- Bowled over

We had our first taste of Acai Bowls when we went to the Outer Banks, but not our last. Acai (pronounced ah-sah-ee) is a South American berry that can be purchased in frozen purée form. Blended with frozen bananas, fruit, nut butter and/or almond milk (among other things), it makes a healthy, non-dairy base for granola, nuts, fruit and other (more decadent) toppings.

We were hooked. Upon returning home, I tried to find Acai at the food store, to no avail. Undaunted, I looked up alternatives online and came upon multiple recipes for ...

Patch #122

the ingredients for which I had readily available ...

with this happily free-styled result ...

Yes, that's dark chocolate ... it has lots of antioxidants you know. Not to mention it goes extremely well with almonds and homemade granola.

On a related "knocked my socks off" note, I'm belatedly reporting that Don has discovered he can paint ...

He calls it color-by-number, claiming he just follows the lines in weathered wood ...

Hmmm ...

whatever you say, dear.

By the way, I'm writing this from the breezeway, following a report that something has taken up residence in the hammered copper pot we bought last month. Patience was rewarded with a sighting of our newest neighbor ...

who scolded me no end for disturbing the peace.