Rustic Apple Tart

Appley goodness visited my kitchen yesterday.

My husband braved the ladder as we picked apples on Witt's trees once again. This time the apples were not being culled due to the overabundance as they were before, but were ripe for the picking, tart and delicious.

The thoughts of tarts have been bouncing around in my mind as of late, and since apples were aplenty in my kitchen, I thought they were the best choice for the moment. The recipe was found here, however, I did not use the apricot preserves in my tart. The use of so much butter was somewhat disconcerting, but  the recipe called for a small amount of sugar, so the taste is definitely in the buttery crust and the apples.

 Cinnamon and nuts would be good additions, and I might add them in future apple tarts.  I am thinking this tart crust recipe would also be good with peaches and raspberries, or maybe even plums.

Definitely rustic, as in simple

I just took one out of the oven for Sunday's dinner. My husband expects a scoop of ice cream on the side will take it to even higher levels of delicious. He is probably right, but I can not imagine it being any better than it already is.

needle truth

"Take your needle, my child, and work at your pattern; it will come out a rose by and by. Life is like that-one stitch at a time taken patiently and the pattern will come out all right like the embroidery."

-Oliver Wendell Homes 

My traveling companion

 Drinking from plastic cups is something I will not normally sustain. Yet this year I was given a *Tervis* tumbler as a gift, and I must say I have become very fond of it, especially on these hot, summer days.  Fill it with ice and a cold beverage and it will remain cold for quite a long while. It is reported to keep hot beverages hot in like manner.

But for now, it keeps any threat of dehydration from besetting me.

A Reticule Inside and Out

This has been a season for creating reticules; not pocketbooks, clutches, or even purses, mind you, but little bags of silk set apart for toting to those special occasions. 

It all started in March with this reticule.  Clutched in my hand on my son's wedding day gave it bona fide status for a special occasion. The dusty rose pink ribbon was the exact shade in the dress I wore. I gave thoughts to what its contents would be too, which ended up being a lace handkerchief, a tube of lipstick, and a tampon. I could be assured all dire essentials were covered.

Several new things were learned on this project, one of which was beading. Beading appears to add elegant shimmer to any special occasion reticule.

Setting it amongst the dried blossoms on my hydrangea bush was another special occasion altogether, but I thought it had a lovely space there too.

I'd rather be sewing

"In between times, whenever he could, he would chat to Ella while she was busy sewing. He could always make her laugh, even if her mouth was full of pins."

Ella's Big Chance

Shirley Hughes

 On these hot August days, my hands stay occupied with lovely fabrics of satin batiste and silk dupioni, little threads, needles and thimbles, tiny beads, and little sewing "snip" scissors.

Not on school curriculum at all. Maybe I am in full-fledged denial.

and one more makes seven

We all dined together this evening.

Witt and Claire will be leaving for Canada on Saturday, so this will probably be their last visit with us until they return the following week. It was a grand time. We sat around the dining room table and talked and laughed as the candles gave off their soft alluring light, the sort that made lingering completely necessary.

The meal was quite simple actually, steaks cooked on the grill, risotto, focaccia bread, salad greens tossed with cucumbers, sungold tomatoes and homemade green goddess dressing, sliced tomatoes with balsamic vinegar, mozzarella cheese and a leaf of basil,( if you have not tried that one you must...easy peasy, and oh, so good!)

And since Claire has taught me to think beyond the box of sweetened desserts, cantaloupe sorbet with mint and lemon thyme was served.

Before leaving the table, there were contests of blowing out the candles. Alan won that one with bravados all around.

Then we cleaned up the kitchen together, without anyone running into each other. It was as if we had practiced.

Isn't that what family is all about, after all? Claire is fitting in so beautifully. The piece we had been missing and anticipating for years.

SO here are a few more photographs from the wedding day.

(If anyone would be kind enough to explain how to navigate the photos around on the post I would be most sincerely grateful! The new blogger has been a teeny bit of a challenge these days.)

The Plumbline of Truth

I

I will be venturing further afield beginning tomorrow afternoon to attend training for Kay Arthur's Precept Bible Studies.

