Dining Al Fresco

The girls have always loved wild onions. When my dad was alive, we spent vacations on the property my mom and dad then owned. A creek meandered through the back end of the property and wild onions grew prolifically amongst the berry bushes, apple trees and day lilies my dad had planted.

A couple of years ago, the girls started what they called "the community." Basically, they created a social structure, complete with a monetary system, trades, laws, etc. At one point, about 5 of their friends joined them in their community on a regular basis and Melissa even wrote a community newspaper.

Since then, some friends have moved away and we don't have as many playdates with others as we used to, so the community is fading somewhat.

Earlier this week Sarah discovered a patch of wild onions in the yard and the girls decided to make an "old-fashioned community meal" of stuffed tomatoes and fresh tomato soup.

I remember the first time they fed some of their outdoor creations to friends. We were having a Cinco de Mayo party and the kids were all playing happily outdoors when one little girl came in and asked her mom if it was ok to drink some of Sarah and Melissa's "dandelion wine."

Umm, what? Apparently, the girls had "fermented" dandelions and wanted to serve the "wine" to their friends. After many questions, it became clear that they were only serving fresh water to their friends, not their fermented creation!

The girls stuffed the tomatoes with fresh herbs, including basil and wild onions. The soup had the wild onions and some rosemary in it. I tasted the soup and it was pretty good, except for the piece of rosemary I bit down on.

The girls devoured their creations, but best of all, had a great time together reliving "old times."

Now, if I could only get them to help out more in the kitchen...