What is this {pretty, happy, funny, real} you speak of?
~ {pretty, happy, funny, real} ~
Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~
Every Thursday, here at Like Mother, Like Daughter!
I did have a post for you earlier, but weird things with the blog occured. I thought it was eaten, pfffft, gone, and it did seem to be quite, quite gone. Then Rosie did an update and found it.
Phew! You will see it anon.
For now, we'll just chat.
So we had a little casual dinner party. Of course, the only night in about six weeks that we had rain was this one, but we did have a lovely evening under the tree, which shelters the deck very well as long as the rain is soft. Here is a quick snap before the sun went down and the candles were lit. Very simple. We really enjoyed good conversation with old friends — it's the best. Want to know how to make it happen? Invite them first, then sort out the details!
It was a simple meal of grilled salmon. I marinated it with my latest favorite marinade, very simple but very tasty: Mix a nice amount of Greek yogurt with lemon juice. Depending on how many pieces of fish or chicken you have, you can vary this, but for 5 fish steaks or 8 boneless chicken thighs I use about 1/2 cup of yogurt and 1/4 cup of lemon juice, but that is just a ballpark figure, of course. The main thing is that you want enough of the yogurt mixture to coat the pieces. Add some garlic, chopped herbs like basil or thyme, and chives. Whisk that up and coat the meat or fish.
You can do that right before you are ready to cook the other parts of the meal — set the fish or chicken to marinate and then start your rice or potatoes (we had some boiled red potatoes nicely tossed with butter and parsley, in the traditional manner, and so simple). When the grill is hot, you're ready to cook.
Anyway, I made the simple yogurt and tahini sauce from the Ottolenghi Jerusalem cookbook: 1/2 cup yogurt (for the sauce I use regular plain yogurt, not Greek), a couple of tablespoons of lemon, ditto tahini, and a little cumin and salt to taste.
For the leftovers, I put the pieces of salmon on top of a bed of stewed red lentils. This is a really tasty and easy dish: Just cook the red lentils (much smaller and more delicate than the regular brown ones) in twice as much water. Add dried minced onion, salt, a dash of olive oil, and a little lemon or vinegar. I confess I'm not a huge fan of lentils, but this is much better than the usual fare. I had it in the fridge and it went perfectly with the salmon.
I covered everything with the yogurt sauce and garnished with some red onion and mint. We had this on pasta, but it would be very nice on rice too. Those salmon steaks (five one-inch-thick ones, on sale for the Fourth) fed five of us the first night and three the next!
Isn't the dish beautiful? Bridget brought it back from Poland for me. I love it.
I've been thinking about how different things are around here now that we don't have “slave labor” aka kids. We do our best but between being obsessed about the garden and the bees, some jobs get forgotten or continually move down the list.
But yesterday I had a visit from two lads who vastly preferred working here to being dragged around taken on visits with their mom. What hard workers! In the scorching heat they carried on. I made them sit for lunch and required the intake of ice cream cones, but otherwise, “what's next?” was the order of the day. “We can come tomorrow and finish moving these piles.” Well, maybe… dunno about that, but great attitude!
They were not without monetary compensation, but such is their upbringing in a household of 6 boys and lots of animals and chores to be done that they just wanted to work! Weeds, gone! Chips, spread! Anything else we can do? That's the spirit!
I would only fret about those weeds, not do anything to pull them out. Thank goodness for hard-working boys!
I leave you with pictures of the garden… so happy that a friend came over and ended up helping me with the stakes the Chief made me for my 35 tomato plants — yeah, that's a lot — Â tying them up while I watered…
And this: Pretty, and happy, and funny, and real: My wonky brick walk –but weed-free!
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Alexandra says
I love a crooked brick walk. It may be “wonky” but I think it has a lot of charm. More English cottage, less Versaille or the like.
Leila says
Thanks, Alexandra — it has its own charm, that’s for sure!
Jenny Ryan says
I think about how I will manage when my children leave me toooo much. They still make more mess than they clean up at this point, but they are the best company when working. This post made me very happy, because while they all promise to live with me forever, I don’t think that is a promise that will stick. Hopefully their kids will come and work with me at that point!
Leila says
Jenny, I hope they never leave!! Well, no, but you know!!
Just keep making friends with ever-younger kids. Eventually that will pay off 🙂
Sue says
Your dinner looked delicious! The table setting and presentation looked beautiful, too. It looked to be an enjoyable evening.
Leila says
Thanks, Sue. We really enjoyed ourselves.
Colleen says
I have a similar brick walk. I poured white vinegar between the bricks earlier in the summer. No weeds!
Leila says
Colleen, I keep thinking of these remedies, but I do like the moss and don’t want it to die. That said, I gave the dog a much-needed shampooing out there tonight (so much fun to roll around on a dead and decaying animal, ugh) using shampoo mixed with vinegar, so I dunno!
Kathy@9Peas says
I rather like the crooked brick walkway, character you know – it is hard to come by these days, everything has to be Pinterest Perfect.
Industrious boys, I love it. Their Mama is surely proud. I know how hard it must have been to convince them to eat those ice cream cones, good lads for following your urging despite their desire to get back at it :).
I’m finally joining in the blogging world again, now if only I can continue to foster the habit because once out of it, it is hard to get back at it. Luckily, the anchors of my blogging world are still plugging away making it fun to join them again. LMLD is one of my blog anchors.
Leila says
Thanks for joining, Kathy! Yes, their mama knows she’s doing things right 🙂
NY Mom says
Leila, just curious – over what type of pasta did you serve the salmon-lentil-melange? (which looks wonderful, btw.)
Leila says
NYMom, it was just normal linguini or something like that. This was a super easy “pull things out of the fridge” supper. Tossed the pasta with olive oil and parmesan. It was really good! Thank you!
Jenny says
Your meal and table setting look great, Auntie Leila! I love how you make things seem manageable. The thought of having people over terrifies me anymore because of how unpredictable a baby can be, but after reading this I’m inspired.
I love the clothesline and garden picture.
Leila says
Thanks, Jenny.
I know, but real friends are fine with baby “disrupting” things and actually it helps them calm down about their own baby.
I loved how our friends told us that they are used to camping, and so a little rain didn’t bother them. “As long as there’s wine, we’re fine!” LOL
Erin says
I took the kids out with me into our new “backyard” yesterday (half cracked concrete and two scraggly patches of weeds with a pair of sad bushes flanking the AC) to edge the sidewalk. An hour later, with me on shovel duty attacking the sidewalk, the 5 year old with the rake, the 2 year old with the broom, and the baby in the walker, we discovered we have…brick edging! Who knew?
Leila says
That happened to me too! I found an extra row of bricks in my walk, and I found bricks out back! Yay!
Anitra says
I got my 7-year-old and 5-year-old to successfully weed this week! I did some, but mostly chased the toddler. And it got done, albeit with much complaining from the oldest that it was “too hot” and “too hard”. On the one hand, I want to give in to the complaining, but on the other hand, it tells me that I need to keep working them harder, so that they will understand what good complaining does (none)!
Leila says
Working hard is good for them! Try showing them pictures of pretty walks, gardens, and borders. Ask them — how can we get this? Let them solve the problem! Now that they have the skills, haha!