What We’re Eating and Drinking: Flag Cake & Tullia Sparkling Brut Rosé
Happy Fourth of July! I’m the least patriotic person I know but growing up, my mother always made this flag cake for the fourth of July, and since this year the 4th falls on a Friday night–an occasion I’m happy to celebrate–I figured the least I could do was recognize America’s independence with sugar-covered fruit. Noah’s at an age that resents such outward signs of parental goofiness, but since since we’re heading to Michele & Dan’s for the day I figured that Walker would appreciate my efforts. (He still thinks I’m cool.) It’s a super easy cake–you can use any flavor (or a mix! shhhh….)–just bake the cake in a rectangular pan and then decorate the top with blueberries and raspberries (or sliced strawberries if you prefer). My mom always used whipped cream in place of frosting (if you do, keep the cake in the fridge–which makes it deliciously refreshing and cool) but we’ll be using (dairy free) whipped coconut milk which is just a delicious. Paired with some sparkling rosé (this wine was featured at the Artisian Wine shop in Beacon a few weeks ago and I discovered it is yummy) will help put us in a celebratory mood (before the fireworks begin and Luca spends the night under a bed). Cheers!
Gina: I think I’d love your patriotic cake! Enjoy the day and the fireworks… I think I remember that there’s a beautiful view of them from Michele and Dan’s back porch! Cheers to you all.
What We’re Talking About: the Dreaded Bullseye
Sorry for the graphic photo, but that’s a deer tick bite on Noah’s belly. He woke up last Saturday morning feeling fine, but when his shirt lifted up as he was playing with Luca, I caught site of a giant red blemish on his left side. At first we weren’t sure what kind of bite it was–there are a thousand spiders that live in this house and it’s mosquito season after all. And deer-fly season. And Noah’s skin has always been sensitive and marked easily. So since, on that first morning, the bite was just a red circle (about the size of a nickel) and it didn’t hurt and we didn’t find a tick, I was hopeful that with some TLC (and maybe if we ignored it) the thing would just go way. No such luck. After 24 hours the red area had doubled in size, warranting a Sunday morning call to our pediatrician and a panicked day of Googling and dreading the worst. We were told to look for the formation of a bullseye pattern and rash (not all deer tick bites leave this tell-tale sign, but many do) and if it looked like that’s what was happening, we needed to come to the office Monday morning at 9am.
Diagnosis: Bullseye; probable exposure to Lyme Disease. Needless to say, Noah is now on a regimen of Doxycycline (an antibiotic that, because we caught this thing early, should cure him and help him escape any side effects or long-term problems associated with the disease) but a bummer, nonetheless. He’s got to be careful in the sun and get lots of rest so he can beat this thing back. I’m very grateful for Noah’s doctor and with how quickly I was able to have the prescription for the magic medicine in hand (we left the doctor’s office in Garrison and the bottle of pills was waiting for us at Drug World in Cold Spring). In other news, we’ll be spending the remainder of our summer evenings doing tick-checks, combing over one another like monkeys in the jungle. Ugh.
Gina: OH. NO. Not the deer tick! I dreaded spotting those little buggers or this bull’s eye while we were in Garrison, and I was always amazed when we made it through the summer without a bite. I’m so happy you caught it early. How long does he have to take the antibiotic? There are deer around the farm here too, but they don’t seem to run through our yard. At least, that’s what I’ve been betting on.. I can’t say that I miss the nightly tick checks! Keep us posted.