Kale

Tonight I cooked a snack. And a healthy one at that. Kale chips. Delicious and nutritious. Not to mention the easiest thing to make, just as long as you don't burn them in the end.

Start with organic kale because they're one twelfth of the dirty dozen. 

Little bugs were huddled on the stems. Try to wash them off. No, definitely wash them off. Then salad spin dry.Toss with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. 

Bake at 325 degrees for twelve minutes.

Kale chip up folks. 

Bell Canyon

This past weekend I went on a hike with my friend Tigg to the first waterfall in Bell Canyon. 

Rough start. Strong finish.

 The trail is actually really pretty, but it's hard to realize that when you don't have enough oxygen in your lungs. There is a resovoir, huge rock mountains, a waterfall/stream, and a view of Salt Lake City. 

Special...

When it was over we went to Costco and ate. I had a slice of combo pizza, a turkey pesto sandwich, and a berry sundae. Then I went back the next day and had another slice of pizza and a chicken bake. 

All in all, the great outdoors are great.

Pickin' Berries

Finally! I got to go berry picking! It has been on my "Summer Bucket List" for years, and for good reason. Berry picking was just as fun as I built it up to be. Hallelujah for +alicia yan for finding and taking me to McBride Briar Patch, making my dreams come true.

Raspberries are pretty dang thorny. If you go, you should definitely wear long pants and long sleeves. When you pick raspberries, if they are ripe, they come right off leaving this white cone-shaped middle. I have never seen raspberries still on the vine but they look exactly like their pictures! Those fruit snack package images are spot on.

Utah surely has beautiful skies.

The next door neighbors have reindeer, regular deer, goats, and sheep. They domesticate their animals by bottle feeding them while they are babies. When the reindeer are grown, they use them to pull sleighs. No joke, that's what the old man farmer told me. This little girl was feeding the animals leaves and flowers. I'm just glad her fingers didn't get bitten off.

I'm actually not sure what animal this is. I think it's a male goat, but it's eyes weren't square shaped, so I'm not completely sold on that answer. The old man farmer kept saying how beautiful he was.

The older couple that runs the patch have been farming in Utah for ten years. They had a few rows of strawberries and let me pick a few. Raspberry season will last all through fall until winter. I picked a pound of fruit which costed me $3. Alicia and Stan were more dedicated to the cause and picked a total of 5.5 pounds! 

Oh yeah, the old man gave us a piece of rope so we could tie the buckets around our waists so we could pick with two hands. Looks dumb, but works berry picking wonders.

That night, we made crepes with fresh raspberries and fresh whipped cream. Yumscrumdeeleeumpcious.

It's a party, it's a party, it's a tea party.

Kaia is 6 years old! Both/all of my nieces have the same birthday. At least we could be with one of them on their birthday. This year Kaia had a tea party for 13 little munchkin girls.

Decorations
My sister made name cards for each girl and each food dish. We hung tool, tied bows, double-sticked tape, and hot-glue gunned all around the house.

 

Food
The really delicious part. Everything was mini!! It was dangerous because you think you're not eating that much and just picking, but 10 mini quiches plus 5 chocolate chip scones and 3 bundt cakes add up.

Mini-scone monster.

Parents/waiters served the girls tea and seconds for food. The girls went nutso for the "flour cookies" aka Russian Tea Cakes. 

Games
The first activity the girls did was to decorate their own tea party hat that they wore throughout the day.

After lunch, they played games based around a sugar cube. Honestly, I was decorating my own tea party hat and eating so I have no idea what they were doing. I heard shrieks of joy, so I'm sure they had fun. Di-C was the perfect game master.

My sister, our cousin Naomi, Kaia, and I played UNO after everyone left. Naomi won both times, Liz got second, and somehow, Kaia and I were left to battle it out. There is no mercy given to younger players. We're all out for the W, but I lost both games.

Boys
Three little boys attended the tea party. My nephew, brother of the birthday girl, and our two cousins, whose sister also attended. So I guess it was obligatory on their part. They had fun playing and had requested to eat their lunch at a "table with no women."

She finally learned how to wrap her legs around her carrier's legs so she is almost weightless. Whoohoo! The best way to carry and be carried.

It's not a tea party without a fancy shmancy hat.

The party planner and birthday girl.

The party was an endeavor, but it was beautiful and scrumptious. All's well that ends well. Until next year...