These are the cherries that make us think of our favourite summer dessert - clafouti.

The recipe I use is "Sour Cherry Clafouti" from the end of the Editor's Letter from the June 2006 issue of Martha Stewart Living (and for some reason is not on their web-site). It is so deliciously simple and if I ever find a cherry pitter it will get even easier. These cherries are sweet, not sour, but they still taste wonderful tossed with a little cognac and cooked into the clafouti's custardy batter.

It goes into the oven all liquidy with dribbles of liqueur and cherries falling over themselves and comes out golden and puffed up. It settles down a bit once it's out of the oven but the aroma is so delicious I nearly always burn myself rushing to eat it before the cherries have cooled down enough.

This one was made to share with our friend Liette who joined us for some tea and chatter before she leaves for her new home at the end of the week. A French dessert for a French girl; it seemed appropriate. There is a bit left over. It will probably disappear as breakfast tomorrow morning.

This is our first breakfast in our new house. It was also the morning of the solstice which we think is kind of cool. It was part celebratory and part fortification for a busy day of moving. I think there were also pancakes.

We're now completely moved out of our apartment. It was so strange to see it all empty and then hand over the keys and walk away. All our stuff has been moved to the house, most of it has been unpacked and some of it has been put away. Figuring out where everything should go is a much bigger job than I'd guessed . We've got a lot of boxes cluttering up our space too. We'll be making a run to the recycling depot soon to regain more of our floor and shed (temporary box storage) space.

We have pretty much no landscaping on our lot (this is a new area of town) except for a little strip of grass in front of the house. It means that for the time being it looks a little sad (especially next to houses that have already got their landscaping done) but also means that we can do whatever we feel like without being constrained by anything done by the previous owner. So far we've started a compost, bought a few containers of flowers and a strawberry plant and decided that we really need to get a lawn mower and something to cut down all the weeds.

We've got a few pretty volunteers right now. This little white one is part of the pack of weeds at the curb end of our lawn. I've no idea what it is but it looked kind of sweet when we moved in (its grown about a foot and a half since then).

There are a few very small wild roses around the house, mostly on the edge of the little bit of wilderness (read: mosquito swamp) between our house and our rear neighbours lot. I'll probably keep a few of them (most of the swamp will have to go); they are a favourite of mine (and almost impossible to completely remove anyway). They always smell so nice and are a lovely shade of pink. I might even have another try at making rosehip jam.

Zeke has been alternately terrified and curious about his new living space. He spent most of the first three days in the house hiding under our duvet, completely invisible to anyone else who tried to find him (we knew the secret). He's getting more comfortable and seems to especially enjoy watching the neighbours.

I think today will be spent getting some random garden things into our shed and trying to make sense of the piles of stuff in my studio. Yep, I have a studio. It's really strange to be in a different room than Rob (though my computer will migrate back to the family room once we've got a desk set up in there) but it will be very handy around Christmas and birthdays when I usually end up doing some rather creative time management to keep things secret (What ... you don't do all your sewing while your husband is in the shower?). I have some ideas for this space but right now my goal is to find a nice cutting table.

As part of the Spring Sassy Apron Swap each swapper had to include a family soup recipe along with the apron sent to her partner. We only had one family recipe when I entered the swap - a tasty Asian style noodle soup featuring rare steak and vegetables. I had a bit of a problem when I got my swap partner though - she was vegan and I just couldn't send her a soup recipe where the first instruction was "Choose a nice steak."

After mulling things over for a while, I decided to ask Rob for help. I wanted to send a recipe that was home-made by our family and Rob is really good at combining flavours and being inventive with food. Here is the result:


Rob's Spicy Corn Soup*

For the soup base:
2    tbsp  pepper infused olive oil
½  C       onion, coarsely chopped
¼  C       flour
4    C       vegetable stock
½  tsp    chilli powder
½  tsp    ground cayenne pepper
2    C       corn (frozen)

In a pot, heat oil and add onion. Cook until translucent but not browned. Add flour and cook 1 minute. Gradually add stock. Bring to a boil and simmer until slightly thickened. Add spices and corn. Return to boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Blend soup until mostly smooth. Return to heat and add spicy kernels (below). Heat to desired temperature and serve with pita bread for dipping.

For the spicy kernels:
1    C      corn (frozen)
½ C      water
1    tsp  cayenne pepper sauce
1    tsp  ground cayenne pepper
1    tsp  chilli powder
dash of cinnamon

In a fry pan, combine all ingredients. Boil over low heat until all moisture has evaporated. Remove from heat and set aside.


*watch out - it really is spicy.