Walker’s first mother/daugher camping trip-part 1

June 21, 2013

I have probably mentioned the last couple of years that every summer or fall my mom and I go on an annual camping trip. It started with my mom and all 3 of us siblings but my brother and sister went on to other things and I kept the tradition alive for 14 years now! Holy cow!

This year I was excited to be bringing Walker along for his first (hopefully not last) camping trip. We were also joined by my sister and her husband and my mom’s husband. It was fun having everyone out. We spent a lot of time cooking and cleaning and some time showing Walker our yearly hangouts. I think he enjoyed most of it with his only complaint being that we spend too much time in the car. Well I can’t argue that.

At the sand dunes.
After we climbed and then ran down the sand dunes.
Cooking dinner way too late at night.
Stars!
A good camping style breakfast-lots of fried potatoes and pancakes.
Eating!
Eating again.
Walker with his feet in Lake Michigan (don’t let our faces fool you, that water was freaking cold!).
Walker looking out toward the sand dunes. Also horses on the beach.
Family photo on the beach.

Aww.

Mostly wild bouquets and a barn wedding

June 20, 2013

Recently I went home to Michigan where my good friends Joe and Natalie were getting married. I was in charge of putting together some bouquets for the mothers of the bride and groom so I showed up early on Friday (the day of the wedding) and also got a sneak peak of the set up. {funny/sad side note-the flowers were set aside and the groom was supposed to remind everyone where they were but forgot-since he was probably preoccupied with getting married-so we put them on the main table for dinner-oh well}

Last year they bought property and on it was an amazing barn which needed a lot of work (also Dodge city which I wrote about here). After a few other options for the wedding were mentioned they decided the best thing for them would be to renovate the barn and have the wedding there. Well their hard work paid off because it looked beautiful and I was so happy for them and what they had accomplished. Also it was the perfect backdrop for their wedding dinner.

Rhubarb-ade-a fun summer drink

June 19, 2013

I spent the last week and a half in Michigan with family and visiting friends (hence my absence from the blog-my apologies) and while there I had a drink called rhubarb-ade at a food co-op. Basically it’s a lemonade type drink but it’s made with rhubarb instead of lemons! It’s perfect for this time of year when people’s rhubarb plants are going wild. Lucky for me my mom’s rhubarb plants were growing like mad when I was there so we tested out a recipe and it was oh so good!

Rhubarb-ade recipe:

8 cups of chopped rhubard
4 cups of water
1 TBSP of lemon juice
1/2 cup of sweetener (I recommend agave, organic cane sugar, or maybe even maple syrup-I go light on the sweetener that way everyone can sweeten to their liking)

Put all ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer until the rhubarb is very tender and can be mashed easily. You can let it cool a bit if you want but then use a fine mesh sieve to separate the solid rhubarb mash from the liquid. Add maybe 3 or 4 cups of cold water to the liquid depending on how diluted you want it (taste along the way). Then fill a glass with ice cubes and fill with rhubarb-ade!

Variation:

I also made a rhubarb-ade cocktail that was quite tasty but I could imagine a lot more recipes. I’d love to hear if you try any.

Fill a cup with ice, add a shot or a shot and a half of tequila, and fill the glass the rest of the way with rhubarb-ade.

Enjoy!

Share