As you may have noticed I have not posted much lately. It has been beyond crazy busy here. I was busy planning our school’s spring carnival and it finally happened last weekend. As if I wasn’t already stressed, Jack decided to fall and cut himself just as setup for the big event began. I took him to the school nurse who said he really should go to Doctor’s Care. The cut was too big for DermaBond so it took three people to hold him down while another put in three stitches. STRESS!!! Luckily we made it back before the carnival began and I had an awesome committee and volunteers who set it all up while I was gone.
Then this past week was Teacher’s Appreciation week at school. We had treats for the whole school staff all week. One day I baked an Apfelkuchen, Mandelkuchen, and blueberry crumb bars. Another day I felt like I spent all afternoon cutting watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, pineapple and making fruit kebabs. The last day it was a batch of chocolate chip cookies and double dark chocolate chipotle cookies.
April is also a busy month that has both my birthday and our anniversary. And school is winding down with end of the year events….. And, and, and…. So anyway, I have been too busy to post lately. I am finally less busy so that I am making it just in time to get up my In My Kitchen post. Thanks as always to the lovely Celia at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial for hosting this monthly event.
In my kitchen kitchen is some strawberry syrup. Ewan’s class had a field trip to the strawberry patch and Sean and I tagged along. Ewan picked a quart and Sean and I picked a gallon bucket. The next day I made three bottles of strawberry syrup (we have already finished one bottle). It is great in cocktails, both adult and virgin versions.
My mom got me this cookbook, Sitting in Bars with Cake by Audrey Shulman, for my birthday. The illustrator, Jennifer Orkin Lewis, is in one of my mom’s online collage groups. This cookbook has both great recipes and hilarious anecdotes with each recipe. The premise of the book is a single woman taking a cake to a different bar every week to lure in the man of her dreams so clearly this provides some entertaining stories! The recipes also look scrumptious, I can’t wait to try some out.
Let me start off by saying the lighting in the kitchen refuses to cooperate so you’ll have to look past the blurriness of this photo! Josh got me this Blendtec blender for my birthday. Our last blender was hardly blending anything and this is a HUGE improvement. I think Josh uses it more than me, he makes a smoothie for his breakfast nearly every weekday morning.
Josh and I had our 11th anniversary and stainless steel is the traditional gift. With that in mind we got ourselves a new griddle. This big baby covers the entire stove top! We got one that covers two burners for Christmas, but let’s face it, our boys eat a lot and will only eat more as they get older. This size is great for making lots of pancakes and other goodies.
I certainly have plenty of other new things in the kitchen this past month including all new dishes for everyday use, just not enough time to get them up this month. Maybe next month. Pop by Fig Jam and Lime Cordial to find the links to other kitchens around the world.
Though not in my kitchen, this is food related. Here is what my boys think about me… Happy Mother’s Day to all you Mamas out there!
Jack (age 7)
Ewan (age 6)
Seems they hey like my cooking!! Score one for Mommy!!!!!
Feeding My 3 Sons 
Strawberry syrup sounds delicious!
The strawberry syrup really does make a great cocktail!
Isn’t it good to know that your cooking is appreciated. They say that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, that must include little men!
My little men are definitely all about food, especially the middle child. I know I can always win them over with something home cooked!
What a nice look into your kitchen and congratulations on your wedding anniversary!! 😀
Thank you!
Oooh a Blendtec, that is on my one day wish list. But having just recently buying a grain mill it will be a while away. Is it as good as advertised? They say you can make nut butters in them.
And that huge griddle is great, what a great anniversary present.
The Blendtec works great and yes, I’ve already made peanut butter in it. The huge griddle is invaluable in our kitchen. Thanks for stopping by and peeking in our kitchen.
Congrats on your wedding anniversary and what cute feedback!
I am glad we are all connected through Celia’s IMK view each month!
Thanks. It is always ice to know that all the cooking and baking is appreciated. They may complain sometimes but I know they like it!
Congrats on your anniversary and those Mother Day notes are just adorable! Hmm I think I will have to buy “Sitting in Bars with Cake” – I am curious to see if that approach works. While not much of a baker, I could do a “Sitting in Bars with Sandwiches” and see what happens?
