We had such a good weekend! It was the perfect kick off to the summer season. We spent our days at the pool, our evenings cooking out with friends, eating every meal outside, running around barefoot, and breaking out the first boxes of sparklers for the summer. Everyone was smiling, smelling of sunshine, sunscreen, and bug spray (ugh, already) and it made me so eager to wrap up the school year and settle into the more laid back days of summer. (Only one and a half more weeks to go!!)
On Saturday night, we had dinner with a group of friends. The two hosts are neighbors whose backyards adjoin by a gate that remains open. Two large grills handled the food prep and long tables were set up casually for buffets and seating. The food was delicious and the big group of children all played (happily) together for hours on end. Once it was dark one of the houses set up an outdoor movie screen (old white sheet and bungee cords) and Andrew showed his stop motion films before they settled on a longer movie. The adults gathered around a fire pit and we all stayed up well past our bedtimes.
Here is a phone pic I posted on Instagram. It was such sweet sight, the kids all sweaty and a little dirty from playing outdoors, all entranced in Andrew's films, eating popsicles - childhood the way you wish it were all the time.
Sunday was another pool day and dinner with some of our best friends at our home. Again, super casual, it's one of (if not the best) the things I love most about summer entertaining. Popsicles become perfectly acceptable desserts and the grill in the main vehicle for cooking. Charlie was out by 6:45 PM that night and slept till 7:30 the next morning. Party animal!
Monday we watched C march with his TBall team in our village memorial day parade (aka, the smallest and fasted parade in the country) but still very cute in a way only small town parades can be. The weather was spectacular all weekend making everything take on that magical carefree summer feeling. I also managed to get all my tomatoes and herbs planted and I'm crossing my fingers for a more successful growing season this summer. I promise to share patio and garden pics soon. My hydrangeas should be in bloom any day now and I'll be excited to share them with you.
We ended the long weekend grilling homemade pizzas for just the four of us. This is a new endeavor for me, so I'm trying some different recipes and techniques. When I feel like I've got a perfected system down, I will share it with you. Promise that I won't wait all summer. :)
One recipe I am eager to share now is this one for blueberry muffins. From
this book. I've made them several times since I checked out the cookbook from the library last month and it is pretty much the perfect blueberry muffin recipe. Loaded with berries. They were the perfect start to our long weekend and didn't last very long. They come together so quickly. I can already imagine making them this summer when we are in Cape Cod after a morning walk to the nearby
Satucket Farm, maybe with blackberries or raspberries or a combination of all three. Can you tell I was just finalizing our summer plans last week. I have New England on the mind! Hope all of you enjoyed the long weekend as well! Here's to summer!!
Homemade Blueberry Muffins
(recipe source)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
2 eggs (preferably organic)
1/2 cup whole milk
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 cup plus 1 tsp sugar, divided (I used coarse, sparking sugar to top the muffins before baking)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
Heat oven to 375. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners. Whisk butter, eggs and milk in a bowl. Combine flour, 3/4 cup sugar, baking powder and salt in another bowl. Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients; fold in blueberries. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups (batter will be thick, I use style of this ice cream scoop, I usually end up with 15 muffins); sprinkle tops with remaining 1 tsp granulated sugar (or use sparking sugar). Bake until muffins are golden and a knife comes out clean, 25-20 minutes. Serve warm. (They freeze well too. Just reheat in microwave.)
