Berry Picking

We recently purchased a very large freezer for the garage and I am in the midst of a frenzy trying to fill it with all the plentiful produce that we Oregonians are blessed with each summer. Thus, my good friend Brittany and I have coined this The Summer of Berry Picking.

We have been very diligent about heading out to pick every Wednesday. Our standing date starts at 8:30 when I pick her up and we load the car with our buckets, baskets, water bottles and flower jars. We then head straight to the James John Cafe for the best savory breakfast muffin in the world (still warm and filled with bacon-y goodness!). We dine on the road as we drive the few miles from St. Johns to Sauvie Island and pull into the Kruger parking lot. We are usually the first ones there so we head in to ask Farmer Don "what's pickin' " that day, grab our wagon and hit the dirt road to the fields.

Brittany and I love this time. Being outside, sun shining and the air filled with the smell of fresh berries and wonderful conversation... I often remind her, "we are making memories here, you know". We usually have the same conversations each week (do all friends do that?), but we love to talk about the same things all the time... "What's for dinner?" "What is new with your family?" "What is growing in your garden?" "How are your pets?"

Once our buckets and baskets are filled we then head down the road to Sauvie Island Farms for our weekly flowers... this is my favorite part of our day! Every week holds a new bouquet of flowers to adorn our homes until we head back to the farm. We fill our jars with whatever flowers happen to be blooming and then it's time to head home.

Once home, I fill my freezer containers with berries, make jam, make berry-muffin batter to freeze for a spot of sunshine in the winter and bake up berry pies. It has been so much fun and so rewarding to see our freezer fill up! I know I will enjoy all this hard work come February when I need a taste of what's to come!

Happy Birthday to You...

Happy Birthday David!

Shrimp Salad

We are in the middle of quite the little heat wave (I do love old movies... well anything old really!) and I have been trying my best to stay out of the kitchen, which is very hard for me! So instead of avoiding the kitchen altogether I have been making no-cook or little-cook dinners for the Mr. and myself.

We recently had shrimp salads, what I consider the utmost of yummy no-cook dinners! They are so simple, yet David raves about them every time :) Our salads are different each time, but this last salad started with a bed of leaf lettuce and then was topped with grated carrot, sliced cucumber, hard boiled eggs, minced scallions, sliced avocado and the shrimp, of course! I made a little dressing by mixing mayo, ketchup, garlic, salt and pepper and worcestershire and we just dolloped it over our salads. We also had some homemade bread and garlic pepper havarti (we visited the Willamette Valley Cheese tasting room that weekend and stocked up on some great cheeses!)

During the dog days of summer I also love making up grain salads and bean salads. I cook the grains or beans in the morning when the house is still cool and then mix up a dressing and toss in whatever veggies, cheese, or nuts we have in the pantry.

What are you doing to beat the heat?

Enjoy it while it's here... it will be gone before we know it!

Grilled Tacos

Last weeks wonderful weather found David at the grill and my dear friend, Katie, and I in the kitchen whipping up some salads. Our new freezer was delivered that day and we thought we should celebrate with a dinner of grilled steak tacos, Ina's guacamole salad, brown rice pilaf and wonderful company. We had a blast eating, sharing stories, laughing and chatting until late in the evening... I do love summer!

Laundry Soap

As I mentioned in my counter spray post, I make all our own cleaning products, and have for some time now... which we love! They are very easy to throw together and I am always pleased with the results.

A few days ago I decided to make a few large batches of laundry powder after seeing this post. Her recipe is very similar to the one I have used in the past, however, my recipe made a smaller batch. Since it is summer (yippee) I have a little more time, okay a lot more time, on my hands and I thought it would be a great idea to make three large jars, all with different scents! I know this will come in handy once school starts again and I am up to my ears in first grade fun! Once all the ingredients are out, the powder come together in a snap. I like to use my cuisinart to grate the soap and then I switch to the steel blade and process the grated soap for about a minute. I then mix it all in a large bowl and place it in my jars. This time around I made non-scented, lavender and peppermint!

Dinner Out

A couple of weeks ago David took me out to a wonderful dinner for my birthday. We started with drinks at Wildwood and then we walked across the street to Paley's Place for one of the best dinners we have ever had!

amuse bouche: Creamed Goat Cheese, Beet Salad, Sprouts

cocktail: Clear Creek Pear Brandy Kamikaze

salad: Grilled Asparagus with Proscuitto, Soft Egg, and Mustard Seed Vinaigrette

dinner: Mediterranean Blue Mussels, Hand-Cut Fries and Mustard Aioli (mine, I didn't get a good picture of the mussels, but they were delightful)

Rabbit Ravioli, House Bacon, Local Mushrooms, Spring Garlic (David's, below)

Dessert: Warm Chocolate Souffle Cake, Toasted Hazelnuts and Honey-Vanilla Ice Cream

after dinner bite: Almond Short Bread

As you can see, the table became darker with each passing course... but oh did we have a great time. What way to celebrate a birthday!

Happy Father's Day Papou

Father's Day found us with two of favorite people! We stopped a Camp 18 for brunch and then we were off to Cannon Beach for the day! We walked up and down the main street, stopping in many shops, had an ice cream cone snack, a walk on the beach and an early dinner of clam chowder at a little restaurant before heading home. It was a great day!