I would imagine sitting in bars with sandwiches would work well too!
One can only hope!
Hi Gretchen
Sorry things have been a bit crazy, glad Jack is okay, even though the stitches
I so love the papers they filled out so cute but so different except the cooking part.
I think I will have to go shopping on Amazon for that cookbook (if its on there) I would enjoy it!!
Have a great week and Happy Mother’s Day to you!!! 🙂
Worth a look on amazon, it is a fun read! Luckily the craziness has slowed down, except of course now swim practice started today. It’s always something I guess. Thanks for popping by Amy.
Happy Anniversary. I think the griddle is a great steel gift. I may have to look for them, although our next anniversary is paper, you are 10 years ahead of us!
Paper is a wonderful anniversary too. I still have my paper gift too! Congrats on your first anniversary.
A griddle pan that fits your whole stovetop! WOW! Impressive 🙂 How cute are your boys – at least you know that they love your food! The strawberry syrup sounds delicious but I’m not sure if I’ll get a chance to make it – my nephews never keep strawberries longer than 2 days in their fridge! Hope May is a little quieter for you
Strawberries don’t last long in our house either! I made the syrup after we picked A LOT of berries. If I don’t do it right away the berries mysteriously disappear. Same goes for making strawberry jam. Next comes blueberry season, another favorite in our house!
Everything is lovely but the best are your boys comments. So precious!
Have a super day.
🙂 Mandy xo
Life definitely got interesting when the boys were able to start writing notes! It’s fun to find their notebooks filled with their thoughts, oh wait, almost like snooping in their diary. Luckily they let me look!
How adorable- the writing from the boys school. You obviously are a good cook and I cant imagine you have time to go to bed when you get home ( LOL). I completely understand getting out of control busy… we have that at our house. Well done getting this up and thanks for commenting on my site given the small amount of time you have xxx Tania
Thanks for taking the time to peek in our kitchen. I wish I had time to go to bed when I got home! May e if I didn’t have three constantly hungry boys I would have more time!
Love the notes your sons wrote and that strawberry syrup looks amazing. Happy anniversary 🙂
Thank you. We love the strawberry syrup, it’s our second year making it and now I can’t imagine a strawberry season without it.
The note from your boys are too cute… love them. Your strawberry syrup looks delicious, hope you had a wonderful anniversary 🙂
Thanks! We certainly enjoyed the anniversary, especially a quiet dinner at a fantastic restaurant.
What a lovely gift to get – I’ll bet it gets tons of use.
I’ll never forget having to sit on my son to pin him down when he was 5 years old while the doctor put 7 stitches in his head. My boy was beside himself and kept telling me to “kick him, mum”! Things calmed down quite a lot once they got some more local anaesthetic into him.
This is Jack’s second time getting stitches. This time he was older and stronger! He kept yelling “get off me” and “you’re hurting me”. We survived though, til the next time. The blender is definitely getting used often. Thanks for stopping by our kitchen.
Gretchen, I love the messages from your boys. Seems like you must be a good cook 🙂
The boys certainly think I’m a good cook! I just went through their Mother’s Day sheets from last year and it had a very similar food theme! Thanks for stopping by out kitchen.
sorry to hear you have had a stressful month. Hopefully May is being kinder to you. love the look of that strawberry syrup!
The strawberry syrup is fantastic. Strawberry vinegar would also be great, haven’t had that yet. May is less stressful so far. Thanks for stopping by our kitchen.
aren’t those pieces by your boys’ adorable and that griddle is amazing – never knew you could get such big ones – that is a good wedding anniversary present – a sign you want to stay together and eat together – love the strawberry syrup too – we buy a sweet strawberry vinegar that we use as a cordial
Strawberry vinegar sounds great, I’ve had other flavors but not strawberry yet. The griddle is fantastic, especially when cooking for three hungry boys! Thanks for peeking in our kitchen
You’re a good cooker, Mom. 🙂 You have been SO busy, I hope things are settling down a bit for you. Poor little Jack – holding kids down for medical procedures is never fun. Hope he bounced back quickly! xxx
Some things settle and others get busy. The cycle of life I guess! In less than a week the boys are all mine for the summer, hopefully I’ll keep m sanity!