School Days

Yesterday, after a lazy hour long ride poking around the property, we headed back to the barn and I see the ring is empty and the footing looks pretty good. So L and I went ahead and schooled in the ring for a few minutes. She got so mad!

We haven't been in the ring in ...well, it's over a year anyway, and, considering that, she was really good. We schooled for maybe 15 minutes doing mostly flexing and bending exercises. She's strong and fit but she hasn't been as supple as I know she can be. It's been so wet this Spring it's been hard to school in the fields. If I push really hard I know her feet will slip out from under her.

So we did our 15 minutes doing concentric circles and lapping the rail and finished with some serpentines. I know she was working at it but it was mostly because she was mad. Far as she was concerned we'd already gone 10 minutes over by the time we got there.

L is a very funny horse. And the funniest thing is she doesn't know how funny she is. She got all pushy when we went back into the barn and I smacked her. Well. She *glared* at me! She hasn't given me her "I can't believe you did that!" look in ages and it's very funny.

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Dinner this past Friday night was something special. I might have to frame this.

Friday 13 May 2011
That, by the way, is American Paddlefish caviar and I thought it was quite good. Closer to the best than the worst.

Kitchen tip! I made some tabbouleh a week or so ago and of course I had leftover fresh mint. I love mint on peas too. Other than that I don't use a lot of mint and usually I just chuck what's left when it goes bad. But this time the light came on - I chopped it all up finely while it was still fresh, dried it, and put it away.

Chopped Fresh Mint Leaves
Spread out on a dinner plate and left on the kitchen counter out of the way it was fully dried in 48 hours.

Dried Mint Leaves
I'm a little extravagant sometimes but I'm acutely aware of what things cost and I really hate seeing things go to waste.

Edit: You know, I love mint with tomatoes too but I either forget that when I'm shopping or I forget I have mint when I'm fixing tomatoes!