sour plums, tbilisi, noon.

cherry syrup.

Cherry season is just coming to a close here in Tbilisi which, if it weren't for overflowing produce stands, is a huge loss. I love the variety of cherries that are grown here-- giant yellow ones, the sweet deep red cherries I remember from my childhood, a new-to-me variety of pinkish sour cherries and an unusual white cherry that seems to have a really short season. We stripped our two cherry trees fairly successfully, made a couple of pies and just generally basked in the glory of one of the first available fruits after a very long winter. I've also made a couple batches of cherry syrup-- perfect as an addition to the region's mineral waters.

The recipe is really very easy. Simply, fill a pot with the best quality cherries you can pick or purchase. Fill with water about 1/3 of the way up the cherries (in other words, the proportion of cherries will out number the level of water). Boil, uncovered, and bring to a gently simmer, stirring occassionally for about an hour. Allow to cool. Press the cherries through a strainer, collecting the juice and discarding the fibers and pits. Taste and add a bit of sugar if needed. Store in a capped glass bottle in the refridgerator.

*That o-shaped deliciousness in the picture above is one of the many traditionally shaped Georgian loaves of bread. It's a wonderful savory bread-- slightly crisp on the outside and pillowy soft on the inside.

ice lollies. old school.

There's an old school summer theme going on here. We've water ballooned, made limeade, and hung out (almost) barefoot.

And, now... popsicles the way they were intended to be created. I've seen recipes for every gourmet flavor under the sun this season and for some reason, those recipes make me want to run screaming for the simple ice lollies of my youth. Maybe it's that Don't tell me you've given up on making "simple, plain, liquid dripping down your arm popsicles in the heat of a summer day, slurp them up and turn your tongue red" type of popsicles?!

For more popsicle fun, find out what flavor popsicle you are (I'm cherry fyi...), take a look at kinetic art,   or find out how an 11-year-old is credited with inventing the popsicle.

(Forget how to make a popsicle? Pour your favorite juice or soda into a paper or plastic cup and add a stick. Freeze, adjusting the stick to upright halfway through the freezing process. Remove the cup, head outdoors and slurp.)

limeade.

I'm spending as much time as I can just absolutely chilling out in the back garden. While the two oldest were at summer day camp this week, the baby ran around spraying the hose at me in our back garden. Until it came time for a limeade break... and then, he froze in his steps, tasted his first sip and immediately asked for more. It was that refreshing-- enough to make a one year old drop the joy of a garden hose on a 90+ degree day.


Limeade...


Make a simple syrup by boiling two cups of water with one cup of sugar. Stirring occasionally, allow it to roll over high heat until well combined and reduced a bit. About 15 minutes. Set aside and allow to cool.

Juice 15 limes and add the juice to a large pitcher. Fill the pitcher with ice cubes, the simple syrup and top with filtered water. Pour into glasses with more ice. Sip, sip, sip.

barefoot sandals.

Today the sun is shining and the heat is radiating off the pavement. And, all I want to do is run through our back garden with flowers in my hair, splash with the kids in the water, sip a nice long tall ice tea and wear sparkly barefoot sandals. So, kick off your shoes, sit in the grass and make yourself a pair of barefoot sandals too. Come three o'clock as you're sipping your ice tea and your feet sparkle in the sunlight, you'll smile.

Supplies:

•  three pieces of jute, twine, leather or yarn
• embellishments (raid your craft kit for beads, flowers and assorted bobbles)
• a bell (a must!)

How to:

• Place the jute/twine/leather/yarn around your big toe and pull it to a length that will climb the front of your foot and wrap once around your ankle. (Your toe will be resting on the middle point of the string.) Give a bit of extra length and cut. 
• Still with your toe on the middle point of the string, tie a loop so that when removed, your big toe goes through the loop (you're creating a toe ring). Knot it.
• Now, with your toe in the ring, begin braiding.
• As you braid, work your embellishments into the braid. Braid in a flower, string on a bead, etc.*
• Continue braiding (and working in your embellishments-- don't forget the bell!) until you've reached the end of your cut string.
• Then, wrap the sandal up the front of your foot, around your ankle and tie loosely.
• Run through the grass, drink an ice tea and watch your bare feet sparkle in the sunlight.

