What I did on my holidays.

Hello! So good to be back after such a refreshing two weeks. I'll admit that pulling myself away from here was a little tricky at first, I had a hard time feeling like I was missing out on stuff! I read an article the other day about a recent tv appearance of Fidel Castro who mentioned something about the US attacking Iran (hypothetically) and I freaked out that we really had missed the beginning of the end of the world by turning off the internet. Dooms day worries aside, it was such a great time. I listened to records, went on picnics, lay in the sun, sketched, read (actual books, man it's been too long), ate outdoors a lot, attended a marathon labour, wore summer clothes, cleared our patio and ate pizza with herbs from our garden. Pretty perfect really. I started this post with the intent of filling you in on all that I got up to, but I think when it comes down to it what I really did was step back from the business that I'd let take over and take stock of how I'd really like to be living. To be inspired, take naps, eat breakfast and fruit, remember the vitamins, etc.

Thank you so much to all the lovely people who helped me out by guest posting here over the past couple of weeks. It was such a treat for me to not only have the break, but also to host all your wonderful stories and pictures here. And hello to those of you who found this blog during the break, I can't wait to get to know you.

Strawberry Shortcake & friends.

We've been getting lovely red strawberries in our Spud harvest boxes for the last few weeks, and while I normally just eat them fresh (read: grabbing them out of the fridge whenever I walk past), this week I decided to be a little more fancy. Richard suggested strawberry shortcake, which I resisted at first because I didn't think that I liked it. I've never been a big scone fan at all...or cream for that matter, but hearing Richard describe the way he liked it totally had me drooling so I went out to pick up some whipping cream that very day! I used this recipe and everything turned out really perfectly! I actually really loved the scones, and ate one (or two) sans strawberries and cream. They were lovely, buttery and light, and with just the right amount of sweetness. As both the scone and cream were sweetened, I decided to use very little sugar on the strawbs so as to not go into sugar overload.

To make things even more perfect, my lovely neighbour Jeannette (if you don't already read her food blog, you should!) came down to join me on our balcony for shortcake and limonatas in the sun. So beautiful, even if I did get a little too much sun. Oh! And I got to use my new-to-me cake stand that looks like a giant doily, and is every so slightly crooked.

Such a lovely end to a somewhat grey and migraine-y weekend beginning (does that sentence even make sense? You know what I mean!). There were even enough strawberries left over to have with coconut milk ice-cream (which is AMAZING by the way) later in the evening, for our second round of visiting friends.

I love summer!