Tomatoes, Tomatoes, Tomatoes!

The garden is overrun with Tomatoes much to our delight, so there has been tomato canning, salsa making, tomato sandwich eating, and there is certainly more tomato fun to come.  I do believe Jim and I will be canning salsa after bedtime tonight, six jars are made up ready for the pressure cooker.  And then, if it works well, there will be another couple rounds in the next couple days.   Oh, this salsa is beautiful (the yellow tomatoes make it look so fresh) and it is equally yummy!

We based this salsa on this recipe, but we cut the jalapenos in half.  And, we used red and yellow garden tomatoes (not plum like the recipe lists).

Life in Switzerland Means...

:: Lots of wildflower picking

:: Views like this

:: Meals of Bread and Cheese

:: Lots of Yummy chocolate

:: Wonderful hikes ::

:: your neighbors use sheep to cut their grass because the yard is so steep ::

:: Delicious Milk ::

:: The Sound of Cow Bells ::

Yes, life in Switzerland means that beauty and yumminess are abundant!

Yumminess!

I love yummy food.  I really love yummy fresh whole foods.  And yummy fresh local food makes me feel in right relationship with this wonderful world we've been given and it does seem to taste that much better too.  Apricots are in season here and there have been fresh apricots, refrigerator jam, and this yummy apricot tart in my kitchen.  Delicious!

Pretzels for Lent

We always try to make pretzels for lent.  The story goes that a monk invented pretzels by twisting his bread dough into the shape of the monks arms at prayer to remind his brothers to pray.  This year I used my five minute bread dough, fried them and added some cinnamon sugar.  They were quick to make and tasted more like a doughnut than a traditional pretzel.  And, most importantly, they were enjoyed!

30!

We celebrated Daddy over the course of several days, because we ended up in Glasgow on his real birthday.  And it was 30 after all!!!!  There was farmers market bacon for breakfast one day, lunch out another day and then there was a sushi night.  Because, there are few things my Jim likes more than sushi.

This 30th year is a big one with all the transitions approaching and the past few months have been stressful to say the least.  I've been so grateful for Jim's calm nature and the grace with which he has been balancing finishing the thesis, the job search, and serving me and the boys these past weeks.  It seemed fitting to stretch out the celebration!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

The boys made the mini sushi's on top with brownie circles, icing, coconut, gummies and precolored ready-to-roll icing.  Easy and fun!

Jonah insisted on 30 birthday candles - so daddy needed a little help!

Our Daily Bread

I grew up eating lots of yummy homemade bread and have worked in the past years to make as much of our bread as possible.  I really like simple whole foods and don't like the boys (all of us really) eating food with preservatives and other ingredients I can't pronounce.  But, the reality has been that while I've made some of our bread I just couldn't keep up with our toast and sandwich habits.

So recently when a friend told be about this book I knew that I had to get a copy.  Luckily the library had it, and five minute bread has been filling our kitchen of late.  The loaf above is the basic recipe, and I've been experimenting with more whole grain goodness the past couple weeks.  We are loving it!  

A whole wheat raisin loaf with a little glaze made a fun dessert!

 It has been a nice right now to be accomplishing something amidst our business.  Life right now is a bit stressful; we are looking for renters for our house, Jim is finishing the thesis, we found ourselves in Glasgow Monday to complete our visa renewal, we have a new baby, an international move is looming and we have no job prospects and thus, no idea what we will be doing after July this year.  In my better moments I find myself full of peace, knowing that God has something planned for us.   But in most moments, I find myself scrambling to put together some plan; I find myself thinking and rethinking our options and scheming ways to provide a home for our little family come autumn.  

The boys know we are moving back to the states (after a few months in Switzerland this summer), but (thankfully) they are oblivious to the economy and lack of job openings at the moment.  Yet, last night I listened to Rowan and Jonah say the Lord's prayer before bed and it struck me that our boys are asking God, their father, for their daily bread each night.  And somehow, it gives me peace that that we can and are asking for something so basic, because we're going to keep on asking and I'm grateful we are heard.  

A Rainbow Sort of Day...

