Almost a Reader...

I think by the end of summer he'll have it down...

                                                                                    ~ Marica

Some days turn into kitchen days…

I think I like those best!!! We got home yesterday morning from a camping/house-sitting

 extravaganza and I spent most the rest of the day on and off in the kitchen…

Buttermilk Pancakes are my new most favorite pancakes. I didn't measure too much, but the rough recipe is at the end of this post… And as we were out of maple syrup and happen to have a dabbling of blackberries and strawberries ripening, I made a berry jam to pour over them...

I guess jam was in the air, because before it was even mid-morning our neighbor reached over the fence to handed us three bags of small early peaches; saying "they aren't big, but they would make a good pie…"And although I do love peach pie, these peaches plumish size shouted peach butter far louder than peach pie...

Later I had potato pizza on my mind, and decided to give it a go…

I used the potatoes to make a white sauce instead of a typical pizza style sauce…

I also used green onions, lime and Romano cheese...

It was good, but could have had a little more bite to it.

So I dumped fresh minced garlic and chard on mine to help fill out the flavor...

Lastly, my dear sweetie-pie and I made a batch of thumb print cookies...

She is such an amazing help these days… especially in the kitchen;

 it's like having another adult at work...

A fun excited adult, full of ideas...

Anyway, it was a cooking day… and a cookie day… I love days like that.

Hope you all had a nice weekend!

                                                                Cheers~ Marica 

P.S.    Roughly the recipe for...

Buttermilk Pancakes:

In a large bowl whisk:

Three eggs

1/4 cup grapeseed or safflower oil

3 cups buttermilk

Add:

3 cups unbeached white flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

A pinch salt

Mix gently until pretty well combined.

Pour spoonfuls of batter onto a hot buttered cast-iron pan. 

Flip when small holes appear around the edges. 

Introducing Hieronymus...

It's always exciting when someone new arrives for a stay at your home...

 In this case it is a mysterious bird that looks unlike any particular kind we have ever seen here before...

 He has strong legs and a definite presence. He doesn't appear injured, yet he only 

flits here and there, not ever flying much higher than our roof top...

I could tell immediately his name started with an H, but took a little time 

to be sure that he was clearly a "Hieronymus".

He has been a bit skittish to the camera, but I hope to get a picture of him up close soon!

                                                                       ~ Marica

Bits of the birthday...

Weeks ago my almost seven-year-old boy formed the plan to have a pinata of a rabbit holding a basketball for his birthday. Well first he wanted a rabbit with giant fangs, but things changed and he decided a rabbit with a basket ball was a bit more up his alley. I was a little concerned that he would have high expectations that would be tricky to meet, but he is quite an amiable young man and as I began making it he continuously told me the pinata was coming along great… Pinatas are quick work with instinctual shaping and cutting happening all along the way. Thing is, sometimes you have to see it as it is, and this guy was not a rabbit at all, but more a kangaroo like gent quickly forming. Luckily, that was fine by the birthday boy and the rabbit plan transferring over into a boxing Kanga went smoothly...

Or sort of… Only catch was I ended up using some amazing colorful duct tape to bind the 

shaky stomach, but in doing so the boxer became more of a homemaker/baking type than a boxer. 

Oh well, it was still quite adorable...

 

We had a lovely day and I can't tell you how nice it was keeping the whole party thing small, 

headache-less and quaint; it allowed me the time to enjoy the process more...

 Way more...

 Also, we were fortunate to have the most perfect weather ever, as well as a dear,
dear friend visiting from Portland to help keep the progress smooth and relaxing.

                                                Cheers ~ Marica

Seven years and two days ago...

This little guy was born...

That is to say my littlest one has turned seven! 

Let me repeat that… SEVEN!!!!

This little monkey of a chap…

Has managed to catch up with the rest of them and 

become far too grown up, far too fast...

I certainly do love watching all the kids growing into such amazing individuals...

But there is a piece of me that wants them to stay babies forever!!

                                                       ~ Marica

Finishing . . .

We are wrapping up the end of our last school year here in our home...

I feel nostalgic, but also ready for this big change...

These kids have all grown so big…

And it has been a wonderful pocket of time learning together…

I know I will miss the sweetness...

The projects...

And the care that went into all these homeschool days...

Somehow as we all grow I can feel our roots needing to find their own new depth…

I'm not sure yet how it will be, how it wil play out, but we are making steps in new directions...

Exciting and scary!!! 

                                                         ~ Marica

Lately...

My long lost bit of the web has been neglected…

But everything around here has been hurrying by at a horses gallop….

 I've been brewing my own kombucha for the first time in a long while...

Sneaking in a dinner here and there for just Justin and me… 

 Hoping the gophers won't destroy this years strawberries...

 Waiting to see what the many volunteer plants will become…

Most likely pumpkins or banana squash... 

 And appreciating the bits of quiet, tucked in now and again...

Hope you've all been well…

                                                                     Cheers ~ Marica