A Hybrid Bake

 Hello Friends!

It's been the kind of weather that has felt better to be in the kitchen rather than outside of late, so I have been busy with my pots and pans, baking up a storm, no pun intended, with all the windfall apples.

My neighbours and I have one thing in common right now.  We all have huge amounts of windfall apples. We have tried offering them to each other, but we are all politely declining as we have mountains of our own.

One thing I dislike, and I know many of you do too, is food waste.  So, the other afternoon to use up the some of windfall apples I have, I baked an Apple Cranberry Crisp and an Apple Mincemeat Pie. After all, there's only so much apple sauce one can make, and it  was inevitable there would be something left over.

It turns out, it was the smallest piece of pastry and a tiny amount of crisp topping, so what could I do with them? Not enough to warrant freezing, and the oven was still hot.  I pulled out an individual serving size loose bottomed tin, rolled out the pastry and there was just enough to line it. I peeled and thinly sliced a small windfall and layered it in the pie crust, and gently patted the left over crisp topping over the apple.  I baked, on a tray, for about 25 to 30 minutes in a moderate oven until it was cooked and cooled in the tin. 

Et voila!  A hybrid apple pie crisp, or apple crisp pie.  it was delicious with a smidgeon of Greek yogurt, but will go equally well with your choice of sauce, and is good warm or cold.  I think it shows promise, and I shall make a larger one next time. I now have to come up with a name for it.  Maybe Hybrid Pie?  Do you have a suggestion?

The small, deep fluted tin I used was bought to make individual quiche.  I have yet to use the set for that purpose, maybe I will make some this week.  Quiche is always acceptable for lunch or supper in my cottage, and useful to have in the freezer.

As an aside, I am shocked to learn that almost all the shops in my nearest town have, apparently, done away with social distancing, have no staff on hand to guide shoppers, and now allow entire families in to shop.  It is, by all accounts, as if we turned the clocks back to early March and Covid never happened.

Until next time

Be responsible and stay safe

Deborah xo

Did Somebody Say Summer?

Gentle Reader ~~~ Can you feel it? Do you smell it? There ~~~ just a fleeting glimpse and it is gone for a moment, but will be here again shortly ~~~ of course, I am talking about Autumn, for I can barely contain my excitement that my favourite season of them all is nearly with us once more ~~~

Summer has barely appeared in the west, our temperatures struggled to break into the 60's and the wind has blown and the rain has rained ~~~ and most days the heating is on, especially in the late evenings, as the days begin to shorten and jewelled sunset, cloud~filled skies bedeck the horizon, with soft, rose~gold light welcoming the evening, bidding the day a fond farewell, and slipping into the rich, velvety purple of a moonlight night ~~~

I am not complaining! I cannot take the heat so this cooler, more tempered weather has suited me well, although a little less wind and rain would not have gone amiss ~~~

Regrettably, I did not complete the ICAD challenge this year.  I was unwell, then Mum was unwell, and over a week went by, and I fell so far behind in the daily challenge that it suddenly became catchup and a chore. Art is not about being a chore, it is all about pleasure, and that is why I'm not taking part for the remainder, but who knows what I will get up to next?  Thank you all for your very kind comments and encouragement, and maybe next year some of you will take part too?

So, how does my garden grow?  With all the rain it grows rather well, despite the lack of warming sun, it is quite lush and verdant, and as we might expect the weeds are doing exceptionally well ~~~ {insert hysterical laughter here} I even managed to miss one week of putting out the fortnightly garden waste collection, so shame on me!

Nature is quite a miracle, she keeps things ticking over, even during periods of neglect ~~~ here are some pictures of what flowered ~~~

The firey orange of the Crocosmia Lucifer which has done particularly well
this year ~~~

with the purple beauty of the dwarf clematis ~~~

The gentle, innocent, and daisy~like flowers of Feverfew ~~~

and the delicate pink of a cultivated Verbascum ~~~

or the feathery blue of a Nigella ~~~ Love in a Mist ~~~

a patch of borage, perfect to garnish your Pimms or G&T ~~~

Lots of different grasses bring interest, movement, and neutral colour to the garden ~~~

and my favourite, native Mullein {Verbascum}

Now I have a conundrum {yet again!} and we must wait and see ~~~ I discovered a beautiful, peachy pink poppy growing on the side of the drive ~~~ it has all the attributes of the wild field poppies that are strewn over my entire garden, yet it is this pretty, and very unusual colour.

At first, I thought a bloom had bleached out in the sun, but then successive flowers opened in the same colour, so I have tied raffia around the stem to mark it out and will harvest the seed heads separately in the hopes that it will come true again in the future. Fingers Crossed ~~~ I would love to know if you have any suggestions or thoughts on this too ~~~

Here is the sunset that graced our westering skies last evening ~~~

Can you see the animal {be it cat, dog, or maybe even a unicorn?} galloping across the evening sky?  Remember, don't look too hard at my garden, just see all the beautiful blooms, the raindrops, and the sunsets ~~~ and ignore the weeds!

Until next time ~~~
Sincerely yours ~~~ Deborah