over the weekend
^well I never!! (whoever thought one could find ice cream so insulting??)^
recipe - strawberries, heavy whipping cream, dash of sugar & mint leaves
After all the traveling we've done in the past month we were really looking forward to a weekend at home. Waking up in our own bed, snuggles on our sofa with our favorite blanket, watching Belle frolic in our untamed yard and of course the FOOD. I had been waiting all week for our trip to the farmer's market. Saturday morning we strapped Birdie into her carseat, put on some Phil Collins and drove down our familiar highway into town. A steady blur of green whipped past us to the sounds of "True Colors" and we only slowed down when we saw a group of cows joyfully running down a hill. Now let me tell you something about cows and running - it is neither graceful, nor quick, nor efficient but it truly is one of the most hilarious things I have ever seen. Talk about awkward!! Well right around the where the cow races where going down is a little farm stand we've passed a million times, sometimes they've been closed and sometimes we just haven't had the time but this time we decided to stop. There were promises of raspberries and watermelon so how could we not?! Well it turns out people in the valley do their grocery shopping early - the raspberries were all gone as were the watermelons. But what they did have was two of the sweetest ladies that oohed and ahed over Birdie and made a little note to remember to bring smaller cuts of meat next time just for us (I have a legendary appetite but five pounds of meat is a little much even for me). They also had the biggest and most fragrant bag of mint I have ever laid eyes on and snatched up swiftly. I intend on making many a cup of mint tea this summer, now I just need some newspaper to dry it on...
I'm rambling... What else? Well we had our usual picnic - I brought the farro salad and the guys with the smoke truck brought the grilled chicken. We drove around the back country while Birdie napped and had some life changing conversations. We got ice cream, twice. We re-bought Birdie her pool from Florida and she got all excited about getting to play in the water only to get rained on ten minutes later (we just dragged the pool inside where she enjoyed it for another full hour). We grilled, took the trash (responsible!) oh and I made my fave summer dessert (quick little recipe right under the picture)!
It was a familiar, easy, quiet weekend and sometimes those really are the best kind!