A rain shower, with the sun shining all around, is like Heaven crying for joy.....

Friends, Fireworks, and Food!

I hope you all had an amazing Fourth of July! :)

We had a fun day planned, and we were busy all day planning and getting ready to go to our friends house for a Fourth of July party later that evening.

And since we live down here in "Sunny Florida" it decided to rain for us here about noon. You can be sure that we were incredibly disappointed, and my brothers were in the lowest state of despair.
"How can we light fireworks in the rain?"
"Will the party be canceled?"
These and other questions came from the boys as they sat on the living room floor listening to the rain pelt our house.
Everyone was upset, and dad went to check the weather report on the computer.
I had planned on making some yummy goodies to bring to the Fourth of July party, and I decided that I would still make them. Yummy eatables taste just as good at home as they do at a party, so I got my favorite measuring cup out (I can't quite bake happily without it), and set to work.
I was planning on making an appetizer and a desert, and mom was making salsa.
The desert was a berry buttermilk bunt cake with a lemon glaze that I had found online, and I had tweaked the recipe a bit. I actually hadn't planned it, strawberries and blueberries being the only berries in the house, but when cut into, the cake was red, white and blue! (I love when things work out like that....)

The cake turned out really well except for the fact that it could have been cooked a little longer, but it actually tasted really good!

So I had decided to try something savory for a change as I don't normally make things like that, so the appetizer was a Ratatouille Tart. I found the recipe on one of my favorite blogs: Smitten Kitchen. You can find so many great recipes on there, and they are relatively simple to try too.

 The tart was surprisingly easy, and it called for frozen puffed pastry from the store, so you don't even have to make your own crust (although you definitely could if you wanted to).

Ratatouille Tart:

 18 oz. frozen puffed pastry 1 Asian eggplant

1 small zucchini 1 small yellow squash

1 bell pepper (any color you like) 1/3 cup tomato puree (I used crushed tomatoes)

2 Tbs olive oil Salt and pepper

A few sprigs fresh thyme (I used dried) 1 cup crumbled feta

Defrost the puffed pastry overnight. The next day: heat oven to 375F. Lightly flour a work surface, lay one sheet of the pastry out (there should be two sheets in the box), and gently roll out until it measures about 11x15in. (the dough looked like it was going to just unfold, but it didn't. You just have to roll out the folded piece--just how it is.) Slide the pastry onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (we didn't have any at the time, so i just sprinkled a little flour on the pan, and it worked fine).

Poke the pastry all over with a fork. Spread the tomato puree evenly over the dough, leaving a one-inch border around the edges. Trim the ends off the veggies; for the pepper, you have to cut the ends off carefully, then hollow out the middle, leaving the edges intact, like a tube. On a mandolin, adjustable-blade slicer, or with a very sharp knife,* slice the veggies into very thin slices (about 1/16 of an inch thick). Arrange slightly overlapped slices of vegetables in rows over the puree, alternating vegetables (don't forget to leave the 1in border around the edges). You will probably have a few left over (I ended up with a BUNCH left over, so make sure your veggies are small when you get them at the store.....or just use half). Drizzle olive oil over the top of the tart, and season with salt, pepper and thyme leaves (no stems). Bake in a heated oven until the pastry is puffed and browned (including the bottom), and the veggies look softened, 25 to 30 mins. Slide onto cutting board, sprinkle with feta, and cut into squares or strips (a pizza wheel works really well for this). Serve warm or at room temperature.

*For the peppers, I found that the mandolin wouldn't slice it well, so I filled the pepper with paper towels (so it would hold its shape), and sliced it thinly with a steak knife. :)

Now since the pack of puffed pastry came with two sheets of dough, and it was still raining, I decided to make another tart: a sweet one this time.

I rolled out the dough exactly how it said in the first recipe, and made a sauce-like base to go on the bottom:

2 or 3 med. size spoonful's of ricotta cheese (this would be amazing with mascarpone cheese too.)
a few tbs lemon juice
about 1 tsp lemon zest
3 or 4 tbs sugar (just keep adding and tasting until you get the sweetness you want--it doesn't have to be very sweet.)**

And just mix it all together and spread it evenly on the crust (just like in the last recipe).

I then sliced a bunch of strawberries roughly: 1/8 to 1/4 inch. And I laid them in rows on the tart (remembering to leave the one-inch edge). When I had the tart covered with strawberries, I sprinkled some blueberries over the top (I think it would be best with fresh blueberries, but i used half-frozen ones and it was really good).

