Blueberry Lavender Shrub Syrup (Drinking Vinegar)

In case you haven't guessed, I'm on a bit of a shrub kick. I can't seem to get enough of the these amazing drinking vinegars once the weather gets hot and sticky. When poured over ice and topped off with some sparkling water, I'm hard pressed to find anything more refreshing (aside from plain ice water). So, when I found out that this month's Progressive Eats theme was "summer bounty", my brain immediately started scanning the fruit, berries, and herbs that I'd been stocking up on this past week.

Herbes de Provence Roasted Chicken and Potatoes + an Amélie Inspired Menu

Although I can't recall the exact date (or even year) that I first watched Amélie, it seems like it's been one of my favorites for years. Originally released in 2001, this French film is about a young girl raised and schooled at home by parents who were trying to protect her since they mistakenly thought she had a heart defect. Since Amélie is without playmates, she develops a world of magic and mischief inside her head.

She loses her mother young and watches her father become more reclusive as the years go by. When she is old enough to venture out on her own, she moves to an apartment in Montmartre and works as a waitress at the Café des 2 Moulins (Two Windmills Cafe). Her wonderfully quirky apartment shows the imagination that she had a child still lives openly within her as a young adult.

Lavender Shortbread Cookies

I'm a dreamer.  I get that from my mom.

We can plan for hours on end about the businesses we want to open.  I mean, we do it so often and so intensely, we almost start believing it's actually going to see fruition.

Blackberry Lavender Popsicles

This week's Sunday Supper theme is Beat The Heat.  And just in case you breezed past the title of this post...or the first picture...I'll give you one guess as to how we beat the heat in our house.

Okay, I know you already know that I'm a little bit of a popsicle fanatic.  Little bit.  Unless, of course, this is your first visit to my little space.  In that case, I say welcome - pull up a lawn chair and have a popsicle!

Mini Chamomile Cakes with Honey Frosting

Okay.  Let me give you a little glimpse into the way my brain works.  I see something with the title "mini chamomile cakes with honey frosting" and promptly pull out my mini-cupcake pans.  Mind you, I did this with my advanced-advanced copy of this glorious cookbook.  And, fancying myself a considerate host, I decided to let 21 other people know that they should dust off their mini-cupcake pans, as well.  Yup.  Feelin' good.

So I stir up this simple batter.  Simple, yet packed with the glorious, green, and grassy notes of dried chamomile.  Life is good.  Yet I think ...hmmmmm?  This looks like an awful lot of batter for something that is supposed to only just fill 12 cups.  Halfway.  Sure enough, I fill 12 of my mini-cupcake cups. And then I fill 12 more.  And I still have a lot of batter left.  So I do what any space-case would do and put some more batter into each cup.  This means the "holes" are a good two-thirds of the way full.  And yet...there's still more batter.  Lucky for me I have yet another mini-cupcake pan.  So I fill that one too.  And then I lick the good amount of batter still left in the bowl.  I must be good. I've really stretched that batter!

Let's just say - I'm not good.  Think Mount Vesuvius erupting and the lava that has flowed over the edge then left to form a crust over the top of, say, a parking lot full of cars.  Now imagine trying to pluck the cars from that parking lot.  Yeah.  Not a pretty site.  Much like my highly anticipated pans of mini-cupcakes.

Fruit and Grains Salad w/ Edible Flowers and Strawberry Vinaigrette inspired by Garden Spells

This isn't my first post inspired by the enchanting novel Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen.  I love to sit down with the Waverly family and conjure up a little of my own inner magic when I see bushes bursting with beautiful berries, trees dripping with ripe fruit, and colorful flowers shouting and waving in the bright sun.  I want to host an intimate ladies luncheon and serve "biscuits with lilac jelly...lavender tea cookies...and tea cakes made with nasturtium mayonnaise".

Or perhaps an outdoor garden party in the evening shade, sitting under a canopy of bougainvillea and serving "fried dandelion buds over marigold-petal rice, stuffed pumpkin blossoms, and rose-hip soup" which ensure that my company ignored any flaws at my home and reveled in its beauty.  Or maybe a picnic with people who are on shaky ground with each other and a basket heavy with rose geranium wine that ensures a return to happiness.

Yucca Flower, Mushroom, and Feta Frittata

One of the things I love about the house we moved into just over two years ago is the yard.  I mean, it's smaller than our old yard (but still good size)...but there are numerous edibles that were already planted in the earth.  Things that I can count on to pop up year after year without any work on my part.  We have a couple of ever-expanding grape vines.  There's lots of mint; while we all know how invasive mint can be, fortunately it grows under the grapes, so I don't mind a bit.  We have chamomile.  We have ground cherries (that I have yet to figure out how to beat the bugs and birds to, but one day...).  We have purslane (or verdolagas) which is one of my favorites.

But why, oh why, did I never make use of what is probably the most prolific feature of our yard - Yucca!?  I just never really thought about it until I saw Hunger and Thirst using yucca blossoms.  Well, duh!  We have them in the front yard, the back yard, and on the side of the house.  I need to brush up how to use each part.  By the time I thought of it, I'd already missed the young, tender stalk (which looks a bit like...and here tell tastes a bit like...asparagus).

I'm still looking into using the root...because if I use the root, doesn't that mean I won't have the plant anymore?  Hmm...we'll see.  But since the gorgeous, milky-white flowers are in bloom right now, I knew that would be a great place to start experimenting.  The petals would make a great addition to fresh, raw salads.  I think they taste slightly reminiscent of mild cauliflower.  They also pair well with eggs, which is why I started with a simple egg dish.  Although, I do think that using yucca flower makes it seem elegant.  How crazy is that?  A simple back yard ingredient transforming a dish to elegant...kinda backward if you stop to think about it.  I can't wait to experiment with the abundant yucca that is waving in the breeze outside my window at this very moment.  I need to find a use for the seeds...I usually use the dried pod as an ornamental in autumn.  Until then, enjoy this frittata.

Marigold Corn Pone and Marigold Honey inspired by Garden Spells

A few weeks back, I read a fun book.  It was the story of family and their gift of magic...unique to each person, yet intertwined through the bonds of blood and family lore.  Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen weaves the story of Claire Waverly a woman after my own heart, a whiz in the kitchen who prepares her food using the herbs, plants, and edible flowers that grow on her mysterious family land.

She cooks and bakes with intent, infusing the food with the natural power that nature has to offer.  All of the Waverlys are born with their own unique gifts, but Claire and her connection with nature and the kitchen were what inspired me to head into the kitchen today.  Neighbors are both leery and mesmerized by the Waverly family, their seemingly magical gifts...and that enchanted apple tree which grows in their garden and is said to reveal the future to those who eat from its fruit.