ah weekend

Saturday morning 6:15AM (I checked) was woken by an enthusiastic T "Mummy, Mummy - wake up"! Shortly followed (as I didn't move apart from checking my watch) by little fingers prying my eyelids open (yes, they really do do this!) Thankfully after a few stops and starts, he settled down with some breakfast to watch "his" TV. Note "his" TV is Knowledge Networks Kid's programs - not "your" TV which is anything else that happens to be on. The only good TV is "his" TV unless there are fire trucks or backhoes. Anyway - I got to sneak back to bed and sleep for a bit longer (thanks Thomas the Tank Engine and Bob the Builder).

Another sunny hot day. Made Red Current Fool with lovely red currants I picked up at the fruit stand on the way home Friday. Red currants remind my of my mum, who loved currants. We even grew them for a while - one black currant bush and one red currant bush.

Red Currant Fool
1 c red currants
1 tbsp sugar

Heat gently until the sugar dissolves and the fruit can be slightly mashed.

1 c heavy cream, whipped (T helped me with this - he discovered the joys of the electric mixer- yikes!)

Fold the fruit into the cream, leaving marbley bits of fruit in the cream. Serves 4 or in D's case 2-3. This can be made with any other fruit - I love it made with blackberries. With sweeter fruit (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, etc just reduce the amount of sugar.)

The garden is looking good.

T asks every day if the potatoes are red yet. He means the tomatoes. So far he's only picked three green ones. A couple are almost ready. Two zuccini are growing well.

T helped me water the plants which, since I bought a new spray nozzle for the hose means, at some point, T will strip off to his naked boy self and run around the yard shrieking while I spray him. Great fun!

Had lots of basil so harvested some leaves - see here

and made pesto.

6 c basil leaves
~ 3/4 c toasted pine nuts
~ 1/2 c parmesan cheese
2 cloves garlic, minced
a couple of grinds of pepper

Mix together in a processor until blended. Add olive oil in a stream until the desired consistency is reached. I got 4 1/2 small pots of pesto.

After lunch, we went shopping at the Italian grocery store so we stocked up on goodies like roasted red peppers, dried mushrooms, giant jars of olives and assorted pasta. Then we took T to feed the ducks. The duck pond was full of algae and not many ducks although there were a couple of mummy ducks with babies. Then T took us down to the beach to collect shells and throw rocks.

Sunday- early start - T bounced in at 5:30AM. Was already tired after noisy party at house down the street kept us awake - that ended with a skunk we think. We smelled the skunk spray and suddenly everything went quiet! Market day - we bought raspberries, veggies, lemon-raspberry loaf and a chocolate cookie for T. After some playing at the diggers in Ambleside park and the fire hydrant sprinklers, T and I came home and made cake. Blueberry Boy Bait from smittenkitchen.com. T helped with the mixer again (I've learned to unplug it every time I have to get another ingredient to add). He also helped with the topping so the sugar/cinamon was a tad lumpy on the top. No matter - it was/is delicious. It makes a huge cake so you can share! A quick tour of the garden yielded our first pea!

Auntie K came over and played trucks, etc with T. Dinner was chicken in mushroom sauce with couscous and market ratatouille.