Early July Blackberry Pie

I'm ashamed to admit that this blackberry pie is my first pie of the summer, back in early July.

New Toy.

A brand new, all-mine circular saw and a good bread recipe. What more does a girl need?

Slow day (month) at the office . . .

Not much crafting going on these days, unless you count packing to move, which it could be argued is a craft in itself.

"pantry" waiting to be packed.

Cupcakes for Two (or Three)

So I came across a pin on pinterest the other day that claimed it would make two cupcakes.

I very much like cupcakes. And, while it really isn't that much of a hassle to make a dozen cupcakes, it is generally safer to have an occasion for which a dozen cupcakes can be brought to. Otherwise they are too tempting to not eat in an unnecessarily short amount of time.

Normally I am skeptical of recipes on pinterest because, thanks in part to the cautionary tales on Pinstrosity, the internet is sometimes just too good to be true.

But tonight I decided to brave it, and I followed the pin to the One Bowl Vanilla Cupcakes For Two.

A recipe that makes just two cupcakes. Two. Cupcakes. oh. dear.

So, I made them. Like I have anything better to do on a Friday night?

'Tis the season: gingerbread men and 3-D paper stars

A little round up of some baking and crafting from this week/weekend.  Despite the 3 or four inches of fresh snow that fell overnight, I took this morning to finish up procuring and wrapping presents for the family.  Zoe makes an excellent backdrop, and her patience was rewarded with an hour or so hike on some trails across from the nearby elementary school.

wrapping paper courtesy of old seven days papers.
just another way to cut down on waste during the
holidays, doubling as a great fire starter!

Nutella Cookies

Nutella is one of my favorite food products.  I tend to consume it straight from the jar on a spoon.  It's a heavenly hazelnut pick-me-up.  And now I've found a recipe for Nutella Cookies, courtesy of Pinterest.

April Sky Blanket Square

Not much crafting in the month of April aside from sky blanket square.  Grad school is nearly over, and teaching winds up at the end of this month.  Hopefully I'll find some more time throughout the summer to fit some crafting in!

april showers bring may flowers

Year of the Pie: In Review

Well, I didn't quite make it through the entire Pie compendium. But given the busy second half of the year I've had, I'm fairly pleased with twelve new pies in the course of eight months of 2011 - seems pretty good to me!

To review:

Year of the Pie #11 & 12: The Simplest Cranberry-Apple Crumb Pie & Maple Pumpkin Pie

Happy Thanksgiving!

Our family is fairly consistent year-to-year in what we have at Thanksgiving dinner - there's something about tradition, I suppose. We had turkey, stuffing, green beans, apple-herb rolls, kidney bean salad, homemade cranberry sauce, roasted carrots and parsnips, and sweet potato casserole. Dessert consisted of two pies and cranberry mousse.

My sister and I were assigned desserts, and everyone knows that it's not Thanksgiving without pie! Hopefully these two pies (plus a bonus dessert!) will partly make up for the baking pie-atus (get it?) I've been on as of late. We were charged with making an apple pie, a pumpkin pie, and cranberry mousse (my favorite holiday dessert - and SUPER easy to make).

cranberry-apple pie

maple pumpkin pie

Year of the Pie #10: The Easiest Apple Pie

Happy 4th of July!

The 4th here on the island is really incredible. There are TONS of people downstreet for most of the morning. The parking lot is closed off to cars and there a bunch of booths for PIE, the Fire Department, Friends of the Library, ICMS, the Land Trust, the Childcare, a penny raffle, the French Club, and each of the high school classes has a game booth, the Lions Club hosts a food booth (mmm. . . crab rolls), as well as countless others interspersed. The parade goes by twice, with fire trucks, ambulances, little league teams, the town band, random floats by island businesses and groups of friends, and more - all following a theme set forth by the 4th of July committee. This year the theme was "Breaking News" and the floats were fantastic. Oh, and Vinalhaven experienced its first flash mob, too.

no, really, it is easy!

Year of the Pie #9: Golden Delicious Apple Pie with Oatmeal Crumb Topping

Well, it was inspired by the above-named recipe, but ended up being a Cortland Apple and Craisin Pie with Oatmeal Crumb Topping.


The end-of-school potluck staff party was this afternoon/evening, and last week I signed up to make a pie. I knew I wouldn't have time to bake today, what with it being the last day of school and all, so I baked it on Sunday; the crust was done up in the morning, and the pie was completed (late) last night.

next time I'll try it with
the golden delicious apples

I've made tons of apple pies over the past few years. It really doesn't take much to make one - apples, some sugar, a few spices. And a pie crust, of course. But, as I mentioned when I started this little venture, I want to follow the recipes in this book, and follow them as closely as possible. Since I made the rules, though, I can also bend them as I see fit - and this time I saw fit.

Year of the Pie #8: Sumner, Washington, Rhubarb Custard Pie

 'Tis the season for rhubarb! This is the patch of rhubarb here at the Margaret Adams' house: 

hello rhubarb!

I'm a huge fan of rhubarb, and when I was invited to a pie party last Thursday, I knew I had to find a rhubarb pie in the book to bake up. I had several options, and most were traditional, straight-rhubarb, or strawberry- or berry- rhubarb. SO typical. So, I opted for the Sumner, Washington, Rhubarb Custard Pie.

Year of the Pie #6 & 7: Extra Rich Lemon Custard & Strawberry Chiffon Pies

Happy Easter! Another two-fer this round, in honor of the Easter holiday and Easter dinner with friends.

