Red!

I'm excited for the experience, for having the opportunity to visit our friend's hobby farm, and to see our bird grow to full-size in the best of conditions.

Here are some photos from a recent visit to their farm, right before Halloween. Unfortunately, my lens was faulty this day and these pictures are not that great, but our friend's new home and farm is beautiful so I have to share anyway.

Vine-Ripened Tomatoes in January?

I don't quite know what the deal is on this one, but I harvested about 50 Sun Gold and Cherry tomatoes on New Years Eve.

Did this happen for anyone else in Northern California? I ripped out most of my tomato plants months ago and only had two still planted (for no other reason than shear laziness). I had been walking past those remaining two for ages, never really allowing the visual information of colorful fruit to fully register.

Duh.

And then it just sort of hit me. So I tried one and it was delicious. As I went to pull them off the vine, I hardly had to put a bit of effort into the harvest. It was as if my approaching body heat gave them cause to jump ship themselves - they were literally dripping!

I baked a large pasta dish that night and just threw them on top before finishing it all off with bread crumbs and baking. Such a treat!

This day last year: "Olive Oil Muffins"

Wordless Wednesday

My Favorite Gift

All the presents have been opened, and we are now happily doing the things we love: playing, napping and blogging.

This Christmas was egg-ceptional in that the kids initial reactions to seeing the Christmas tree this morning were, for the first time, satisfying and rewarding. In years past, I've always found myself a bit saddened that they never seem as thrilled with their surprises as I'd hoped. "Hey, Mom. Look. It's a pink bike."

Wa-wa-wa-waaaaa.

This year they were great -- thrilled, gleeful, thankful, surprisingly patient.  :)

But what I really, really, really want to share is the most incredibly thoughtful, generous and creative gift my kids received from their Granny.

You may have heard of Heifer International, an organization that provides livestock to families in the third world to help improve nutrition and generate income in sustainable ways.

I've been familiar with this incredible organization for years, and have held onto their catalog as a reminder of a great gift to give.  I just haven't ever done it yet, for reasons I now know to be silly.

See granny gave my kids the gift of a pig - donated to a poor family in need, and did so in their names. And to mark the gesture, she gave them several pig related gifts so that they could "remember all day the pig present" that they gave to another family in a different part of the world.

I have tears in my eyes (again) as I write this. What an incredible Christmas gift for anyone to receive, but to give it to children, in such a fun and creative way, was absolutely heart-warming. I will have to steal this idea and encourage you to as well!

Their piggy gifts included bacon gummy candy, piggy bath scrubs, piggy booties for a baby doll and piggy banks filled with chocolate coins.

Thank you, Granny Alexis!!! You are the absolute BEST!  xoxo

Yugoslavian Finger Squash

I came across this goofy looking squash at the grocery story recently.  It was labeled *Finger Squash*, which seemed so perfectly appropriate for a pre-Halloween dinner!

So I brought one home and cooked it up for dinner alongside a butternut squash. I baked both with just a little olive oil, salt and pepper.  The Yugoslavian Finger Squash was pretty bland, especially next to the butternut.  But if nothing else, it's just a really fun looking vegetable.  I love the way each *finger* sticks out on each wedge.

Even though the flavor isn't one to rave about, I saved some seeds for next years garden.  This squash is too much of a conversation piece not to grow.

'Orangelo' Watermelon

I'm happy ecstatic to report that I spoke too soon when I complained about our heirloom watermelons being tasteless.  Please forgive - I'm such a novice when it comes to growing my own food...especially watermelon, which I'd never attempted before.

After our recent hot spell (aka: Indian Summer) all our giant melons seemed to get the required heat they needed, and they sweetened up perfectly.  Almost overnight, we had a huge crop of ready-to-eat Orangelo and White Wonder watermelon - albeit in the middle of OCTOBER!

So we got juicing!  Instead of completely de-seeding each fruit, and quickly juicing it in the electric juicer, I hand cranked it, seeds and all, through the Squeezo.  It worked pretty well, but because of the large size of the seeds, they did tend to get jammed under the screen, requiring an occasional clean out.

