Mediterranean Chop Salad & Strawberry-Mint Lemonade Slushie

Next to the chocolate mint in the garden is a big patch of lemon mint. The leaves are marbled yellow and green and they smell so refreshing. The kids were asking for popsicles since we had one of our first truly hot days, but we didn't have any, so I told them I'd come up with something. That something turned out to be a strawberry-mint lemonade slushies. We have loads of strawberries in the garden right now so I used the berries, lemons, honey, and several bunches of lemon mint, and ice, of course. I predict my craving for this yummy drink will keep the blender humming all summer long.








Evan is a total strawberry swiper. He can eat nearly as fast as I pick. He doesn't waste time with stem removal either. He takes the meaning of  eating "whole foods" to a new level. And yes, he is wearing a pink sequined shirt. He brought it to me from  Nina's laundry basket and I figured well, why not? 


I love a good chopped salad. This one is similar to a greek salad, but with the addition of romaine and garbanzo beans to make it more of a meal. The other ingredients are red pepper, red onion, basil, cucumber, tomatoes, kalamata olives (I prefer Nicoise, but didn't have any), and feta tossed with a 1:1 ratio of red wine vinegar and olive oil plus a little sea salt. Zig and I had this for dinner with some crusty bread with a smear of fresh pesto.Perfect summer fare.

herbal ice cream & a good book

I hosted book club this month and we read a book I highly recommend,  A Million Miles in a Thousand Years.  I loved this book, and wanted to highlight many passages throughout. I still think about certain aspects of the book, and I read it months ago. This was a departure from the type of book we typically read, but the content brought about a very thought-provoking discussion. I learned more about my friends and their relationships. We had a wonderful evening. I made Lemon Verbena ice cream with individual Lavender honey cakes w/ berries. This was my first attempt at infusing herbs into ice cream, and I was pretty thrilled with the end result. I found the recipe in The Herb Farm Cookbook, which is like a bible for using herbs in many different, and often unexpected, ways. The recipe has creme fraiche so the ice cream is a bit tart, which I love. I also served Cheddar Thyme Gougeres (cheese puffs) just to have a little something savory. 


This recipe used so much lemon verbena, I had to buy another plant.






Evan, and his brother and sisters, were very happy to see I made extra lavender cakes.

goodies

Lots of baking going on around here this week. Want a cookie?


Glitter Balls with Ginger Butter Cream Filling


Triple Ginger Cookies


Peppermint Bark


Lemon Glazed Candied Ginger Cookies

Spiced Candied Nuts and more Peppermint Bark

There are still tons more I'm dying to try in the Martha Stewart Cookies Magazine. I don't bake typical treats for the most part during the year, but in December I unleash the beast throw caution to the wind. This is only a sampling of what we've made! My body has been craving kale for the past few days. Time to come down from the sugar cloud.

Life is sweeter with good friends.

Whew! What a week. Our lazy summer kind of fell by the wayside this week, but all for good reason. We had a BBQ here with some of the kids Sela went to tennis camp with and their families, as well as neighbors on Monday night. We had the Messmers, Medds, Schusters, and Banks over and the kids played their little hearts out. The Banks brought some incredible king salmon from their Alaska fishing trip and everyone else made sides...with friends who are such wonderful cooks, potluck is always more fun, not to mention delicious. I made some herbed foccacia (I'm addicted), provencal potato salad, baked beans(which I forgot to get out of the oven),greek salad, black bean and quinoa salad, and the rest I can't recall. We ended the evening with campfire and s'mores and too much sugar :)

Nina helped me pick flowers for the bbq.


There can never be too many s'mores

Sydney, Gracie, Kate, Maisy, and Nina...big 1st graders!
Salmon salad the next day.

Tuesday, we had a work party here for some of the marketing team in Zig's group. They were having an offsite all day and came by the house for appetizers before heading to a late dinner at Barking Frog. Zig was stuck in traffic on the 520 bridge and called and told me he would be late but that everyone else was behind him so not to worry. Since I hadn't met any of these folks previously (most work in the Mountain View office, New York, and a few other spots), I was glad to hear he would be arriving first as planned.  As soon as he said they were running behind, I decided to feed my kids dinner, and felt relief that I had a few more minutes to set up..it had been a busy day and I was running quite a bit behind. And then I looked down the driveway and saw an unfamiliar car coming up. Turns out Zig wasn't in front so the party started with these kind people, who I had never met, helping me bring all the food out and set up. They were awesome. Oh and Rollin decided to help too and turned the dessert upside down. Love you, Zig. A little chaos is always good, right?!