I will be staying in the home of my "cheesecake baking" friend for three days and three nights.

Rose hangs her head on my shoulder this morning and tells me she will miss me.

I love the study of God's Word, especially with an in- depth Bible Study.

Further up and higher still, my traveling clothes are ready.

enjoying summer

Back in the early days of June when summer seemed to stretch out before us to a horizon filled with promise, I gathered my little "chicks" on the back porch one morning and we made lists.

Things we hoped to accomplish this summer, whether it be to learn something new or maybe just complete unfinished projects. In my mind I was looking for something outside the bounds of random minutes that have a way of getting lost in the hours of my day.

The girls cooperated and I jotted down things that all three of us found desirable.


So it was this week the realization that I was fretting hit me. The things that looked and felt so good written on the page were not happening. In the process of summer living, fretting would soil the joy if I allowed it to. So a little randomness is okay. Schedules will start soon enough, but for now we will grow stout in the lavishness of the summer days and evenings of our world.

My days are beatific once again.

Tying in loose ends

I like to keep my hands busy so when sitting still for any length of time my hands are usually smocking, hemming, knitting, embroidering or crocheting something or other. My brain can not help but take hold of visually imagining the tying in of all the loose ends of threads, rather they be sewing, embroidering, knitting, or crocheting.

Today I tied in some of the loose ends of completely other things gathered around my house, mainly in the kitchen.

Apples, another dent made in the bag of abundant supply, this time with crockpot apple butter. We learned from making applesauce that we did not want to stand over a pot of simmering apples for too long so the crockpot was the appliance of choice. My kitchen is smelling spicy and appley right now.


Herb vinegars, drained through a sieve, siphoned into pretty bottles and simple tags strung to identify the herb ingredients.


Roasting peppers for making pepper pesto. You may want to try this recipe if the ingredients appeal to you. I thought it was throw your eyes back into your head delicious.

1 large red pepper roasted, find how to here

5 Tablespoons of olive oil

1/2 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup fresh basil

5 Tablespoons parmesan cheese

3 cloves of garlic

salt and pepper to taste

You may just want to add the roasted pepper and vinegar to any prepared basil pesto and that would work just fine.

Since I happened to pick up my CSA produce and it contained several heirloom peppers, purple and light yellow, I decided to make a batch. I really prefer the muted red color of the red pepper pesto, but the green color is pleasing too and the taste is pretty much the same. I do believe green peppers would not be as good because of their strong taste.

This pesto makes any sandwich zing, or you may prefer it on a cracker.

viewing full things

A sweltering time we had while picking apples from the trees where Witt and Claire live, but it was a fine and dandy time too.

Some might call it a glass half-full depending on how you look at it, but due to our assiduous labor our bags soon bulged full of homegrown apples. Then Claire served us full glasses of iced water to refresh us.

Consequently, my kitchen is full of bags and boxes lying around on the floor and counter waiting to be made into apple butter, applesauce, apple bread and apple cake.
My life is jam-packed full of apples at the present.

And speaking of full things, I love my new MacBook Pro laptop, yet like anything new some things must be relearned and plain figured out. Therefore, the look of the text on this post is not what I intended.

Take it half-full.

blueberry yogurt and other good things

I know it has been mentioned before how much I adore my Cuisinart Ice Cream/Sorbet/Yogurt Maker. But just in case it was forgotten, here is another plug for a very put a smile on your face and satisfaction in your belly kitchen counter appliance.

Pounds of fresh blueberries in my refrigerator had me creating this treat.

Blueberry Yogurt

Mix
2 cups vanilla yogurt
1/2 cup whole milk
1/4 cup sugar(or less)
1 pint of blueberries
a dash of ground cinnamon(optional)
1 teaspoon lemon juice (optional)

Turn machine on and pour mixture as it is running. After it reaches the desired consistency, you may place it in a container to keep in the freezer.

A little hunk of a 15 month old visited today with his mother, a little upturned mouth to be continually filled with this cool treat would attest to it's goodness if you can not take my word for it.