For the birds

There are no flies on this little baby robin - he knows just where Momma flies to to pick up those tasty titbits she brings back. Actually, I'm interested to see that when there's a variety of stuff on the doorstep for her to choose from, she seems to like to bring a variety back to the little ones. Even though mealworms seem to be her favourite she'll bring grains and seeds and fruit back to the babies too.



Much of yesterday was rainy and not so warm - time to put the duvet back on the bed tonight, I think. But in between, C and the birds both enjoyed the sunny spells.

Mrs Robin on the trunk of a tree that came down in the snow two winters ago

I never picked a favourite card from June to share, because I was feeling flat and uncreative and didn't really have a favourite that stood out. This month I have several favourites, so I think Woodstock can settle in with the flock of birds in this post. Thanks for the twine, Lorraine!

We were sort of expecting a friend of C's to call yesterday, and we only had about three biscuits in the house. Since I knew Jorges likes peanut butter I went looking for a recipe for a bar cookie (for convenience) with peanut butter. This is what I found:

Oh Henry Bars: (approx 40)

2/3 cup butter

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 tblsp vanilla (I thought this was a lot, and would cut it back to not more than 2 tsp another time)

1/2 cup corn syrup (golden syrup over here)

4 cups porridge oats

6 ounces chocolate chips

2/3 cup chunky peanut butter.

Cream the butter and sugar together. Add vanilla, corn syrup and oats. Press into a lightly greased 9" x 13" pan. Bake at 350F, 180C for 15 - 16 minutes.

While it bakes, melt the chocolate chips (I just used chocolate) and peanut butter together over a low heat. When the cookies have cooled slightly, spread this over and allow to set.

We don't have Oh Henry bars here, so I did a bit of googling to find out more about them - and the cookies. This recipe is from The Wellesley Cookie Exchange Cookbook, with a note that it came from the Boston Globe. But pretty much any recipe I looked at was almost identical. They all stress not to overcook!! One suggested using a 10" x 15" jelly roll pan with a reduced cooking time, although she notes that the original recipe was the size I used. That would give a thinner coating of peanut butter and chocolate on a thinner oatmeal base - I think I like the sound of that.