In our household, Summer Time means friends, playing in the water, baseball and berry picking! This weekend we covered it all!
Friday night we had three families from church over for dinner. Our minister and family were included, like us they have a larger family with four children. Our evening also included two young couples, one recently married and the other getting married next month.
We started the evening off by letting all the kids play on the Banzai water slide while we visited and got dinner ready. We enjoyed garden rolls (tapioca wrappers, rice, sauteed veggies), chicken skewers on the BBQ fruit salad and garden salad. We decided that Asian food was the way to go as we had numerous allergies to contend with. The evening was concluded with young and old(er) alike playing Dance Dance Revolution on the Wii, It was a great time.
Saturday morning we woke up and decided to go Strawberry picking. We found the spray free fields recommended by the other Mom who was over the night before. A half hour later we had 22 lbs of beautiful, ripe strawberries.
What to do with that many berries? Oregon Dad and I decided to make jam. I’ve never made jam before, but part of my “plan” for this year is to can and jam everything! We used a low-sugar recipe and it turned out amazing! Oregon Dad and I both received several splatter burns, and the kitchen was a disaster once we were done! We are already plotting our next round, Raspberries followed by Blackberries. 
Saturday night found us at a Triple A ball game, but that’s a post by itself. And Sunday took us to the skating rink. Tales of those fabulous events are to come! Sometime this week I will get pictures and recipes up for the dessert’s I made Friday. Chocolate rice pudding (YUM) and Faux Flan (my eggless version).
Cheers!
June 30, 2008 at 9:26 am
We are hitting our AAA park this week. They do fireworks two nights near the 4th and it has turned into a tradition of sorts for us. You may have gone a little crazy with 22 lbs. Ease up…don’t get burned out!
June 30, 2008 at 1:04 pm
With a family of 7… 22 lbs is nothing! We made 2 batches of jam, froze 4 bags of berries for winter use and kept some fresh for shortcake and the like. Oh… and I made a quart of strawberry syrup for pancakes. Yummy.