Pickles!

Today is a busy, busy day and, as usual, I have set completely unrealistic goals for myself.  I don't really have time to write an entire post but I love making lists so here is a list of a few of the things we will be doing (or trying to do) today!

...blanching green beans and chopping cucumbers and onions before breakfast...
...having a tea party using apple prune juice instead of tea...
...broadening my horizons from freezer jam to pickles and maybe even to cooked jam...
...freezing fresh green beans...
...staying too busy to change out of our pajamas...
...being amazed at the amount of kitchen carnage that came from making the pickles and canning them...
...telling Ruthie that the TV is broken so that Busytown and Wonderpets won't be her baby sitters today...
...marveling at the amount of creative play that resulted from the "broken" TV...
...considering blackberry cobbler versus tart versus jam...
...smiling at Ruthie's curls that have come back with a vengeance with the increase in humidity...
...grinning at the fact that Bryan's eyes may actually stay blue...
...cutting out fabric for a new little girl's sundress and another pair of big butt baby pants...
...finding a few moments of quiet to sip on some tea...
...mentally preparing for a long weekend at work..

Groundhogs at the Beach

May was a busy, busy month, as you can tell by the fact that I didn't post one single time.  The garden is going crazy and I will post pictures as soon as I can.  The zucchini and the squash are doing particularly well and we have been enjoying lots of fresh veggies.  Yesterday we got corn from our CSA and I introduced Ruthie to the incredible yumminess of raw sweet corn.  She ate two whole cobs!  I also made some zucchini bread from an allrecipes.com recipe.  It had chocolate chips in it which may sound weird but is actually fantastic.  It also allows me to refer to it as "chocolate chip bread;" thus making it sound infinitely more appetizing to my finicky Roo. 

Our May ended with a weeklong trip to the beach with the entire family and true to the DIY spirit of this blog, we made all our food ourselves.  Yes, for the first time in Schosser family beach going history, we did not go out for dinner.   Of course no beach trip would be complete without shrimp burgers so we did head over to the little walk up place in Salter Path for those a couple of times!  We brought a long all of our CSA veggies & blueberries for the week and made blueberry pancakes, blueberry cobbler, grilled veggies and kale lasagna.  Then Dad got hold of the grill and made all sorts of yummy meats including home made fajitas.  The best meal award, though, had to go to Isabel for an authentic Ecuadorian feast!  We had ceviche that was just incredible and she taught us her father's secret for making the best ceviche on earth.  For the unitiated, Ecuadorian ceviche is not like any other you may be familiar with.  It is not made with raw fish, but with cooked shrimp.  I found a recipe at www.cevicherecipe.org which is pretty good but does not include the Mera family secret!  It is basically boiled shrimp, red onions, tomatoes, cilantro, orange juice and lime juice, an amazing constellation of flavors.  I wish I had a picture to show. 

The best part of the beach though, had to be the time spent together.  I know it sounds trite, but we so rarely get a chance to sit back and just enjoy each other, especially with the extended family with us.  Of course it wasn't all rainbows and puppy dogs.  Bryan still wanted to nurse half the night and there were times I thought I'd have to throw Ruthie to the sharks but overall it was a great time.  I sort of miss being able to take nice romantic walks on the beach with my husband, but I wouldn't trade one single time watching Ruthie's crazy little kick-leg run in and out of the waves or Bryan's excited splashing for a hundred walks on the beach.

Now to get to work cleaning up that garden from a week of neglect.  Happy Saturday, everybody!