Happy July – a short and sweet summertime post!

Bienvenue Juillet! It’s the halfway point of the summer, halfway through the year, and what a year it’s been, non? My week has been continuing as usual, working out with Boho, hanging out with puppa, enjoying healthy food. The holiday weekend isn’t going to be the same this year, but I’m looking forward to it, a long weekend for hubby and lots of sweet summer recipes and grilling I’m sure. Quoi de neuf ? Happy July – a short and sweet summertime post!

Doing

What I really want to do is take advantage of the summertime, the long nights, the sunshine and the chill vibes. It hasn’t really felt like summer to me yet, so now I really want to make an effort. Spend more time outside doing summery things. Watch the lightning bugs. Play with sparklers. Smell the summer breeze. I would love to go in search of wild black raspberries and pick a bucketful. I remember spending the night with my grandparents and going outside in the morning in our pj’s to pick raspberries in their back yard. We would fill our cereal bowl with them, go inside, add a little milk and a little sugar and have the most enchanting summer breakfast ever. Black raspberries are my favorite thing about July, my favorite thing in general. This Brown Butter Raspberries recipe looks like a perfect way to enjoy this magical fruit.

Reading

I am still reading Proust and it is good reading, but like I said before, not exactly summertime. I thinking maybe I will take a break and ready something more summery? Maybe revisit a Peter Mayle book? I think I’ve read them all, and they are all perfect for summer. Or any book that takes place in Provence really.

A book I just put on my to read list is Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger. Shayna from the Purple Palace talked about it on one of her vlogs and it also featured in a good movie I watched the other night, Carrie Pilby. It definitely looks like a must read.

Cooking

Flourless Rhubarb & Rosemary Cake – I made this Monday and it was every bit as good as I thought it would be. Simple and delightful.

I’m sure I’ll be cooking lots of fun summer food the rest of the week. Id like to try and keep it somewhat healthy. Of course I couldnt post about healthy and food without mentioning Goop! The Lettuce-Wrapped Turkey Burger looks perfect for this July weekend. I’ve been wanting to try this Blueberry Pie with Rye Crust. I bought some red, white and blue potatoes, this Rosemary Parmesan recipe looks perfect.

Today, July 1st, is National Gingersnap Day! This Pear, Cranberry and Gingersnap Crumble looks delicious but I would swap the cranberries for raspberries for the summer. How about a gingersnap drink? I would would love to try this recipe from Domaine De Canton, a French ginger liqueur, but I’m going to try and stick to mocktails – at least until the weekend!

Gingersnap Mocktail

Gingersnap simple syrup
1 inch piece of ginger, sliced
1/3 cup honey
1 tsp. vanilla

lemon juice
sparkling water (or maybe ginger beer?)

For simple syrup: Combine 1 cup water, honey and ginger in a small saucepan, bring to boil, stir, then set aside to cool.

To make mocktail: Combine 1 oz simple syrup and 2 oz lemon juice in a cocktail shaker with ice, shake to combine. Rim a cocktail glass with cinnamon sugar, fill with ice. Add syrup lemon mixture, top with sparkling water. Bonne Juillet!

Merci for joining me for this happy July – a short and sweet summertime post! I hope I’ve shown you some fun recipes to try. Before I go, have a listen to one of my favorite summer podcasts. From Colette Paris, way back from 2012, Colette Podcast #41 Summer Breeze. À bientôt!