Catchphrases

I just need to jump in somewhere... we've been back from our big East coast vacation for two weeks already and I have yet to share about it! I'm still processing and uploading photos to share with the family, that's been quite a project in itself. But before memory fades and those spaces of my mind fill up with everything else, I need to solidify them with words.

One of the sweetest things about this trip was most definitely the extended time together with our family. On Philip's side we are all scattered about the states and that has made it more challenging to have chunks of time together for Evie to really bond with everyone. But if there was any question of those connections before, they are answered now with fondness... and funny little sayings. There were a lot of catchphrases flying around during our vacation.

"What's up buttercup?"

(Smiling up at Grandma Great on the balcony.)

"How YOU doin'?"

(We were on the Jersey Shore.)

"Where's your hat, Pat?"

"You're gonna step on it!"

(Referring to her bottom lip.)

"BORING."

(Especially fun to blurt out at random times.)

Bubble blowing tips from Grandma Great, (Gigi).

PaJoe's Donald Duck voice.

The first of piano lessons from LaLa.

LaLa would sing this song to Evie, and now she will ask me to sing "our star is shining". I still need to learn the words to this song, not to mention to sing ... so for now we will watch a friend of LaLa's sing it.

Kristin Chenoweth - Goodnight My Someone

Raspberry Sour Cream Pie

My friend Tanya Tandoc had the brilliant idea of hosting a "Pie Party", (which she wrote about on her great new blog). And since Tanya is queen of all good food, I knew that if I was going to appropriately contribute to the occasion, I would have to bring something really yummy. It was good encouragement to finally try this pie crust recipe from my wonderful cousin Bethany's blog.


Bloggity-blog-blog, right?! (This is what happens when you are surrounded by creative people, you sit and look at their blogs and soak up all their wonderful thoughts and ideas and get inspired to create as well, but then it's time to go to bed. Or is that just me?)


So anyhow, back to the pie...

This is a recipe from my days as the kitchen manager at the "Riverside Cup of Tea". I have the fondest memories of working there. Even though the kitchen was tiny, it was packed full of some of the sweetest dear-hearts ever. This is one of the many delicious goodies that we would make, and it's recipe was in the cookbook that Linda Lamp (the owner) wrote.

Here goes.

Pastry for 1 crust pie (I ended up doubling this recipe because the crust recipe makes two crusts)
2 eggs (these quantities are not shown as doubled)
1 c. sugar
1/3 c. flour
1 1/3 c. sour cream (an entire 24 oz. container if doubled)
1 tsp. vanilla
3 c. frozen raspberries, thawed (it's better with fresh berries if you've got them)

Streusel Topping:
1/3 c. flour
1/3 c. brown sugar, packed
3 T. butter
1/3 c. chopped pecans (or more)

Although the recipe doesn't say to, I prebaked the crust for about 5-6 minutes to be certain that it wouldn't get soggy. Who likes soggy crust?

 And it would have been a shame to waste the trimmings, right?

I was so excited about the cinnamon and sugar crustos that I forgot to photograph the first couple of steps. Beat the eggs. Add sugar and flour and beat.

 Beat in sour cream.

 (If you have Mexican vanilla, use it. I am sad this bottle that my brother Jason brought back from a trip umpty-nine years ago is now empty. That MUST mean that it is time to go back. Mexico anyone?)

 Add vanilla and beat in.

After washing the berries, I shook them a handful at a time to get the extra pools of water out.

Fold in raspberries.

 Pour into pie crust.

 Bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes.

 I remembered that the last time I made this pie, there was a bubbling-over mess in the oven. So I put a cookie sheet underneath in case that happened again, which I'm glad to say it didn't. That cookie sheet wouldn't have caught everything.

 While the pie(s) is baking, mix together flour and brown sugar for streusel topping.

 Cut in butter.

 And add nuts.

 Play hide and seek while waiting for the pie to bake.

 Remove pie from oven,

 Top with streusel topping and bake 10 more minutes.

Spinach Pesto

So we just got back from our big and wonderful family vacation to NYC and the Jersey Shore and I am writing about spinach pesto. I think it is funny that I have 1,100 photographs from our last two weeks travels, but what I have to share with you has nothing to do with that. Editing that many photos is a bit daunting, and I'm still deciding how to break it up and write about our time away. In the meantime I've been meaning to share my "recipe" for spinach pesto, and that is much easier to tackle. Also my sweet cousin Bethany has been nudging me to do so.

This really isn't a recipe, but more of my loose rememberance of how I throw this together...

I hadn't heard of spinach pesto before my friend Patty served it for lunch one day, telling me that when she doesn't have access to fresh basil, she substitutes fresh spinach. Brilliant. And I have to say that I actually prefer the flavor of spinach over basil (which can be a bit on the black licorice flavor spectrum, yuck), and spinach is a "super food", which means you should eat lots of this!

Patty gave me a loose list of ingredients that she uses and then I ran home to give it a try and just threw things together until it tasted good. This has become a favorite thing around our house and Evie asks for it! I make it often and started this latest batch before remembering that I should take pictures as I go so I could finally share this recipe.

Fresh spinach, salt, olive oil, parmesan cheese, and walnuts

On our vacation I realized the value of my food processor when I had to use a blender at the beach house instead. Wah! I know, such desperate circumstances right?! :) Anyway, the blender took 15 minutes to do what the food processor does in 30 seconds. But man it was creamy, more like spinach butter than pesto. :) So if you are patient and don't have a processor, by all means, bring in the blender.

 

 I can only fit about half of a large bag of spinach at first, with approximately 1/4 -1/3 cup of olive oil, 1/3 cup parmesan, 2 tsp. salt ( I like the coarse kind), and 2 handfuls of walnuts.

 Process until it looks like this.

 Then add the rest of the bag of spinach, ( I think it was a 1 lb. bag).

 Taste it with bread and adjust to your taste or texture. We like to spread it on toasted, crusty bread.

 Evie loves guacamole, so I got her to try the pesto by telling her it was like guacamole, but with bread instead of chips. She likes to dip her bread, Philip and I just slather it on.

Tiny Corners of Our Everyday Lives

There is a book my momma gave to me a couple of years ago called "Cold Tangerines"... it's author Shauna Niequist wrote that,
"The discipline of celebration is changing my life..."
and that thought really resonated in my own heart.
I love the way she writes. She has put into words thoughts I hadn't ever been able to formalize or come to grips with. Let me share an excerpt from her book...

"I believe that this way of living, this focus on the present, the daily, the tangible, this intense concentration not on the news headlines but on the flowers growing in your own garden, the children growing in your own home, this way of living has the potential to open up the heavens, to yield a glittering handful of diamonds where a second ago there was coal. This way of living and noticing and building and crafting can crack through the movie sets and soundtracks that keep us waiting for our own life stories to begin, and set us free to observe the lives we have been creating all along without even realizing it.


I don't want to wait anymore. I choose to believe that there is nothing more sacred or profound than this day."

Sometimes I need to remind myself to be present, to soak up this day. Not to focus on the big events and just be busy in between them, but to take great satisfaction in these moments. Little as they may be, they comprise my life. And I want to live in gratitude now, not just in retrospect.