Happy Sunday! Today we are recovering from all the butterfly madness that happened at our place yesterday. The first order of business was to make the Hedonist's Breakfast x 3 for a family that ended up eating mostly fruit, chocolate and birthday cake yesterday. Yikes! We had originally planned to go to London today, for a ride on The Eye-- but we were tired and it was pouring rain... Next week! And now, on to our links...
Food! At Home!
I love this post from Valerie on making elderflower cordial. Elderflowers are everywhere here, including my yard. I still can't decide if I want to get them now, or wait for them to turn into berries for syrups, cordials and wine... Tough decisions! :)
Keeping up family kitchen traditions is one of my favorite things, in terms of subject matter to read about. I don't think my family has any beyond enjoying mashed avocado on sourdough toast (my grandpa's favorite) but I still love reading about it, and hope that Amelia can take some of my own secrets and pass them on. Liene wins the award for tenacity in trying to get a Latvian recipe from her grandmother right, finally succeeding this year in "tying the cheese." Liene has actually posted a series of interesting entries about celebrating the summer solstice, and I think you'll enjoy looking through the ones that come after this.
I enjoyed this post by Faith on making peace with the weeds in her garden by eating them. Do you eat your weeds?
Food Politics:
I linked last month to the Scottish child food blogger, and her efforts to improve school lunches. Quite a lot has happened in her story between then and now but her tenacity has lead to some really great collaborations, publicity, and fund-raising. Here's the latest. What a little champ!
On a similar note, I was pleased to find this very informative article on public health and food in The Guardian on the politics of food and dietetics. I think this stuff is very important!
While we're geeking out on food and health, this is a great article from the NY Times about microbial colonies and vitality. I never did go for all of the antibacterial washes and hand sanitizers!
Country Pleasures:
I recently came across a very funny and clever blog, that also happens to be about food. I loved this story about sheep-petting in Scotland, and I am pretty sure you will too! BONUS: There is a recipe at the end for ice cream you can make without an ice cream maker.
It's rose season. Here is a gorgeous escapist post on roses by Little Flower School.
Family:
Lastly, here is a really sweet, old-fashioned pirate adventure that a dad came up with to celebrate the first day of summer vacation. This would also be a really memorable birthday party idea. I love the way this guy values creativity and imagination-- something I think often goes missing in favor of high-tech entertainment and commercial characters in kids' gatherings nowadays. And he is funny! I think you'll enjoy checking out the rest of Jim's blog, as well.
To wrap things up, here's a video my brother made of my grandpa making our favorite food tradition:
I hope it's been a great week for you! Have you read anything good lately? Care to share?
Food! At Home!
I love this post from Valerie on making elderflower cordial. Elderflowers are everywhere here, including my yard. I still can't decide if I want to get them now, or wait for them to turn into berries for syrups, cordials and wine... Tough decisions! :)
Keeping up family kitchen traditions is one of my favorite things, in terms of subject matter to read about. I don't think my family has any beyond enjoying mashed avocado on sourdough toast (my grandpa's favorite) but I still love reading about it, and hope that Amelia can take some of my own secrets and pass them on. Liene wins the award for tenacity in trying to get a Latvian recipe from her grandmother right, finally succeeding this year in "tying the cheese." Liene has actually posted a series of interesting entries about celebrating the summer solstice, and I think you'll enjoy looking through the ones that come after this.
I enjoyed this post by Faith on making peace with the weeds in her garden by eating them. Do you eat your weeds?
Food Politics:
I linked last month to the Scottish child food blogger, and her efforts to improve school lunches. Quite a lot has happened in her story between then and now but her tenacity has lead to some really great collaborations, publicity, and fund-raising. Here's the latest. What a little champ!
On a similar note, I was pleased to find this very informative article on public health and food in The Guardian on the politics of food and dietetics. I think this stuff is very important!
While we're geeking out on food and health, this is a great article from the NY Times about microbial colonies and vitality. I never did go for all of the antibacterial washes and hand sanitizers!