Then I made a really simple crumb topping:

2 or 3 handfuls of flour (depending on your hand size)

1 med. size handful brown sugar

a few tbs soft butter

Just mix it all together with a fork. For the butter, just add it 1 tbs at a time until it is crumbly, but will stick together if you squeeze it with your hand. For the brown sugar, you can taste a little bit of the mixture (after everything is mixed in) to see if you have to add more **(note: the crumb topping should be sweeter than the ricotta mixture, so make sure not to make the ricotta mixture extremely sweet, as the crumb topping shouldn't be really sweet either.) Then sprinkle the crumb topping over the fruit in little pieces (the butter should have made it stick together a little bit).

Then, to just add just a little bit more lemon, I mixed 3 or 4 tbs sugar with a few tsp lemon zest, and sprinkled it on the top--only this I also sprinkled on the edges of the crust as well (just so it didn't' get left out.....and so it wouldn't be quite so flavorless).

And that's it! This wasn't the first time I had tried to make something like this without a recipe, but it was the first time that I did and it turned out really good!! :D

So I am sorry that I couldn't give a better recipe, but I actually was in a rush when I made it, so the fact that I actually got pictures was surprising. :}

And by the time I finished the last tart, it had stopped raining and it was time to go to the party! We got to hang out with a bunch of friends, played games, and afterwards we all went down town to see the fireworks. I don't have any pictures, but you can take my word for it--it was one of the best Wednesdays ever! ;)

Beautiful day.....beautiful song.....alone with my thoughts.....a dreamy day.... :)

Spring is here....

You can never really enjoy sitting in the sun, until you have walked in the rain. :)

This is how much snow our family got in CT.  It's funny because on that same day it was 75F for us!! :)

We're Expecting!!

Well not a baby exactly.....a kid! Like as in a goat kid (or two)! :) Our goat Patches is pregnant, and should have her baby(s) the end of this month, or the beginning of next. I will post pictures when they are born, and maybe you all can come and see them! =D

This is our silly goat Patches.

And this is a picture of her from last year with her two babies
Pearl, and Cheeto. :)

Merry Christmas everyone! :)

Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree...

I am finally writing this post! I have been wanting to do this post for the last two weeks, and here I am! I also thought that it might make it a little more Christmas-y as --at least over here-- it is hot, muggy and rainy. :P

So first I have to tell you all about our Christmas tree story. Um...yeah...it's quite a story. :}
To start with, we always have a real tree, and so, we normally go to the nursery by our house (well, not right by our house...you get what I mean.), and mom picks out the 'perfect' tree. Now we got all ready to go, we were all dressed up because we were going to take our Christmas pictures in front of all the trees. But then the boys had a squabble about who got to sit in the fron seat, and mom said that she didn't feel like going after that. So the next day we tried again, and it was raining (actually it seems to be a tradition for us to always end up getting our tree on the wettest, rainiest days.). The rain stopped, and we got all ready to go, then, right as we were heading out the door, it started up again!! But we were determined to go that day, so we sat down and waited for the rain to stop. After about 45 minutes of us waiting, it finally stopped. We all ran to the car, and headed out.
We pulled up to the nursery, and mom thought that is was closed because no one else was there....but then she remembered the rain, and we all got out. We looked at all the trees they had. Big trees, and little trees, fat trees and skinny trees. Ten foot trees, and Charley Brown trees (I actually really wanted one because they were so cute.). :) And after looking at every tree at least 5 times, Joe picked out the 'perfect' tree. The man tied it up in the twine-net stuff, and mom gave Jesse the keys to unlock the car for the men to tie the tree to the car. THE BIG MISTAKE!
So the guys get the tree tied securely, and they close the doors. Mom then remembers that she has to pay for it (fancy forgetting that!), and she locks the car....and....shuts...the...door.
Jesse: *running in slow motion* NOOOOOO!!!!

So, have you figured it out yet? Jesse left the keys on the passenger's seat in the car. Yeah. My brother....the genius. ;)
We stood there staring through the window at them shining away in the Christmas lights. Then Joe notices that the window is opened a crack!
Joe: Hey Jesse! Lift me up so I can squeeze my arm through to reach the Lock/Unlock button!
So that is what Jesse did, and we all heard the magical *CLICK* of the button as Joe unlocked the door! We all shouted for joy! (and that is also where the guys working at the nursery started looking at us like we were crazy or something.) :} Joe had successfully unlocked the car!! Yeah!! My brother....the genius!! ;) (see what I did there?)
Mom pocketed the keys after that, and after paying for the tree, we managed to get home without any more 'adventures'! :D
And that is the tree that you see here:

