Passport to Love: Ancient Greece

This month's Passport to Love trip took us to Ancient Greece.  I'm having so much fun planning and setting up these "trips" and it's been neat to come up with coordinating meals from that country.

I probably shouldn't draw attention to it, but my "grape leaves" ended up being oak leaves since that was all they had in stores for the season. :P

My handsome date :) 

(no, weren't wearing togas :P)

On the menu:

Greek Roast Leg of Lamb: 

Leg of lamb marinated overnight with rosemary, oregano, garlic, red wine and lemon and then roasted with a garlic, mustard herb rub.

Couscous salad: 

Couscous, kalamata olives, feta, fresh basil, and sun dried tomatoes tossed in a homemade garlic, balsamic, and olive oil dressing

Flatbread:

Homemade with spelt flour and freshly baked on a baking stone

Hummus:

My own recipe with garlic, salt, olive oil and lemon juice for a slight tang

Kalamata Olives

And for dessert, I didn't even try to make something Greek with all the substitutions I'd have to do to make it "diet approved" so I went with a household favorite: Apple Pastry!

I made it with a slightly different crust and used spelt flour (I'm testing to see if I will react to it since it's wheat-free but not gluten-free but works much more like true wheat flour)

The meal was a success which was a relief since I've never cooked lamb before.  I'm typically not a huge fan of lamb, but I've discovered that when it's well seasoned and cooked well, it's actually quite tasty.  The past few times people have made it for me, I've enjoyed it which is why I was adventurous enough to try it myself.  I thought the marinade made it very flavorful and I was quite satisfied with the result.  Of course, my husband's "mmm's" and remarks of approval definitely helped to convince me. :)

We finished the evening off by watching My Big Fat Greek Wedding since I couldn't think of any other Greek movies.  (If watching it, I'd suggest watching it with a movie filter, we use VidAngel.com, so you don't have to sit there squirming at some of the innuendo, immodesty and extended kissing scenes)

We haven't had a date night out in a little while, mainly due to lack of opportunity, so these home date nights have been a great way of reconnecting with each other.  It not always easy with a toddler to prepare for and carry it out, but dinnertime becomes a bit later and his bedtime a little earlier on these nights.  It's only once a month so it's really not that much if I'm thinking ahead and preparing so I'm not scrambling last minute.  I also try to give him a heads up since it's middle of the week and, it being a work night, he can prepare himself for it and look forward to something different.  

They're a lot of fun too, and the re-connection we feel toward each other afterwards is so worth the work!  He's touched by the work I've put in and is always so appreciative of it, and I appreciate and am touched by his response.  I get such a high watching him enjoy himself and seeing him get excited and I appreciate that he notices all the small details and is sure to let me know how grateful he is.

I'll leave you with a little something from the other night...these guys always have me cracking up!  I just love my boys. :)

Hope you all have a great weekend!

~Lindsay

An Afternoon at the Farm

Sunday being a beautiful, slightly cool day, Zenith and I felt like getting out of the house to go for a walk somewhere.  After looking around online for nearby walking trails, I bumped into the website for a local farm we drive by a lot.  They just happened to be having a "Farm Day" where they open to the public and have local crafters and vendors come set up booths and let people walk around their farm.  So after William's nap, we all headed over to check it out.  It must be a pretty big local event since there were lots of people there, and they did a really nice job with it.  A lot of local cafes were selling food and drinks, they had face painting for the kids, booths with crafts and handmade items, pottery making, wool spinning, petting zoo, hay rides, horse drawn carriage rides, and even a beekeeping booth where we had a really good chat with a local beekeeper.  He was able to give us lots of information and it's all so interesting!  Maybe someday when we have our homestead, we'll have some honey bees. :P

I don't know who was more excited...Zenith or William :P

He knew just what to do and was "driving" the tractor, making all the sound effects.

I would have been happy to hop on one of these!

He's not so sure about these big animals...clung to Daddy a bit at first

The little petting zoo they had set up.  

Didn't want to get too close and then he finally warmed up and wanted to walk around

"This one is me-sized, Mom!"

"It's getting a little too close now..."

Zenith wanted to take this guy home :P

On the way home, we started seeing smoke and just across the river from our place, we happened upon this:

We were there so soon after it started that the fire department was just starting to arrive.  An old abandoned mill building went up in flames and turned into a 7 alarm fire, needing aid from quite a few surrounding towns.  2 days later and they're still down there dousing the remains which is still smoking.

We could see the smoke from our apartment and had to keep the windows shut tight that night because there was so much ash and smoke in the air.  Thank God there were no injuries and the fire didn't spread!