Wednesday the girls were giddy with excitement for the Davises to arrive. Sela and Nina were with friends during the day and I just had Rollin and Evan here. My friend, Lilian, has had numerous doctor appointments for her new baby so we were excited to be able to watch her darling girls, Anna and Leah, during the day. I think this was the first time Rollin got to be in charge and take friends around and entertain without his sisters around. He kept things hopping and they were all dirty and tired when Lilian arrived. They had so much fun and played "Mom, Dad & Baby" in the treehouse, among other things. I was trying to get ready for Darcie and Geoff so Rollin was a really big helper! Love that boy!

Anna, Leah, and Rollin








After they left and I scrambled to pick up the girls, we flew into the driveway just a few minutes ahead of the Davises. The girls picked up right where they left off and played solid for the next five days. Darcie, Geoff and I enjoyed the few minutes of downtime, usually at night when the kids were asleep, to catch up and visit, although I could still use more time to further discuss a few things! We also enjoyed seeing Heather Parry and her kids and Lori Thompson, Micah and Maverick.

Thursday night we had tickets to Martina McBride with the Thompsons and Sharps. The Davises were able to join us last minute because Dave and Lisa stayed in Wyoming longer than they had originally planned and Geoff finally decided that he liked us enough to endure the twang :)  The concert was good, Zig and Geoff don't appreciate country music quite as much as we do (California boys) and Zig kept saying "that Reba McIntire concert was awesome!" Whatever :) We all agree that the company was the best part, of course, and Chateau St. Michele is a such an ideal setting for a concert when the weather is nice.

Friday we had nothing, and that was nice. The kids played all day. We visited and cooked and made snacks and cooked and made snacks and stayed up too late trying to get all our talking in. Sela and Tennie were off most of the day trying to create a natural tanning cream...aka dirt :)






Fun Dips (Emergen-C style)

Saturday we hosted a dinner for a few families who had won a dinner at our house as part of the  Microsoft Giving  auction. Zig donated dinner and a day at the farm and it was time to "pay up". I got out early Saturday to do grocery shopping. I was running out of steam so I planned to go to PCC and get some salads from the deli to supplement what we were making, but there was just nothing that looked good. It was all kind of blah and that didn't feel right. I hurried and came home and got to work....Well, that is after I searched for a gluten free dessert and gluten free graham crackers. Two of the guys were gluten free and one 9 year girl was a vegetarian who eats salmon. Another guy was lactose intolerant but he didn't tell me until he got here (I panicked). Fortunately he said it was mild and he brought his pills to counteract the dairy. Let's just say the kids got a couple movies in that afternoon. Desperate times, right? Zig had a keynote to prepare for and was occupied till 3 so it was pretty much my auction dinner, which is fine, in hindsight. He has a lot going on and somehow together we manage to get things done. We were scrambling at the last minute and I was kind of wishing I had just bought those darn salads! But it all worked out just in the nick of time, literally. Thank goodness no one was early!We grilled salmon again and I made some salads from the garden, my favorite being a beet orange salad. We have tons of beets and they were in the garden one moment and on the table 3 hours later. I love that!  We enjoyed getting to know these families and ended the night with a campfire (notice a theme?)

Sunday we took it easy. Actually, we took it easy until it was church time. Zig  flew out to New York in the morning (lucky sucker) and I took the kids to church alone. I knew it would be a challenge and was questioning why I wore heels the second I sat down. Evan and Zig usually spend the meeting in the nursery (Evan likes to shriek at the most quiet moments) so today it was my turn.  While in the nursery, I heard a familiar voice and it became clear that the sweet little voice over the intercom was Sela's. She was sharing her testimony and I wasn't even in there to watch. Many people approached me afterwards to tell how much her thoughts meant to them. Sunday afternoon we had dinner when the Davises returned from visiting our old church. The kids filled the remainder of the evening dressing up, performing in a talent show, and I'm pretty sure there was at least one more naked parade. Good times. Oh and what better time for a washing machine to malfunction than when guests are here and the kids have spent the last five days getting filthy.