It actually looks kinda messy in this picture...hmmm...might need to work on that. :}
We have a bunch of old antique ornaments, and we did have an antique star on the top that lit up, but it broke. :( We also had three antique angels that we used after the star broke, but for the last tree years dad has broken them, either putting them up or taking them down. :}







Here are some of my favorite ornaments:

My penguin that I got the year before last.
(notice how he is eating a fish.) ;)

I don't know why but this has always been the ornament that I
always put up. It has been my favorite for as long as I can
remember. (The little bears are just too cute!) :D

This is one of our antique ones. These always get
put on the TOP of the tree so little hands can't
reach them. :)

And this is an ornament made by my great aunt.
It is made out of safety-pins, and beads.
(I actually have one on my book shelf.) :) 



So that's a little taste of our Christmas! I hope you all enjoyed it, and have a wonderful Christmas yourself! :D

I love this movie!!! :D

 

Season of colors....

I love fall.... :)

:D

Fun summer weekend

Just because we don't go on summer vacation, doesn't mean that we never have fun in the summer. Like this last week-end. Saturday we went to the Farmers Market down town, and after made homemade pizza together.

Sunday, we went to the movies and seen the new Harry Potter movie. And yesterday we went blueberry picking! :) We went to Hillcrest farm in Alabama, and they have this really cute shop in their shed this year. They have jellys and jams, and they even have homemade ice-cream! It was a nice treat after picking in the heat all morning. :) After, we went to a cute little diner called 'Resturant' for lunch. :) It was really cute inside, with little pig decorations all over it. After we got home mom made yummy pork-chops for dinner, while I cleaned out the blueberries and put them in bags for the freezer. All in all, it was a pretty fun weekend. :)



Yummy blueberries!



Joe had coffee ice cream.( He really does like
it. Don't be fooled by the face) :)

Mom had coffee also.

I thought that I would try something new and have
cinnamon-pecan, and it was really good!

The cute dog loved licking our ice cream lids. :)

The yummy fruits of our labor!

Another day at the beach

So today we decided to have an all day beach day; we got up at 6:30am, and packed a lunch, along with our diving equipment, and set out. We decided to go to Fort Pickens, so that we could dive around the rocks. By the time we had arrived, there was already a bunch of fishermen around the big rocks, so decided to try the little ones. We ended up going down 50ft, and there was not much of anything other than sand. I collected sand-dollars (which were 'acidentily' left at the beach by the boys), and a cool shell. We also seen some sea-caterpillars, and a really big starfish! The caterpillars looked like centipedes, only fatter, and more like jello. :} Jesse went down with dad, and they seen an octopus, and an eel, which he caught. Josiah seen a stingray, and he was really exited about that. :) By this time the fishermen had left, so we quickly moved our beach gear to a spot near the big rocks, before anyone else came and got it. We all took turns diving again; I went down, but my air tank kept floating, and so it was hard to stay down there. I did see an eel, and a really big conch shell, but then we had to go back because I was out of air. When we got back up, Jesse started to get really exited about something, and he grabbed the net, scooped it in the water, and pulled up a puffer fish!! It wasn't that big, but it had expanded and we could see all it's spikes. It was so cute! It was yellow, with a kind of light brown splotched on it; and it was about the size of and iPod nano. ;)
So then Jesse went down, and came back up with two live sad-dollars! They were purple and had little tiny hairs on them. Then Joe went down, and by that time dad's air was empty and dad had to breath off of Joe's 2nd stage (there is another name for it, I just can't think of it right now). While they were down, me and Jesse hung out by the rocks; Jesse found a mini fish skeleton, and I watched the storm over the mainland. It was a cool storm too; we could stay in the water, just fine, but we could hear thunder, and see lightning flashing out of the dark storm clouds, along with the pouring rain over the mainland.
After we had used almost all our air, and once we had all gotten stung at least once, we decided that it was time to go. We packed everything up and drove home, all sunburned, and water-logged, humming the tune to the beach song, and wishing that I had brought my memory-stick so that we could have had pictures. :}

Summer fun!

Fun 4th!

I hope that you all had an amazing 4th! :) We hung out with some good friends who have a nice big field/park right across the street from their house where we could see the fireworks nice and clear. :)

Fun evening with friends

Last week, we went to the Songs In The Park at Seville square. I always love going, and not even for the music, just for the fact that I get to sit on an old sheet, on the green grass, surrounded with friends. It is all so peaceful, and relaxing, even with all the noise. :)

And in other news: I got my braces of! ( You can tell most in the picture of me, Sarah, and Joanna.) :D

Even Dad came!

Mmmm...yummy cupcakes Ruth made. :D

We had the prettiest sunset.

We found a 'pond' and the boys had fun with that.