Reaching out for Summer

This is really my very favorite time of the year, I can smell summer just around the corner, but I still enjoy the fresh early mornings, the chill of spring. And the days are getting sooo long and bright... There is so much to do and I have really got into preserving the treasures of the season. But first let me introduce:

This lovely lady arrived here yesterday. Isn't she lovely, my dandelion-girl? What a star at the natural table she will be! Thank you so much Marta!

I have been to the zoo today, work wise, with my clients. Nathan is gone all weekend to visit a friend in bavaria so Aaron came along too, he is not very interested in most of the animals (yet?). Maybe he is like me and prefers the closer look, the direct touch. The only picture I took in the zoo was the one of poppys and some blue ones, oh those colors...

Are you surprised I had to add some more color to myself? The few hours a day that we spend at home are mostly spend on the balcony. It is really amazing how much can be done in such a small space.

Aaron talked to his dad on the phone, in a language only he understands (my mum thought it was some African language first but it is mainly Aaronish). I love how he copies us exactly when he "talks" on the phone.

And last but not least the latest harvest and preservation actions: I just had to buy some more rhubarb so I could fill a few jars with jam, Next to strawberry, rhubarb jam is my very favorite and its hard to find in the stores. Maybe I will make even more but I am running out of jars at the moment.

Good the elderflower syrup will get filled up into bottles and some of it frozen in ice cubes. And the spruce tops have to wait at least three weeks before I need a jars for the cold syrup. Thanks to Martha again, for instructions and link. Spruce and elderflower I have all harvest just behind our house, I had never noticed any of those possibilities last year. Blogging rises awareness for such things!

We will try to squeeze in as much late spring living into this weekend as possible. Are you joining in?

{this moment}

Joining Soulemama today for (this moment): A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Oh sweet Rosemary...

There is a reason why rosemary is known to be an appetizing herb. I just have to spend some time at our balcony and there it is, this craving. I think rosemary is my all time favourite herb. Yesterday that resulted in some late night baking. The plan was to bake rosemary cookies but after I combined butter and sugar I found out we had run out if eggs so another batch of scones it was, only I substituted the raisins with a handful of fresh rosemary. They turned out lovely and just right with some chai latte.

All you have to do is:

preheat oven to 180° C

mix 100 gram butter, 

50 gram sugar, 

15 gram baking powder 

300 gram flour

a pinch of salt

until they resemble bread crumbs.

add aprox 150 ml milk very carefully not to stir too much, just combine wet and dry

put the mixture on a greased tray

form a flat circle and cut into a cake of eight pieces.

bake until surface gets slighly brown.

Cut open while still hot and enjoy with melting butter. 

First harvest of the year

This weekend had us occpuied with running noses and sore throats. There were two friends birthdays to attend too, so the energy level at the end of the day was rather low. Still I wanted to tell you about our first harvest this year which happend last week. Aaron and me went on a small outing with my sister, his favourite "Tante Auto" ("Auntie Car"), because she has a car and Aaron loves it, sorry, her, very much ;-) . The only aim we had was to find a sweet lonely meadow with lots of dandelions. A meadow far from polluted streets and peeing dogs...
We didn't even have to search for very long and found this wonderful place at a hillside, near Altenberg.
For city people like us there is sooo much to do in a meadow: picnic, knit, play, pick flowers, watch busy bumble bees, doze, take pictures, breath... we did all that!

Aaron was the best helper when it came to picking dandelion heads. He toke his task very serious. So when we came home we had enough flowers for some syrup. I used this recipe and it worked out very, very well. 

That's how the heads looked like by the time I started. They have to be soaked over night before you boil the syrup.

Preparing the jars is the part of preserving I like least. 

Filling them is the best part. Look at that color, isn't it yummy?!

Done! Some bottles in the fridge, ready to enjoy, some jars prepared as gifts for some more up coming birthdays. The syrup is best to be served on toast, pancakes or ice cream. Mmmmhhhh... 

There is some crazy stuff you can do with dandelion. You can use every part of it. I even found a recipe for dandelion ice cream on pinterest, are you interested? And from the leaves you can make salad or dandelion pesto. I really wanted to do that but somehow the leaves were still very small and I guess I can wait a little longer... The roots can be roasted and turned into coffee. Has anyone tried that yet and knows if its worth the effort?

If you have some more recipes including dandelion, please share. I would be delighted!