simple things

I love Black Eyed Susans. And I love this hot pad that I got at the Thrift Store off Michigan Avenue for a quarter.

Our first tomatoe is on it's way! I wonder if it will be red while we're out of town.

I loved watching my girls eating the mulberry buckwheat muffins I made for breakfast the other day

pullets!

No time for knitting or cooking this week! We got chickens!

Four lovely egg laying (this fall) ladies have joined our family. Isaiah named his Bawk Bawk. Solstice named hers Jar Jar. Aiden named his Landy (after a soccer dude) and I think Andre hasn't decided for sure yet.

We are in the process of building the hen-house. We are not exactly "power tool" kinda people, so it's taking a few days. But Andre made huge progree with it today.

I love them.

pie and kimchi

Yesterday after another day of strawberry picking I made this lemon strawberry pie. It needed to sit for 4 hours so we didn't eat it until tonight. It was great and not too terrible for you either.
Strawberry Lemon Pie
First make a grahm crust (6 crackers with melted butter smushed down into a pie plate).
Mix 2 boxes fat free cream cheese with 1 7 ounce jar of marshmallow creme (gross, I know, but not too too terrible). Add 1 TBSP lemon juice. Once this is light and fluffy, mix in 2 cups strawberries. I think I should have drained my berries awhile. The pie didn't set well. But it was still awesome.

I've been talking about making Kimchi for awhile. With our latest scheme to try and eat food from every nation in the World Cup, it seemed like the time. So I started it yesterday. I put the nappa cabbage in a salt water brine over night. Today I started putting it all together to ferment.
~garlic, ginger, grated carrot and radish, green onion

~finely chopped brined nappa cabbage.

~salt, sugar, chilis and fish sauce

It says to leave this on the counter for 24 hours and then put it in the fridge for 2-3 days. I'm not sure what to expect. But I will tell you something- Fish sauce smells TERRIBLE! Food is such an experiment, and I love that.

garden

Beans (with their fancy climbing steaks)

Future pickles

Tomatoe Flower

Ohhhh Freedom! Ohhhhhh Liberty (Tank)

I finished the Liberty Tank tonight! I'm still not sure how I feel about it. I like it, but maybe not on me? Hmmm.. Reminds me a lot of the hippie shirts I wore years ago.

It ties around the neck. The straps are wider on the bottom and then get thinner up where they need to be tied.

The bottom flares just a bit but not as much as the Freedom Skirt. (I can't believe I'm posting a picture of my belly here. Crazy.)

Ties in the back.

It's kinda see-through, eh? Not sure if I can wear this...

I'm a fool for Strawberries

Breakfast this morning was a granola bake with strawberries.
2 cups oats, 1/4 cup flour, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 egg, and 1 grated stick of butter- mixed well and patted into a baking pan.
On top was 2 cups of strawberries, mashed with a potatoe masher and mixed with 1/4 cup sugar.
Bake at 375 for about 30 minutes.
It stayed soft and chewy. Yum.

I had intended to have this last night with dinner but we opted to play outside all evening when the sun came out. So I made this late last night and we'll eat them tonight.
Strawberry Fool-
3 cups strawberries, mashed with a potatoe masher and mixed with 1/4- 1/2 cup sugar. Let that sit for an hour.
Make 1 carton fresh whipping cream with a little sugar.
Fold the two together, very gently and pour into parfait glasses. (notice my rockin' 70's Tupperware parfait glasses- ohhh how I love them!)
You can put this in the fridge for a softer fool or the freezer for a harder fool.

I took my Freedom Skirt out for a night on the town.

It's love. xoxo