I was surprised though that the watermelon juice did not taste nearly as sweet as the whole fruit did.  But the kids didn't seem to notice.

Wordless Wednesday

This day last year: Red. Plum. Tomatoes.

 

Fruits, Vegetables and OCD

I once read that it can be extra challenging to rehabilitate a *domestic clean freak* of their OCD, because it’s so easy for one to justify their behavior.  Unlike other habits that can be argued to be "not necessary", or "disruptive to others", one's need to clean can easily be justified as a win-win for everyone. What the heck do you care if I clean all day – look how great and germ-free our house looks!

I’m kind of feeling it might go the same way when growing ones own food.  I mean, if you grow your own food and have OCD about it.  Like someone we might know…

Who me?!

It’s fig season and I’m obsessing again.  Our newest Kadota only produced a few fruits this year, but right now, our six-year-old Black Mission Fig is giving us buckets everyday. I just can’t stand the thought of any figs going to waste but because I haven’t found the time yet to kill six pounds of them with some jam, I’ve had to get quick and crafty.

Here’s is my figgy week in review:

Monday:  Fig puree – why not!?  I made tons and packaged them into 1 cup containers to use at a future date for these muffins.  I also I quartered a bunch and froze them for smoothies.  I think they’ll be great blended with peaches, dry rolled oats, milk (and a couple kale leaves ;)

Tuesday:  12 beautiful ripe figs to my MIL and a Fig Almond Tart

Wednesday:  3 recycled clamshell fruit containers, filled, and frisbee’d out to fig lovers in the neighborhood

Thursday:  I’m out of town but schedule a friend to come over and take what she can.

Friday:  Still out of town! :(

Saturday:  A *light dinner* of figs and goat cheese, wrapped in prosciutto.

Sunday:  Family for dinner, figs and goat cheese, wrapped in prosciutto for appetizers.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get on that family dinner!

Fig Almond Tart

This, my friends, is one for the history books...

...at least, the ones on figs, that is.

See, I am very, very picky about my fig recipes.  I want to love them all, but I rarely find one that I can.  Last years caramelized fig ice cream did not *live up*, and 2009's fig pie turned out to be nothing more than two pounds of dead weight at the bottom of my garbage can. (That was before chickens, of course.)

Set me up with figs topped with goat cheese and wrapped in prosciutto, and I'm good, top to bottom. Start adding them to my baked goods, and that's when I'm going to have to ask that we sit down and talk things out.

And yet I experiment, every year.

So I did not have high hopes for Bon Appetit's Fig-Almond Tart, a recipe printed at the request of a reader, wanting the secret to their favorite dessert from Marinus Restaurant in Carmel, CA.

But man-o-man, was I happily surprised!  You really can't go wrong with figs when you dress them up with 3x's their weight in butter, eggs and almonds. And the crust - THE CRUST!! Tasted just like my great grandmothers shortbread...

We ate ours for dessert, but this would be great for breakfast as well. Its flavors are ideal for Fall, Thanksgiving and the Holidays.  I'm going to have to experiment with making this tart using figs frozen from this months backyard harvest.

Here is the recipe as found in Bon Appetit Magazine's July 2011 issue, with my notes:

 

Fig-Almond Tart

Ingredients:

Crust

• 1 large egg yolk (I accidentally used one small egg - yolk and white - and it was fine)
• 1 tbsp. heavy cream (I just used 1/2+1/2, and it was fine)
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose for plus more
• 6 tbsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, diced plus more

Filling

• 3/4 cup half-and-half
• 1/4 cup plus 2/3 cup sugar, divided
• 3 large eggs (our girls lay *medium* eggs, and they are fine)
• 1 tbsp. all purpose flour
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cup (scant) slivered almonds (I only had whole almond so I pounded them first)
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 12 oz. fresh mission figs (about 12 medium), stemmed, quartered

Special Equipment: Use a 10″ – diameter tart pan with a removable bottom is ideal. If you don't have this, get creative. :)

Directions:

Crust

Whisk egg yolk and cream in a small bowl.  Mix 1-1/2 cups flour, sugar, and salt in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.  Add 1 cup butter: mix on low speed until coarse meal forms. Add egg mixture.  Blend just until moist clumps form.  Gather into a ball, flatten into a disk, wrap in plastic, and chill for 1 hour.

