Apricot Tarts

Daybreak by Barry Manilow
"It's daybreak, if you only believe, and let it shine, shine, shine, all around the world!"  It's summertime and here in the northwest our days are long!  They get started around 4:30 - 5:00 a.m. and hang on until around 9:30 p.m.  I love this end of the seasonal cycle as opposed to the long nights that hit us in the winter.  When I'm scurrying around at 3:30 in the afternoon trying to get my daylight activities done before sunset at 4, I think to these glorious long, hot summer days.  These cute little Apricot Tarts look like a great big ball of sun wrapped up in puff pastry.  And they taste all happy and joyous - just like how this song makes me feel!  These tarts and this song make me want to run out to my back yard, open my arms wide to the rising sun, and sing out, "Let it shine, shine, shine ~ all around the world!"  

I went to the farmer's market last Friday and found these darling little apricots!

Actually, in all honesty, I went in search of them.

A few weeks ago I had my friend and her daughters over for lunch and we made some savory puff pastry tarts for our meal.  

It made me think about how long it had been since I'd made a sweet pastry.  

I thought that that should probably be remedied!  

Knowing that apricots were in season, I really, really wanted to feature them in my sweet venture and the whole vision of what I wanted just opened up in my mind!

Cow Bean Salad

Cattle Call by Eddy Arnold
This is one of those instances where the recipe sort of picks the song itself - or the song picks the recipe.  Either way, this is the song that ended up playing through my head every time I thought about cow beans and the salad I would make with them.  For some reason, it's in my brain that cowboys would eat cow beans.  I pictured them eating my delicious salad at night around the campfire after a long day of herding cattle.  What do I know about cowboy life?  Absolutely nothing - except what I've seen in the movies!  And my favorite movie about herding cattle - "City Slickers"- then has me pondering about what the perfect flavor of ice cream would be to complement my Cow Bean Salad!  (Fans of the movie will know what I'm talking about!)  What do you think?  Cow beans and cowboys!  It sounds like a match to me!

A few weeks ago I was strolling along at our farmers market and found one of my favorite stalls.  These folks have the most gorgeous fruits and vegetables.
And they have beans!
And these black and white beans caught my eye.

I'd never seen them before!  The sign said "cow beans" and it did look like a bin filled with tiny little holsteins!  These beans were flashy!  They had sass!  So I stopped and chatted with the vendor for a few minutes to find out about these little guys.

Creamy Bacon Purses

Moonlight Serenade by Glenn Miller
I'm on a family vacation right now.  I'm with all my children and grandchildren in Newport Beach, California and we're having a grand time!  I think I can speak for the whole family in saying that the song we will always associate with this time together is Glenn Miller's "Moonlight Serenade."  It's the absolute current favorite song of my granddaughter - who turned two years old yesterday. 

This little girl wants to listen to this song ~ all the time.  No - I mean ALL THE TIME!  It soothes her.  It makes her little girl heart beat with joy!  She and I took a walk to the local farmers' market one day and she held my phone in her tiny hand, listening to the song on a loop - over and over again as she rode in the stroller.  I eventually had to turn Glenn off to preserve the battery on my phone.  When one of the vendors asked about why she wore such a frown, he got a good laugh when I said, "She's upset with me because she wants to listen to Glenn Miller's Moonlight Serenade."  Haha!  Lucky for us, it's a pleasant song to listen to over and over - as much of the music of that era is.  

If you will remember, when my family gets together on one of our reunions, we have a cooking competition ~ a sort of Iron Chef thing.  We have a not-so-secret ingredient which we all know in advance.  The big surprise is which course we will be preparing, which we draw for when we arrive.  There's four courses - appetizer, entree, side dish, and dessert - and each course must use the special ingredient.  And this year is the fourth competition.

The special ingredient this year?  

BACON!

Almond Joy Tarts

Give A Little Love by The Mostar Diving Club

I love getting new band suggestions.  I listen to all sorts of music and love to troll the iTunes store, linking my way through the "Hey, if you bought this, you'd probably like this" cues.  Aaaand next thing you know I've lost about an hour of my day, my credit card bill has a few added lines under the Purchases column, and my iTunes library is even more awesome than it was before!  One of my richest sources for new bands are the daughters of my dear friend, Lara.  And, not too long ago, they put me on to the music of The Mostar Diving Club. The band's Facebook page lists Damian Katkhuda and Will Worsley as the band members.  I love their description of their genre.  It says "Quirky Acoustic."  Which is exactly why it appeals to me so much!  Thanks, girls, for sharing your finds ~ again!  And Happy Birthday to Emily!  Read on ~

This past week my friend, Lara, said that her daughter Emily's birthday was coming up and when asked what she would like to do for her special day, she replied that she thought it would be fun to go over to Janice's house and make lunch together!  

Cue the "Awwwww!"

It did give me enormous pleasure that a teenager would think that spending the afternoon preparing and then enjoying a lunch was fun!  It restores my hope and faith in the future!

Potato Salad

Everything I Own by Bread
It's time.  I've mentioned my father several times in my posts but I want to pay him a tribute today.  And there just isn't a more fitting song out there than this one.  People often mistake this for a romantic love ballad.  But David Gates wrote it for his father who had passed away.  Now - with that in mind, give it a listen.  And if you had/have a relationship with your father like I did/do with mine, then I suggest grabbing a handful of tissues before you press "play."  

I missed Father's Day this year.  

Well, I missed writing a post about Father's Day this year.  I honored the fathers in my life, though, on their special day - don't worry!

I had wanted to share this Potato Salad recipe with you in time for Father's Day.  Last year I gave you some delicious ribs to try.  And they'd be wonderful paired with a creamy potato salad like this one.  But, the first week I missed a post it was because I needed to go back to Pennsylvania - kind of last minute - to help with some family issues.  The second week I missed, I was too emotionally drained to write anything at all.

But now I'm doing better.  

And I want to honor my father - a wonderful man who was my anchor throughout my life