Life and some receipes

We went to the Hoes Down Festival this past weekend. It is a festival put on jointly by all of the CSA box farms in Capay Valley, including the two farms we get our veggies and fruit from every week. We meant to meet up with Jessica, Maddox and Andrew but never managed to find them amongst all the fun, games and people. The three of us still managed to have a great time (despite the heat), Orson especially loved the river and painting a flower pot. Matt and I enjoyed the ice cream the most. I was a little disappointed that all these organic farms couldn't tell me if there was gluten in the food they were serving, maybe there will be an improvement on that next year. But it was a good weekend and we will be going next year if we are in town.

It did get chilly for a little while last week, so Orson and I shared his first hot chocolate....he prefers tea and milk :) But I still got some cute pictures.

As usual Orson has had lots of friends over to visit, not so usual, I had one of my best friends blow through town (well San Fransisco) on her way to and from exotic places. It was so wonderful having breakfast with her this past Sunday.

Lucy still comes over every Thursday. We had a rare hour of just the two of us last week, so I got out the pudding paint and we went to town. It was so much fun to get to spend one-on-one time with Lu.

Because of school, I have started having Orson go over to Grandpa Black's house on Tuesday and then taking Penny and Griffin on Wednesdays. I really get a lot done on Tuesdays, including an occasional lunch date with Matt, but sometimes I question my sanity by the end of the day on Wednesday. That being said, Orson is in love with Griffin. It is so much fun to watch him interact with a baby.

I have been trying my hand at home made treats lately, and since the weather is not turning to fall as quickly as we wish, the treat have been in frozen form. First, I created some frozen yogurt treats for Orson. We had a big thing of Greek yogurt about to go bad, a watermelon in the same shape and some blueberries from our farm trip. I threw them all in a blender with 1/4 cup of sugar and then poured it into some really cute ice cube trays I got at Ikea...one of Orson's new favorites. Frozen Yogurt fish and hearts. They were a big hit at Wednesday playgroup, unfortunately I totally forgot to take pictures :)

The outstanding new favorite in our house, for everyone, is my strawberry and chocolate flecked 5 minute ice-cream (no machine needed!).

The recipe is super simple, one pint of heavy cream, 1lb bag of frozen strawberries, some really yummy dark chocolate shaved and 1/4 cup of sugar. Put it all in a blender (slowly and I save the chocolate for last) or a food processor and mix. You can eat it right away if you like your ice cream a little soft, or you can put it in a container and let it sit for a few hours. Its best if used up in a week (but it won't last that long, so don't worry). This is a great ice cream option if you can't eat eggs or are gluten free like me.