 
Ceci likes the spotlight! She's so fun to watch.


Sela singing Taylor Swift something

Adele and Nina

Rollin trying hard to steal the spotlight
Geoff and Tennie having a conversation in French. Tennie's French is really good!

Interesting reactions from the peanut gallery



The audience...Geoff making cookies.

All done!
The three little girls are little exhibitionists!


Ceci leading the naked parade

Adele and Nina are little free birds.


Today the Davises headed to San Juan Island. The time went by fast. We're all pretty worn out and I know the kids probably stayed up much later here than they usually do. Same for Darcie and Geoff! But it's always great to spend time with old friends. Our kids have known each other since they were babies and it's so neat to see them all growing up. Tennie is 10! Now that is hard to believe! Where has the time gone?!

Sela and Tennie in 2002

Come back soon!

Poppy

Saturday night Zig and I had one of our best meals at a restaurant called Poppy We almost stayed home as we were both working on projects...Zig in the garden rigging traps for some awful pest that is going to town on our strawberries (I fully expect him to camp out with a shotgun if his current 8 tactics do not yield results...haha) And I was planning a menu and preparing for a baby shower, book club, and dinner guests. But I felt too bad to cancel on our babysitter, so rather pathetically, that's what got us out the door.

We never made it to The Herbfarm while Jerry Traunfeld was the executive chef and I always wanted to. Zig couldn't imagine spending that long on one meal, but he was willing :) It seemed like I was always nursing and the meal starts around 4 and ends five hours later, which required too much planning and stress. Anyway, he recently opened his own restaurant on Capitol Hill so naturally I was eager to visit. Zig isn't a big fan of eating out because two or three days a week he eats in restaurants, good ones, for every meal. He loves to stay home and he loves my cooking, which is good I guess (he's easy to please), but sometimes I enjoy a break and want to eat really good food that I did not prepare, so off we went.

Anyway, how could a restaurant called Poppy not be good?! We had high hopes, and our experience far exceeded our expectations. This, for me, has never happened. I've had wonderful meals, but none where every single thing was a hit. The restaurant is named after the owner's Dad. Our kids call my Dad "Poppy" too. It also has a poppy theme and an abundance of the poppy color in the menus, decor, etc. Poppy and teal are my favorite colors. And finally, the whole concept of Thalis, which are little dishes is genius. Every single dish was pure heaven. Local, seasonal and unbelievably fresh. I had just read an article in a Edible Seattle about sea beans and what do you know, they had them on the menu! So cool.


Between Zig and I, we had Anise Hyssop tea (which, I'm proud to say I came home and made!), Rosemary Lemonade,Green garlic soup, Sea Bean,radish and lemon balm salad, Neah Bay King Salmon with herb sauce, Tandoori Lamb Leg with smashed chickpea,paprika, and green olives, Turnips with clove, cardamon, and peanut, Cauliflower with sesame and dill, Swiss chard and oregano gratin, Rhubarb pickle (so good!), Onion poppy naan, Caraway thyme flan with morel mushrooms, Eggplant fries with sea salt and honey(AMAZING!), Chocolate terrine with ginger salted sesame and cumin cashews, Homemade chocolate mint ice cream, and four other little desserts that I can't remember their names. But they were heavenly.

We talked about the food all night. The herbs, both common and uncommon, are the signature of any Jerry Traunfeld meal. I have his two cookbooks, and after our meal, I came home and spent two hours reading through them in bed until 2am and bookmarking things I want to try. I have herbs all over the place so it's a shame not to be doing a better job using them. They make such a difference. I would never order ice cream for dessert in a restaurant, but the waiter told us the homemade mint chocolate chip ice cream was infused with the herb chocolate mint! I had no idea such a thing existed. Both the ice cream, and the actual chocolate chunks had the infused mint. Of course, Zig bought me a chocolate mint plant two days later. I think I'd rather buy the ice cream from the experts, but who knows, maybe I'll experiment this summer.

