…..arrived tonight on the eve of my birthday.  My husband is so sweet and romantic!  These are my favorite flowers….the ones I wore around my neck in Hawaii when we got married.

I think they like each other.

We rode the bike to the dentist today and then to chik-fil-A; but what to do with the afternoon?  I broke out the baby pool that Tim had bought at least a year ago.  Since we were home all afternoon (and jake didn’t nap…hope this is not a trend) I needed some way to entertain them in the house all afternoon.

The boys have started to ride bikes, so it was time for mom to get one also so I could keep up (versus running along side them).  I got this new ride a couple of weeks ago.  It’s a version of a dutch city bike.  When I was a little girl, I liked riding my mom’s bike more than my own, because it was old school, had a wide seat and was comfortable.  Below is a picture of me as a little girl riding her bike.  So when I went shopping for a bike I knew I wanted a bike that had these qualities and one that would allow me to sit very upright.  I really like it.  It’s slow and not great on hills but it is very comfy.

The kid towing, grocery-shopping green machine!

I wasn’t supposed to see it yet, but my husband bought me a beautiful sarri from the middle east for my birthday!  It is so pretty.  I didn’t mean to open it a month early, but the boys got to the package before I did and opened it.  I had to take it away from the boys because they were going to drag it all over the house and make a fort with it (but I got this nice shot of hayden before I took it away).  Thanks Tim!  I love it!  So pretty!

Had a nice dinner on the San Antonio Riverwalk with a friend I used to work with in Germany.  He brought me a nice bottle of Spatlese (German sweet wine) from one of his recent trips back to Germany.  Yum!!

In keeping with the recent trend of all my posts being about food, here is another one.   This one is for a carrot cake.  Although I don’t like it as much as the Chocolate Ganache one, this one is pretty good too.  I decorated the top with slices of dried mango and cilantro leaves.  Recipe below picture.

Ingredients:

2 C oat flour (made by processing rolled oats in a blender)

2 C pulp from 6-8 juiced carrots

1/4 tsp salt

2 C dates finely chopped or ground

1 C nuts chopped

2 tsp vanilla

3 TBsp honey

Other things I added in:

extra salt to taste

extra honey or agave to taste

lots of raisins

lots of cinnamon!  (how could a carrot cake recipe NOT have cinnamon??)

1/2 C extra nuts

2 TBSp coconut oil

Directions:

Mix all the ingredients together well.  Knead and form into 2 rolls for slicing or layers for a cake.  Make one layer of a cake & cover with frosting.  Place second cake layer on top and cover whole cake with frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 2 cups cashews, soaked (raw)
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons dates, soaked
• 1 tablespoon coconut butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or half a vanilla bean)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Put all ingredients in a high-powered blender and process until smooth and creamy. (I will probably use my little food processor and a rubber spatula.).

Love the composition of these food photos by French food photographer Beatrice Peltre.  Love her food blog too!

La Tartine Gourmande