Summer days

Such a lovely weekend for us: Dinner and games last night with Dave & Beth, a picnic in the park this afternoon with Mike, Christina & their two cutie-patooties Rose & Cassie, warm sun and a nice breeze, flip-flops, making plans for a 4th of July barbeque....

For Danny & Sara

I have a book from the library called Raw by Charlie Trotter & Roxanne Klein. It's full of fancy-pants recipes (Black Mission Fig Tart with Walnut Cream and Chocolate Cake Rolls with Chai Tea Gelato & Star Thistle Gelato, for example)and I would like to post some of them here, but the directions are really long and involved. However, the book does have some uncomplicated (and very tasty sounding) drink recipes. Here's to you, my raw sisters :)

MANGO, BLOOD ORANGE & SPEARMINT
1 mango, peeled, pitted & chopped
1 blood orange, peeled
1/2 yellow papaya, peeled, seeded & chopped
1 Tbsp maple sugar
1/2 cup coconut water
1 Tbsp fresh spearmint leaves, chopped
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 1/2 cups crushed ice
1 passion fruit, halved and pulp & seeds scooped out
Combine all ingredients except the passion fruit in a blender & process until smooth. Pour into chilled glasses and spoon the passion fruit pulp & seeds on top, dividing them evenly.

CRANBERRY, VANILLA & CINNAMON
2 cups cranberries
1 cup chopped pineapple
1 cup chopped young Thai coconut meat
1 cup coconut water
1/4 tsp seeds from vanilla bean
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 Tbsp maple sugar
1/4 tsp freshly ground cinammon
Combine all ingredients in a blender & process until smooth.

BLUEBERRY, APPLE & VANILLA
1 1/2 cups blueberries
1/2 cup chopped banana
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 tsp seeds from vanilla bean
1 Braeburn apple, skin on, cored & chopped
2 tsp freshly squeezed lime juice
1 1/4 cups crushed ice
Combine all ingredients in a blender & process until smooth.

JMHP Fitness Supreme Studio

This is where all of the exercise magic happens. You'll notice (if you use a high- powered magnifying glass) the immense amount of weight I am currently able to bench. Needless to say, Jan is able to lift a significantly larger amount. Not shown is the yoga/pilates/lunges/tricep extension/etc, etc area. We're thinking of starting a chain :)

Roof

Another fun trip south this weekend. Actually, it was fun and productive. We spent most of Saturday roofing Brent's neighbor's house, and we accomplished quite a bit.


This is the window we used to climb on and off the roof. It was a lot better than scaling a rickety 15-foot ladder. (To be fair, I should say that Brent mostly used the ladder. I think he used the window only once. I made him pose for this picture.)








Roofing involves nailing on flashing. It's a big pain, and Jan was the official flashing guy, with Brent as the helper. "Jan, come flash us," we would say, and then laugh like 8-year olds.







Brent & Danny's house, coming right along. No work on it yesterday, but the inside is wired and insulated.

Exercise review for you!

A few months ago Jan pulled a groin muscle and it's taking its own sweet time to heal. This has meant no running, which is frustrating for him because he really enjoys it (I'm married to a crazy man!). To compensate for our occasional dietary indiscretions (see post about our dessert last weekend), he's devised his own exercise program, which doesn't aggravate his muscle, and which has come to be known as "The Jan Michael Special." It invovles running and jumping in place, with some different variations on those things, for 30 to 60 minutes. His supervisor at work is a DJ on the side, and mixes his own music (and he's REALLY good at it), and these are the mixes that set our house thumping whenever we do the JM Special. I've only done the program twice so far, but I can vouch for its effectiveness - buckets of sweat, calves that scream for days after, you get the idea. Anyway, I'm proud of him for coming up with something he can do until he's able to hit the pavement again :)

Video

Messing around with YouTube - Shenanigans in the snow :)

Sugar - A Good Companion

Last night our dear friends Craig & Christina came over for a barbeque. The piece de resistance was dessert, a lovely frozen box with white chocolate KitKat walls, vanilla ice cream, caramel and nuts in the middle, and whipped cream frosting.

The boys were having a difficult time waiting :)

Electric knives are good for more than just turkeys.

Craig has entitled this picture "Dessert Bliss."

Excuse me while I kiss the sky. - Jimi Hendrix

Tonight on the way home from meeting, one side of the sky was pink and billowy, and the other was dark and ominous. When I got home, there was both.

Never a dull moment!

It's difficult for me to decide how to describe the last few minutes, so maybe I'll just lay it out. Jan Michael went outside to mow the lawn. I followed, thinking it would be fun to be a pest with the camera.

It took about 3 seconds after he started the lawnmower for the backyard to be engulfed in a smoke screen, one that far outweighs any of those produced back in the day by Grandma Ruth's old tank of a Mercedes. I laughed so hard I almost fell over. The end.

:)

"Sweetie, I find it just as easy to entertain you as I do Little D."

- Jan Michael, Friday afternoon