Let Them Eat Pie

Finally!  My moon flowers are starting to bloom.  I guess after a long, hot summer maybe plants enjoy a bit of cooler weather, too.  I was out in the dark garden a couple of nights ago and saw this beauty, which I would have missed if sunset had been any later.

It is in the cooler weather that I enjoy cooking things in the oven.  The fragrance of pies, cakes, cookies, stews, roasts, even a simple baked potato (yes, they are better in the oven than the microwave) - the list goes on and on and each in its own way makes the house smell wonderful.

 

When I wrote the post about my apple pie, several folks told me that they just couldn't make pie crust.  All I can tell you is keep trying, really, it's that easy (hopefully you can still eat your mistakes).  But it's one of those cooking lessons that usually works once you get the hang of it.  The recipe I use was given to me long ago and far away, and I have used and trusted and played with it for years.  Many thanks to my Charlotte, North Carolina friend, Bertie, (circa 1979), she was kind to me when I was the new kid in town and for that she will always hold a special place in my memories.

"Easy" Pie Crust:

For a bottom crust (double recipe for top & bottom)

1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup shortening (a butter and lard mix works best)
Ice cold water

Sift flour and salt. 

Blend in shortening until there is no loose flour left in bowl. 

Add 3 tablespoons of cold water, mix until water is absorbed.

You may need to add 1 or 2 more tablespoons of water, add each spoonful slowly, mixing well after each. (I usually add 5 tablespoons.) 

Handle the dough as little as possible. 

Place ball of dough on floured surface.  I work with a piece of freezer paper under everything and then roll out the dough on the freezer paper - makes for an easy clean up.

Roll. (Sprinkle flour on your rolling pin to keep the dough from sticking to it.) 

Place in 8 or 9 inch pie pan. 

 

 

 Follow directions with pie recipe on cooking the crust.  Usually with cream pies you cook the crust first, and with all others you cook the crust as the pie cooks.

The pears were bought three days ago, I wanted to make sure they were ripe.  Peeled, sliced, and covered with a three tablespoons of sugar, a tablespoon of fresh lemon juice, and a few dashes of ground ginger and cinnamon.  I was going to try fresh ginger but forgot to buy some, so I just went with the powdered spice.  These waited patiently for me in the bowl while I made the crust. 

Before dumping the fruit into the crust I added:

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons of sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt

(It was about here that I remembered to preheat the oven - so I turned on the oven about 5 minutes before I put the pie in (I'm telling you this so you can see that even if you don't do everything 'perfect' you can still make a pretty good pie).  When I remember, I like to preheat the oven for about 15 minutes.)

I mixed all this up and poured into the pie crust, then I took a heaping tablespoon of butter and dabbed it across the top of all this.

I only made 'one' pie crust, rolled it thin, and then pulled the edges up. Somewhere I've seen this called 'rustic.' I like that. I'm using all the dough and this is an easy finish. 

I sprinkled a little sugar and cinnamon on the top.  Then popped it in the oven - 425F for 40 minutes.  After 40 minutes it was bubbly on top with just a little brown on the edges... Perfect.

I took it out of the oven to cool.  After dinner, Mr. J&C and I each enjoyed a slice with a little vanilla ice cream.

We didn't eat it all.  I have plans to have some with my breakfast coffee.. and maybe with my afternoon tea....


*

Out in the Rain

Yes, I'm sending you a message - this doesn't happen on its own..
if it did, I don't think I would tell anyone.

Rain is gently falling in my part of the world.  It is beautiful and I am thankful for the great job nature is doing watering my yard and garden. 

I am a little disappointed that my wisteria never bloomed this year.  It is the second spring here at my garden gate and still no blooms.  Should I be worried?

My garden gate - June 2012

On the left side there is just a little reminder (that bit of green brown hanging on to the trellis) of the white clematis that bloomed in early spring.  I had planned for the blue wisteria (left) to bloom around that time and the red peony (front right).  This is the first spring for the peony, maybe, hopefully, next year they will bloom.  Also, on the left side I have a few moon flower plants just starting to grow - there may be color (white) here by July...

I noticed that an Oak Gall (Oak Apple to some) has fallen.  Landed on the sidewalk right in front of the door.  It is a little early, and really firm. 

Please note:  It's only shiny, wet looking because I just
brought it in the house to get a better picture of it.
(Yes, I did turn it this way to accent the "eye ball look.")

Usually they feel like dried out little puffs of nothing and leave dark brown spots all over the sidewalk and driveway, this one is like a little rubber ball or eye ball.

Yesterday there was thunder and lightning - it was beautiful.  Today this soft rain with its cool temperatures seems slightly perfect. 

I leave you now to go sit with a cup of coffee and just watch the rain. 



*

Tax Day 2012

TO DO LIST

17 APRIL 2012 

 

Busy? 

What's on your list?

1.  Mail federal income tax package.

We've seen our duty and done it.

2.  Figure out what is eating garden flowers and make it stop.  Soak another batch of seeds. Replant.  (Wish I could figure out how to get 'it' to eat weeds.)

Yes, that was me moaning when I saw that my beautiful little plant was MIA. 
Cut down in its youth by unseen forces.... grasshoppers ... or something that did
not know Moonflowers are poisonous (not everything reads my blog).

