Thursday, June 25, 2015

May- monthly recap

May starts with a day off for May Day.
We had friends coming over, so I spent some time in the kitchen.

The ridiculousness of modern cooking... 
One iPad for the recipe and the other for NetFlix...
I made Papas rellenas for snacking.

How do you make chicken better?
Add bacon!
This time it went through the food processor to make paste.
These were finger licking good!

Dessert?
Doughnuts and ice cream.

And fun for the kids.

I bought pretty paper straws.
And then played with them.

I also raided our Lego mini figure box to make #10 and Donna to run from the Dalek.

It hailed.
At least twice.

Our motto at work.

A huge boulder left my shoulders when we found an assisted living place for my Dad just a stone throw away from the school (there at the end of the street).
He's really settled in and enjoys the ready meals and company.

It was mostly cool, but blue skies were around.

For Mother's Day, our kids planted either a sunflower or a tomato.
And made matching cards.

Me, busy adding more soil.
Great having a colleague taking such a flattering photo.

Aah, well..
Guess we're even.
*grin*

New supplies for the fall term arrived!
Washi tapes and buttons and embroidery floss and felt and beads and...

I fell in love with the colors at the garden center.

But came home with only summer flowers.

Yup, that poured.

My favorite May green.

Ugh.. we have thieving birds here!

This made my day.
My kind of civil disobedience.

I went back and bought some.

I got a surprise visitor in dollhouse scale.
You can read of his escapades with my Esther here.

We celebrated a retiring principal and a teacher.
Great care had gone into the goodie bags for our 90 minute road trip.
Served with sparkling wine, naturally.

Oh the Eurovision Song Contest.
Such fun to watch while commenting with friends around the globe via Facebook.
I was hooked up to not only Finland, but also Germany, Sweden (congrats, again) and the US.

We organized silly Olympics for the kids at work.
Good times!

My favorite tulip bloomed.

We also bought a bush called rose almond.
Such beautiful blooms.

Hmmpphh.. birds, just aim at the LAWN!

Chocolate ice cream and sandals.
Good combo.

The Parents' Association treated the staff with cakes and sparkling wine.

I loved these tiny wild violets on my way to work.

And then, the highlight of this year.
The premiere of SkeleHulk.
The lego film David worked with the kids to create.
He only filmed, all else was by the kids.

You can watch the 11 minute film right here and now.
Tell your Lego loving kids to join you!

Finally, it was time to toast summer vacation!

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Rhubarb, rhubarb and then some more rhubarb

Last year I split and replanted my rhubarbs and consequently got none.
This year they are coming up like crazy.
Plus there's the rhubarb from the allotment.

I've been trying out several rhubarb pie and muffin recipes.
This one with apples was pretty amazing.

I'm freezing a bunch, so that once strawberry season arrives (it will take a while, it's been a cool June), I have some ready for jam.

Even so.
It's coming in the windows and doors as the saying here goes.

So my cousin tipped me off on rhubarb infused vodka.
Oh hello!

What you need are glass jars, rhubarb, sugar and vodka.

Chop it up.

Add to jar, every 4cm (1½ inch) sprinkle lightly with sugar. 

Then fill with vodka.

Screw on the lid and let sit in room temperature, but not in direct sunlight, for a month.
Turn the jar occasionally.
After a month, strain, bottle and chill.
I'll let you know how this turns out.
Mine have been brewing for two weeks now.

I'm thinking that left over strained rhubarb might be pretty good on (adults only) ice cream...