Love! Links! Plus, Sour Cherry & Chocolate Scones!

"Millions and millions of years would still not give me half enough time to describe that tiny instant of all eternity when you put your arms around me and I put my arms around you."  ~ Jacques Prévert

Hello.  It's me.  Renée.  The blogger who has been missing in action for quite some time.  It's been forever since I last posted, and what can I say?  The summer has been keeping me occupied - with cookbook edits and work and the yard and visitors and small bits of travel here and there.  Oh, and I'm in love.  With a handsome, kind, sweet, funny man who lights up my life every single day.  This is the kind of love I've been looking for, and just when I had nearly given up hope on finding it, there he was, right under my nose.  I'm terribly happy.  The kind of happy that makes people tell you you're glowing.  The kind of happy where you can't stop smiling.  It's been nearly 3 months and I'm glowing and smiling all the time.  But, especially with him.  When we're together it's kittens and rainbows and lightning bolts and, well, magic.  It's love.  So, now that you know my story do you forgive me for my absence?  I thought so. 

Dive In: Spiced Rhubarb Skillet Cake with Streusel Topping

"Oh my God, what if you wake up some day, and you're 65, or 75, 

and you never got your memoir or novel written; 

or you didn't go swimming in warm pools and oceans all those years 

because your thighs were jiggly and you had a nice big comfortable tummy; 

or you were just so strung out on perfectionism and people-pleasing 

that you forgot to have a big juicy creative life, of imagination and radical silliness 

and staring off into space like when you were a kid?  

It's going to break your heart.  Don't let this happen."  ~ Anne Lamott

And just like that, we've shimmied into summer.  My God, I love it.  All of it.  Tank tops and late night thunderstorms.  Warm pools and lakeside picnics.  Fireworks and flip flops.  Peaches and more peaches.  Road trips and just-picked raspberries.  Cold beer and warm hearts.  Toes in sand.  Tomatoes on the vine.  The evening breeze through wide open windows.  Ice cream, always.  A bonfire's crackle and pop.  The smell of a forest.  The sound of early morning, when it's just you and the birds.  Tall glasses of iced sweet tea.  A good book and some shade.  The laughter of old friends.  The glide of a canoe.  The call of the wild.  The sun's rays on damp skin.  Floating on water.  Staring up at the sky.  What are you waiting for?  Dive in.  

Rye Shortcakes with Roasted Strawberries & Rhubarb

 

"And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees,

 just as things grow in fast movies, 

I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer." 

~ F. Scott Fitzgerald

Oh summer.  It took you long enough.  Really.  But I'm so glad to finally see you.  Your first couple of official weeks were full of too much rain and not enough heat.  Glad to see you are making up for it now.  Never have I ever been so happy for the return of back sweat.  And excuses to eat ice cream for dinner.  And the feeling of bare feet in the tall grass.  I know you only have a couple of months to spend with me, but like any good, short, sweet romance, lets make the most of it, shall we?  

 

13 Things You Need To Eat This Summer

Summer is the time when one sheds one's tensions with one's clothes, and the right kind of day is jeweled balm for the battered spirit. ~ Ada Louise Huxtable

It's true though, isn't it?  How long have we waited for the warm summer breezes to wash over us and carry away our worries and general maladies?  Now that we are in the throes of this most glorious time of year, I hope you are indeed wearing less clothing and generally feeling quite awesome.  Today we delve into the archives for a little summertime fun and food.  It was quite the trip to pick my favourite foods to eat while wiping away sweat from the upper lip.  Look how much my photos have changed!  We've come a long way, baby.  Thanks for taking a trip down memory lane with me.  I'll be back in a few with a brand new post.  I made cake!  And there may or may not have been milk chocolate ganache involved.  Believe me, you don't want to miss it.  Until then, happy 4th of July to my American friends, and don't forget the SPF. 

Roasted Rhubarb & Vanilla Bean Clafoutis

Hark!  It's finally here!  The first day of summer y'all!  I just broke so many blogging rules by my gratuitous use of exclamation marks, but whatevs.  Summer is here and I'm happy.  Considering I was buried under a cloak of never-ending winter, I need this summer.  And I need it to be good.  Thoughts of these sun-soaked days are what kept me going when there was 4 feet of snow remaining in my yard mid-April.  These are the days not to be taken for granted.  So get all up in your summer.  Roll around in it.  Breathe it in and let it take over you.  Make it the best short-term relationship you've ever had.  

Summer Lovin': Strawberry, Rhubarb & Mascarpone Crepes

Today is the first full day of summer - hip! hip! hooray!  Saskatchewan summers are terribly short, so the thing is to make the most of them because before you know it we'll be bundled up in parkas again.  There's so much to love about right now, this time, this place.  My yard is bursting into colour and the most dramatic Oriental Poppies are beginning to open so like a total dork I stare at them constantly.  I know their moment to shine is fleeting so I'm savouring their beauty while I can.  There's a lesson in that, right there, which isn't lost on me.  The next 90 days will be jam-packed with bonfires, star gazing, picnics, ice cold beers, pool side margaritas, outdoor concerts, garden goodness, bare feet, sunburns, strappy sandals & sundresses, (old) friendly faces, ice cream and more ice cream, wishes on shooting stars, road trips, skinny dips(?), sand between toes, kids blowing bubbles, hammock afternoons and lots and lots of BBQ.  So much to look forward to I can't stand it.

Rhubarb Fool with Lavender Cream & Pistachios

I do this thing every year, every day, at this point in Spring - a walkabout around the yard.  I poke at perennials to see if they are still alive - most are but for some wild and crazy reason some don't make it.  (I lost Lamb's Ear and Globe Thistle and Purple Coneflower this year - what the hell?!).  If I were more organized and more nerdy I'd totally make a journal with drawings so I can remember where the hell I planted what, because I'm getting old and the short term memory is just not there anymore, though I can tell you who won the Stanley Cup in 1990 and what year Shakespeare in Love won the Best Picture Oscar.  If you're curious, keep on reading.  Where was I?  Oh yeah, garden nerd talk.  So in this walkabout around the yard, I'm always excited to go back to the veg patch - there is no action there yet - it's just a sad heap of wet, rotten leaves covering dirt until the Rototiller Man can come and work it up for me.  But there in the corner, thriving away in all of its big leafy business in my old friend Rhubarb - or the Barb as I lovingly call it.