Pink, Aqua, and Yellow

floral Pink PP 1, originally uploaded by germandolls.

Feeling soft and floral today...

Monster Zucchini

It always happens. This sneaky squash hiding in your garden growing in its hiding spot into a giant monster that your kid wants to try out as a baseball bat. Stop! Don't do that! Mom needs it for making dinner. Or rather 3 dinners plus desert...

Here is one delicious recipe you can use it for. I call it Zucchini Pesto Soup  (recipe has been adapted from one of my favorite cookbooks called The Book of Soups by Lorna Rhodes)

Ingredients:
1/3 of that large 3 pound out of control monster zucchini =)
1/2 onion
1/4 cup of olive oil plus a little bit more
1/2 cup of rissotto rice
5 cups of chicken stock
salt and pepper
two handfulls of basil leaves
pine nuts
1 garlic clove
more salt
grated parmesan cheese

Dice the Zucchini and onions very finely. Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large soup pot. Stir in the zucchini and onion and cook until they are soft. Add the rice and coat it with the olive oil. Pour in the hot chicken broth and bring everything to a boil.
Make pesto while the soup is simmering in the pot.
Wash and clean basil. Put basil leaves, olive oil, garlic, pine nuts, and a healthy dash of salt into an electric blender. If you feel ambitious you can do this with a mortar and pestle...Add about 1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese.

Add 1-2 Tablespoons of the pesto to soup.

You can serve the soup with crispy slices baguette that has the rest of the pesto spread on it or serve with bruschetta.

Our son who normally considers zucchini his mortal enemy will eat two bowls of this soup when I make it. Not bad for a scary green monster zucchini!

Above the Clouds

Waiting for the ride

The children and I got our first ride in a hot air Balloon today at the Weld County Fair. Every year a ballonist from the area offers free rides for people who otherwise would probably never be able to afford this.

I was a little scared. I don't like heights very much. The Balloon was tethered to the ground and we did not really lift off and go very far. But still...

Getting situated

Have you ever travelled in a hot air Balloon? I was really surprised how strange it felt. In a matter of less than a minute you are high up. Floating above the earth. You hardly feel the wind. Reminded me of a song called Ueber den Wolken by  German singer and songwriter named Reinhard Mey.



Take off


                                                  Ueber den Wolken
                                           muss die Freiheit wohl grenzenlos sein...
                                           alle Aengste, alle Sorgen sagt man
                                           blieben darunter verborgen
                                           und dann wuerde
                                           was uns gross und wichtig erscheint
                                           ploetzlich nichtig und klein...
                                              

                                                 Above the clouds
                                               Freedom must be endless
                                               All fears and sorrows - they say     
                                               Remain hidden beneath
                                               and then everything
                                               that seemed big and important to us before
                                               becomes small and negligible

I am so glad I overcame my fear and tried it. We didn't go up above the clouds. But it was a truly an amazing experience.

TOYS 4 SALE

i saw this young entrepreneur in my neighborhood this week. he looked so cute it made me smile. after all we are in the same business...

he told me he made $2.55 yesterday selling his wares. then his little sister started to cry because she wanted a toy he was selling to another kid.   kids....

Eat your Peek-a- Boo Beets!

Our community garden patch has been amazing this year. We have enjoyed many fresh vegetables this year. Some of them the kids are not too happy with. Cauliflower was a bust. But the kids love beets. As you can see in these playful pictures...

The best way to eat beets - in my opinion - is baked. Just cut the tops and roots off and scrub the beets clean with a brush. Take a fork and pierce them a couple of times. Then wrap your beets in a layer of aluminum foil. Bake in the oven at 400 degrees until soft. Depending on the size...If they are big it can take 90 minutes.

Then break the foil open and enjoy your beets with sourcream and some chives sprinkled on. Heavenly!

But don't throw out those tops! They are quite delicious. You can cut the stems off and sautee them in olive oil and garlic. Then add the cut up cleaned wet leaves. Once the leaves are all wilted this makes a lovely side! I love to splash a bit of lime juice on top of mine...

Pray for the Children in Norway!

robot boy 4, originally uploaded by germandolls.

when I am sad about all the evil things that happen in this world - I make dolls. it's my therapy.

then there is prayer...

today is Sunday. I am about to head to church where I will pray for ALL people. the ones on the right, the ones on the left side of the aisle, and mostly the ones that don't know me from atom but hate me because I am different...

I will pray for the people who hate me me because i have a different accent,
because I am a foreigner,
because I am a stranger,

the ones who hate me because i don't have the same political opinion.

it's a very sad world today.

Pray for the people - children - who were murdered in Norway. why did the man kill them? Because they were the children of people who had a different political opinion and belief system!

Finally Here - the Bee Line Dresses

Bee dress 3, originally uploaded by germandolls.

Hope you'll love this fabric as much as I do. Comes in green and pink.