The Fruits of Our Labor

Sometimes my inner Martha Stewart likes to come out and play. Sometimes my poor husband gets pulled into my projects too. And actually, both have been happening a lot lately. Luckily he is a good man and doesn't get too fussy about my antics or his role in them.

"We" had some fabulous ideas this weekend. Most of which meant spending lots of time in the kitchen cooking, and a lot more time in the kitchen cleaning up.

We've been talking about making pickles ever since Eric's sister so kindly sent me a whole bunch of spices I couldn't find down here a couple months ago. We finally got around to making a small batch this weekend (I don't have canning jars here, nor do I know where to find any, so it is going to be a make-as-you-eat venture in pickles around these parts) and are the proud new owners of 2 quarts of the most delicious bread and butter pickles. (Well, actually, as of today, make that 1 and 1/2 quarts . . .)






I had also been toying with the idea of making homemade yogurt and granola for a while. Beth, a friend of mine, posted a great-sounding recipe on her blog for granola a while back, and I recently read French Women Don't Get Fat which has a recipe for yogurt. Despite substituting roasted soy nuts for the pecans, the granola turned out really awesome. The yogurt, though more of a drinkable consistency than spoonable, isn't too bad either!

We also made a huge pot of spicy chili, some creme de papaya, overstuffed omelets, vanilla pudding, and pineapple-lime-mint juice (which is totally yummy btw) among other things over the course of our two days around the apartment. My dicer/slicer/chopper/stir-er/dishwasher (aka my hubby) put in lots of overtime this weekend. Have I mentioned what a good man he is?

We did manage to sneak a couple hours in over at the club yesterday so we could swim, catch a few rays, and just relax around the pool enjoying this beautiful Belo Horizonte weather. Overall it was a pretty uneventful weekend though . . . which will probably be the last one for some time since guest number 1 of 5 over the next five weeks arrives on Friday!