Country Pleasures:
I recently came across a very funny and clever blog, that also happens to be about food. I loved this story about sheep-petting in Scotland, and I am pretty sure you will too! BONUS: There is a recipe at the end for ice cream you can make without an ice cream maker.
It's rose season. Here is a gorgeous escapist post on roses by Little Flower School.
Family:
Lastly, here is a really sweet, old-fashioned pirate adventure that a dad came up with to celebrate the first day of summer vacation. This would also be a really memorable birthday party idea. I love the way this guy values creativity and imagination-- something I think often goes missing in favor of high-tech entertainment and commercial characters in kids' gatherings nowadays. And he is funny! I think you'll enjoy checking out the rest of Jim's blog, as well.
To wrap things up, here's a video my brother made of my grandpa making our favorite food tradition:
Grandpa Avocado from Shackep on Vimeo.
I hope it's been a great week for you! Have you read anything good lately? Care to share?
You know, every time you link to me I do a doubletake - "what, she's found another Liene oh wait that's me" after which I think how nice it is to hear someone is reading what I'm writing. Thank you for that. And thank you for sheep-petting. And pirate adventures. I have to keep my eyes open so that next week I have something to share and don't show up empty handed.
ReplyDeleteLiene, I kind of feel the same way when people leave comments on my blog! Really? You read it? And you have something to say?! It's great. I do enjoy reading your posts, and you always put so much information in there, it's super interesting.
DeleteBy the way, I was thinking of your comment about your little boys and your comment about the girly party when I linked to the pirate adventure!
Can't tell you how much I love seeing your grandpa prepare his avocado toast! There is something so lovely about these small details of people's lives - but that are SO them that they become inextricably linked in our minds. And I say too that your grandpa has darn good tastes!!! I love avocado toast. And in fact I sometimes gussy it up a bit further. After I mash the avocado on the toast (has to be sourdough for me too) I then top it with a poached egg, a drizzle of olive oil, salt, pepper and lots of cilantro. One of my very favorite things to eat for a light dinner.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing the link about the micorbiome. I find this topic fascinating and I have a love/hate relationship with antibiotics. Oral antibiotics I avoid like the plague and will do anything to keep from having to take them. They mess with my system far too much and I also worry about the dreaded super bugs. I especially worry about some of these kids nowadays that take one every time they get sick - whether it is something that even responds to antibiotics or not. Unfortunately in this time there is still a need for them but I imagine a day will come when we will have a better alternative. Sadly my grandfather died from antibiotics in the hospital (which is not at all uncommon.) He was there for another purpose and as a matter of course they gave him antibiotics (they often do with elderly to prevent pneumonia) but in his case it killed of the good bacteria he needed to stop a c. difficile infection that he also got at the hospital. But the reason I say love/hate is because I am addicted to hand sanitizers. I have always been a bit of a germaphobe but when my mom got sick and had a suppressed immune system we were under doctor's orders to use the stuff all the time. And I have been completely conditioned to it now. In any case it is an interesting topic and one that needs much more exploring and research.
Marisa, I'm so glad you enjoyed the video of my grandpa making his favorite. I love things like this, too, and would definitely watch a full-length documentary of grandparents cooking things they've made for years. Has that been done before? I would SO watch all of it!
DeleteI'm so sorry about the sad story of your own grandfather. That's so awful! Antibiotics are so complicated, since they can save lives, and also make people incredibly sick. Same with hand sanitizers-- really helpful in specific situations, but definitely prone to being abused by the public! I think there's just a lot of information out there that people don't know, and the bit they do hear gets kind of skewed, since they don't hear the other side of the story. We've tried to just expose Amelia to everything, never worrying too much about germs and bacteria, focusing on giving her fermented foods and probiotics. And I have to say, she has a great immune system so far!
Here in Cagayan de Oro, Philippines, we have come by a little loaf of sourdough bread and a couple huge avocados... We are going to have avocado on toast tonight, in honor of Grandpa and in memory of California.
ReplyDeleteNice! That sounds great!
Delete