In summer

Summertime,
An’ the livin' is easy
Fish are jumpin'
An’ the cotton is high.


I just read somewhere that, apart from being Canada day today,  July 1 is also International Joke Day and Creative Ice Cream Flavors Day. Who ever comes up with these stuff? More importantly, however, it is the beginning of the 2nd half of the year. Sure, it's not January 1 where resolutions are made left and right, but one can at least take a day to reflect on what 2015 has offered and make conscious decision on how you'd like to steer the year forward through the end. That may mean tweaking diets or going outside more with summer finally here or laughing a bit more - it's international joke day after all.

One of these mornin’s
You're goin’ to rise up singin’
Then you'll spread yo’ wings
An’ you'll take the sky.

The weather here in Minnesota has been gorgeous and the produce bountiful. I can't believe summer only started a week and a half ago. This past Sunday, we went hiking at Mille Lacs Kathio, a park 2 hr drive away. The hike was filled with mosquito-swatting memories, but we had fun nonetheless. What do you expect from a "thousand lakes"park? And this is why minnesota's state bird is mosquito! Those suckers (blood) easily found parts of skin that we didn't spray, and they easily penetrated our clothes. We cut our hike short and enjoyed the little watering hole instead. The kids had fun looking for turtles and catching tadpoles.

But till that mornin’
There's a-nothin’ can harm you
With daddy an’ mammy standin’ by.

Since I was traveling on business last week, I also didn't get to cook our CSA-supplied produce. I made up for all the lost cooking time in the kitchen since. Swiss chard, kohlrabi and baby potatoes were made into deliciously creamy stew. Zucchini was turned into oven-baked cheesy fritters. And salad everyday! But the highlight were the strawberries and currants we picked on Saturday. The strawberries were so delicious, my 2 year old daughter was eating them stem and all. We've also made strawberry cream cheese cookies with them, and put them in salad, and jammed the rest. The currants were juicy and tart. I added them to muffins and tea cakes using almond flour, and to savory turkey meatloaf.

Cheers to Summer! Wherever your feet take you, don't leave your sunscreen and bug spray!
























 

"And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.” ― F. Scott Fitzgerald