Souvlakia Ribs

The other day we made souvlakia pork in pita bread. It was so yummy that when he took the ribs out of the freezer we thought we'd use the same souvlakia marinade for them too. Mmm Mmmm Mmmm
So we mixed it all up and placed the ribs in to flip around all day and soak in the goodness.
Then he fired up the barbq and cooked them that way. They turned out amazing and finger licking good.

 Here is the recipe for the marinade.... enjoy!!!!

1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp marjoram
good solid pinch of fresh cracked pepper
I green onion, minced (We used chives from the garden)

Add whatever meat you wish and marinade for at least 3 hours.
Broil. Bake. BarBq. However you enjoy.

Ciabatta bread

That was lunch yesterday...... Ciabatta bread and red wine. We also had Lebanese cheese that we'd made and he cut arugula and chives from our garden for on top. Simple and beyond yummy. I've talked about this bread quite a bit as well, we eat it all the time haha  I thought I'd post the recipe so you all could try your hand at making it.

We first saw the recipe while surfing the internet for food recipes. My husband and I do that quite a bit. We love trying something new and tasty. We like to add a fresh made bread of some sort with many of our meals. This one takes a while to make up but is beyond worth it in the end.

Here is the Ciabatta recipe we use!!!

An afternoon back at the Meadow

After taking all those turtle photos and having been told by the hissing turtle to move on....I gathered these photos of other things at the meadow.

Turtles!

So yesterday was a day where we seemed to have sunshine. Took advantage of it and puttered about in the garden. Then as the afternoon strolled by, my husband looked at me and asked about heading back to my folks camp for a quick drive. Sure! Would make for a nice break. He tossed our camping chairs into the car while I scooted to grab my camera.

The meadow has lots of dead trees floating in it that on warm sun filled days, turtles climb out of the water and sunbath on. I was hoping to be able to get a few photos.(He had been talking to one of his friends online and she loves turtles.These pics are for you Kimmy!)

There were a few out sunning like I had hoped so we set our camping chairs up and as I went to walk up the road to a different view, I caught movement along the side. There was a turtle right there in the grass on the road!!!!! yeahhhhhhhh

I went a little snap crazy but I couldn't stop myself. It was right there and so cool to take pics of. So get comfy....you are about to see a lot of photos of a turtle ;)

I've never been this close to a turtle before and wasn't really sure what it's reaction was going to be. So I just starting snapping (parden the pun).....

I totally understand the comparison to a turtle neck sweater now. She was so pretty with her yellow and red showing.  The painted turtle is the most widespread native turtle of North America.

 Her shell had the most beautiful markings and was reflecting the sunshine just perfect. I think that is what caught my eye at first.

Love her little nostrils!

At first I thought she didn't have a tail because as I was taking the photos, it wasn't showing up.
Then she decided to move off a little ways in an attempt to get away from the crazy photographer and I spotted the cutest tail. heehee

Thought I would see just how close a shot I could capture........

This last pic shows her size compared to my shoe. By this time she was moving deeper into the grass and growth along the road. Turtles can actually move a whole lot faster then I really thought. They also hiss. That was my big clue that she'd had enough of the photo shoot and I was to find something else to occupy my time with.

Working on the Camp

My parents built this camp almost 30 years ago and in the last while it has really fallen on rough times. We all got talking about it and the wonderful memories back there and decided it was time to fix things up. Many more memories will be made there now.

It's a slow process but it's starting to really come along. We want to make sure to do things right so that the "fixes" will last another 30 years. The road to the camp was over grown and really needed some severe pruning and clearing. Mother Nature sure does reclaim quickly.

Our first trips back happened when snow still was covering the ground.

Discovered that a few trees had blown down and were blocking the entrance. One had even hit the edge of the camp and so that section will have to be fixed up. Good thing I know a really handy carpenter ;) heehee

Then the weather shifted and we were able to get back there and really get working on the road and pathway. Lots of little trees that needed to be taken out and a few fires to clear the brush. We haven't even made it inside the camp yet to work but it's all coming along.

Then since we were going to be doing all this work back at the camp, we also thought it might be a good idea for us to all walk and blaze the boundary lines of the property. My father is an only child and the parcel of land will some day come to my sister and I. Neither of us have ever walked the boundary. She and her family came down for the long weekend in May. While she and her youngest daughter stayed back at my folks place to help Mom make the rest of us a big pizza supper....... the rest of us walked....and walked.....and walked some more. My father owns A LOT of land! hahaha (Way over 100acres)

            Someone thought they'd get comfy on a break ;) heehee

 Time for some food!!!  I swear my mother and sister thought they were feeding an army. The amount of food that we were carrying in those backpacks.

 Food always seems to taste so much yummier when sitting out in the fresh air.

 My oldest niece Hannah and I.

A few more weeks passed, and Andy and I have been back there a few times each week we really working on clearing the camp road again. Starting to really see some progress and it's been fun really. Quite relaxing to sit back by the meadow and just listen to all the songbirds, the Canada geese honking and the campfire snapping away.

Dad spent a few hours back there one afternoon as well and really took out a lot of the little trees that were needing to be cleared. Good job! Andy and I hauled them to the burn pile.

 Saving this long solid log in case it will work for bracing up under the camp.

 You can see the damage to the outside of the roof but Andy says not too bad inside and will be ok to fix.

 All the thorns and brambles are being removed and a clearing made. We are going to work on making it level for chairs and a better made fire pit.

 View of the meadow and the beaver lodge. We've heard the beaver slapping its tail against the water but haven't seen it yet.

 Lots of lily pads and flowers happening along the edge. Peepers and really large frogs happening back there. So cool to hear them "gronk gronk gronk".

 Painted turtles like to crawl up on all the different pieces of dead fall along the meadow edge and sun. There wasn't much sunshine yesterday when we were back there so only one lone painted turtle was spotted. He looks pretty comfy though.

 Fire blazing well!!! We had piles of stuff to burn all over and it burned up really well. Nice to sit in the quiet of the meadow and woods and just listen to the snap and crackling of the fire.

 A few beer may have happened.

 HONK HONK HONK
Next thing we knew, we could hear these guys come flying onto the meadow. They are LOUD.
They swam around for a few hours and then drifted off further to the far side where they must be nesting.

 Adding more brush that was cut down along the meadows edge.

 

And if I'm anywhere near a campfire, then a bag of marshmallows is too!

I came back home head rushing from a serious toasted marshmallow fix.

Won't admit to just how many were eaten but may have had a bit of a tummy ache.

They tasted sooooo good at the time though it was totally worth it.