Weekend Snapshots

Some snapshots to start off the week-end…

- a fantastic asparagus strawberry salad: you can literally taste spring in this one!

- the big vintage apothecary glass jars I discovered at the flea market.

Best when grouped together and all of them filled with fresh-cut flowers from the farmer’s market – you can grab those while you’re shopping for the asparagus and the strawberries tomorrow ;).

- and hot-off-the-press recommendations for children’s books with Ben’s personal reviews ;).

To be specific I just handed him the books and he read them with pleasure ;)!

We had the salad for lunch today – in addition I briefly sauted salmon fillets in olive oil, added a lot of lemon juice, coated them in a paste of lots of parsley, garlic and olive oil (similar to home-made pesto) and put it in the oven at 400F.

The wait time is perfect for preparing the salad.

Asparagus salad with strawberries

For approx. 4

(three of us polished it off completely ;)).

1 pound green asparagus

1 and ½ dry pints of strawberries

Handful of pine nuts

Freshly pressed juice of ½ an orange

4 Tbsp white balsamic vinegar

6-8 Tbsp olive oil

Salt, pepper

Cut off the lower third of the asparagus stalks; blanch the asparagus for a few minutes in salt water until firm to the bite.

Wash, hull and quarter the strawberries.

Cut asparagus into small pieces.

Mix both together.

Roast pine nuts without oil in a non-stick frying pan.

Mix all ingredients for the dressing and mix carefully with the asparagus, strawberries and pine nuts.

A lovely lunch with added salmon and couscous – enjoy for dinner topped with crumbled feta cheese and ciabatta bread (I would double the amount for this one)!

There are two nice new editions to the PingPong series by Langenscheidt:

1. "Liebe Grüße, dein Eisbär." (All the best, yours, Polar Bear.)

Polar bear is lonesome – and writes letters to all (kinds of) bears in the world.

The bears’ reply mail and how they have a surprise in store for Polar Bear in the end – this book tells the story in a very loving way.

Particularly pretty:

- a world map in the beginning of the book, with the help of which you can show children very nicely which type of bear lives in which part of the world.

- the 3D letters – children love everything they can open up and look into!

Ben’s opinion:

"The book is cuddly – and the best is the surprise in the end!”

2. "Troll und Oliver" (Troll and Oliver)

Troll keeps trying in vain to catch Oliver – unfortunately to no avail!

Until one day…the story takes a surprising turn.

Particularly pretty:

- the lovely, child-appropriate illustrations,

- the recipe for the troll cupcakes at the end of the book,

- the author’s tongue-in-cheek humor.

Ben’s opinion:

"I love books that don’t punish “the bad guy” in the end, but change his character. The troll is funny and not at all scary, I think that’s cute!”

The PingPong series is available at Langenscheidt.

Love,

Joanna

p.s. A while ago I watched “Little Nicholas” with the children.

Funniest movie E V E R!

Afterwards Ben decided he needed a club blazer.

Very urgently.

The fact that Ben wishes (!) for a certain garment is so unusual that I went searching for one immediately.

If you think you can find a boy’s club blazer just like that, think again!

I found the only nice one HERE  - and when they had a school performance this afternoon he proudly put it on.

He was picked up by four girls at the doorstep – when they saw him they all spontaneously exclaimed in unison:

"Woooooooow."

I had to run to the kitchen very quickly to avoid squealing with all that cuteness.

But here I can do it.

Aaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!! 

Cute, cute, cuuuuute!!!!