So that was our exciting Sunday.  It was a lovely family day out.  I just love this time of year with the crisper air (which makes it a lot easier to breathe!) and the changing colors.  I've been sifting through the warmer clothes and pulling out what we have.  Hopefully soon we'll be able to go out apple picking and then I can get on canning applesauce and baking apples into everything. :)

The antibiotic treatment is going ok.  It's been stirring up a lot of my Lyme symptoms, which is common, so I haven't been feeling the best.  But being just about 34 weeks pregnant also doesn't help so I'm hoping to feel better once I have the baby.  I have a follow up with the doctor in a month so we'll see what the next step will be.  This is going to be a long road to recovery and I don't expect to see much change or be feeling better any time soon.  However, this is the cross Our Lord sent me, and I will try to learn as much from it as possible.  He knows how much I need this and it's making me realize how much I rely on Him and need Him in every aspect of my life.  So blessed be God!

Here are a couple snapshots from where Zenith was working.

At least he's got a great view of Boston! 

"Chim chimney, chim chimney, chim chim, cheree..."

Hope all of your weeks have had a good start and Happy Tuesday!

~Lindsay 

Newest form of toddler entertainment

Happy Saturday everyone!  Just thought I'd share a video of a new form of entertainment we discovered for William. :)

Have a great weekend!

~Lindsay

Woods, campfires, and sleeping under the stars

What a lovely weekend away, reconnecting with God's natural beauty and getting out of the city!  We had a great time with everyone camping up in the mountains.  The campground was just what we were looking for with lots of privacy and big camp sites.  So many campgrounds are just little spots right on top of each other with a few sticks around them that you pay through the nose for...probably because they have all the "amenities" like pool, arcade, gift shop, wifi and planned activities.  We wanted to go camping though...you know, like setting up tents, cooking over the fire that you have to make yourself, away from the hustle and bustle of life where there's no access to any type of screen (we didn't even have any phone reception which was so nice!); where you can look up from your campfire through the trees and see the millions of stars that you can't usually see because you're too close to a Wal-Mart parking lot; where background noise doesn't consist of cars, ambulances, or other machinery but instead you can listen peacefully to the crackling fire, owls hooting to each other, birds chirping in the morning, and the trickling water of the nearby river.  

We left in the morning, arriving by 2pm and went to work setting up camp.

Putting together Kaite and Dan's tent since they wouldn't be getting there until after dark

We had two campsites next to each other...Mom and Dad rented a pop up trailer (no hook ups or electricity though) and Zenith, William and I were in tents next to them.

William did great in his own tent next to ours with his pack n' play.  He's a very light sleeper so I was afraid the noise of us going in and out of the tent after we'd put him to bed would keep waking him so we decided to put him in a separate tent.  The second night it rained which woke him up but the little guy was such a trooper and just laid in the pack n' play, entertaining himself and being quiet until he fell asleep again (2 hours later).  

Kaite and Dan's "mansion"

 Bumpa starting a fire with William's help. :)

My little ragamuffin :P

Setting up for supper

Setting up our screen house

The gang's all here!

...which means it's time for a cuppa!  Put the kettle on!

Zenith's mysterious twin

William eating breakfast.  The next morning was quite chilly so we were all bundled up!

Astronaut Bill 

Nothing like brekky over an open fire

On the menu: bacon, fried eggs in bacon fat, grilled toast over the fire, and coffee...lots of coffee.

Girls keeping Dixie entertained

The "kids clubhouse"

Cousin fun!

Embers in the fire...you could just stare at them all day

And what would camping without chopping wood??  Actually we brought our own wood which Dad had previously chopped from Kaite and Dan's house, but the wood was really green and just wouldn't burn, so since they charged an arm and a leg for wood at the campground, the boys went out into the woods and dragged in some fallen logs and even cut down some themselves and chopped them up.

 This was one of the logs Zenith dragged in...it's heavier than it looks!

Jo-bo

 Some campfire entertainment

The river we were camped next to

Time for a hike!

We drove down the Kancamaugus Highway a bit and stopped at a trail that lead to a waterfall to do some hiking on Saturday.  We all would have loved to do some mountain hiking but between Kaite's kiddos and me being 8 months pregnant, I don't think we would have gotten far.  The weather was perfect for a hike though...slightly cool and sunny.

He was a little loopy

Dan the photographer and Jo-bo his assistant

Sunday morning it was raining, but knowing there was a chance it would, we precooked eggs and sausages on the fire the night before, kept them in the cooler overnight and then reheated them on the pop up's little hot plate.  We set up this little shelter and improvised!

Cousins staying dry

Our priest says Mass another church up in NH after he does ours so we were able to catch that one on the way home.  It's not until 2pm so we were able to eat and get packed away in plenty of time.  Despite the rain and cool nights, we had a great time.  We're hoping to make this our yearly summer holiday...we'll see what the next baby is like and if that even seems to be an option with 2.  It takes a lot of prep with meals and making sure you have all the equipment, but we just love it!

Can't believe we're already halfway through the week.  Still trying to get things back in order from being away but we're getting there.  Better get back to it.

Happy Humpday!

~Lindsay