I think probably half of every set of pictures I download are food shots.  Food I'm making, food we're eating, food I'm growing.  So, it should come as no surprise that in the week of the Fourth of July, so many of our pictures were food-related.

I'm growing a variety of basil that I don't think I've tried before.  I THOUGHT I had selected Globe Basil, but the leaves on this plant don't look anything like it.  It's a bit strong and slightly bitter, but delicious just the same.  It also starts out as a very pretty purple color, turning green as the leaves grow larger.


I dried my first batch of herbs last week, glad to replenish the supply that had dwindled down to nothing over the winter.


The first of my nasturtium flowers started to bloom.  I have yet to put them in salads, but Martin and I sampled both the red and orange varieties.  I thought it was a little peppery, Martin declared it both "spicy and delicious."


Sophie and I went to a strawberry patch at 8:30 on a Saturday morning with visions of flats of strawberries to freeze.


Instead, we found that they were all picked out for the day and came home with only one small container.  Martin loved the tiny berries, many of them in interesting shapes, like those that looked like butts.  They were very popular.


He couldn't even wait for me to get them into the house and sat down right on the driveway for a quick snack.  A snack that polished off almost the whole container.


In other news, my dad informed me that Martin "eats hot dogs wrong".  I have to say that I never noticed that he ate it starting in the middle until my dad pointed it out to me.  But the ketchup on both sides of his face really should have been a clue.  I told Marty about the phenomenon and he said "What do you expect from a boy who's mother who has a method to eating pot pies."  That's a compliment, right?


It was hot over the Fourth of July and popsicles were a big hit.  So were our swimsuits, and this is pretty much what Sophie looked like for the whole weekend.  Swimsuit on and popsicle in hand.  To be very honest, at our house, this look is not limited to the Fourth or even the summer.