It's All in the Presentation, Right?

Nothing as dramatic today as Mindy's post was yesterday.

Today we have peaceful and pretty.

I love looking at the flowers while I'm walking Fenway.

Aren't daisies just happy-looking flowers? So cheerful.

And these beautiful pink roses.

Tonight we had a gorgeous sunset. I wish I'd had my camera handy on Friday because the sunset was absolutely, insanely beautiful - the kind that makes the whole sky and even inside the house glow because of the intensity of it.

God in all his glory.

But the food treat was man-made.

I thought you would appreciate seeing this. Over the weekend, my daughters and I traveled to PA for a memorial mass for my husband on Saturday. On Sunday, we were on the lookout for a place to enjoy brunch where the vegan daughter could find something before her flight took her away.

Success!

She found an adorable little place. It turned out to be run by a super health conscious young couple,  recent immigrants from the Czech Republic who are determined to make the healthiest eating experience around. They were so dang cute and conscientious.

Daughter #1 had jerk chicken and their special gluten-free waffles. (Everything was gluten-free).
I had the waffles with blueberries.  I have to admit, the waffles were extraordinarily good tasting, but they didn't look all that different from any other homemade Belgian style whole grain waffles.

What struck my fancy was the vegan daughter's smoothie bowl.  Isn't this adorable?

Ha! It wasn't lost on me that my mother would not have approved of the plumeria in the food (if you recall my honeysuckle debacle post!)

The smoothie bowl was called Ocean View.

The blue green water came courtesy of spirulina, banana, and vanilla. The sand was a nutty granola, and the whitecaps were a delicious coconut cream.

They also had smoothie bowls called Oktoberfest and Flamingo Lake. I'm sort of dying of curiosity to know what those look like.


Now seriously, most smoothie bowls have everything pretty much tossed together. The extra artistic care these guys took really impressed me and made me hyper aware of how little effort I put into presentation. So I figured I'd ask you.

Do you go the extra mile in presentation? All the time or just on special occasions? Interested minds would like to know (and maybe alleviate some guilt?).



I'll leave you with a sweet moment. Sun-dappled kitty.

New members of the family

Hello, everybody!! The Fresh Pioneer is back and I was panicking a little because I haven't taken pictures of anything... not even the awesome cheesy-dill buns we made yesterday or the baked ham and swiss honey mustard roll ups or the fresh cherry smoothies with dark chocolate drizzle. Mostly because my camera needs to be charged and after the vacation the charger has gone missing... but also because I'm on another deadline and all my brain cells go there.
                                                                  Except....

 

When a friend says they have a batch of abandoned kittens they couldn't care for and one had already passed away.

I mean, what is a person to do? We certainly have the man power for holding and snuggling.

We have the hands for gently cleaning them with a wet cloth.

Wait... there are FIVE??

But then again, I have six kids. We outnumber the kittens!

But what about the dog?? His breed is historically used to chase rats. He does seem overly interested in these small, squeaky things. But so far, he hasn't tried to snag one out of our hands.

But don't they need to eat every few hours? I'll take the night shift, since I'm up until the wee smalls but what about the day time?  I guess since we homeschool year round, we can adjust out schedule a little bit until they're not so needy. We'll call it an experiment in animal husbandry. LOL

So, that's my post! A snapshot of what's happening here in the land of "Sure We Can!" and "Why Not?"

I used to worry about getting blood clots so I set a timer to get up and walk every fifteen minutes. I'm happy to report that no timer was needed this week. I had these little guys to get me out of my chair.

 

I hope your week is filled with cuteness and snuggles! Until next time!!

 

My newest release: Only Through Love.

My facebook page: Pride, Prejudice and Cheese Grits

Springtime Gourmet Lavender Flan

Hello, everybody! The Fresh Pioneer is back and I've got a super fun recipe for you. But first... KITTENS.

 A friend of mine rescued a batch of abandoned kittens. This meant getting kitten replacement milk from the vet. (It actually came in a little pop top can. Hilarious.)