 We've been reading through Genesis as a family (starting with creation, which I shared here) and we just finished up Noah's story.  So we've been thinking about God's promises and, of course, rainbows.  The above verse has been the verse we've been sharing and memorizing (and we'll continue with it through Abraham, because this theme of promises just keeps going through Genesis).  I cut the watercolor above into a puzzle for Jonah (but it was frustrating as the watercolor paper didn't want to stay together well - next time perhaps I should back it on poster board before cutting the puzzle)

The boys attend a 0-5s group at our church every Tuesday morning and they spent the past few weeks studying Noah.  We were able to time it so that finishing our reading of Noah and the 'Rainbow Party' at their church group coincided.  Jonah made a card for the leader with wet on wet watercolors and we attempted to make Rainbow cookies.  I just used our normal sugar cookie dough and food coloring to make the colors (I used liquid dyes as I didn't have paste dye available - I'll bet the paste would work better).  I was pretty disappointed with the colors and then they totally faded when we baked the cookies.  But the boys were thrilled with them and very excited to share them at the rainbow party, so they were a success even though mama wasn't thrilled with the finished product.

Summer's Gratitude

The days are so long right now (think four hour nights) and the sunshine has finally come.  There is much to be grateful for...

::Summer Reading

::Summer treats - Oh, Scottish strawberries are amazing!  (And the cheese cake was pretty amazing too - I chalked my need to make cheesecake up to pregnancy cravings.  It's at least a good excuse.)

 :: Help with making dinner and some pattern practice too.

 :: This smiley boy who loves mornings when I say we are headed to the beach.

 :: Weather warm enough to wear his chicken pants I made during the kids clothing week challenge in May.  (They are the Huck Finn Pants from Weekend Sewing)

 ::Shades of Blue - that's right folks we are expecting boy number three.  The pregnancy has been so different that I was sure it would be a girl, but no, there must be some other explanation.  Jim and I knew before being told this time - it was rather obvious (especially because we've been shown the same little part twice before on a scan).

Pretzels for Lent

Lent is such a rich time, but I'm restless this year.  Coming into the season, my thought was that the best discipline would be to set aside expectations for this time.  I'm not sure why I feel this way, perhaps because it is because of how homesick I am for family, or just the general restlessness of coming to the end of this third year of a PhD program knowing we have another one to go... or perhaps just because? 

I made a chain again this year (okay, so I've only made the first half, but I'll get the rest on before we get too much farther), but I didn't write scripture passages on it.  We are hoping to read through a gospel together as a family, but I'm holding even that loosely.  

I'm enjoying doing small things to remind us it is lent (baking, simple prayers, noticing the purple cloth on the godly play table) and letting go of my bigger plans (Making Jerusalem out of boxes and finishing our lenten tree ornaments).  

This week we baked pretzels.  Pretzels are a lenten tradition that may date back to around 300 AD.  They are said to have been formed by a monk who wanted to remind the eaters that Lent is a time of prayer.  You can read more about the tradition here.   Jonah enjoyed shaping and salting them, and he enjoyed eating them even more.  

Happy Pancake Day!

Pancake day is a fun tradition (to read more about shrove tuesday see last year's post) and it is one that is celebrated widely in the UK.  There were reminders for pancake day on the lemons, maple syrup and other pancake related goods last week at the store.

Last year I attempted to make healthy crepes as a first course, but this year I decided that considering the amount of my broccoli filled pancakes Jonah ate last year, I might as well just let us have a dessert dinner.  This was a first and was widely appreciated by my boys young and old.  We had chocolate (except for the baby) wrapped in warm crepes with lingonberry jam - simple and yummy.

The Tastes of Spain

Trying new food and drink is one of the greatest joys of travel, so I'm eager to share some favorites from Spain.  

: Sangria - pictured above is the best we had - served along the beach it had fresh peaches in it - so yummy!

: Paella - a rice dish typically with sea food in it - Amazing!

 : Palmeras - amazing with coffee and best fresh from the bakery, smothered in chocolate :o)

: Churros and Chocolate - a messy breakfast with two little boys and certainly not healthy - but a cultural experience - right?

