brothers.

i caught them like this the other day. lucas sight-reading outloud. gavin playing the nintendo ds and charlie prank calling everyone in my call log.

they were laughing. making silly noises every time gavi squished a super mario mushroom. luc would crack up and then get back to his reading. they stayed for awhile - ignoring my photo snaps. i moved fast. click! click! from every angle. sure that this wasn't going to last long.

i wonder how they got this way. who called a truce and sat by who first? i'm certain that charlie joined in last. after scaling a kitchen barstool, up onto the counter top and across the sink to snatch up my phone.

silly boys. stay this way.

i miss my sisters. 
love, lin

sweet.

i am coming out of a 'what do i cook for my family' rut. it included a lot of little caesars pizza trips. i've never been a cream-of-chicken-soup-girl or a dinner-from-a-box-girl. but i do rely on the convenience of to-go parking spots. a lot.  

a quiet evening flipping through the tabbed pages of my favorite cook books and a trip to the grocery store all by myself was all it took for me to climb out of my fast food funk. we had a weeks worth of the yummiest/happiest meals sitting at our kitchen table after that. 

cooking with my husband is probably one of the best things in the whole world. 

he chops, i stir. i read off the recipe, he searches the spice cupboard for paprika. we talk. we share the sink. it's the best of domestic bliss. we've been trying new recipes. neither of us would list cooking/baking under things we do best, but i am braver in the kitchen when he's helping. 

this last sunday i pulled out one of my favorites. apples for jam.  

it's so beautiful. you must add it to your collection. 

i'd spent extra time in the produce aisle during my quiet grocery shopping trip. extra time to pick out three of the prettiest pears. they would ripen on my counter top until sunday evening. andrey and i were going to make the pear and berry crisp together. 

it was perfect. 

perfect to warm our bellies. 

the perfect amount of sweet to carry us into this new spring season. 

pear berry crisp by tessa kiros

3 large pears

1 cup of mixed berries ( we used fresh strawberries + blueberries)

1/3 cup superfine sugar

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1/4 pound + 3 tablespoons softened butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

preheat your oven to 375°F. Generously butter a 14 by 81/2 inch baking dish. peel, core and slice the pears, and put them in the dish. mix in the berries and scatter half the superfine sugar over the fruit.

mix together the flour; brown sugar, and the other half of the superfine sugar in a bowl. add the butter and vanilla and rub them in with your fingertips. working until the mixture isn't smooth but looks like clustery sand.  your fingers might be tired. 

scatter the topping over the fruit to cover it completely in a good thick layer. bake for about 45 minutes, or until the top is nicely golden and some berry juice has oozed up a bit over the crust and darkened it here and there. let it cool to touch and then serve warm with sweetened whipped cream, a bowl of custard, or vanilla ice cream. 

making: a dandee design

it's been a few months in the making.

we worked slow.

we designed while the kids ate peanut butter & jelly. 

i was a coding wizard into the wee hours while my babes slept. 

she had specific intructions for me:  

- make it sweet. and simple.

- only work when you're feeling inspired! 

and that's why we're friends.

late last night while the interwebs were sleeping

her new dandee design went live. 

i was nervous. and excited... and it's working! 

all that crazy coding and my amateur skills. 

and i'm so proud of her. 

and her cyber space. 

nine.