Day TwoHundredTwentyFive::365

today is brought to you by the
letters:
P B & J

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Day TwoHundredTwentyFour::365

this is one of my favorite sculptures.
it resides in the
Children's Garden
at the
Huntsville Botanical Gardens.

Day TwoHundredTwentyThree::365

cafe
au
lait

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Day TwoHundredTwentyTwo::366

one of my
favorite
cities!

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Day TwoHundredTwenty::365

brunch
in
SF

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Day TwoHundredNineteen::365

morning
has
broken

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Day TwoHundredEighteen::365

jumping up and down
EXCITED
to be holding a hardcover copy of
Tasia's Table!!

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Day TwoHundredSeventeen::365

stop.
sip.
go.

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Day TwoHundredSixteen::365

peanut butter crackers
just like when I was a kid.

except, when I was a kid
they didn't come ready made and
wrapped in plastic.

Of course, they did have more peanut butter on them!

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Day TwoHundredFifteen

water chestnuts
green onion
ginger

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Day TwoHundredFourteen::365

yellow
tomatoes

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Day TwoHundredThirteen::365

simple
tomato
salad

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Remember when cereal came with a prize?

When I was a kid food and prize went hand in hand.

A pirate, a caveman, and a lucky little leprechaun were my favorite breakfast companions.

Although I'm sure she tried, my mother kept us well stocked in what we affectionately know as Dessert Cereal.
She picked her battles: If we had sugar for breakfast,  she made sure we had fruits and vegetables throughout the day.
Even if she had to trick us.
Which she did.
Often.

We kids fought each other viciously to be the first to plunge our pudgy little hands greedily toward the bottom of the bag in search of the prize cleverly sealed in a thick plastic bag which became perfectly camouflaged in the dust of the crushed cereal and sugar.

Our hands deftly weaving in and out of layers of refined sugar and teeny tiny rock hard marshmallows searching.

Searching.

Searching.

Physics would argue the toy must be on the bottom.

But more often than not, that elusive little bag of happiness resided somewhere in the bottom third. 

Sometimes up against the side.

Other times right in the middle. 

Everyone had their own techniques for locating and extracting.

I favored tipping the box and shaking it slightly to catch a glimpse.

Others tore right in.

And sometimes, the box was simply dumped out onto the floor.

Once I had the toy in my grip, I would ever so gingerly wriggle my fist free of its cardboard prison.

My sweaty hand now dusty and sticky.

My eyes huge with anticipation.

My (morning) breath quickening.

It would take forever to open the plastic bag...now a slippery mess from being licked clean.

Frantically running around the kitchen, I'd be looking for a tool to liberate my prize.

A screwdriver.

A pencil.

A nail.

Anything!

I would get that prize, whatever it was... and for the rest of the morning, I would be the happiest kid.

I'd sit perched on my spinning chair at the breakfast table and attack my rainbow colored milk with the gusto of a starving beast. 
One rotation at a time.

These days, it's the baskets at the farmers markets that elicit this behavior in me. 
A part of me mourns the demise of the cereal toy and the quest to find it; something my kids will only know through campfire stories and Wikipedia.

But the cucumbers this summer have been wonderful.

Crisp and crunchy and sweet.
And when I'm there at 8am on a weekend morning, I'm happy to buy my little ones some sugar coated donut holes.
Sans plastic bag.
and cardboard box.
Sure, they're high as a kite before we pull out of the parking lot, but I can sneak in something healthy later on.

When I saw this recipe on Tartelette I made it immediately... making some minor substitutions for what I had on hand.

I put a large dollop of yogurt on top and even managed to get my little ones to try a few bites.

Cold Cucumber Soup

adapted from Helene Dujardin's Tartelette

3 cucumbers (peeled and seeded)

1 ripe avocado

1/4 cup chopped green onion

1 tbsp fresh thyme

1/4 cup packed lemon basil

1 cup Greek yogurt- honey flavored

1/2 cup buttermilk

2 4-finger pinches of salt

pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a blender.

Blend.

Refrigerate until chilled- about an hour.

  

 

Day TwoHundredTwelve::365

I almost ate here today.

Franklin
TN


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Day TwoHundredEleven::365

future
breadcrumbs

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Day TwoHundredTen::365

thyme

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Day TwoHundredNine::365

chilled
cucumber
soup.

heaven
in a
bowl.

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Day TwoHundredEight::365

lemon basil water

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Day TwoHundredSeven::365

looking for ideas
and inspiration
for a new
project.

this made me
chuckle.

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Day TwoHundredSix::365

ever had one of those
Alice
in
Wonderland
days?


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Day TwoHundredFive::365

I'm a Gummy Bear
Yes I'm a Gummy Bear
I'm a yummy
tummy
funny
lucky
Gummy Bear
Oh, yeah.

In case you don't have grade schoolers at home, I have kindly left you this link to torture yourself with.

I will no longer suffer alone.

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Day TwoHundredFour::365

the
freckled
egg.

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Day TwoHundredThree::365

Meet
the man
who made me
dinner
tonight.


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Day TwoHundredTwo::365

I
taught
her
that.

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Day TwoHundredOne::365

pot o' gold

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Day TwoHundred::365

Where I spent my Summer Vacation:


By
Frosty The Snowman

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Day OneHundredNinetyNine

Tonight I cooked out of
this book.

and my children
cried.

Not tears of
Joy
mind you,

but actual
tears.

I think they're trying to
break
me.

But I have
998 more recipes
to go through.

Ha!

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Day OneHundredNinetyEight::365

the
Secret
is
OUT!!

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