Wonderful Weekend

Our weekend started with a dinner to celebrate Juneteenth, including bbq chicken, potato salad, a tex mex salad that I found at Scribbit, and a wonderful nectarine and raspberry crisp.  Very nice.

Saturday I got up and out the door, and went to my first of 6 weekly horseback riding lessons.  Yay!  This was the assessment lesson, where the instructor found out more about me and my previous experience, and watched me ride a bit, so she could correct my seat, my feet, etc.  I have to say, I really, really liked it.  The lesson is more than just riding, you also learn about caring for the horse.  So I curried him, brushed him with a soft brush, helped saddle him, helped put his bridle in, cleaned out his hoofs, all of that.  I had a sweet and gentle horse named Ben, which is good because I made some mistakes in guiding him that might have been confusing, and a more highly strung horse (like the absolutely gorgeous Arabian they had there), might have protested a bit more than I was ready to handle.  Mostly this lesson was walking, turning, walking, turning, getting familiar with a horse again.  I can’t believe it’s been about 20 years since I rode last, but yeah, I think that’s about right.  And I’ve never had lessons before, just hopped up and hoped for the best.  So this was really great.

The most foul, cruel, and bad-tempered rodent you ever set eyes on—
NOW, in puppet form!!! Please note: great big pointy teeth ~ found here.

After that great start, I went to the farmer’s market, with the intent of getting some nice fruit for our Father’s Day breakfast.  Then I came home and showered and relaxed a bit.  Then it was time to go into the City for Spamalot!  Ted had just read that the hotel where I used to work has just completed a $30,000,000 update, so we stopped by there to check it out, and had dinner there.  Place looks pretty spiffy!   Then we went to see Spamalot, which if you don’t know, is a musical based on the Monty Python film, Monty Python and the Holy Grail.  It was a lot of fun, and the role of King Arthur was played by John O’Hurley, perhaps best known as J. Peterman, Elaine’s boss on Seinfeld.

image found here

Sunday we got up and made a nice breakfast for Ted’s Father’s Day.  Eggs, scrambled with cheese, fruit salad, toast, sliced tomatoes (I have a weakness for tomatoes with eggs), and orange juice.  Nice way to start the day.  Then a bit later, Ted’s step dad came over, and we went into San Francisco for the day (two times in two days!).  This time we went out to Land’s End, which is the part of the city that overlooks the Golden Gate.  We parked at the trail head, and hiked around on the trail until we reached what is probably San Francisco’s most beautiful museum, the Legion of Honor.  It was a picture perfect day, sunny but not too hot, and we enjoyed the beautiful view of the ocean, the bay, the bridge, and the lovely cyprus trees.  At the Legion of Honor, we stopped in the cafe and had lunch, then we perused the gallaries for awhile.  Then we hiked back and came home.  Really a lovely day.

I’ll admit that between hiking in shoes that are not my beloved MBTs (they’re being re-soled), and being on a horse on Saturday, my body was kind of sore on Monday.  Luckily I made it to yoga (first time in about a month, I think), which will hopefully stretch out my muscles a bit.

So that was our lovely weekend.  If you’ve stuck with me this long, you deserve a reward, so here’s the recipe for the really good crisp I made for Juneteenth.   Really good.  I found the recipe here.

Nectarine-Raspberry Crisp with Spiced-Oatmeal Crumb Topping

Ingredients

Topping:

• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup quick-cooking oats
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon (generous) ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon (generous) ground cardamom
• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted, cooled slightly
• J’s note: I added about 1/4 cup chopped pecans, which the recipe did not call for.  Mmmm.

Fruit mixture:

• 2 pounds nectarines, halved, pitted, cut into 3/4-inch-thick slices (about 5 cups)
• J’s note: I accidentally added two red plums, which were in the bag with the nectarines, and as I wasn’t paying attention, I cut them up as well.  A nice addition, actually.
• 1 1/2-pint container fresh raspberries
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• Vanilla ice cream

Preparation

For topping:
Mix flour, oats, sugar, brown sugar, (pecans), cinnamon, salt, and cardamom in medium bowl. Add melted butter and rub in with fingertips until mixture comes together in small clumps. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.

For fruit mixture:
Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 375°F. Butter 11x7x2-inch glass baking dish. Combine nectarines, raspberries, sugar, and cornstarch in large bowl; toss to blend. Transfer mixture to prepared baking dish. Sprinkle topping evenly over fruit. Bake until fruit mixture is bubbling thickly and topping is golden brown, about 50 minutes. Cool 20 minutes. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.