What a Good Long Weekend Looks Like...

From the City...

Lots of playing with cousins
First swims in the kiddie pool
Cuddles with aunties and uncles
Yard sales galore (may the season BEGIN!)
Deck party time
Fish and Chips....you don't even have to ask, there was lots of vinegar, tartar sauce and ketchup involved
Dirt on feet, dirt on hands, dirt on clothes, dirt in hair.....just dirt, everywhere.
Our first crop of mosquito bites
Family baseball games
Hunting for wild asparagus
And a looooong, much needed, nap on the way home.

...just the best long weekend.

-amelia

Dead Beat Blogger Returns!!!

Whoa, whoa whoa. As you can tell Laura and I have been finding it increasingly difficult to blog, life is busy, there is always something on the go and I'm even finding it hard to cook and create

recipes. Brutal, I know.So here's just a tidbit of what I've been up to:

Camping with the girls on the long weekend

Robyn's Sweet Potato Salad

Camping Feet

Raspberry Bran Muffins: Recipe here

Ruby sunning herself

Tam's chocolate chip cookies

Breakfast

Breakfast

Ali and her gold coat

Of course

Spinach Salad

Black Bean Burritos : recipe here Made without Meat

The View

Robyn

Ali

Amy and Hayley

New Potato

Salad: Recipe Down Below

Grilled Zucchini

Tam in the Sun

Fire Roasted Chicken

New Potato Salad:

1 1/2 quarts new potatoes, washed but of course with the skins, boil gently until slightly soft not mushy, 15-20 min.

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1 tbsp dijon mustard

1/4 cup olive oil

2 cloves fresh garlic

a whack of rosemary (large bunch)

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Puree everything except the potatoes in your food processor.

Pour over cooled potatoes and allow to chill for atleast two hours.

Enjoy!

Nothing like Milk and Cookies

From the Country and the City...

This recipe is so so so good and relatively easy to make, it's from Martha Stewart's Cookies book and has quickly become Laura's and my favorite sweet treat. The recipe calls for less butter and brown sugar which makes them thicker and fluffier than most chocolate chip cookies. We made them on Sunday night and they had all completely vanished by Monday morning, they really are that good.

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
14 tbsp (1 3/4 sticks) butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tsp coarse salt
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together flour and baking soda in a bowl.

Put butter and both sugars in the bowl of an electric mixer (hand blender should do) fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about two minutes. Reduce speed to low. Add salt, vanilla and eggs; mix until well combined. Add flour mixture, mix until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

Drop tablespoons of dough onto baking shets lined with parchment paper, spacing two inches apart. Bake cookies until centers are set and edges are golden, 10 -12 minutes, totating sheets halfway through. let col on baking sheets for two minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks; let cool completely.

Enjoy.