not everything is bummersville here

Tee created a yummy recipe. He was craving a Jamba Juice smoothie yesterday, so I told him to check out the freezer to see what kind of berries I had stashed in there. He found some blackberries, which he paired with green apple, orange blossom honey, Dole Orange-Strawberry-Banana juice, and vanilla yogurt to whirl up one perfectly smashing smoothie.

Tee’s Blackberry-Plus Smoothie

• Approximately 8 ounces Blackberries
• 1/2 can of Dole Orange-Strawberry-Banana Concentrate
• 1 small container of vanilla yogurt (like Tillamook or 5 ounces of Nancy’s Yogurt)
• 2 granny smith apples, cored and cut up into medium sized chunks
• 2 cereal spoon-fulls of honey (Tee used orange blossom honey)
• 1/2 to 2 yogurt container-full of water

Add half of the berries and water, plus all the other ingredients, to the blender carafe. Crush the ingredients with the blender, then blend. Add the rest of the berries and more water to get the desired smoothie consistency you are looking for. Want it more slushy— add some ice or use frozen yogurt. Add a little more honey if you like a sweeter smoothie. Pour into a glass and enjoy. Make approximately 4 servings (I think our glasses hold about 8 ounces).

Rosie and I had a mother/daughter weekend. She wanted to learn how to knit, so she bought some black and yellow yarn to make a hufflepuff scarf and I showed her out to cast on and knit a garter stitch. We went out for dinner, watched a movie and cooked breakfast omlets together. It was really nice to hear her say thank you to me and share that she had a really fun time hanging out with me. It won’t be much longer before she’s off to college and I want to take advantage of every opportunity I can to make some cool memories with her.

We had one last, lone package of venison in the freezer that Lew cooked up on Saturday. He produced his incredible curry stew, inspired by a hunting acquaintance from several seasons ago. It takes a bunch of chopping, dicing and slow, succulent simmering to make the stew shine, so it’s a heap of work. We had it for dinner Sunday evening with yukon gold potatoes and cabbage salad.

With all of this food talk, it reminds me of a thoughtful blog entry posted by Sunni recently. She dishes on food (pood, to use her lingo) and love. I agree that cooking is a terrific way to show people you love them and it’s an incredibly soothing activity. I just wish the dishes cleaned themselves =).

If you haven’t cooked with someone you love, give it a try. You can experience a wide range of lovely emotions as you cook. Lew and I relieve the tension of the day cooking together. It can be romantic preparing a meal, sipping wine, exchanging a few kisses along the way. We have taught all of our kids how to cook, and cooking with our children has built a satisfying rapport with them. Followed by a dinnertime at the table filled with conversation, it’s helped us get to know our children better.

It didn’t take Zander and Tony long to figure out that cooking for girls gained them major bonus points; they both cook often for their girlfriends. Rosie enjoys making cookies for her friends and showing them that cooking isn’t scary. Tee’s still timid in the kitchen, but he’s branching out and trying more adventurous recipes. If nurture has more to do with our personalities than nature, they’ll probably continue what we started and cook with their own families, sharing the joys of making food together.