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One of my favorite North Shore traditions is to "pick rocks" at any of the pebble beaches along the coast between Duluth and Grand Marais. On our recent trip, we went to Iona's Beach and gathered a nice assortment of stones. Before you call me crazy for collecting rocks into my adulthood... let me note that a small galvanized bucket with a pleasing arrangement of smooth, round, monochromatic stones makes a lovely addition to any tabletop or shelf.
A full bucket of rocks with the sparkling waters of Lake Superior in the background.
Set next to a rustic wood basket on the built-in shelves in our living room, the bucket of rocks looks right at home.
This summer on our trip to Door County, we picked 9 quarts of fresh, tart cherries. Baking a cherry pie soon became a subject of much thought. It couldn't be that hard, right?
STEP 1
Pick the freshest, reddest, ripest cherries possible. Preferably with the one you love.
STEP 2
Wash, stem, pit, and freeze cherries with sugar topping them.
STEP 3
Follow a standard cherry pie recipe. (After baking two cherry pies, I found that I prefer using tapioca to flour as a thickening agent.) For a simple way to dress up your pie, cut your top crust* into thin strips and create a lattice top.
STEP 4
Bake and serve warm with ice cream. Relish the sweet success of having baked the freshest, tastiest and BEST cherry pie around!
*QUICK TIP
A good friends' mom is the queen of pie baking. On a recent visit, she whispered to me her secret to perfect pie crusts... her quiet confession? Pillsbury Refrigerated Pie Crust. Try it, but don't tell a soul. No one will ever guess that it's NOT HOME BAKED!
... I should be unveiling my new blog to the world in slightly less than two weeks, so hang on! It's in process now, along with a whole host of other exciting projects. I can't reveal too much, so you will just have to wait and see. But seriously.... it's gonna be cool, so I would stick around if I were you.
The weekend on the shore was wonderful. Highlights included: Lunch at Coho Cafe, an afternoon in Grand Marais (complete with a stop at World's Best Donuts), dinner at Rustic Inn, a moonlight evening of skipping rocks and watching the waves lap the shore, lunch at Grandma's Boxcar in Canal Park, dinner at Betty's Pies, rock picking at Iona's Beach, buying smoked fish at Lou's, and simple moments of fun with family. Can you tell that most of the activities with my parents tend to focus around really good food?? It's miraculous that they are some of the smallest, most petite people I know. I can only hope that I inherited those genes, because they surely passed on their love of a good meal!
This week is busy with freelance work, and hopefully some time spent working on projects around the house. I am pleased that the next several weekends will be at home. We've been out of town allot, and it's nice to think of having some extra time to tackle the big stuff that I can't possibly get to during the week.
I fully realize that these posts are nearly meaningless without pictures... but I don't have my camera cord with me at work, so you will just have to imagine a page full of brilliant, beautiful pictures of me having fun with Lake Superior in the background.
I promise the next post will have pictures...
While the warm, sunny days are slipping away, and fall is fast approaching, I am caught up in reminiscing. In some ways, I realize this summer has lacked a certain richness that my summers of youth contained. No longer do I spend endless days cruising the lakes on the boat, swimming 'till my heart's content, wandering to mom's garden for a fresh pick, and frolicking barefoot in the backyard. Now, summer life is limited to short evenings on the patio and brief weekends playing in the sun. Summer 2008 was one of the first that I felt myself realizing that I am truly entering into adulthood. We own a house now, I am deep into my career, and my responsibilities are never few. The carefree days (and I mean that in the most complete sense) of past years seem far away. Those summer days of youth were golden days to me. I clearly remember laying on my parents' boat, face to the sky, with the best of friends next to me... laughing, talking, and relishing every moment of sunkissed joy.
Now that life has changed a bit... I find simple, summer pleasures in things like wearing flipflops, growing veggies in my own garden, waking up to sunlight streaming in the windows,
and taking every opportunity I can to spend a moment with those I love the most in simple summer bliss.
This weekend Zack and I are heading up to Minnesota's North Shore. We are meeting with my parents and staying at a lakeside resort in Two Harbors. We will be busy playing on the shores of Superior, shopping in Grand Marais, dining al fresco, and most importantly, relishing every moment of sunkissed joy.
Let's see here.... wow, it's been awhile since I wrote last. I've been busy, busy with the house, new job, gardening, and freelance work. The good news is that I am loving it all and have no complaints whatsoever. The bad news is that this blog has been temporarily abandoned. But have no fear..... I am coming back soon with a whole NEW BLOG, loads of pictures and details of trips we've taken, pies I've baked, and projects we've tackled. Stay tuned!
A visit to my favorite gallery in the Canal Park area of Duluth turned up these treasures at $4 a pop. They look lovely nested in this antique bowl on my dining room table. The bowl was another great find... Four bucks at a local garage sale.
Total cost for this simple centerpiece? Sixteen dollars!