*Alternatively, you can sew your embellishments on after you've braided the whole length.


Linked at Skip To My Lou, Today's Creative Blog and Homework.

tortillas.

Years ago, when I was just out of university and living in San Francisco, I remember going to the Mission District and being in awe of the tortillas being made by hand. For a girl from the Pacific Northwest suburbs, tortillas came packaged and wrapped. I remember thinking, "wow. you can make these things." I know, now that sounds ridiculous. But, at the time, my life changed just a bit and I returned to my Alamo Square apartment to begin on an adventure into handmade tortillas.

Today, I'm still making tortillas. But, now, it's out of necessity rather than novelty. Here, in Eastern Europe, there are a million different types of flat bread--- square, rectangular, oval. But, anything that even remotely resembles Mexican food fails to exist here. However, our produce stands are overflowing with tomatoes, onions, cilantro and I have fresh olives in the fridge. It's tortilla making time.

Ingredients...
3 cups of flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
1/4 cup of cold butter or shortening*
1/4 cup of vegetable oil
cold water

Method...
Place the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Cut the butter or shortening into the dry ingredients to create a sandy texture. Add the vegetable oil and stir until combined. Now, add just enough cold water to get the mixture to stick together. Using your hands, knead and add more flour or water as needed in order to form a soft, but not sticky, dough. Once formed into a soft large ball, place in a clean bowl, cover and set aside for 30 minutes.

Begin forming your tortillas. Roll a golf-ball sized piece of dough. On a generously floured surface, roll out into a thin circle. Heat a frying pan on the stove top (don't add any grease, keep it dry). Add the rolled tortilla and cook for about a minute on each side. Note that you want the tortilla to be pale in color so that the texture stays pliable. It might take a few 'practice tortillas' in order to get the correct doneness-- when in doubt error on the side of undercooked.

When ready to serve, wrap a stack of tortillas in parchment paper, reheat in the oven and serve with your favorite toppings!


*Take your pick! Shortening creates a more traditional tasting tortilla, however, butter works well too (and I can't get shortening in Tbilisi so.....)

current obsessions. june.

Let's get right to it. Here are a few things I can't stop thinking about right this very minute.

1. Saltwater Sandals. I walked into a party wearing my new gold pair and a friend immediately exclaimed, "Saltwater Sandals!" We smiled and chatted about how much we remember wearing them as kids. I say there's absolutely no reason the fun has to stop just because you're not a kid any longer. I bought mine here and ABSOLUTELY love them. My daughter loves her new lime green ones and my son has his eye on a pair of navy blue. The baby is striding around in his sun sand shark's version. We're obsessed.

Source: mysaltwatersandals.com via Shelby from anewbohemia.com on Pinterest

2. See that Glimmered Ankita Dress? I'm obsessed as it's my vision of a perfect summer dress-- a floaty, loose, breezy piece of perfection. And, the tassels! And, the turquoise and the coral together. Obsessed.

Source: anthropologie.com via Shelby from anewbohemia.com on Pinterest 

3. Who knew Mountain Dew was actually good for something?! I'm terrified to think that if you mix 1/4 of a bottle, with a bit of baking soda and three cap fulls of hydrogen peroxide it will actually become a glow stick (but didn't we always kind of wonder what that color actually was?!). I am SO trying this and letting my kids hang out with a bottle of glowing Mountain Dew on a hot summer evening in our backyard. Too cool to not be obsessed.

Source: mirabellesinks.com via Shelby from anewbohemia.com on Pinterest

4. A raised screen for the garden for growing cucumbers and then providing shade for tender lettuce beneath! How insanely clever is this?! I love this idea. Now if I could just find such a screen in Tbilisi and get the hard as a rock earth overturned in a new spot in our back garden and if I wasn't heading out on a long holiday soon..... I'm filing this idea away for next year. Truly brilliant and once again, I'm obsessed.

