starlinghoundstooth: 2016

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.

Green Tea, Azaleas, Rhododendrons and Emmy

There have been some really sunny, warm days since the first day of Spring, and I can't get over the blooms on the azaleas and rhododendrons here! Some of the shrubs have more flowers than leaves.

The green tea was brought back by our friends Yukiko and Mike from their trip to Japan. It's delicious; very fresh tasting - I think there must be a secret ingredient, but I can't read the label, so I'm not sure what it is. It is a really bright green colour, which is kind of hard to tell from the photos.

Emmy, of course, is my constant exploring companion.

These are some kind of fruit tree blossom, maybe ornamental fruit?

The pink flowers are dogwood.

Here's Emmy enjoying the sun.

Some kind of wild flower?

Not sure what this is, but it's really pretty, quite large too, like a peony.

The Japanese green tea (and some oatmeal cookies that I made).

Here we are at the Commissary, a coffee shop near our apartment; Emmy was lucky enough to get a treat from one of the girls who worked at the shop (a piece of sausage!).

I was enjoying a chai tea latte.

The Day Before Spring

We finally had a nice sunny day, so of course we all went out for a walk! We've had so much rain this winter, it was nice to get out and enjoy the sunshine...everyone else in Portland had the same idea.