behind the house...

enjoying the fire, just the two of us, wow that's not an every day event.
we loved it and savored every moment doing, reading, watching each other and the fire, talking mostly just being

two kinds of strawberries

we went strawberry picking on monday, i still had some fresh pulp left in the fridge and yes some of it has become marmalade by this afternoon. i don't generally like strawberry marmalade, but the home made one is an exception. for the recipe this afternoon, i used almost two lbs berry pulp and 1/2 lb small cut apricots (they are from france, as the swiss grown once are not yet ripe and i just could not resist to buy them yesterday).
we had to try the marmalade for dinner on our buttered breads, o and it tasted resistible!


and here was thea's afternoon snack, plain yoghurt with strawberry pulp and honey sweetened puffs


i had a strawberry shake, without any sweetener and it was just perfect. i would never order this in a restaurant, but making it with fresh berries and a glass of regular milk was superb


of course within moments we both sat in front of an empty bowl and glass


and now to the other kind of strawberry. i found it at the weekly market, and bought it because it just sounded so wonderful and yummy "erdbeerenspinat" in english it is called Strawberry Blite with the even very long latin name of Chenopodium capitatum
the plant definitely has grown bigger then i expected, but it's ok, the greener the better and i'm now starting to enjoy the red colour of the berries too!


look at them they have been growing and when i ate the first one today i found myself wondering what it really tastes of...
i'm not sure the berries are rather bland and have little seeds on them. they are not as meaty as strawberries and have more a texture like black berries. we will see how the kids like them as soon as they discover the eat-ability of those red fruits

52 weeks of happiness

the project got started a while ago, and while i tend to not be very attentive to the happiness around me, this is leading me to it. i have taken tuesday's to take a quick stop, be still and enjoy the happiness in my life.

the clothespin bag has served many years well and i really liked the design of the fabric, very spring like with the chickens... of course chickens let my heart beat faster regardless. i had to mend this bag a many times already and finally gave in to duct-aping this spring and yesterday fancy struck... i cut an old wax cloth apart and copied the pattern from this old bag. it was a quick job and i'm happy to reuse that not anymore used wax cloth and also the wire from the old clothespin bag.


and then this morning we emptied out the old bag and of course had to play for a long while with the pins... sort them by colour, pin them on our fingers and onto each other into long rows....
lots and lots of fun.


and then finally they were filled into the new bag.


and i'm happy about it. i do have to admit i like the paisley design, though it could be in brighter colours, just to brigthen up the outdoor laundry hanging. never mind it is a wonderful thing to play with clothespins what ever they are being put in at the end of the game.