Butter tart pan.  Roll out dough to 13″ round on a lightly floured surface.  (I found I need A LOT of flour on the counter and on top of my dough to get this done. The dough is very *wet* but the upside is this crust will taste like shortbread!)  Transfer to pan.  Press onto bottom and up sides.  Trim excess dough.  Chill 30 minutes.

Filling

Bring half-and-half to a simmer in a small saucepan.  Whisk 1/4 cup sugar, 1 egg, and flour in a small bowl.  Gradually whisk in half-and-half.  Return to sacuepan.  Whisk constantly over medium heat until mixture thicken and boils, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a small bowl.  Stir in vanilla.  Set over a bowl of ice water; stir pastry cream until cold.  Remove from ice bath; set aside.

Finely grind almonds with1/3 cup sugar in a food processor (do not grind to a paste).  Using an electric mixer,  beat butter and remaining 1/3 cup sugar in a large bowl until smooth.  Add 2 eggs, 1 at a time, beating well between additions.  Gradually beat in almond mixture, then 1/2 cup reserved pastry cream (reserve remaining cream for another use).  Cover; chill until firm, about 4 hours. 

Preheat oven to 375*. Spread filling over crust.  Arrange figs, cut side up, in concentric circles over filling.  Place tart on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until filling in center is golden and set. Bon Appetit says this is about 1 hour 15 minutes, BUT mine was fully baked in just 40 minutes so be careful with cook time. 

Let tart cool completely in a pan on a wire rack.  Serve at room temperature plain or dressed up with a dollop of whipped cream or, better yet, some lemon curd.

Wordless Wednesday

Apple Butter

My MIL recently put my husband's childhood home on the market.  It quickly went into escrow, but before the deal closed, I made one last trip over and stripped her two apple trees clean of fruit for myself and a friend.

The little man and I collected about 30 pounds of apples that day(!!), 21 of which made their way back to our house where I made them into apple butter and sauce. 

Most of the apples had been attacked, in some way, by a bore worm, so I had to painstakingly cut away all the effected areas...but the girls out back got the benefits:

As far as I'm concerned, all things *apple* are relatively easy to make so long as you have a Squeezo Stainer.  No peeling, coring or seeding necessary.  Just cook your fruit down and pass it through the Squeezo for quick and easy separation.  (Woo-hoo! Now you'll have more time for folding laundry...or unloading the dishwasher...bon-bons?)

After the Squeezo, I take the apple sauce, mix it with sugar and spice, and slow cook it overnight until it is the right consistency.

Apple Butter makes the best gifts during the fall and holiday months!

Go here to see my apple butter post from last year:  How You Like Them Apples?!

Things That Make Me Happy

It was a very good weekend. There were many things that put a smile on my face...

No. 1 - My 20th high school reunion!  Seems a crying shame that you go through school with 300 people, during some of the most formative years of your life, and that you then only get several hours to catch-up with them every ten years. Can't wait for the next one!

No. 2 - Martha Stewart's DIRT CAKE!  It's meant to be served up in a terra cotta pot, but I took a tip from a girlfriend and did it in dump truck for the 2 year old's birthday. Happy Birthday, Baby!  You bring me smiles everyday!

No. 3 - Free, organic fruit from someone who had no need for it. :)

No. 4 -The Missoni for Target collection - the colors, the quality and the way my little, spicy meatball wears it so well.

No. 5 - Our homegrown albino watermelon and the way it finally tastes good after a week of hot, hot weather.

No. 6 - This puzzle showing the incredible artwork of Charlie Harper.  Perfect for a drizzly, Sunday morning with kids.

Wordless Wednesday