Strawberry Basil Lemonade

Ooh,  Mother's Day was great today!  We woke early, had breakfast and then headed out to the Hillcrest Farmer's Market.  It's by far the biggest one we've ever gone too and it's always a fun time.  This time, I got to splurge a little bit and I got 4 truffles and strawberry basil lemonade.  Usually, the lemonades are super tart and sugary, so I wasn't expecting it to be too refreshing, but oh my, it was delish!

I decided I'd try my hand at making my own.  I adapted a recipe from Food52 and I love it!!  I made single serving, then a small pitcher full and lastly, a concentrated version to freeze and add water later.

1 1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cup boiling water
3 cups quartered strawberries (about 16 oz.)
20 medium basil leaves, chopped
1 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice, 6-8 lemons

Juice the lemons until you get 1 1/2 cups, set aside.
Put the sugar in a heatproof bowl, pour the boiling water over the sugar and stir until combined, let cool.
Put 3 cups quartered strawberries into a blender/food processor, add the chopped basil and 1/4 cup of the sugar water.  Blend until really smooth.

To make:
Combine equal parts strawberry puree, lemon juice and sugar water (1 1/2 cups each). This makes a concentrate. To this add 3.5-4 cups cold water.  Serve with ice.

If make a single serving, put ice in a cup, add 3 T. each of strawberry puree, lemon juice and sugar water, add 1/2 cup cold water.

In the food52 recipe, they used 3:3:1or2 ratio.  I thought it needed more sugar, so I upped it.

UPDATE: After sitting in the fridge overnight, it tasted much more sugary than after I just made it.  I may try the actual food52 recipe next time.

2014 Easter Basket

I tried to make a pixlr board, but I could load any of the pictures, so instead I'll just list what we are going to give Arya for Easter this year. :)

I've had a basket like this for a few years, and I used it for Arya's Easter basket last year, so we're keeping with the tradition.

Next up, is a tiny little gnome.  It's about 3 inches tall.

Here's my favorite!  A jellycat bunny. They are so soft and machine washable.  She already has a white cat, so hopefully she'll like it.

Easter eggs with yogurt covered raisins probably.

 Not shown, a bunny book!

Arya's Birthday week

Arya turned two on Tuesday, January 14, and we had a very low key steak dinner with Grandpa and Grandpa Heller.  She opened a gift from Mike and Tricia and got a Berenstain Bears coloring book from Grandpa and Grandma. Thank you!! Since we had guests in town, Neil was able to take a day off from work.  She spent a lot of time at the beach in La Jolla, took a very long 4 hour nap, went to a German restaurant and had spaetzle on the 14th and the 15th.

Birthday Bunting

I made (and Neil helped) a bunting to be hung at our family celebrations, such as birthdays and holidays.  I made it a Moda Layer Cake called Make Life.  I think it was the perfect choice for us!

I followed Soulemama's directions in The Creative Family.  It came out to be 6 yards long and I used a decorative snowflake stitch to make it more sturdy.  

Neil is pinking the edges

In action at Arya's birthday party

Seven Years

Neil and I unknowingly celebrated our 7^th anniversary of dating. I remember back when we first met in February 2004. I had just been dumped on Valentine’s Day by my old boyfriend. He had come from another school to surprise me for the weekend. I didn't much like the surprise and the whole weekend was awkward. Afterward, I hated him and by default all men. I felt like I wanted to string one around and then break his heart, very similar to what happened to me. It wasn’t nice, but hell hath no fury like me on that day.

So, the Monday after Valentine’s Day, I walked into my anthro class at Luther. I plotted that I would flirt with any guy that sat next to me and crush his heart! Neil walked in, looked around and sat next to me. Usually, I stick to myself and am pretty quiet, but this time, I started up a conversation. He asked how my Valentine’s Day was and I said “It sucked, my boyfriend broke up with me.” Neil looked crushed, as if he couldn’t believe someone would do that. Man, this was going to be too easy.

Little did I know he was sizing up the situation, as well…girl talking to him…cute girl… and now a SINGLE girl.

Seven years later, we are married (almost 3 years!), living in sunny (usually) San Diego and have a 16 pound cat who we like to call Mr. Simon. To celebrate, we camped at Lake Morena County Park. It was a great time to go, the weather was very nice and it was only a little cold overnight. We set up the tent fast and Neil started boiling water with his alcohol stove to make our dinner of dehydrated Mexican Rice with Chicken (not my favorite). I, on the other hand, was tasked with getting the tent ready to go. I blew up both mattresses, stuffed them inside the sleeping bags and that was that. We roasted marshmallows and made s’mores. I drank wine out of a camping cup, Neil drank a big beer. It was a good night. (Oh, and I should mention I no longer feel like breaking his heart.)

We hiked in the morning around the reservoir and then returned to San Diego. We biked down to Balboa Park and walked around the Artist Village. Then we went to the Science Museum and watched “Tornado Alley” and “Hubble” on the Imax screen. “Hubble” made me want to be an astronaut! To close the evening, we went to Wonderful Sushi for dinner, ate way too much, went for a walk and went to bed.


It was a great couple of days and paired with our time back in Minnesota and Iowa for Gary and Vanessa’s wedding, we had a great week, together and with friends!