and baby makes 3!

or 5 if you count our first 2 babies, I mean puppies. After 9 months and 11 days over due, our baby boy is here.
All the cliches of motherhood/parenthood so far are true. We can't imagine life without him now(and it's only been 2 weeks). We marvel at his perfection. We spend long moments just looking at him and asking each other did we really make him? Is this really real? A new little stranger plopped into our lives, and 2 full grown humans to care for him(seriously don't know how single mothers do it, I take my hat off to them), as we try and decipher his cries. And we debate "no that was I need to poop cry" over the " I'm hungry" and "I need a cuddle with my Dad".

We are "babymooning" right now, I've fallen in love with my husband all over again. Watching him care and change and love our little button has changed our relationship for the better. I'm sure this "babymooning" stage won't last forever but I'm cherishing it while it's here.

Our little bundle!

First day with mummy after a very long and difficult labour and delivery.

tomatoes gone wild

"Only two things that money can't buy, That's true love and homegrown tomatoes"- Guy Clark



And I couldn't agree more! I love my tomato patch, it's wild and unruly,home to bugs and weeds as well as the tomato plants. I always seem to plant them to close together, that little 2" plant quickly grows to 3ft tall! They are to me the essences of summer. I love the smell of all the plants together, brings me right back to my childhood, popping warm tomatoes into my mouth as I wondered in the garden. I love growing tomatoes because the are so easy to grow here. Put them in the ground at the end of may, water, lots of sunshine, the odd conversation with your plants and Voila! A fabulous reward of summer filled with tomatoes! I like growing all the really weird kinds that you can't get the supermarket. Here's a little tour around my patch of what I've grown this year.

Yellow pear tomatoes, the size of a cherry, great for snacks and good in salads. Sweet taste, low acid.

Lemon boy tomatoes, the size of a large plum. Great in almost anything salsas, tomato sandwiches, tomato sauce, salads... I made yellow ketchup with these last year and it turned out great.

Roma tomatoes, the size of plum. I use these mostly in tomato sauce, I use them fresh in sauce now and in a few weeks when the glut of tomatoes arrive, I make a canned tomato sauce for the winter months.

Fresh picked tomatoes ready to be made into a salad. Pineapple tomatoes, this is an heirloom tomato and my first year growing it and haven't tried it yet. It's almost ripe, so will report back on it soon. It's the size of an apple.

A patio tomato, always good for early tomatoes and easy to grow in a pot.

The patio tomato full view. I also grew a ton of cherry tomatoes, sweet 100's but forgot to take a picture of them. They are a sweet small tomato great for eating as snacks, in salads and salsas.

Simple tomato salad with basil, olive oil and salt and pepper. The perfect companion to any summer dinner.

a day in the country

Last weekend we went for a country drive and spent the day in a small town. I grew up in a small town about the same size as this one. It was nice to visit small town with all it's charm and country life. It was a lovely day and drive. We went to a local farm, that has a deli/bakery and little veg shop. They make the best sandwiches and home baked pies. Yummy raspberry rhubarb pieThe farmmom and dad on the swingthe local churchcute country housesthe town of ashcroftmom and dad playing by the pond

country life...

everything but the kitchen sink summer pasta

This pasta I cook often in the summer, basically bung in loads of fresh veggies in a frying pan cook till almost cooked, I like them to have a bit of crunch and retain that fresh taste. Add fresh herbs, good olive oil, toasted pine nuts, salt and pepper. Mix together with pasta and serve! For this one I used carrots, zucchini, yellow beans, cherry tomatoes, 1 large tomato (with the seeds taken out, a bit of pain but worth doing as you don't end up with soggy pasta), basil and thyme. A hint about thyme, the flowers are great to use in pasta and salads! Just don't cook them, add them at the end of a pasta dish or use in salad dressing or just sprinkle on top. If you have a little Parmesan kicking around that is great in this too. And for pudding...

Fresh blueberry pie! Very easy to make. Blind bake a pie shell and cool, make a glaze( I used a shop bought one) stir fresh blueberries into the glaze and turn out into the pie shell. Chill in the fridge for an hour. Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. Enjoy! I love this the next morning for a sneaky breakfast with a big cup of tea.

when you've got lemons...

You make lemonade of course!

Recipe for the best homemade lemonade!
-5 lemons juiced and the zest off of one of them
-make a sugar syrup about 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of water,
-put in a pan and heat on low till sugar dissolves
-put lemon juice, zest and sugar syrup into jug

and top up with cool water to taste
-or don't top with water and leave the concentrate in the jug
-pour a glass half full of concentrate and top with sparkling mineral water
and a sprig of mint for a cool summer time drink!
oh, and don't forget the ice!

Relax and enjoy in the summer sun!

the joy of laundry

As domestic things go, cleaning is really very low on the list of enjoyable household jobs. I don't like cleaning, don't get me wrong I like having a clean house, but the actual act of cleaning I dread, I would much rather being doing something else like cooking. With the exception of laundry, I really enjoy doing laundry especially in the summer! Hanging the washing out on the line, the smell of summer on the sheets, towels and clothes. With the current heat wave here, everything dries in record time. Managed to get 3 loads wash, dried and put away in a morning! I have to say I love white cotton sheets in the summer, they some how feel cooler at night.

My recent addition to the laundry routine, Borax! I add a handful to every load and I it definitely makes for cleaner, whiter washing. Also I am a sucker for packaging! I love the vintage feel, and the random cow girl on the front. I like the way it looks on the shelf in the laundry room. I'm in the process of freshening up the laundry with a fresh coat of pale blue paint. In a another few days it should be finished! I think it will make the laundry experience a little bit prettier and with a baby on the way and the plan to use cloth nappies, I'm sure I'll be spending more time in there!

barefoot and pregnant

yep that's me. Sorry blog land, I have wanted to write to you! but, well various things have stopped me, for one 3 and 1/2 months of truly awful morning sickness(more like 24 hours feeling and being sick), then it was mothers day(work =crazy) then we were away on holiday and just were goes the time go? I keep meaning to post, I've taken the pictures, compose the post in my head and then? and then? well it just never made it on here. But onward and upward from here. I'm back!!!

I'm in the process of planning a lovely girly tea party with 2 of my dear friends tomorrow. It's going to be filled with lovely vintage tea cups and crockery, sandwich triangles, fresh fruit, homemade ice cream and scones with cream of course. Wanted it to be clotted cream but can't get it here in Canada, I googled some recipes but it sounds to long and complicated for me. By the way isn't the words "clotted" and "cream" together about the grossest sounding combination for something that is so delicious!

One of those English quirks! Will report back later this week with tea party pictures!