Cooking, Mostly! – The Further Adventures of Lion-San

Hi, everyone!
We’ve been spending time at Sodus since we came back from visiting baby James. Grandma and I took a walk to see the wildflowers on the bank just south of us. One night, when Lake Ontario was calm, we took a boat ride to see Chimney Bluffs at sunset. The sand dunes there get shaped into really pointy peaks!

These wildflowers are growing on the bank at Sodus.

We took a boat ride to Chimney Bluffs when the lake was calm.

We took a drive to Canandaigua, too. We drove right out into the lake on the City Pier! My friends Taylor-san and Katie-san have an ice cream store there. Grandpa had coffee crunch frozen yogurt and Grandma and I shared a big scoop of peach cobbler ice cream. It was yummy! Then we stopped at F. Oliver’s to get some oil and balsamic vinegar to take to Aunt Kara and Uncle Steven next time we visit. I wonder if James will enjoy dipping bread in olive oil as much as Bill-kun did when he was little?

This is Kiki T’s on Canandaigua City Pier.

Taylor-san runs Kiki T’s and served me yummy ice cream!

Then we stopped at F. Oliver’s for more olive oil.

We’ve been doing a lot of cooking! One of Grandma’s friends who really, really, really likes biscotti was coming to town, so I helped Grandma make some to take to her. Biscotti are cookies that have to be baked once, sliced, then baked again, so it took us all afternoon to make them! First we made honey biscotti, then we made triple chocolate biscotti (Grandpa’s birthday present), then chocolate almond biscotti. Chocolate almond biscotti get decorated with two kinds of chocolate, and I was a good helper for that. The last kind we made were blue cornmeal biscotti. We had cookies cooling all over the kitchen!

I helped glaze the honey biscotti before their first baking.

Then I helped slice them before their second baking.

Triple chocolate biscotti are Grandpa’s favorites!

These biscotti need to be decorated twice!

The blue cornmeal biscotti were the last batch we made.

When Grandma was getting ready to visit her friend, I helped pack up the biscotti to take. Grandma said I could come, too! She told me I needed to be careful not to get in between Rita-san and the biscotti. Lion mothers are like that with their little lions, so I knew what to do! It was fun to meet another of Grandma’s friends.

Rita-san was very happy to get the biscotti!

We had some heavy cream left from making cheesecakes for Uncle Steven and Aunt Kara, so I helped Grandma and Grandpa use it up. First, I helped Grandpa make triple ginger ice cream. I made sure Grandpa waited long enough to put in the crystallized ginger and ginger snaps so they wouldn’t get soggy before the ice cream froze. Then I checked to see that the ice cream was frozen enough to come out of the ice cream machine. After we put it in a container, I made sure the plastic wrap was in the right place to keep ice crystals from forming on top.

I helped Grandpa make triple ginger ice cream.

I made sure Grandpa waited long enough to put in the crystalized ginger.

I helped Grandpa pack the ice cream into the freezer container.

Sunday was Father’s Day, and Grandma got nice ripe local strawberries to have for dessert. The local growing season for strawberries is almost over! I was glad I got one more chance to help make a fresh strawberry treat for this year. There was still some heavy cream left, so Grandma made risotto for Grandpa, too. Everybody had to take turns stirring it, to make sure it turned out right! She used my best buddy Joe-san’s recipe for lemon risotto and it was yummy!

Sometimes we have neighborhood cats prowling around on Grandma and Grandpa’s back deck. Last week, there were two cats there at the same time, and they were having trouble sharing. I told them they had to behave better if they wanted to visit us. I think it worked! We haven’t had any problems since!