When I eat out for fun, I like to try things I wouldn't have either the time or skill to make myself, and certainly I wouldn't have the time to make 18 little dishes. So, yeah for Poppy. The menu is the same for this weekend, with some minor changes...anyone want to go again?!!

While on the topic of food, we tend to eat a lot of soup, and I discovered a new favorite this weekend, Asparagus Leek and Lemon Thyme Soup. I am in the process of getting together a document with my 25 favorite soups and their recipes. Just let me know if you would like a copy...that may spur me on to get it done! When I finish, I'll just send an email with the recipes. Gathering my favorite recipes and go-to meals is an ongoing project, but I've made real progress on it lately!

I never thought I would say this, but I have a new favorite pancake! And this has nothing to do with herbs, but I got the Pioneer Woman cookbook this week and this was the first thing I made.

Sour Cream Pancakes
1 cup sour cream, 7 tablespoons flour, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 2 large eggs, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract. Combine dry and wet seperately, then mix.



Then I chopped and chopped and chopped herbs and made this Foccacia Bread from The Herbfarm Cookbook. It was AMAZING, truly. The chopping was so worth it. And this is bad photo, the herbs and bread are much prettier.

Next came the Roasted Asparagus with Fried Sage...you roast the asparagus with sage, you fry little sage leaves for a garnish, and you drizzle a dressing with sage on the top. Go sage! This one is from The Herbal Kitchen, by Jerry Traunfeld.

Then we made Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes...why did I not try these sooner? Steam cauliflower heads, leaves, and slices of garlic until soft. Drain and puree with 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 Tbsp butter, 1/8 tsp grated nutmeg, season with salt and pepper. I also cubed and boiled 4 little yukon gold potatoes and added them to the puree because I needed the recipe to make a little bit more. I had a smallish cauliflower.


And I'm hesitant to post this picture because it's not a good one, but this is another favorite soup...white bean and kale soup. So very yum.


And this post has gone on way too long. Then end.

a break

We have a four day weekend beginning tomorrow and I couldn't be happier. I needed a breather and the timing is perfect. I'm counting down the days till life slows to a crawl. We've been in what feels like a sprint for the past few weeks. The end of school is both exciting and exhausting. I thought it might be time for a little update on a few of the happenings of the past couple weeks.

Nina and Rollin are really playing so well together. Several days this week, they kept each other entertained for 4-5 hours, mostly outside. I try not to interrupt them because they really get into their own little world. I love the days when we have that luxury of not having to be anywhere. Wish we had more, but they're coming.





I was shocked when instead of fighting over the one towel in their bathroom, they came up with this compromise all on their own after getting out of the bathtub!


Kona is still taking his job of chicken protector very seriously. He had another opossum under arrest on the fence this week. It's quite the stand-off and great entertainment during breakfast.







Evan is trying so hard to walk. He has taken several steps and the best thing about it is how excited the other three are. It's like a pep rally every time he makes another attempt. He is used to getting applause so he claps for himself every time. He is also determined to play in the dirt every single day and ruin all his clothes. There might be a lot of diaper pictures this summer!














Sela has been running track. She won two first place ribbons in relay and 440.


Rollin entertaining himself during the track meet.




I've spent lots of time going through my recipes preparing for a cooking class. Aside from creating the menu for the class, I found lots of old favorites to revisit. We've been having soup weather, unfortunately, but the Wild Rice Cherry Soup recipe from Lisa brought a little sunshine to our table. I actually thought the kids would be lukewarm on this one because of the textures and some new flavors, but boy wasI wrong. Everyone cleaned their bowls and Zig said it was his favorite soup ever.

Wild Rice Cherry Soup

Lemon Chicken Salad


Lisa and I have been walking with Rollin, Evan and Sofie on Thursday mornings. We meet around 9, walk along the trail, stop by Hillcrest Bakery, head to the park, feed the ducks, and head back to where we started and to play at the other park. We stop lots along the way to rescue snails and worms and, of course, for snacks. We get back around noon. Rollin rides his bike so he keeps us walking fast. I look forward to this time so much each week for the sunshine (sometimes) and the hours of visiting with Lisa.



And this post is getting too long. I haven't really even mentioned what we've been up to. But it's a start.