Happy Friday everyone. After a lovely three day weekend and a short work week we are back at the weekend- my birthday weekend no less! Lets do this, Five on Friday.
1. As I mentioned yesterday in what we can simply refer to as my Ode to Slaw, we are entertaining this weekend- twice. Tonight we are having B’s family over for a birthday barbecue (poor B has Mother’s Day x 2, both his parent’s birthday and my birthday all in one month) to celebrate all the May birthdays. I’m making ribs (spices and sauces, slow cooked in the oven and finished on the grill), grilled corn, beans, fruit, cole slaw (of course) and cake and pie. On Saturday morning we are having friends over for brunch and I’m making Smitten Kitchen’s spinach and cheese strata to be served along with fruit salad, Do-Rite donuts and bacon.
2. The last few Saturday’s that I have taken Gracie to the Farmer’s Market I’ve gotten myself a fruit smoothie from a fruit farmer that comes every week- fresh fruit and splash of their apple cider, blended into fruit goodness. Every week I let Gracie have a taste, then five, then I end up splitting it with her. She is officially the Fruit Monster. We went to Grand Rapids for part of Memorial Day weekend and had a picnic in the Presidential Park in front of President Ford’s museum. Gracie ignored the main course and sat in front of the fruit bowl, eating her weight in strawberries before running herself into exhaustion in the grass.
3. I still have not gotten around to planting anything on our patios. I did finally get the built in planter boxes emptied of their old, sad dirt, but I really need to get myself down the nursery and find something to refill them with. That and pick up some hanging baskets for our back porch. The aforementioned Farmer’s Market has gorgeus hanging baskets so I just need to get it done. I also need to get seat cushions for our back patio chairs and a bubble machine (I’m thinking this one) for the front to entertain the wee-one. We finally set up her water table and she has loved it the few days it has been warm enough to use.
4. I’ve been a huge advocate of the Zoli straw cups for kids, and we still love our cups. After months of use (and rinsing the straws under the faucet and running them through the dishwasher) we decided we needed an actual straw brush to clean them out. Of course the “standard” straw brushes are too large for the Zoli straws, and the Zoli straw cleaner is both expensive and as of late, rarely available on Amazon Prime. I did some research and ordered this (very, very cheap) straw cleaning set that claimed to be Zoli compatible. It is and I highly recommend. With a 99 cent base price I didn’t even mind paying $4 for shipping.
5. Discussion has started on our May book club book, Kitchen Confidential. Click on over to Goodreads to check it out.
(Amazon links affiliate)
