Summertime...

and the living is easy...

Friday evening was hot. Hot and steamy. Like, you don't want to move because your skin will melt off, hot and steamy. I suppose the humidity is a small price to pay for living so close to a fresh water inland 'ocean'. Okay, it's not really an ocean, but it certainly can act like one. Fortunately, for me, I have several dear friends who own boats and I can call any time and ask for a ride, which I did. And since it's rhubarb season, boat rides mean Ruby Junes.


Wait a minute, I didn't drink Ruby Junes on the boat, I was piloting. We sipped these Saturday evening. Huh, the heat must have melted my brain too. Back to the story. The boat ride was delightful and there was an amazing change in the temperature between when we pulled out of the marina and when we motored out onto the big lake. It was as if someone had turned on the air conditioning full blast. Ahhhh....we spent the evening puttering up the coast and then slowly puttering back. It was heaven after the oppressive temperatures in town.

Saturday morning found me at the farmer's market for lots of fresh produce. One of my more recent, but favorite early summer food items to buy is scapes, which is the top of garlic, but you can only get them for a couple weeks and I was afraid I had missed them. Thankfully, my ladies still had some left and I bought 2 dozen. I would have been really disappointed to have to wait another year for them. I found asparagus, and rhubarb, and a few other vegetables and greens for dinner that were too irresistable to pass by.


From the look of this young lady I wasn't the only one who couldn't resist the treats. Her mother didn't know she had the strawberry until she felt juice dripping onto her toes. Apparently, it was a free sample? The strawberry is smushed into her little fist and she's eating the pulp that squeezes out from between her fingers. This girl knows her yummy treats!


I didn't buy any of these but it reminded me of how much I like steamed radishes. If you haven't tried them, you must. You simply steam them until they are fork tender, toss with a little butter and eat like a potato. The flavor is completely changed and they really do taste quite like a brussel sprout, which happens to be my favorite vegetable.

Later, Lubbers Farm held a milk workshop that I attended. And what, you may ask, is a milk workshop? Haha, it's where you learn to make your own butter, yogurt, sour cream, crème fraiche, ice cream and simple cheeses. Aand, you get to sample all the products. Crazy easy and oh, so dee-licious!


Aren't these just the prettiest faces? I love Jersey cows.

Then it was off to my girlfriend's for a relaxing evening of dinner and a movie with several friends.


Spring Rolls were on the menu along with an assortment of other tasty treats. Very refreshing on a hot summer evening. Right, the Ruby Junes were amazingly refreshing as well and this time, I really did drink them.

Sunday morning, B had some more perfecting to do on my rain barrel and while he was doing that, the rhubarb from the market was begging me to bake some crisp.


The afternoon bloomed with even more fabulous weather so we were left with no choice but to go out adventuring again. B and I hopped on our bikes for another bike ride. I'll post more pics later this week, but you need to know we accidently turned our leisurely ride into a 20 mile, 4.5 hour ride. The weather was gorgeous for riding the trails in the woods and by the river, and then we found new additions to the trail, and somehow, we just kept going until we arrived back home.

It looks like we pedaled all the way to Texas, but Megan wasn't home. I think she was on life guard duty that afternoon.


Wanna ride? Seriously, some people crack me up.

Ah, yes. I hope you're enjoying your easy summertime living too.