part Deux

I began with Apple....easier than berry according to Miss Molly,one of my now many mentors.

Here is my second attempt. It's not perfect, but much prettier than the first one. I think I may be in to something, ugly or not, both pies were very light and flaky. The bottom cooked nicely and both layers held up to the filling while not being thick, doughy or tough. As a matter of fact. they melted in your mouth. I had to make a second pie as Middle Son absconded with half of the first one. I said before he loves Pie

My mentors are still arguing. Lard vs butter vs Crisco? A 2-1 ratio vs 3-1 ratio of flour to fat or maybe somewhere in between. I used Gala Apples.... which my research has shown me are never suggested for pies. Hubby and I liked them, but I will experiment with more traditional types. I am including the recipe I used below and the link. For now I will keep trying

Vodka Pie Crust Recipe
Makes dough for one 9” double crust pie.

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. sugar (optional)
• 1 cup unsalted cold butter (2 sticks)
• 3-4 TBS cold vodka
• 3-4 TBS cold water

How to Make Pie Crust

1. Measure the flour, salt, and sugar into the bowl of a food processor.
2. Pulse several times to mix the dry ingredients.
3. Drop the cold butter, a chunk at a time, into the flour, pulsing between additions until all the butter is added, and the consistency of the mixture is that of large crumbs.
4. Combine the cold vodka and water in a measuring cup.
5. With the processor running, slowly add the liquid into the flour mixture until the dough is moist enough to adhere into a ball in the bowl. Most if not all the liquid should be incorporated into the dough, which will be quite moist.
6. Divide the dough into two balls, one slightly larger than the other (about a 55% to 45% division).
7. Place each ball on a sheet of plastic wrap and pat into slightly flattened rounds. Wrap tightly and refrigerate for a minimum of eight hours or up to 2-3 days.

Continue reading on Examiner.com Flaky vodka pie crust recipe for sweet or savory pies - Midland-Odessa Food | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/food-in-midland-odessa/flaky-vodka-pie-crust-recipe-for-sweet-or-savory-pies#ixzz1YMbEohCn

Let's try this again

So my goal to document a year of dinners has failed.... no surprise there. If I was having trouble coming up with a dinner theme, blogging about it would be infinitely more difficult... DUH

So I am moving on to Pie. I am reading a clever little book, called "Humble Pie", that I picked up at our local "Friends of the Library" book sale. I must confess, it has sparked my inner Pie Maker.

That being said. I am a clearly not a Pie Maker,. Nor do I come from a line of Pie Makers My pies to date are neither spectacular or even edible. My one success was a semi Mile High Apple Pie made for my middle Sons birthday. He loves Apple Pie, so after watching and episode of something on the Food Network, I decided to attempt my own. It wasn't as large as the one on TV and not even all that petty... but it did weigh. in at an incredible 8 pounds. Up till now frozen and graham cracker crusts have been my friend, a light and flaky pastry has just not been a high priority for me.

Here is my new goal. I will try at least one pie a week. I made a Rustic Berry Crostata on Friday with berries from my own yard. The juice ran out, and the crust was a little tough, but Papa ate it all so I will attempt another. I will research old cookbooks and websites. I will try a new one each week until I find success. I will keep you posted with the results and recipes

Here is the recipe for the Mixed Berry Crostata from Country Living Magazine :

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cup(s) (plus 1 tablespoon) all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup(s) (plus 2 tablespoons) sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon(s) salt
• 1/2 cup(s) (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup(s) raspberries
• 1 cup(s) fresh blackberries
• 1 tablespoon(s) fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon(s) turbinado sugar

---

Directions

1. Make the dough: Combine 1 1/4 cups flour, 1/4 cup sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Form a well in center of the dry ingredients and place the butter and 1 egg in the well. Using your hands, mix the ingredients into a soft, pliable dough. Form it into a 4-inch disk and place it on lightly floured parchment paper. Lightly dust the dough with flour and roll it into a 10-inch circle. Place dough with parchment on a baking sheet, cover the dough with plastic wrap, and chill for 10 minutes. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Make the crostata: In a small bowl, mix remaining flour and sugar and set aside. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and evenly spread the flour and sugar mixture on the dough, leaving a 1-inch-wide border around the edge. Place berries on top of the mixture and sprinkle with lemon juice. Fold the 1-inch border over top of the berries to form a 9-inch crostata.
3. Bake the crostata: Lightly brush the top of the crostata dough with remaining beaten egg and sprinkle with turbinado sugar, if desired. Bake on the middle rack of the oven -- about 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and slide crostata with the parchment paper onto a wire rack. Cool for 1 hour. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Read more: Mixed-Berry Crostata - Country Living

Whats For Dinner

Whats for Dinner.

