Teatopia

4th of July fun!

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July! We had a cookout at my parents' new gorgeous house. We took Olivia down to the horse farm next door, and Olivia said "horsey", which sounded like "horshey". So cute! We were getting eaten alive though, so we didn't stay long. Does anyone know if it's safe to but insect repellent on a baby? Hmmm....something to ask her doc next time.

I also made Olivia's great great grandmother's blackberry dumplings. She gave us the recipe when we visited a few weeks back. They turned out so yummy, and they were easy to make. I can't wait to try the recipe again. I may even use another type of berry, although I can't imagine anything else being as yummy as the blackberries were.

I don't have an exact recipe. It's one of those family recipes that she has made for so long that she does it by feel, so you'd have to play around with it. Here's what I did:

Bring the following to a boil:
1 qt. blackberries
2-3 cups of water (it's up to you)
sugar to taste

In the meantime, make the dough for the dumplings:
mix bisquick and water until you have a thick consistency.

When you've got a rolling boil, add the dough in spoonfuls and let it boil. You can tell when they're cooked, but if you're not sure, spoon one out and cut it open to make sure the inside is cooked. These are so awesome. We had ice cream with it, but I'm sure pouring heavy cream on top (my fav when I was in England) would be amazing too!

We've laid low the last few days. I've been really tired, and afternoon showers have made the humidity even worse than usual, which makes it intolerable. Olivia and I have spent a lot of time playing and learning new words: chapstick (she shocked me with this one!), peach (peesh), water (wah-wuh), and glasses (all of a sudden, they aren't "eyes" anymore).

Can I just say again how much I love being a Mommy!?! Olivia is so funny. She makes me burst out laughing several times a day. The other day, while I was cooking, she sat down on a watermelon in our kitchen and just stayed there. She knew it was funny because she giggled the whole time. I always have watermelon and I leave them out on the floor because Olivia thinks they're balls and she rolls them around, yelling "ball." I guess she thinks they're great seats, too!

This is random, but if you drink coffee, you've got to try this creamer! I LOVE coffee, but I try to limit how much I drink (I should be drinking tea! I'm teatopia!) This stuff is so good, and cheaper than St@rbucks for sure.

This afternoon, we're going to head out to go shopping with my mom. I just hope the rain doesn't start until I'm back. It's such a pain to get a baby in and out of a stroller and car in the rain! I love the rain when I'm home. I like to open the front door and watch through the glass storm door. Gone are the days when I'd curl up with a book, but I'm trying to make more time to read. I took GFF's recommendation and picked up "The Red Tent" and I really like it. Makes me feel better to read about women who nursed toddlers. LOL!

Tomorrow, I'm planning on making a South African dessert that I LOVE, malva pudding (which in the British tradition is really a cake and not a pudding as we'd think of one). Sara and I e-mailed back and forth about it. I never could remember the name of it, and she e-mailed me about it and I was able to look up the recipe. Thanks, Sara!

Posted by Hannah at July 7, 2007 12:19 PM