Ice Pops

When we had the first little heat wave here a couple of weeks ago, I dug out the ice pop molds, and since then we've been hooked. One of our favorite kind is to blend coconut milk (the canned type) with fruits like strawberries or mango and add a little honey for sweetness. It is also pretty easy to make fun striped pops using layers of different flavors. Now if I could only find the sticks that go with the molds...

Rainy Day in Concord, Massachussetts

Friday was a happy day for my girls. We went to to visit the house where Louisa May Alcott had lived in Concord, Ma. We all really enjoyed reading "Little Women" so getting to see where the girls from the book had lived was a real treat.


It was such a wet day. We also stopped by briefly by the Minute Man National Historic Park, but got cold and realized that there were enough other things to see in Concord that we should just go again later in the summer.

I was cold and wet, but when you are four years old a rainy day with puddles, a pair of boots, and an umbrella is just about the best things ever.

Vegan Saag with Tofu

As someone who spent years cooking and eating Indian food on an almost daily basis (while living in ashram), there was a long time that I would not go near a pack of curry powder. I always enjoyed Indian food, but lets just say I needed a break. These days, I enjoy cooking Indian again, and always look forward to eating out at our favorite Indian restaurant. Saag has always been one of my favorites. This recipe easy and quick, it can easily be made up in the time it takes to make a pot of basmati rice. We had it along with the veggie masala burgers from Trader Joe's (love those!), and some apple chutney from last fall. I used frozen spinach for this, but fresh would only make it better, and is in season now!

1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp chopped ginger
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/4 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 lb frozen chopped spinach, or a large bunch of chopped fresh greens
1/2 cup cashews (ideally soaked, but it will work either way) to make cashew cream
1 block of tofu, diced
salt, pepper to taste

Heat a small amount of oil, and saute onion until translucent. Add garlic, ginger, and all the spices, and saute for a minute more. Add the spinach, and 1/2 cup water, cover, and simmer until spinach is cooked. Meanwhile make the cream. Add 1 cup of water to the cashews, and blend for several minutes, until smooth and creamy. (You only need half of this, but it is difficult to make a smaller amount. Just save the rest for another use.) Add half of the cashew cream, tofu, salt and pepper, and simmer a few minutes more to let the tofu soak up the flavors.

This Boy

Rasika is getting to be so big. He has been learning so much lately. His reading is getting better, and he also attempts to write. It doesn't always come out right, but he's not afraid of trying.

(God moron = godmorgon = good morning in Swedish)

He can eat an ice cream cone without making a huge mess. Sometimes. Clean his room. Well, sort of. The other day he was counting: "twenty-eight, twenty-nine, twenty-ten." I corrected him. He continued: "thirty-eight, thirty-nine, thirty-t..." He caught himself, and asked me what was next. Continued, and figured fifty out all on his own. Somehow that made me a little sad. Here he is riding his bike all on his own.

Happy 65 to my Dad!

Here he is talking to my four year old today. (I stole the photo from my sister's Instagram.) I hate not being able to be there for birthdays and such. Can't wait to get to see him in August!

Evening Walk in Providence

Last night we had plans to go out to a "Shakespeare in the Park" performance downtown. Too bad the play was cancelled due to threat of thunder storms. Fortunately this is Providence, where nothing is far away, and the park is only about 5 minutes away from home. Since there were no thunderstorms and we were already downtown, we ended up going for a nice little walk along the water instead of just going home, and it turned out to be a really nice night out. We will have to try to catch the Shakespeare play another night instead.

Summer's First Swim

Or at least a quick dip. (It was COLD!)

The ten year old finished her math for the school year yesterday morning, and to celebrate we packed a lunch and spent the rest of the day at the beach! It was the first hot day of the year, and though it doesn't show in the photo, the beach was packed. Ours seemed to be the only school-aged kids though, so next time I think we'll coordinate with some of their homeschool friends.