Rhubarb and Plum Jam

Summer vacation is coming to an end. Oliver and Celia are going back to school tomorrow. Yet again, our summer flew by so fast. In hope to preserve a little bit of this summer I have been making jam. Lots of jam!

I found a great plum and rhubarb jam recipe at a lovely blog named apple & spice . It was easy to make and tasted fantastic!

The recipe asked for brow sugar which gave the jam a rich flavor. It also gives instructions on canning without boiling the jars in a big pot of water. Which means, no splashing scolding hot water around the kitchen, a big plus. I had so much fun and the house smelled heavenly.

I had loads of strawberries so I ended up with strawberry and rhubarb jam too.

The success of the plum and rhubarb jam made me try another recipe from the same blog. Plum and vanilla jam!

You add a vanilla pod to the jam while cooking, and it smelled so good! After canning the jam Adel and I sampled the jam on crackers with some goat cheese gouda and brie and a glass of Savignon Blanc. Incredible.

I think the jam will also be great over ice cream and on crepes.

Thursday night is farmers market here in San Carlos. Last week was wonderful. The berries and peaches were so flavorful, seemed to be at its peak.

My plan is to pick up some blackberries and raspberries for one more batch of jam.

A little bit of summer in a jar.

Summer surprise

Every day at around 4 we hear barking, it is the arrival of the mailman. Dash dutifully warns us that we have an intruder outside our fence. The barking quickly stops as soon as the mailman has placed the mail in its slot and left. But yesterday Dash did not stop barking. When we ( Oliver, Celia and I ) reached the door to investigate the situation, Dash was proud to show us the arrival of a box!

Since there are no birthdays coming up before November we were very curious. We quickly opened the box and inside we found presents!!! Lots of exciting presents. We love presents! Our dear friend Sissel, Jonah and Synnøve had sent us summer surprises all the way from Norway.

Lots of treasures!

Thank you soooooo much! We loved it. Loved it, loved it. loved it!

Hand painted chair

Hand painted table for Thomas and Michele

I have been decorating this play table for Thomas and his little sister Michele in

Half Moon Bay.

One side has a little princes tea party and on the opposite side a knight with his dragon.

Thomas and Michele were both excited to find their initials on the crowns in the border and on the flags on top of the castle.

Needle felted bunnies

Two little summer girls are heading out to find new homes at Shelby's Garden.

They are both needle felted from wool.

This little girl wears a dress made from Celia's old shorts.

Picking 4th of July flowers

Happy summer!

Tutankhamun at De Young Museum

My Egyptian Hieroglyphs

King Oliver and Queen Celia

outside De Young

Adel and I took the kids to see the Tutankhamun exhibit at the De Young museum in

San Francisco last night. It was a great exhibit. Oliver and Celia loved it. They were completely

grossed out by the fact that the Egyptians mummified the intestines of their kings and placed it

in boxes that we were looking at.

We saw a beautifully decorated coffin from one of the other burial places and lots of artifacts from Tuthankhamun and other kings and noble people.

We went to the twilight showing, so when we were finished looking at the exhibit we had dinner at the museum restaurant. A surprisingly good dinner. Oliver and Celia ran in the garden with the sculptures while they waited for dinner. Oliver discovered a statue of 'The Death Star' ( part of De Young museums permanent collection) which was according to him the coolest statue ever! Adel and I enjoyed a three course dinner before we all walked back to the car in the dark. Celia and Oliver were sound asleep in the back seat on the way home.

Kransekake for wedding

I spent some time this last weekend baking a Kransekake for a wedding. Kransekake is my absolute favorite cake.

For those of you that reads this, scratch your head and say "Kranse...what?" A Kranekake has eighteen graduated almond paste rings. It is made from almonds, egg white and powdered sugar. ( So both gluten and fat free).

It is the signature cake of Norway and a staple at anniversaries, birthdays, and holiday celebrations.

In this case the bride wanted to add some of her Norwegian traditions to the wedding and the cake was a natural choice.

Owl eyes...

My favorite part. Assembling. Decorating with icing.

The cake was dressed with pink paper flowers

ready for the ball

Hand painted furniture

I just finished a custom order for a hand painted desk, hutch a chair. It still needs varnish before it is going to its home. Now Celia wants a desk for her room... She is starting 1st grade

so it is time to start looking for a desk for her.