Elderflower syrup

My mom took my sisters and Luke and I up the canyon in search of elderflower. We should've gone a week or two earlier, but we were able to find enough. I've been googoo gaga about elderflower since I first tasted a fizzy elderflower drink from the British store, and wished that it wasn't seven dollars for a liter. So I decided to make my own elderflower syrup, which I'll mix with soda water for practically the same drink for pennies, rather than dollars. (I hear that IKEA makes an elderflower syrup like this, which I will see if I can find next time I'm there, since I don't think I'll have enough to last me until next elderflower season).

I think this an awesome picture of Luke. I like how he wouldn't miss out on the flower-picking action just because he was smoking.

My sisters

The process is a bit time consuming, because you have to get all those tiny little flowers off the stems and into a bowl (the bark and leaves of elderflower plants are mildly poisonous), but it was a good thing to do while watching a movie.

I used about twenty heads of flowers. I put the flowers in a bowl with the juice and zest of two lemons. Then I dissolved four cups sugar in four cups water over medium heat, and poured the simple syrup over the flowers.

The mixture sat steeping on top of the fridge for five days with a towel over it, and then I strained and put it in the fridge.So that's it! Mix two ounces of syrup with two cups of sparkling water, and you have a refreshing, flowery, sweet-but-not-too-sweet elderflower soda!

Yesterday Luke and I made an asparagus tart for my family, a recipe we got from the Martha Stewart book I got for Christmas. We baked a puff pastry sheet for about ten minutes. Then the pastry is covered with asparagus shaved using a vegetable peeler to make long, thin strips, then tossed with a little oil and salt and pepper. After baking for about ten minutes, the tart is sprinkled with cheese (we used an Italian mix, rather than plain parmesan, as the recipe called for) and baked for five more minutes. All of us liked it quite a bit. It was easy, fast, and simple.


Then last night, at Fab Frugal Food, the Meatless Monday idea for this week was a spaghetti using that thinly-sliced asparagus instead of spaghetti noodles. After peeling them, the asparagus is steamed for a minute to make it soft. Sounds good- we'll have to try it sometime soon. Asparagus is one of my favorite spring foods!

Truffles

For Valentine's Day, my mom and sisters and I made truffles for friends. The best were the oreo (Luke said he was 'ridiculously impressed' with them), but we also made white chocolate lime coconut that were very good.

Making truffles was fun, and way easier than I thought it would be. Luke and I moved over the weekend, and are going to make up a couple batches to bring to our new neighbors.

Christmas Tree

My mom, little sister Mari, and I spent about twelve hours designing, cutting out, sewing, stuffing, and hand-embelishing little 'quirky bird' ornaments inspired by the ones I saw in Crate and Barrel. I loved the way they turned out, and loved our tree this year- birds, Scandinavian straw stars, and little bearded men:

pantry shelf

Spent all of my Labor Day yesterday canning fruit and jam with Luke and my sister Mari. Twenty-seven quarts of peaches, four pints of peach jam, and seven pints of peach-ginger jam. I found out that everyone likes lining up the canned food in their pantry as much as I do, loving the contrasting colors and bottle sizes.