Baby Robins

We had a nest of robins right above our back patio. We watched as the parents constantly gathered food, the babies grew quickly. In about 2 weeks they clumsily emerged from the nest!  They couldn't really fly yet, but eventually they all made it to the safety of the foliage of the trees and bushes around the yard.

Western Tanager

I saw one of these this morning when I was out with Emmy!  I heard a different call up in a tree above my head, so I tried to see it, and then it suddenly flew down right in front of me, so I had a good look at it.  A very pretty little bird.

Zaatar

Ever since Shane and I went to a Lebanese restaurant last year, and had pita bread with a REALLY good spice mixture as an appetizer, I've been obsessed with finding out what the spices were.  I did find out, and it's called Zaatar, sometimes spelled as Za'atar, and it's usually a mixture of oregano, sesame seeds and sumac, blended with salt and olive oil.  So I finally found some already mixed up (I couldn't find sumac anywhere), and I made some Arabian bread from a recipe I found online, and put the zaatar mixture on top, and we had lentil soup with it.  Really tasty...  Here's the link to the bread recipe... http://www.wanderingspice.com/2011/09/07/manaeesh-bi-zaatar-zaatar-pastries/

This is the bread before going in the oven.