Hey! Dale....

 Where are you going?

I'm going ....

 Bowling with the kiddies!

 Fun fun fun

Dallas won!

How did that happen?

Laguna Surprise!

 

House of Big Fish and Ice Cold Beer!

Fun with Dale and Sheena

 The children I do love!

 What you got?

Let's start our anniversary celebration early...

with Pageant of the Masters

tickets!

 Down on the boardwalk!

Then Dessert!

Gelato! 

Chocolate for my friend

Lemon, Coconut, Chili Mango for me.

 

Next stop: the Pageant of the Masters!

Dragon Fruit.

This fruit is very mild and refreshing.

The color of this one is very enticing, 

some varieties have white flesh instead of pink.

This fruit grows on a succulent type cactus

Here is the plant in blossom.

 

This is a picture of it with it's fruit.

I found this to be very interesting.

While these plants are found in tropical settings, 

They have been planted in coastal southern California gardens 

with success, however, they need to be hand pollinated to produce fruit. 

For more info see following links:

www.eschertile.com/garden/cutting.htm

www.tradewindsfruit.com/dragon_fruit.htm

A Portuguese Dish!

 Our friend, invited us for a simple summer meal,

Portuguese style!

A wonderful fish salad, with potatoes, broccoli, olives, and boiled eggs. 

It was absolutely delish! 

 And desert was cheese and fruits and lingering conversation!

Peaches and apples and watermelon and dragonfruit

All around good time!

Home Repairs -Summer Project

 Repairing the siding

 Following instructions?

 Careful monkey boy!

Thanks Guys!

Summer Time is a Busy Time!

 In June we went to our Special Assembly Day! 

Dale and Sheena sat with us and afterward took us to a little Bistro.

Spiritual feast first and then physical food second.

Very good day!

Then back to our routine and our summer project.

Painting the house!

Dakota has already power washed the house, 

and him and I are just about done with the primer.

I'm getting pretty excited about seeing the end results.

Still working on little repairs and caulking.

Yes we picked out a color or two. or three. 

Earthy tones

Tannish green and a shade darker

With a cream/tan accent.

(Looks better than it sounds)

Oh, yeah we made the ginger ice cream with heavy cream and crystallized ginger,

And Dion loved it! Sheena gave it the thumbs up, it paired well with the mango ice cream

and due to popular demand I made another batch of the lemon basil.

Life is good.

Ice Cream!

I went to a pre-sale, garage sale and bought a practically brand new ice cream maker. 


So, we have been making all sorts of ice cream. First I made: Mayan chocolate for Dalton and Kyria's 10 year anniversary. It was very rich with heavy cream and Ghirardelli chocolate, cinnamon and a touch of cayenne. VERY GOOD!


I then made a vegan, cococut, cashew ice cream. It too was good. Since I am off of dairy I thought I would experiment with vegan ingredients for my next few experiments. We have a grove of Pink Grapefruits just across the street and when they pick them, we usually get a bag full. So we tried a fresh pink grapefruit sherbet, with honey. No one liked it. However, Dennis and I are eating it, it is refreshing but not sweet.  I also, made a Blueberry/wildflower ice cream, with a cashew base and coconut water. It was ok. Dillion liked the creaminess of it. 


But the all time favorite is what is pictured above!  It is light, fruity, refreshing with just the right sweetness. EVERYBODY LOVED this one! I researched different recipes then adjusted to a vegan version. It is not creamy, more of a consistency somewhere between a popcicle and sorbet. The flavor is out of this world, delicious!!!!




Lemon-Basil Sherbet




A large bunch of fresh basil

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (about 3 lemons)

2 2/3 coconut milk (I used Coconut Dream from health food store)

Grated zest of 2 medium organic lemons




Preparation:

Tear the basil leaves. Put the leaves and sugar into a medium bowl. With your fingers massage the leaves with sugar. This will release the basil flavor into the sugar. Add the lemon juice to the bowl, stir, cover, and let stand for one hour.




Stir the coconut milk into the lemon mixture. Strain through a fine sieve into another bowl, pressing lightly of the basil leaves. Add lemon zest. Chill for four hours or overnight. (always do overnight) Process in an ice cream machine following manufacturer's instructions. If there is any lemon zest on the dasher, scrape it and stir back into sherbet. Serve the sherbet soft right from the machine or transfer into a freezer safe, airtight container and freeze to firm up at least 3-4 hours before serving.




We ate ours right from the machine! THis is definitely a keeper recipe, especially for those avoiding dairy products. 

Next up! Dion's request: Ginger Ice Cream with crystallized ginger.

We will let you know how this turns out!

The Ant

Ants are organized into colonies. Each colony has three basic castes: the queen, males, and workers (sexually undeveloped females). The queen does not govern, but is the mother ant, her job is to lay eggs.  The males live only long enough to mate, then die. The worker ants search for and gather food, feed the queen, act as nurses for the larvae, clean the nest, dig new chambers when more room is needed and guard and defend the nest. Despite the precise division of work, and the complex social organization, there is no sign of a ruler or taskmaster.

Ants are a model of cooperation, industry and order, often working together to drag home an object much bigger then themselves. Some ants even assist injured or exhausted members of their colony back to the nest.

The ants "wisdom" results from instincts, they are endowed with by their Creator. The harvester ant stores up a large supply of grain in the spring and summer and makes use of it in the winter when food is scarce. If rain causes dampness to reach the stored seeds, the harvester ant will carry the grain out into the sun for drying. It has even been known to bite off the germ part of the seed so that it will not germinate while stored.

Their instincts for preparing for the future are something we can pay attention to, but also their persistence and determination, doing everything possible to fulfill their particular task and refusing to turn back even though they may fall, slide or roll down a steep hill. They are exemplary in cooperation, keep their nests clean, and show concern for their fellow workers.

Yes, ants teach us that diligent effort is needed if we wish to produce good fruitage.