August

The sound of cicadas. Fog rising during the twilight hours. County fairs and evening concerts. The scent of goldenrod heavy in the air. Fall peaking around the corner with the coolness of the early mornings. Summer's heat still clinging to the afternoon. Babysitting nephews. People watching at the airport. Late-night runs to the diner for milkshakes. Plays in the park. Frozen pizza. Summer's last ballgames. Afternoons with the girls. Morning phone calls on the drive to work. Stopping by WholeFoods to eat lunch via their free samples. Jumping in the pool.

The little things.

Cheesecake Brownies

While home for a few days of vacation, I whipped this recipe up in no time ... it was the perfect accompaniment to a tall glass of cold-pressed coffee in the afternoon!

what you'll need

your favorite brownie recipe

8 oz cream cheese softened

2 eggs

6 tablespoons of sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

make your choice of brownies (I used a boxed brownie mix) and place in a baking pan, reserving a quarter of the batter

whip together the cream cheese, eggs, sugar and vanilla and pour the mixture over the brownie batter

spoon the reserved batter over the cheesecake topping and drag a knife through all the layers to create a marbled effect

bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until a inserted knife comes out clean

Serve whilst warm and gooey and enjoy!

Home

My sister and I were sitting on the hardwood floor of her living room. We were attempting to catch up on life as her ten-month old was crawling over our laps, shoving everything that wasn't tied down into his mouth and vocally announcing his disapproval whenever our attention was shifted away from him. In the snippets of conversation that the little man allowed, we realized we both had a few days of vacation coming up that, with a little tweaking, could be taken on the same days. We pulled the necessary strings, packed up our bags and the baby and headed home to spend a long weekend home on the farm.

Each morning began in the same way ... hot mugs of coffee and cream, passing the nephew from hip to floor, to arms, to hip again, and planning out the projects and recipes for the day. In the midst of a busy summer, it was a breath of relief to escape from the cities and let life slow down just a bit. There was something comforting and life-giving about taking the time to be with family and letting moments organically unfold. Not all our projects were completed, and not all of the plans came to fruition. But that was ok. It was more than ok....

Evenings were spent by the fire watching the bats come out, bottles of wine were uncorked, dinner was thrown together at the last possible minute, hours were spent around the kitchen table in conversation, and trips were made into town to watch the concerts at the County Fair. All the important things were present: family, laughter, coffee, and sunsets over the prairie. It was simple ... and it was good...

Lake Nokomis

When I think 'summer,' Lake Nokomis immediately comes to mind. A friend introduced this spot to me last year, and it quickly became a regular thing to drive over late at night, sit on the dock and watch the planes flying low over the lake as they land at the airport. There is a Caribou Coffee which stays open late, and a tiny little ice-cream shop whose lines go out the door on a hot night. The mosquitoes do think that they own the place, but it wouldn't be a Minnesotan lake without them. It's a good little spot to meet the girls for a Sunday afternoon, to watch the sailboats come and go or to simply sit with toes dipped in the water, doing a little talking and dreaming.

July

Humid days and nights. Thunderstorms rolling in. Sun-burnt skin and the smell of sunscreen. Night-time swims. Wine in plastic cups. Late-night conversations resulting in groggy mornings. Road trips and entertaining littles in the backseat. Wet swimsuits and Mexican. Keeping the phone close just in case that call comes in. Dark french chocolate. Multiple cups of coffee in a day. Re-watching child-hood films. Dinner around an ikea coffee table. Leaning into the quiet and creating room for silence. Watching the planes fly low overhead. Beauty in the ordinary.

Minneapolis: Minnehaha Falls

Summer seems to be the season for couch-surfing. Each year someone in the family is borrowing a mattress or a couch, and this summer it is the the nursing student turned South Dakotan's turn. And having a sister sleeping on your couch naturally means late night conversations, Netflix marathons, a fair number of Angry Orchards, and having someone to rope into weekend jaunts around the Twin Cities.

 One particular Saturday, our goal was to do a bit of exploring, even though we had stayed up till 4:30 a.m. the night before discussing the usual: work, life, love, and relationships. The humid weather, glorious air-conditioning and lack of sleep made it hard to work up the motivation to go anywhere. After a few rounds of hitting the snooze button, however, we eventually filled up our travel mugs with hot coffee and made it out the door.

Our first stop was a street fair that actually wasn't being held till the next day. Note to self: don't believe everything you read on the internet. We switched gears and decided to go to Plan B which involved picking up the third sister for more coffee. The slight problem there was the fact that she has an adorable tiny son, which translates into you having a 19% chance of her answering her phone. The tiny tot won out, so Plan B went quickly to Plan C which involved, "Well, now what do we do?" Thankfully Minnehaha Falls happened to be on the way home so we stopped to people-watch and hike along the Mississippi River. And because Mom instilled in us a love for Winnie-the-Pooh, we couldn't help but partake in a few rounds of Poohsticks...

Summer Cobbler

Every time I pull this recipe out, I smile ... there are just so many memories attached to it. My sister found it in one of Mom's various parish cookbooks.We jotted it down and brought it up with us to the very first apartment we moved into in St. Paul. In between classes and busy schedules, there were many evenings that we threw this together and ate large bowlfuls as we were surrounded by textbooks and notebooks. There was the time I made it for friends that I was visiting, and the sugar and juices flowed over the sides of the pan, causing enough smoke to set off all the fire alarms. After that, it was the accompaniment for a summer dinner of fried fish (that had been pulled out of the lake shortly prior) and eaten in a tiny apartment.

So needless to say, it is one of my favorite go-to's when I need something simple, easy and delicious. In the summer I whip up this cobbler with fresh, ripe peaches and pears and during the fall and winter, it is scrumptious with crisp, tangy apples. You can literally make this with any fruit combinations ... I don't think you can go too far wrong!

directions

4 cups of fresh fruit
2 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tbsp. cinnamon

place the fruit on the bottom of a pie or pastry plate
sprinkle the brown sugar and cinnamon over the top of the fruit

combine the following until it reaches a crumbly consistency

1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 egg
1/4 tsp. salt

crumble the pastry mixture over the fruit and sprinkle the top with a bit of sugar
bake at 350 degrees for 45-minutes to an hour

serve alongside a hot cup of coffee and a big bowl of vanilla bean ice cream!

On a side note ... that pastry plate I used? My mom brought that home to Minnesota after a visit to Chicago to see her family. She brought it home on a train, while juggling two little ones ... and twenty-some odd years later, it is still going strong!