Source: floridavegetablegarden.com via Shelby from anewbohemia.com on Pinterest

water balloons.

Summer! As the bright sunlight streams into our home in the early morning and I am forced out of bed by one of my insanely early waking kids, my brain screams 'SUMMER!' If I was a cartoon character, the bubble over my head would be complete with a light bulb icon and exclamation point of excitement.

Last summer (our first in Tbilisi) was riddled with daily water outages. This year, it's a different story. Over the course of the last year, we've had a water tank installed and are now self-sufficient-- regardless of what the city does related to water outages. And, we're making up for lost time and taking full advantage of a steady water flow. The season has just begun and, already, buckets upon buckets of water balloons have been filled and thrown and splashed and smashed. And, as temperatures increase, my suspicion is that there will be many more buckets filled.

(For those of you who want to make the balloons last a bit longer-- and not have to fill balloons every three minutes-- use regular balloons. Skip the traditional balloons sold in a package labelled 'water balloons' and instead just buy the thicker latex balloons, fill them up about 1/4 of the way, tie them off and the kids will be able to drop them repeatedly. Wink-- you can thank me later as you sit sipping a cold beverage instead of constantly filling up balloons for your crazed, sun drenched, water splashed summer little bohemians. Have fun!)

busy.

Five minutes. That was all I needed. Five minutes of uninterrupted time to write out a very quick list. And, just as I desperately needed to write out that list, the one-year-old decided that he needed my attention and wasn't going to give up those five minutes without a fight.

A few colorful straws, quickly cut into different sizes + an empty plastic bottle = five quiet minutes.

pinatas.

About four weeks ago, I was making pinatas. Fingers, hands and wrists caked in paste mixed out of all-purpose flour, water and salt, I was rapidly spinning pieces of paper around inflated balloons. My kids, having experienced several of my crazed late night paper mache crafting projects, offered up a bit of wisdom. As they kept their hands clean, my son bounced around the room in his jammies making it very clear how excited he was that I'd be bringing the pinatas to his preschool. My daughter suggested that maybe I should have just made a single pinata-- rather than one for each child at my son's school. And, they both offered up the critique that the house smelled wretched ('like worse than throw up smells' was the actual phrase used) as the scent of paste overtook the air.

About three weeks ago, with the baby in the backpack, my daughter and I walked into my son's preschool with a giant laundry basket of hardened pinata shells. The smell of paste was still strong, but the shells were firm and ready for decorating. So, with the help of the school's staff and my daughter's enthusiasm for helping younger kids complete an art project, we helped my son and his classmates decorate their pinatas. To keep the craft friendly for the young age group and appropriate for their fine motor skills, we supplied strips of tape (thanks to my daughter for cutting endless pieces!) and pre-cut scraps of paper. The paper was a mix of origami paper and magazine pages, cut with decorative scissors into random shapes. The children covered their globes in any fashion they chose.

About two weeks ago, on a weekday around midnight, I sat at our dining room table stuffing each now decorated pinata with little treats. A tiny rubber duck, a lightweight toy car, a small plastic animal, wrapped assorted candies, streamers, a pinch of confetti-- each pinata was stuffed. Next, i tied a long ribbon with a sizable knot on one end and placed the knotted end inside the pinata. Then, using another piece of paper I patched up the hole, letting the ribbon stream out. After attaching another string on the opposite end and labeling with each child's name, the pinatas were put to rest for a few days.

And, then, last week, at the school's end of the year picnic, the pinatas swung gently in the breeze providing fun color to the outdoor event. On the count of three, each child pulled on their ribbon dangling from the pinata and goodies jumped to the ground followed quickly by some pretty happy kids.

pinning and projecting.

What a couple of weeks it has been. I've been running around-- finishing up bits and bobs of projects here, there and everywhere. My daughter's school year has ended. My son's school year has ended. And, all of the projects and parties that go with this time of year are now recent, wonderful memories.

