Afternoon Outing

R and I went for a drive over to the next town for the afternoon.  While he was in the bank I noticed this painting on the wall of the building...a trompe l'oeil (fool the eye).  I like the way the 'paper' curls up.

Fresh signs on all the little shops as well.  The town is looking quite dressed up for the summer.

Went down to the harbor to look at the boats.  It was pouring rain off and on all day today, but we were still able to walk about.

Love this boat.  The Curlew...named after a long-billed shore bird.

The waterways were so calm today.

This picture reminds me of a jig-saw puzzle picture.



The little fish n' chip place was not open today.  Will check this out some other time this summer.

 

We stopped at a roadside diner that we've never tried before.  We've always passed it and meant to stop but never did.  I had a latte and then we saw the homemade fries at a another table and so we ordered a basket and they were fresh cut and really yummy.  And it was a large portion...can't imagine one person eating it all by themselves!

Nice view from our table.




Interesting little 'courtyard' just outside the diner...a garden area, a grocery mart, and a gift shop.

 

A massive wall of ivy on one side...

 

Nice mixture of color with the purple and the greens, and the rock/brick work.

And look what I found outside the gift shop....crochet hooky stuff!  A little cart full of slippers, hats, dish cloths, and little stuffed creatures.

 

So we had a pretty good day even with all the rain.  The weather man says we will have hot and sunny days next week...so summer will begin in earnest????  Oh well, the weather will do what it wants to do regardless.

 

Stopped at the wood carving competition on the way home, so I will share that with you later.  Until next time, MO

My Blueberry Pie

Blueberries are my absolute favorite berry.  I like them fresh picked and eaten by the handful...O Yum!!!  Have some frozen berries from last year that I wanted to use up so decided to make a pie.  With frozen blueberries, I let them thaw and drain before I use them.

Meet the berries...6 cups of them

 

 

Make your favorite pie pastry & chill in fridge.

 
Roll out to fit your pie plate.

 
 I like my Watkins ceramic pie plate.

 

 

So I measure by putting the pie plate upside down on my rolled pie dough.

 
Here's my egg and water wash mixture.

 
My pie all put together and glazed with the egg wash.

 
All baked and the crust is flakey and crispy.

 
Oops, I almost forgot to take a picture of the finished prize...topped with creamy vanilla ice-cream.



 

  And it WAS yummy!!!

 

Here is the recipe I use:

CRUST

One double recipe of your favorite pie crust

FILLING

6 cups of fresh (or frozen) blueberries, rinsed and stems removed (if using frozen, defrost and drain first)

1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

1 Tbsp lemon juice

1/4 cup all-purpose flour (for thickening)

3/4-1 cup cup white granulated sugar (depending on sweetness of berries)

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

2 Tbsp butter, cut into small pieces (margarine will work as well)

EGG WASH

1 egg

1 tablespoon milk  (I use iced water)

Heat oven to 425°F.

METHOD

Prepare the crust. Roll out half of the dough to 1/8-inch-thick circle on a lightly floured work surface to fit over a 9-inch pie pan with 1/2 inch to spare around the edge. Put into the refrigerator to chill for about 30 minutes.

Gently mix the blueberries, sugar, flour, cinnamon, lemon zest, and lemon juice in a large bowl. Transfer them to the chilled bottom crust of the pie pan. Dot with butter pieces. Roll out remaining dough to the same size and thickness as the first. Place on top of the berry filling. Tuck the top dough over and under the edge of the bottom dough, and crimp the edges with your fingers. I sometimes use a fork to press the edges together as I did here. Transfer the pie to the refrigerator to chill until the dough is firm, about 30 minutes. Whisk egg and water together to make an egg wash.

Remove the unbaked pie from refrigerator & brush the top with egg wash. Score the pie on the top with decorative cuts (so steam can escape while cooking). Place the pie on the middle rack of the oven. Place a baking pan lined with parchment paper positioned on the lower rack to catch any filling that may bubble over. Bake for 20 minutes at 425°. Reduce heat to 350°F and bake for 30 to 40 minutes more or until juices are bubbling and have thickened.  With my oven I had to put a piece of aluminum foil over the crust for the last 20 minutes of the baking process as the crust would get too dark in my oven...I have a finicky oven.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Let cool completely before serving.

Yield: Makes one pie with 8 servings.

Hope you give this one a try...until next time, MO

Checking out the garden

Hi There
It stopped raining for a couple of hours, so decided to go outside this afternoon to check on my potted plants out on the patio. Most are recovering from being munched by the deer. These two were in my garden today. One has a nice velvety rack.  The deer in our area are quite small, not anything like the size of the deer you might see out in our Prairie Provinces.

The patio area has been really bugging me as I don't know quite what I'm going to do with it yet. These munched plants are on the bloom again, despite lack of sunshine.
 

 

These miniature petunias are so cute.

 

 

 

We are planning to build a privacy fence at some point, but not sure when we will get the time to do that...so the patio continues to be a 'work in progress'. Nasturtiums in my hanging patio pots are peeking up over the top of the pots.  I planted them late and they were old seeds from last year so wasn't sure they would even germinate.  So only time will tell if they come to bloom.  My herbs (parsley, sage, oregano, basil, thyme) are doing well, the dill shrivelled up and died.  That's what I'm going to do if I don't see more sunshine! HA!  Just watch me complain when the summer heat does arrive! 

 

   The urns and baskets out front are doing very well...lots of color happening there.
 

 
This begonia is almost neon...it is so bright!
 

 These begonias do okay under overcast skies,
 but the rest of the little plantings need a shot of sunshine.
 

 

My baskets are developing and should be quite showy come July.

 





 

Just posting these flowery pictures cheers me up today.

Until next time, MO

PASTEL COLOR Crochet

Hello
It's been a strange week...summer solstice has come and gone and we should be having sunny summer weather.  But it is dull, overcast, pouring rain and uninspiring.  So feel in a bit of a funk lately.

I was looking at my stash of yarns and picked up colors that appealed to me at that moment.  When I looked into my basket all the colors I'd picked reminded me of babies' colors.

 

...so I started crocheting little flowers, very simple ones.  When I had a few done it brought up the thought of crocheting a garland...a baby's room garland, for the wall or to hang along a crib.  Fun, easy, quick.  I'll just have to find a baby to give it to when I'm all done! :)

So crocheted up a few leaves that I might add as well.  And then I thot about the soft mauve I have and dug that out.  So added that to the basket and crocheted up a couple of little blooms in mauve.

Such a sweet lil' blossom!





























So a bit of crochet brought be out of my dull drums today.  I'll post my completed Baby's Room Garland when I have it all together.

Until next time, MO