This seems to be the #1 question on my mind every day. I find myself asking friends, family and strangers alike..." what are you making"

I could be prepared..plan a week or month of menus, but I jut can't get into that. I mean how will I know on Sunday that I want meatloaf on Tuesday. I am a cook of the moment.

Right now I love Wednesdays and Saturdays. That's when the farmers market is open here. I love checking out the produce from Ocean Air Farms and other local growers. This inspires me... fresh Broccoli... maybe we'll have some Chicken and rice... Nice Basil begets homemade Pesto.

Anyway I have decided to try and blog 365 days of Dinner. I will warn you now. there may be a few dinners out, although Big Wu and I do not go out often. We find we can make everything better and cheaper at home. We do however like the occasional take and bake Pizza. There may be a few repeats.. we do have out favorites, and I will try to post recipes when I can.

Here we go.

Small Blessings

Papa and I are so blessed this week... we get to have the grandkids for 4 whole days.

And that was all I posted. Whew.....I forgot what toddlers were like. Still Blessings, But I am one tired Grandma

What was lost is found

When middle son Sir Snarkalot was in high school he wrote a song for his Lady K. When I say write I do not mean the usual angst laden poems of teen age romance. No... he wrote a song for her to dance to at the school dance concert. He wrote it, then went in his bedroom and laid down the tracks. He played the guitar and sang his own harmony. all on his laptop... in his bedroom. His father and I were amazed. Snark was always musical. By highschool, he sang, played Trombone, steel drum and he taught himself guitar, but I had no idea he could do this. It was a beautiful song...ans she was beautiful as she danced to it. I loved the song so much that that he burned it on a CD for me and wrote on it for me. The dance teacher also included it on a cd of music from the concert which I bought, and when I got his hand me down laptop. the song was in the hard drive.

Then it was gone, the laptop died and the CD's disappeared as CD's are wont to do around my house. 6 years have passed since he graduated. I have been looking for that CD for 4 of them. It broke my heart that I could not find it. He has since played it again with his band providing backup..but it's not the same

Two weeks ago We spent the whole day at the river with some friends and the boys and their wives. When Sir Snarkalot showed up, his big brother pulled him aside and started taking to him in Chines Pig Latin... a language my kids used when they were young to try and communicate in secret, Back then I could easily interpret it... but it seems that as as time has passed I have lost my ear, anyway they had quite a conversation and seemed pretty excited about something. At
the end of a wonderful day in the sun..... after the hot dogs were cooked and the sand was rinsed off the grandkids....I got in the car to moved it closer. The stereo came on and a familiar song started. Sounds like his song I sighed.. I am always hearing songs that remind me if his. I maneuvered the car in place and turned it off just as the lyrics started..... wait... was that a familiar voice... I turned the car back on....it was..... it was his song..... I threw open the car door and jumped out to the grinning smile of my boys..... the missing CD was found.

Best Day Ever

Just finished the second book in my Summer reading pile.

The first was a cozy mystery featuring Beatrix Potter, "The Tale Of Hill Top Farm". It was the first in a series and I have ordered the second from my local independent book store. The setting was rich and the characters enjoyable. It was a quick, light read.

My second choice was very out of character for me, It is called "Graveminder" by Melissa Marr and I read a review of it at Booktribe. I had to read the book with my hands over my eyes, a difficult task indeed... as I do not like scary... not one bit.... I couldn't even read the "Twilight" books at bedtime. I read Graveminder in two days... even though I couldn't read it in bed. I enjoyed the book and even though it wrapped up at the end, I can see it being a series. I felt that there was more story to tell... the author left quite a few things open and a few of her characters unfinished, however I would recommend it. Had a theme of family and duty and a very different take on the afterlife. Most readers won't find it a scary book... I really didnt either. Just a little touch of the paranormal, but for me.... best read in direct sunlight

