Plum turned two this week. Which puts him right smack dab in the middle of that wonderful one-to-three age range. I love this stage and I’m so glad to be able to share it with all the grandparents. We had two weeks with the Spouse’s parents at our house and now we’re staying at my folks’ place for another two weeks. Just in time for celebrations galore and all that summertime growing that kids chalk up. Plum is collecting new words at a galloping pace and and everyday he has some new way to express the beautiful wonder of this crazy world. Sure, being two some of those words might be a tad forceful or at top volume, but he’s lovely, too. Lovely and chatty and two years old.
He’s been telling us knock-knock jokes for a while now, but recently he’s moved on to riddles. Well, one riddle. His siblings taught him how to say it and when it comes out a little garbled, they are quick to translate. It goes like this.
I’m a wee, wee man in a red, red coat.
I’ve got a stick in my hand and a stone in my throat.
What am I?
Then you raise your eyebrows, give your head a scratch and hum a little until he throws back his head and yells Cherry!
Which leads us back to his birthday because when I asked him what he wanted to eat for his birthday, the answer was quite clear. Sausages. Ketchup. Peas. Cherries.
Sausages were easy – and deliciously barbequed by my delightful niece. The ketchup ubiquitous as always in a house with a toddler. As for the peas, he only asked for them because he likes to squash them – one-at-a-time – with one deliberate finger. I gave him tomatoes instead.
And because it was far too hot for cake, I turned the cherries into ice cream. I got the idea from Barbara Kingsolver’s book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle – a locavore manifesto and a good read to boot. Now, I’ll admit that I wasn’t following her eat-local guidance here – just her recipe. We’re visiting my parents in Ottawa right now and there are still a few weeks from ripe Ontario cherries. It’s a tricky season for local food, especially if you shop at the grocery stores. We hit the Farmers Market earlier in the week and were surprised again to find it a little sparse, but whether that was because it was mid-July or mid-week, I’m not sure. We did pick up some very tasty cucumbers and tomatoes and some beautiful beets from Acorn Creek Farm, which will be memorable for the name and also because the girl at the stall gave us some cucumber flowers to try. Small, trumpet-shaped and remarkably cucumbery in flavour. Who knew?
We rounded out the birthday feast with some mighty fine potato salad (PEI potatoes and more of those local cukes) and perfectly chilly Italian white wine. And alphabet cookies to go with the ice cream (these might have followed us home from Ikea…)
We had imported guests, too. My sister and her family drove in from their home along the seaway and my dear English friend E. came along with her new-ish Canadian hubby. Twelve around the table made a happy feast for my little Plum. All of us local and otherwise.
Sadly, the Spouse wasn’t with us. He’s off on his own travels. Last week, he was at a conference in Montreal and since then, he’s hopped a plane back to Scotland to start packing up our home for the coming move. So he missed the party and the the ice cream, too, but I’m sure we can muster a proper birthday cake when we’re back in the same city together. Probably even a cake-eating photo or two. But in the meantime, keep your eyes open for cherries. There’s bound to be more local fruit in the stores any day now. Here’s the recipe. Let me know how it goes.
