The cherry tree in the backyard has been busy. It’ll be a good crop, if we could get just a tiny bit less rain… some of the fruit is molding before I can get it off the tree. But the birds are happy, as is the skinny squirrel I startled out of the tree the other morning. I do wish the critters would eat the fallen cherries first, though, leaving me the ones in the tree. Lots of cherries are out of my reach, guys; there will be plenty for all of us! Save
My girl is seven! By request, chocolate cupcakes with pink peppermint buttercream frosting and sprinkles. I’ve got a new “easy decorator” that made frosting these so much easier than all previous cupcakes. I may have gotten the cake:frosting ratio a bit off-kilter… I guess I’ll need to make more for practice! Save
I’m borrowing an idea from elsie marley for some of my summertime posts: brief updates so we can get back to the fun stuff. With that in mind, here are a handful of photos from our annual Picnic Brunch at the Fremont Fair and Solstice Parade. In case you need the naked bicyclist photos from this year, they are on Flickr, taken by other people. (Ahem, notice the word “naked” in previous sentence. I mean it.) Pre-parade street decorating. The only time each year when it’s ok to say to your kid, “Go play in the street!” About to be …
If you can get your hands on 4 lbs of fresh peaches (a bit unlikely now that it’s October, but there’s always next year!), you want to make peach butter. I found the recipe over at Smitten Kitchen and was instantly obsessed. Like, I thought about it all the time and I hadn’t even tasted it yet. I got too excited and bought too many peaches, then had to borrow a scale from a neighbor to avoid mucking up everything. I even planned out when I was going to make the peach butter, at a reasonable time on a Saturday, …
The garden suffered this summer from the weather and neglect. I didn’t make it out as often as I might have to really maximize production. I should be grateful we didn’t have a scorcher of a summer; I barely watered and things still limped along, more or less. On the other hand, I did assemble a checklist early in the year to guide me through the various harvests so I would know how much of what I was planning on putting by for winter. I may have only coaxed three whole carrots out of the garden this year, but I’ve …