We've been settling into summer and enjoying the change of pace. See that picture above? Yeah, that's me with extra time. (Yay for extra time!). Pinterest is the Internet darling for most people I know, but for me it has become a bit of a nagging to do list. I don't understand how friends can pin and just walk away. I seriously pin a project/design/idea and it becomes a tangible to-do on my list of things I want to make/do/accomplish. And, with absolutely no time to spend taking on another creative project, it's all been driving me a bit crazy (... and yet I still pin!). So, when the opportunity presented itself today to begin one of my pinned projects, I grabbed a pile of fabric and began cutting with a vengeance. Before long, my daughter was in on the action, the baby was scribbling little messages alongside us and my son began to request I cut light sabers out of the stack of felt. I'll leave the project a mystery for now, with a promise to show you more once I'm a bit deeper into it.

Happy start to the summer and may you have lovely, relaxing (aka time to do all the creative things you've pinned) days ahead!

tell a story. give a gift.

I've had my mind on story stones for quite some time. I first heard about them a couple of years back, when I was researching preschool activities to do with my daughter. But, time passed and they stayed on my project to do list.

And, then, the story stones floated back into my brain when I began thinking about a gift for the staff at my son's preschool. I love to give gifts that have a personal touch and hopefully mean something special to the recipient. 

In this case, my son's school here in Tbilisi has been an amazing discovery. I am beyond thankful that he was able to spend his first year in the Rep. of Georgia at a school with a flexible schedule, in a play-oriented environment and in a setting that embraced the culture and the nature that we are so lucky to live in. So, as the year came to a close, both him and I wanted to present the staff with a gesture that showed our appreciation. As a year end gift, my son and I created a set of story stones. The gift cost nothing more than paint, creativity and thought. And, it will provide a happy addition to the school's toy shelves as they return from summer holiday and move into a new academic year.

To make your own story stones, simply find a set of small, similarly sized rocks. Then, paint simple icons on each rock-- people with different emotions, weather items (rainbows, raindrops, sunshine, snow), animals, magical creatures (fairies, toadstools, monsters, wizards), arrows, and other assorted objects as they cross your mind. 

There are several ways to play with the stones. A few ideas: 

• Show the children how to tell a story by selecting rocks and using the icons on the rocks to continue the story's plot
• Put the rocks in a bag and sit in a circle. The first person draws a rock and begins a story using the object represented on their stone. Then, the next person draws a stone and continues the story using the item represented on their rock. The story continues, with each person in the circle drawing a new story stone as it is their turn.
• Spread all of the rocks out on the floor and have children tell you what the objects might be thinking or feeling.

play date.

How much do I love hosting a great play date? I love it.

While my children enjoy going to other people's homes, they've always been kids who enjoy being at home and welcoming people to their space. Whether it's a dinner party or a play date, they really enjoy getting ready for the event and then participating to the fullest. My daughter enjoys greeting guests, while my son loves to debrief how much fun he had (once the whole thing is complete). We've thrown many a dinner party with a tutu clad daughter running through the mix. And, my very soon to be six year old has sweetly welcomed friends weekly to play with his Jedi supplies.

As a parent, I've found that the best play dates combine independent play, a planned activity (that can be used or not) and lots of snacks. My strategy is to let the kids 'just be' and to enjoy each other. But, inevitably, there's a point when they all kind of wonder what to do together next or the energy gets hyper out of control. That's when I have an activity stashed. Something simple and something that can be participated in for a few minutes when it comes time to get through that awkward "I don't know what to play next" stage. The time seems to help them all to take a deep breath and move into a new activity.

On a recent play date, both kids had friends over to visit. The kids played and when it came time for an activity, they each made their own pizzas (I had risen the dough earlier in the day and had it ready to play with and prep into pizzas). Then, they created tiny Lego people and served them marshmallow desserts (marshmallows that I halfway dipped in chocolate and sprinkles). After dinner, a tea party with the marshmallows and customizing their Lego people, the kids all took their energy outdoors and swung late into the evening, happily.