 (My friend Lili took this picture of one of her own cats investigating the newcomers. This kitten's viciousness had me howling with laughter. "Easy there, tiger!")

She fed them through the night, every few hours. Come morning, she was realizing... who is going to watch these sweet babies while she's at work?

 So, she calls the stay at home mom and her six home schooled kids.... but we were on the way to Pendleton (about 45 minutes away) for our yearly state testing! I told her we would LOVE to foster the babies, right after we took 3 hours of state academic tests.

 And it worked out! She brought them over as soon as we got back. We fed them with little eye droppers and then took them out for exercise.

 Here's our puppy trying to figure out what they are. The hissing and back arching was pretty hilarious.

 We put the dog back in the house so the kitties could play without having to show off their Ninja skillz. When the day was over, we gave them back. My friend found someone to take them on full time until they were old enough to find forever homes. But we loved being foster parents for the day!
                                        
 Sammy learns to feed the babies...
                                                       
 My friend Barbara brought over a pick nick lunch. Deviled eggs, shredded chicken salad, fried deli chicken, mint chocolate chip ice cream, fresh fruit. YUMMY. And we welcomed her with... kittens. Here she is, helping the little guys feed one of the calicos.

 OK, now on to the recipe. You'll need fresh, organic lavender. Organic because we're going to put it in our food. No pesticides, please! I've had lavender flan before, but wasn't sure exactly how to make it. I decided to take an easy flan recipe and just infuse the lavender into the milk during the cooking. Here goes!

 Now, you'll need 1/2 cup sugar, plus 3 TBS sugar
    4 cups whole milk
ten stems lavender
5 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
fresh fruit for topping (I was going to use blackberries but my youngest ATE THEM ALL when I wasn't looking)

 Preheat oven to 325F. Combine 1/2 cup and 2 TBS water in saucepan and heat until darkened. This will be the caramel on the bottom. It takes about ten minutes and then remove it from the heat, let it cool, and ladle into the bottom of 6 ramekins.

 Boil the milk with 3 TBS sugar and lavender. Boil for 15 minutes. Let cool. Strain out the lavender. It should smell GOOOD.

 "Watcha cookin' ??"

 Here's the caramel in the ramekins. It wasn't as dark as I wanted, but I didn't want to cook it too long.

 Hm. Smells good, anyway.
Apparently I missed a step with the pictures!
Beat the eggs and the vanilla together in a small bowl. Don't over beat. Add in the cooled milk and then pour over the caramel.

 Fill the dish with about an inch of water. Bake about 35 minutes until set. Remove from the water bath and let cool. 

Since someone ate all the blackberries, I thought a pear might be a good match for the lavender. Mmmm. Not sure the variety, but it's delicious!

 Now's the hard part... let them cool in the fridge for eight hours or overnight. The next day, carefully turn the flan out onto a dish, letting the caramel fill the dish.

The pear was a very pretty color and looked right at home with the caramelized flan.

 All in all, I really thought this recipe was a hit. The little guys loved it because it was tasty, the middle kids loved it because it had "weeds" from the garden in it, and the older kids loved it because of the unique lavender flavor. Very delicate and sweet! For such an easy recipe, I would give this a two thumbs-up for presentation and as a conversation-starter!

 Last week was also my FORTIETH BIRTHDAY. Ugh.... Is it really possible? I feel so young! (Ok, that was a lie.) I was so incredible spoiled. Like these teal, vintage milk glass Pyrex from my friend Christalee. I almost swooned! So cute!

 And my friends Gail and Laurie sent Austen goodies! (Yes, we have been playing with the Jane Austen figure!)

 Google celebrated my big day, too! I felt so loved... When i waved the mouse over the doodle, it said, "Happy Birthday, Virginia!" LOL

My friend Stacey stole me for a movie. I almost never go out, and I realized this called for something special. THE RED CONVERSE.

And my sister came to visit and brought my favorite pie! Strawberry rhubarb. With perfect crust. YUMMY.

Leaving you with a close up shot of the pie! I'm wishing you all a wonderful weekend filled with delicious desserts and unexpected joy!