Busy Busy Busy

Iain and Charles at an early 20th century stone house on the grounds of Red Butte Gardens. It's a ruin, but kind of neat to walk up to. At this point, we'd hiked about 3 miles, though, so it was the last stop before we headed to the manicured parts of the garden.

This morning we joined our friend GS and her family and assorted guests at the park for brunch. Bagels, donuts, coffee and juice. Plus a sandbox, ten million trucks, and a gaggle of little kids. Iain wasn't sure what to make of it all.

Curiously, no one had much luck persuading the kids to eat donuts. At some point, after we'd been there nearly 2 hours, one of the older boys (maybe 7 or 8) walked over to his mother and said, "This bagel's really good!" "Yes, son, that's because it's a donut." After that, Iain tried one and pronounced it "cake."

In other culinary news, our kitchen is currently very busy. I got some kind of itch tonight and made a batch of no-knead bread (the kind that you mix, then stick in the fridge for a few days, then bake off as you like) and a batch of apricot jam (recipe from here). The jam is an act of mercy and also of conservation. My neighbor's apricot tree is LOADED with gorgeous apricots, see? And there have been terrible thunderstorms this week. Every time, her driveway is paved with fallen 'cots, all lost to my tummy. So she urged me to come over and get some. I did, and now I have pounds and pounds of apricots sitting on the counter. Jam, obvy.

And while the jam won't be complete until tomorrow, I can already attest that halved apricots, warmed with sugar, lemon juice and vanilla beans, taste goooood.