: Limonada and Jugo de Naranja - fresh citrus is so cheap (50 cents for a kilo of oranges!).  The lemons are closer to the size of grapefruit than to the imported lemons found in the UK.  Our rented apartment has an electric citrus juicer, so sugar syrup to make lemonade was quickly stashed in the fridge.  We've made fresh lemonade by the glass all week.  And the boys love fresh orange juice!

:Tapas - tastey morsels and while they are meant as more of a snack, we've had several tapas meals this week.

:And what is this?  I have no idea.  In Jonah's words "that is the worst thing I've had in awhile!"  The top tasted like sugar, flour and egg yoke and the bottom was soggy cake.  The taste wasn't too bad, but the texture... well, one can't expect to like everything.

A Best Friend's Birthday

It is really wonderful to watch Jonah forming friendships.  It is interesting to see how the friendships grow and how there are some children that just click (I suppose this isn't just with children, but I think seeing it happen so young is fascinating.)  Jonah is blessed with several wonderful friends (who all have delightful mothers - a bonus for me!); but for the first time, Jonah would say he has a 'best friend' and I do think they are something of kindred spirits.  It is sweet and so much fun to watch.  

So when this little guy, who Jonah loves so much, was turning five Jonah wanted to celebrate (and so did I).  So we put together a simple birthday lunch to celebrate his 'best-friend'.

(unfortunately I didn't take any pictures while we had tea - I forgot, but here is the set up.)

And for the gift - a 'Best Friend Apron' (you'll be seeing more of these soon for my boys - hopefully for valentines day).  I'm sure someone has thought of this before, but I used elastic for the neck so that the child can put it on themselves with out tying or tightening.  But the pockets are what make it something special.  I asked Jonah to draw a picture of he and Henry with a water soluble pen.  He began and then said, "I'm making balloons instead.  How do you spell Balloons?"  He chose colors for his balloons and I did the stitching.  I made the H and sewed it up the night before - sorry for the poor photo quality, but that's what I get for procrastinating.  It is a pretty bright purple check, but you can't tell from the photos.

Becoming Human Through Cooking

"Food," says Capon, "is the daily sacrament of unnecessary goodness, ordained for a continual remembrance that the world will always be more delicious than it is useful." (40)

The Supper of the Lamb: A Culinary Reflection by Robert Farrar Capon

Jim's thoughts on this favorite book of ours are on transpositions today.  It's worth going over there just to read Capon's toast from the book (at the end of Jim's post).  Brilliant!

Extra Hands in the Kitchen...

...and I'm loving it.  Jonah has decided that he and I run a restaurant and Daddy and Rowan are our costumers.  He finds it hilarious to continually ask Daddy why he sleeps at the restaurant each night.  "Perhaps we are a Bed and Breakfast" I add and Daddy thinks that is a great idea, "Will Jonah make our bed?"  

photo by Daddy

I've had help with bread, crepes, cranberry chocolate cookies (from Apples for Jam - Yum!) and cupcakes  to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday (pink frosted cakes from Apples for Jam - certainly not very healthy - but yummy) in the past couple days.  And Rowan is content with some beans or popcorn in a bowl to stir with a teaspoon - my sweet little helper.

The New Year in My Kitchen

In these so often indoor winter days there has been a lot coming out of our kitchen.  Here are a few recent favorites.

:The oat biscuits from Apples for Jam (I'm really loving this cookbook!)  Daddy decided to top his with Dalfour jam (a french juice sweetened jam that is amazing and the only sugar free and whole foods option I can find here - and while it is expensive it is cheaper than making my own since I don't have any berry bushes).  

: The chocolate chip and crystalized ginger banana bread from A Homemade Life; this is the first time I made it, but it certainly won't be the last.

: Lots of soups - Pictured is Ed Fretwell Soup from A Homemade Life, which is a favorite and makes a huge amount, so we can host with it and then have left overs for a couple days - brilliant!

: Shells, several soft grey pitchers and vases, and some bare sticks are on my windowsill above the sink -  Wintry tones that remind me of the grey of the sea and make me feel so peaceful right now

What's in your kitchen?

Yep, that's a shiner.  Rowan is walking all over this week and taking quite a few tumbles.  He hit the side of his face (about an inch from the eye) and only cried briefly, but it has turned into a beautiful black eye - poor sweet baby!