Summertime Blues, II

Do you think my family might be getting spoiled? This blueberry pie, from a recipe I got from teh internet but have now misplaced, was proclaimed "good but only okay." At least they're comparing it to other things I've baked and not blueberry pie from a supermarket box - that would be truly insulting.

Summertime Blues

Nothing much to say, other than that I'm particularly in love with my pedi right now....

Downward Dog

About a month ago my niece Julia convinced me into accompanying her to a Bikram yoga class by telling me how amazing it is and that all I had to do was stick it out and not leave the room. Imagine my surprise upon finding out I had paid good money to endure a near-death experience.

I stayed in the room by remaining on my back without moving for the last half hour, listening to my heartbeat getting louder and steadily moving up my throat, repeating the mantra, "I hate Julia."

Despite the fact that every woman in that room - or at least the ones that didn't look like they would be making a feeble attempt to dial 911 at the end of class - was an amazing specimen of vitality, good looks, and flexibility, Bikram is not for me. The next day I went and took a Hatha class and I'm hooked. I'm now going into my 4th week of daily yoga - Hatha, some light Vinyasa flow, ropes, etc. - and I love every minute of it. I'm so much more flexible, I'm sleeping better, and my tendonitis has abated...I don't think I can stop. Plus you basically wear jammies, and you know how I love that.

PS I've also started taking salsa classes because I'm doing this. It's all in fun and it's a good cause....you can sponsor me if you want or if you're local, come on down. Shout "How's the knitting?" from the audience so I know you're a blog friend. Salsa is a blast - I'm not entirely sure I'll be smooth or even passable, because all my dancing heretofore has consisted of me busting my own personal kind of moves - but hey - these are life's great learning experiences, right?

Summer...

I love summer so much - I love having my children home, the easing up of the schedule, the beach, the long hours of sunlight. I've been busy, but it's a different kind of busy in the summer. Those extra hours of sunlight in the afternoon make all the difference. I'm spending lots of time on the beach, but plenty of other activities are filling those extra hours too.

If you're from around here, or if you know me in person, you may know that we're gearing up big-time for the Jewel Ball. This is my 7th and last year as an active member of LP...a little bittersweet, but I'm pretty well ready to move onto other projects and ride out my days as an advisory member. All the big print jobs, meetings, events, and preliminary things leading up to the main event are done so now I'm just doing presidential things like hanging out at ribbon-cutting ceremonies and signing final vendor contracts. That first week of August we'll all be working non-stop straight through the party, into the night, all of Sunday and right on into Monday morning!

I'm looking forward to the party, but I'm also very much looking forward to beyond the party. More time for the beach, perhaps.

Happy Fourth of July!

We're heading out in a little while to celebrate the Fourth, but I thought I'd share this beautiful berry cobbler with you first, because right after baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet, what could be more American?

I used Pioneer Woman's recipe as a starting point, but the fresh berries have been so fantastic all on their own that I didn't want to cook them down so instead I used a package of frozen mixed berries and a package of frozen blueberries that I already had in the freezer. If you have a Whole Foods near you, the frozen blueberries are fantastic. I let them defrost and drain, drain, drain before adding the sugar, and then I let them drain a little more because they just had a lot of moisture and while some liquid is good, bubbling hot berry juice can make a huge mess.

Mary enjoys another American classic - the beach makes you hungry!

I also grated just a tiny bit of nutmeg into the berries and used buttermilk as the liquid in the biscuit dough, and then I sprinkled the whole thing with demerara sugar - assembly was fast, baking was easy, and the cobbler was a hit eaten outside at the beach with a little whipped cream. Along with turkey and roast beef sandwiches on baguettes, cold beer, and a batch of Mary's killer brownies, this was a fantastic 3rd of July prelude to the festivities today.