Cake Balls

Let me start with an apology for all the typo's and improper grammar in the last post. Details are not always my thing. And with that I will segue in to today's project.
Cake balls... Cake Bubbles... Truffles...what ever you want to call them. If you don't know what they are they are basically a cake, cooled then squished together with frosting till they can be formed into little balls, then dipped in candy coating. The are pretty simple and really quite tasty. There are many recipes on the web..including ones by Paula and Martha. Paula recommends using a mixer to whip them, but personally I found them a little to gooey that way. We preferred ours hand squished... they just had a better consistency
As I mentioned in the last post, Kallie is getting married... to the end...Mother of the Bride, DD, decided that we would make Cake Balls as favors. We made the actual balls a few weeks ago after the wedding shower. 790 of them to be exact, we got a little carried away. It was probably a good thing we made so many as one of the flavors was Funfetti...This turned out not to be the best choice as they turned... well...., sort of the color of flesh when they were done... we gave them a chance, but their super sweet taste, probably because of the candy chips,and their not so lovely color made them quite unappealing. But I digress... today the Queens gathered to dip the cake balls and then pack them into the favor boxes. Turns out we only need 125 favors so we only had to dip 375 cake balls. Dip makes the process sound very simple... let me tell you, it was anything but. Our 5 hour project involved heating pads, to keep the almond bark the right consistency, paring knifes to trim off the extra coating.A second dipping to make sure there were no cracks or unsealed areas and then a final artistic drizzle to make them pretty and then pack them away in their pretty little boxes. They didn't let me help with the last few steps, not my forte. Now all MoB DD has to do is put the labels on and transport them to the wedding.
We ladies got a little mushy as we worked......kind of like the cake balls. It good to have friends like these women who are willing to be at each others through all our little milestones............. God has surely blessed us.

Kallies Getting Married

Just on week till the grand caravan begins. BFF DD's daughter Kallie is getting married in the High Sierra's. Hubby and I will travel with the wedding cake... and the cake master LaReina. I am so excited, along weekend away.... good friends and the blessing of celebrating a milestone moment with the happy couple.

It's funny how fast life changes... seems like just yesterday DD and I were feeding our 5 year olds mac n cheese at the picnic table in the yard and now they are all grown up. I remember things would get easier the older they got..... now I wish for one more summer afternoon.

Ahh well now we'll look forward to it again with our grandkids

Tea and faries

I am having a lovely day with my granddaughter. It started with a sleepover and multiple viewings of Tangled, it has now moved on to an art class to be followed by a tea party. The best part of grand-parenting is the ability just be in the moment. Dusting , laundry and other chores can wait while adventures are at hand. Stories are read, Magic kingdoms are explored and tea parties are hosted. Life is good

Watching and Waiting

We are under a Tsunami Warning. The sirens sounded at 3:59 am and the evacuation began. It as been a long strange day of waiting and praying. Amidst sorrow for those in Japan, there is fear for friends and loved one closer to home. Being as isolated from the rest of the world like we are, the story is unfolding news is somewhat fractured. We get calls from loved ones in far off area watching national news reporting news that is different from what we are hearing. The story also keeps changing. Continued quakes in Japan are creating more and more surges. Originally we thought we would have the all clear by noon... now it looks like we will be under this warning for 8-9 more hours....just waiting. Some have been tempted to be a lookeloo's, to put aside the warnings of authorities and check things. However one person has already been killed and others swept out to sea. Now is not the time to break the rules
Some of us have been calm, in fact in the beginning most folks thought this would be a non event. We practice for this, we have battery radios and emergency bags packed. I keep water and food on hand, I even have work emergency numbers programed into my phone so I can contact them away from the office. I am amazed however at how many folks were unprepared, they don't listen to the radio, or read local news, they didn't know if they were safe or not. Our City is a magnet for Tsunami's this is not our first nor will it be our last. Maybe they have learned a lesson today. Pay attention... be prepared
No need to worry though, all of the kids are safe and so are we. On a bright note, I got an extra day off and the sun is shining. For now we just watch and wait

I do believe

I love being a parent, it is an ever changing reality. My children have all moved into adulthood..... they seem to have survived somewhat whole and healthy so we must have done an ok job. I know that I did not do it alone. I had a loving spouse, great family, a village full of friends and most of all my faith. Life is so hard at times we all need a little something unseen we can depend on. something spoken or unspoken that we carry with us in our soul. I tried to offer this to my children. We attended Church, prayed as a family and read our bible. I tried to raise them to understand that God gave them free will so they should make their choices wisely and if a bad choice was made... well.... accept responsibility...... learn from it... choose to change and move on

We also read books and played games. We created stories and found time to play together and use our imaginations. Life is full of joy if you are open to it. I am not fond of scary stories but I do like stories of magic, where goodness wins and loyal friends are rewarded. I grew up on a diet of Fairy tales, Narnia and Madeline L'Engle . I encouraged my children to read them also... yes even Harry Potter. We need to be open to the magic in our life's.

Last weekend I helped my Granddaughter build a fairy garden... we saw Gnomeo and Juliet... a very cute movie, and now she is enamored with gnomes and fairies. I am looking for a flaming like Featherstone. lol Anyway we spent a few hours building a fairy garden. We planted violas, a traditional fairy flower. Created a path of magic glass pebbles, glass stones left over from my sons wedding, and a fairy house., all while wearing fairy wings and tiara's. This may sound silly, but it was all about childish joy and the faith in something special and beyond our understanding. It was all about the possibilities...