You Say Tomato....

Today was a glorious day. The sun shone bright and warm, all traces of the blizzard that brought in the week had disappeared. A perfect day to be one with nature...or at least my yard and garden. Today was also the first 'garden sunburn' of the season. I wear my 'red-back' badge of honor proudly, for as of today, in this ridiculous Albertan town, SUMMER HAS ARRIVED!!!!!!!!!

To celebrate, I decided to make one of my favorite summer salads. Every bite engages all the senses and puts them into summer overdrive! Because I love this salad (which really can be eaten as a meal. Tonight we ate it a plenty, with a side of garlic toast.) and I love you, my faithful few, I bestow upon you.... the recipe *takes a grandiose bow*.

The Infamous Tomato Salad, Summer Style.

3 or 4 vine ripened, gorgeous and juicy tomatoes!

Fresh Mozzarella (soft, unripened cheese. You can buy a nice chunk at Costco, you can also find it in tubs- also called Bocconcini)

1/3 cup freshly chopped Basil (no dried spices here!)

1/3 cup thinly (paper thin) sliced Red Onion

2-3 tbl of good quality Balsamic Vinegar (eye ball it)

2-3 tbl of good quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil (eye ball it)

Freshly ground coarse pepper and salt to taste

Slice tomatoes and mozzarella about 1/4" thick. Arrange in layers tomato, mozzarella, and thinly sliced onions on plate. Sprinkle freshly chopped basil over everything. Drizzle entire salad with vinegar and olive oil. Generously top with ground pepper and coarse salt.

EAT & ENJOY!

Note: Don't salt until the moment you are about to eat, as the salt will draw out all the water from the tomatoes and make everything a runny mess. The key ingredient to this salad is the freshest, ripest tomatoes that you can find. If they are not quite ripe enough, let them sit on a window sill until they look too good to eat. 

Adventures in City Transit

Not Me Monday

You all know how great of a Mother I truly am. Therefore you would also know that I do not leave the house (on regular basis) without toddler ammunition (Sippy, snacks, pull-ups, toys). I definitely would not expect the child to behave normally on a completely empty stomach, and there is absolutely no WAY that I would take him to a grocery store at 12:30pm, lunchless. Of course the last time he ate was not at 7:30am. I did not proceed to 'try and shop anyways', even though it was not my child flailing, grabbing, screaming, whining down each and every isle. We did not stop and load up on hand sanitizer after not believing every scare tactic the media could pull out regarding the Swine Flu. The child did not continue to be on his very worst behavior almost knocking down each bottle. The old, cranky man next to him did not proceed to give me the stink eye... you know the one...."back in our day children were seen and not heard".. yah he didn't dare give me that look. And he definitely did not have the nerve to "TSK TSK SIGH EYE ROLL" me either. Of course being the most respectful of women, I did not give him the "TSK TSK SIGH DOUBLE EYE ROLL- SO THERE!" right back! After not storming away, muttering unmentionables under my breath, I did not make the executive decision to leave the store before I turned around and punched said old man. I did not learn a very important lesson that day... "Always pack snacks". Nope, Not ME!

It was not my well-behaved, reserved child who proceeded to pull down his pants outside while helping me garden this afternoon. I did not plead with him to leave his pants on, and he definitely did not announce "TA-DA TA-DAAAA!!!! WHOOHOOO!!!!" after not removing his pants. Nope, Not my child!

While on our city transit adventure for The Child's 3rd birthday, I did not try to explain to him about germs and how they can sometimes make your tummy sick. He did not proceed to touch every railing, handle, chair, bench insight.... licking his hands and saying "MMMMm Germs!". Of course, I was not THAT mom running after him, not spraying hand sanitizer on everything, including him. Nope, Not ME!

My wonderful child loves music. He loves music so very much that he is almost obsessed. Ok. He is obsessed. He will have one song that he obsesses over for about a month or two, and then (thankfully!) moves on to a new song, a new obsession. His most recent song obsession has been "The Circle of Life" from the Lion King Soundtrack. (Once we thought it would be fun to watch the movie, until I did not have to fast-forward 95% of the show. How do you explain to a 3yr old that the baby lion's daddy just died?!?!? Ummmm... you don't... fast-forward!). Needless to say, he is in absolute love with that song. He does not ask to listen to it on repeat while driving in the car or at home... he does not constantly sing the opening 3 lines over and over and over. Since I have sooooooo much patience, it does not drive me absolutely mad. Especially since the song does not get stuck in my head, constantly, never ending. So of course, when the husband and I were having...ahem..."special-time" one evening, I did not still have that ridiculous song running through my mind. I did not have to try my hardest to not sing it out loud. Do you know how hard it is to concentrate on "special-time" when it is being choreographed in your mind to "The Circle of Life"?! Try it sometime! Turn off the Marvin Gaye and blast Elton John wailing "...It's the Ciiiiiircle of Liiiiiiiiifeeeeee.... and it moooooooves us alllllllllll....."!

Let me know how it goes... minus a few gory details. 

Smell that?

Its change a-brewing!

NO I'm not pregnant. 

But there is something different. Something significantly different. Look closely.. it's right in front of your nose. You might have to scroll up a bit.

My blog subtitle has officially changed. No longer am I giving insights from a world with a two and a half year old. 

Today, he is officially THREE!

(You thought I had something witty or surprising to blog today, didn't you? Gotcha!)

I am now changing my subtitle and looking forward to this upcoming year of THREE. Birthdays are so wonderful on various levels, but deep down its the reflection that they bring that I love the most. This time THREE years ago, I was still in labor... drawing upon every physical, emotional, mental, spiritual strength to bring my baby into the world. When he finally came the whirlwind of change that swept through that room was huge. Crossing over from maidenhood to motherhood, married to a family, from two to THREE. 

Today the child and I honored that journey by embarking on a journey of our own. It was a lot less intense compared to labor, but a journey nonetheless. Watch for the adventure of our journey to be told through some upcoming pictures! 

You know you're excited.