I knew I was going to bring a pie for dinner, but arriving home mid afternoon on the Saturday before Easter didn't leave a lot of time. Not to mention the (sometimes) limited selection at the store, and the last-minute trip at 30 minutes before closing. I wanted to make a pie that evoked a sense of spring considering today was cold and rainy (and snowy in parts of VT and NH!). My original plan was to make just the Extra-Rich Lemon Custard Pie. The author describes this as a basic pie that's easy to assemble - just a few liquids to blend.

Year of the Pie #5: Maple Custard

March can be a bear weather-wise. Snow one day, 60's and sunny the next. At least there is one upside to March in northern New England: sugaring season! As a tribute to the liquid gold that comes but once a year, I found a Maple Custard pie in the book.

This is a pretty simple recipe with only a few ingredients - heavy cream, maple syrup (REAL maple syrup), sugar, vanilla, salt and egg yolks, in a flaky crust, and is very easy to prepare: "combine all the filling ingredients in a large bowl and whisk briefly, until evenly mixed." Seriously. The crust took longer to make! Only one bowl to wash? Sweet!

Year of the Pie #3 & 4: Chocolate-Peanut Butter Pie and Joe's Stone Crab Key Lime Pie

This round of pie is a two-fer! Given that much of the winter months are spent in hermit mode here on the island, March is when we start getting restless for some socialization. A friend/fellow teacher decided it was time for a potluck, and set forth plans for this evening. I decided to bring a pie. Or two. I based this reasoning primarily on the fact that I couldn't decide which pie to make, but also on the type of pies I was stuck on. One is chocolate-peanut butter - sort of rich and wintry, the other is key lime - a hint of spring. Kind of like March, winter isn't quite over, but spring is just around the corner (though in northern New England, spring can sometimes yield a snow day in April). 



ingredients for a pie or two. or more.
I may have looked at an extra pie
recipe when making the grocery list.



Year of the Pie #2: Blackberry Silk Pie

When the bag of frozen blackberries fell out of the freezer while putting away groceries the other week, I decided it was time for another pie. This year was a banner year for blackberries; between the bushes on one of my daily walks, and a friend's over-laden driveway, I was able to make at least 1 pie, 4 jars of jam (I'm halfway through them) and freeze at least 4-5 quarts of berries for later. Now it's later, and time to start using the berries; definitely wouldn't want them to sit in the freezer through the whole winter!

Year of the Pie #1: Osgood Pie

So I had to start with the Osgood pie. Believe it or not, when I first flipped through the Pie book to start this venture, it fell open to this pie. For those who don't know, my middle name is Osgood (my paternal Grandmother's maiden name). And for those of you not on the island, Osgood is a well-established family name out here. Seems like a fitting place to start. According to the author, as well as several web sources, there are two origins to the name: either it's the name of the original baker/cook, or a shortened form of "Oh-so-good". 

I've decided to follow each recipe as closely (close being a very loose term, of course) as possible which goes against my better judgement. My better judgement (and baking instincts) kicked in on this one, but not until the end.

Year of the Pie? Oh, my!

According to Weekend Edition Sunday from January 2nd, pie just might be a trendy food this year - surpassing the ever-popular cupcake. Granted, it was a short story, it still made me happy. I'm a little nervous about the whole trendy "thing" but I loved pie before it was trendy and I will stay true no matter its status.



While I am a huge fan of cupcakes (and have been known to vacation in cities that have shops devoted to the cupcake) I am a much greater fan of pie. I love the entire process, from crust to filling to assembling to enjoying the first slice. Pie for breakfast the next morning can't be beat. A dream of mine is to open a pie shop possibly with my friend R from CO who is a much better pie crafter than I. Perhaps someday.

 

wedding pies!

Prior to that, I plan to steal an idea from friends who were married several years ago; rather than the traditional cake, or the now-trendy cupcake (both of my siblings went with this option so I figure I need to mix things up a bit), they opted for wedding pies. I arrived in Durango late the night before the wedding and helped R finish off the fleet of pies. The variety was enough to satisfy all the guests, and the bride & groom wore aprons to cut their pies. It was fantastic.

A new venture

I've been knitting and sewing since I was young and imagine it will continue for a long time. I still have a small draw-string bag I sewed in 4H, as well as a pillow from junior high home ec. I'm pretty certain there are several small knit items hiding amongst my dollhouse and American doll things that are tucked away at my parents.


I decided I needed a way to share some of the crafting I do in my spare-ish time. The things I make are a mixed bag - sometimes for me, sometimes for gifts, sometimes for sale. Hopefully there will be some semblance of consistency to sharing what I'm working on, and at the very least, showing off previous work.


Most crafting happens to be knitting, which includes a wide variety of things from sweaters to hats to socks to whimsy's, and on, and on. I also do a lot of sewing - baby quilts, aprons, the occasional big quilt, miscellaneous bags, and clothing for myself, including at least half a dozen dresses that I made for various weddings and that, unfortunately, I've really only worn once or twice. Ooops. If only my job were more conducive to garden-party style dresses.


And now a plug for my ulterior motive:
I've been selling quite a bit of my knitting over the years. I think it started with a holiday craft show several years ago when I lived in Durango. Since I've been on the island I've taken part in the Silver Threads Artisan Craft show that happens in the summer and winter. In addition, I get fairly consistent requests. I've been known to knit for trade as well as for things like coffee and chocolate. Please don't hesitate to email me if you're interested in something you see or have in mind.


I also take on alteration and mending of various clothes, mostly for friends and local folks on island.