berry season

Summer seems to be marked and measured, at least in part for me, by the passing of various berry seasons.  Strawberries, gooseberries, raspberries, blueberries, and finally blackberries.  Blackberries being picked the latest near the end of August along the dirt road by the cabin.  The each have their moment.  Their associated memories.  And new memories made each year.  Like the first time Hub and I went strawberry picking together.  Or when I discovered currants and gooseberries on our property.  Various trips hunting for wild blueberries (like the first time we took our brand new baby) and blueberry picking at a nearby farm in the country...this one we just did as a family on Saturday.  The morning was gorgeous, the light beautiful.  We picked the plentiful blueberries with ease and even little Bub got out of the stroller for awhile and began picking and eating too.

And just recently too, a favorite "berry memory" in the making has been afternoons spent picking wild raspberries around our yard with my little Bub.  I hold a tiny bowl, as there is only a handful ripe at a time each day.  My little boy follows closely behind me with baby steps that are getting surer every day.  I'm reminded then of a mama duck with her little ducklings following closely behind.  Every once in awhile he catches up and I grab onto one of his little hands and we walk together, my heart soaring, my mind memorizing this new milestone.  Being able to hold just one hand and walk together, side by side, now that he is more stable on his feet.  He babbles for the tiny red gems in my bowl as I pick them.  I give him one, still soft and warm from the sun.  He walks away from me just a step or two to enjoy it, and then just as quickly he toddles after me calling out "mmm, mummum, mmm, mammma, mmmum!"  Is he calling for more, for mama?  Probably for both as I hand him another and he rewards me with his sweet baby grin.  Pure delight to both of us.  Oh sweet summery, berry days...stay awhile!

making lately...

 Last week I finished up a pair of large (about 3" tall) custom birdy wedding cake toppers for a wedding this Saturday.  And before that, a tiny knitted pouch for a sweet little niece of mine who recently turned 7.  Its almost coin purse-sized, but I managed to find a little tin of Hello Kitty lip gloss to tuck inside.  

While my LillyBonBon shop has been dormant all summer, I'm still trying to squeeze in some creating here and there when I have a moment.  In this busy time of life, it feels so good and calming to continue to make things with my hands when I have a chance.  So what's next?  I have soo many ideas, just need more time!

little moments

A few little weekend things:  

It seems right now, when time to myself is rarer than ever, I try to find enjoyment in the little moments, the little things...the time I had before and took for granted now is precious and appreciated more than ever...like having a moment to clip some flowers from the garden.  I picked these tiny Violets that had seeded themselves from last summer...the only "vase" little enough I could find to put them in was a tiny glass salt shaker...and a favorite flower that is now blooming, the beautiful blue Delphinium. 

We also took a little (unsuccessful) blueberry-searching, hot hike high above the lake on Saturday which little Bub seemed to love.  And on Sunday we had some guests over for brunch.  I served egg bake...my new favorite thing.  Pre-baby I used to make quiche a lot.  Now its egg bakes.  But I love egg bakes and could eat them every single day...with a just few drops of Sriracha on top.  Perfect!

on homemade pizza...

Last weekend I was up to my elbows in dough for a good portion of it.  (And I didn't mind in the least.)  We got Little Bub to bed early on Friday evening and then Hub and I spent some time together in the kitchen making a few delicious pizzas.  If I had to choose a favorite piece of kitchen equipment, the pizza stone may just be it.  It makes homemade pizza and bread so much better, so amazing!  There is nothing quite like homemade pizza dough (which really is very simple...this is the recipe I use except I only do half) baked on a pizza stone...the flavor, the crispness, the texture...can't be matched!  I get a little dramatic when we make homemade pizza.  I rave on and on between bites.  And I say things like every Friday night should be "homemade pizza night!"  (But it is that good!)

After making pizzas from scratch several times now, we've learned a few things and we have our method down pretty good.  (Our first few times were full of messy/frustrating/marriage-testing moments.)  This time I realized that I've never actually read the recipe for "baking the pizzas" beyond just "making the dough" part.  That is where Hub comes in.  He controls the oven, how long to bake them, everything from that point on.  And so he's never actually read the recipe before that point.  My job is to get the dough ready and on the peel.  He comes in next with the toppings.  And I take it from there to get the pizza into the oven.  He sets the timer, controls the heat, and keeps a close eye on when he thinks its done.  Combined I guess we make a pretty good team because the pizzas turn out wonderful.  We've learned along the way not to make the pizzas too big or too loaded or we have trouble sliding them off the pizza peel  (we like this peel).  And we've learned to leave a little bit of pizza dough hanging off the edge of the peel to grip onto the stone for a smoother transfer.  And we've also learned to experiment and try crazy things on this pizza dough.

The first kind of pizza we made was a margarita-style pizza (first photo) topped with fresh basil from the garden.  It was fresh and delicious, if not a little bit basic.  The other kind was a new pizza we made (inspired by one we've had here):  a BBQ chicken pizza with banana peppers.  That's the one Hub is seen making here.  I admit, I was extremely skeptical at first when Hub first ordered this pizza.  But a little bite here and there won me over.  And our homemade version was even better!  We topped it with fresh arugula from the garden which added a nice little bite.  

Then, I woke up bright and early Saturday morning with little baby and decided to make cinnamon rolls from scratch.  Apparently I hadn't yet spent enough time with flour on my hands from the night before.  But these are truly worth it.  Yum!  And to me, the weekends are for slowing down a bit and enjoying really good food with those I love!

on summer lately...

Black raspberry tart, whip cream on anything we can find to put it on (with the iSi whip cream maker, a delicious birthday gift I got a few months back), new gooseberry plants discovered, garden blueberries starting to ripen, my "garden in the woods" flowers blooming, a profusion of pink flowers (this Stonecrop) that I'm really loving, and a sweet little baby boy hanging out with my garden gnomes...that is a little of my summer, lately.

what summer tastes like...

...fresh basil pesto...Saturday smoothies...and later in the summer, if all goes (grows) well...plums!

I made the first batch of pesto this weekend with basil from the garden and it was wonderful smeared across warm, crusty ciabatta slices.  And I thought, this is what summer tastes like to me.  What does summer taste like to you?  Then, I often make smoothies but they taste even better now with a little bit of my fresh strawberry jam for some sweetness.  Little Bub loooves smoothies too so its a great way to get him to eat yogurt and bananas and whatever else I put in them.  And finally, Hub discovered plums growing on our plum tree that we planted a few years ago.  We're so excited!  :)