Moonflower eaten by ???  (probably the same creature that ate every EVERY leaf off the redbud tree). 

Happy to report that the tree, after a few days of nakedness,
has started to grow leaves again.

3.  Remember to keep doors closed.  We have Butterflies and Lady Bugs everywhere, even in the house.  Not sure how that happens but it seems like at least once a day I am happily (and gently) putting the cute little creatures back outside to work in my garden (some one's got to).

4.  Get outside and enjoy the garden.  Things not eaten by the bugs and blooming include:

Oxalis, my purple plant (I've had it about a year) and the green one Mom gave me in February. 

Chives (can't wait to put them in a salad),

Have you ever had chive blossoms in your fresh salad? 
Try it (as long as you don't have any chemicals on your plants). 
I think they taste better just after they bloom -
if you wait too long they will go to seed.

and Marigolds - here's the first one to bloom this year (it wintered over in the one of my patio pots and got a head start on the seeds I've planted in recent weeks). 

5.  "Weed" around the grapevine.  I planted one grapevine last year.  It didn't get taller than 18 inches last year.  The little bit of fruit it produced was a dozen or so hard little greenish-blueish balls - not as big as a marble - and (of course I tasted one) they tasted like sour, bitter, yucky thingys.  This year the grapevine is up and running and the daisies that were planted in front of the grapevine are racing to fill up the bed. 

I have to clear this area out, notice the little white rocks -just to the right?
I've got a couple of moonflowers there that haven't been eaten. 

6.  Give away excess daisies to anyone who wants them.


Being "busy" is highly overstated (and overrated).  I just make a list so that when I get sidetracked I'll remember what I was planning/hoping to do.  One of my long term goals is to make our world a better place and you can help, just try this:

Go outside and just enjoy the day - or night.

The happiest people I know can tell the

difference between the way the air smells

in the spring and in the autumn.  

The seasons are gifts and your life will be

better if you spend at least

     ten minutes outside every day.    

I leave you now to go pull the grasshoppers off the roses, all part of my glamorous life.


*

Plans for the Future

It's that time of year in the garden when everything is growing - I just need to get out of their way and let the plants do what they were put on this earth to do.

Knowing that spring will give way to summer is very comforting to me, it also allows me to plan and make my garden, well, my garden.   Every year there's a chance to make things better, try something new, and with a little planning now my summer nights will be even more fragrant and beautiful than they were last year.

Please note:  These vines really can get 15 feet tall.
 Plan ahead, have some place/space for them to grow.

This summer I want to have moonflowers.  Two weeks ago I soaked a few seeds overnight in a cup of  water, and the next day I planted the seeds around the garden.

Slightly warm water.  Twenty four hours later we have sprouting
(in one or two - not all).  This is where I tell you that these seeds are in a
very small cup -  less than two inches across.  I use this cup because it is
 not my every day coffee cup (this helps me not drink my sprouts).

I put little white stones around the seeds so I would remember not to weed anything growing between the stones (sometimes I get a bit zealous and start yanking out anything that looks 'out of place' to me).

It's a good thing I marked the plants because when I looked
at the seedlings Wednesday afternoon my first thought
was these are too ugly to be moonflowers.

In a few weeks these will be a beautiful shade of green and a little taller.  The trick to moonflowers is to know that they will grow and to have a place for them to stretch out a bit.  I'll keep you posted on these.  I'm now waiting patiently for a warm summer night when I can stand and watch the flowers bloom.  And the fragrance will be wonderful. 

If you have time and you like a sweet read, try Jan Karon's book The Trellis and the Seed.  It's a children's book, sort of, and you can probably read it in 10 minutes.

Thanks Barnes and Noble
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/trellis-and-the-seed-jan-karon/1102238416

This book will explain the life of the moonflower as it gently reminds you that you're never too old (or too young) to enjoy a thing of beauty.


Thursday Morning UPDATE:   These plants are poisonous.  So are daffodils. clematis, azaleas and lots of other  beautiful things in our gardens.  This is one of the many reasons I wear gloves when I work in my garden.  Thanks for the reminder Robin.

*

October Nights

Listen! the wind is rising, and the air is wild with leaves.  We have had our summer evenings, now for October eves!  -  Humbert Wolfe

In my part of the world Autumn is slow in coming.  Moonflowers as big as dessert plates greet me each morning, here and there roses still bloom, and the okra - I had a bumper crop this summer - still throws me a pod or two each day.  While I am thankful, I long for the seasons to change. 

I want to wrap up in a wool blanket and enjoy a hot cup of coffee in the morning.  I am thrilled at the thought of needing an extra quilt on the bed at night.  And the pumpkins on my front porch are in desperate need of coolness or they will begin to seriously compost where they stand. 

It may feel like it's summer here, but I have faith that the seasons will change - autumn, winter, spring and, by & by, summer again.  When those seasons do show up I plan to be ready with new flowers, vegetables, recipes, and a story or two.  Also, this will be the year we get moved into our house (after five years, it is time).  And someday - soon I hope, I will have a sewing/crafting/quilting room (please & thank you).

I hope you are celebrating your season and enjoying the changes in your life.