Friday, July 23, 2010

That Was Quick - Sweet and Savory Bows.

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For all my boo-hooing yesterday, Flock went and got the huge job done in only a couple of days. Maybe they were giving all of us addicts a worst-case scenario so we'd be even more grateful for this browser when it was fixed.

Anyhow, I'll play a little catch-up.

The day after the flood we were having a movie night here so Michael and I worked to confine the chaos to the sun room.





All the Betty Lukens flannel boards had gotten wet, so we set them out to dry during the day.





I love these things. A leftover joy of childhood that I love sharing with children.









Of course, we played with them as we worked.





So the front room was cleared.





And the family room was filled with any sort of seating we could drag in.





And we watched... what did we watch, anyway? The perks about forgetfulness with movies is that you can watch the again and again!

It's coming back to me now. Alice in Wonderland. Everybody get enough popcorn? There seems to be a little competition going in in this photo.





We were also very happy to share our first harvest of blackberries. We had a band of pickers come on over and it was done in short order. 3 days later, it took Michael and me three hours to pick 5 gallons. We froze most of them.

With the drought, the grasshoppers went through my garden. They are all over the place, a few got in the house, they are on the screens. Just look at what they did to our Swiss chard. Happily, the rains have brought green back to the landscape and they should be kept busier and away from the garden.





A little archery to top off blackberry picking. Of course more time is spent searching for arrows than actually sending them through the air.





Michael and I made this recipe up. The goal? Eliminating leftovers. We judged it to be very tasty.





SWEET AND SAVORY BOW TIES

Standard bowtie pasta, cooked al dente
Fresh blackberries
Milk syrup
Parmesan cheese


Here is the recipe for the syrup.

Get a very large pot, as this bubbles up a lot. Turn heat to medium. Place inside of pot in this order:

1 cube butter
3/4 cup milk or buttermilk
2 TBL corn syrup
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp baking soda


Stir and bring to a boil. Simmer for 7 minutes and remove from heat. Stir in:


2 tsp vanilla

That's the syrup recipe. Mix the berries in some syrup and cook down, spoon over pasta, and top with the Parmesan cheese. Surprisingly yummy!

We went off on another blueberry jaunt.





This time the berries were more numerous





and sweet.





And we could not resist the grand opening of the new Dunkin Donuts. Small town adventuring at its best.





I'd only been to one once as a child. I sampled a plain bagel, and Michael had a Bavarian cream doughnut - one of our very most favoritestest treats.





Good rest, chatting, and the young people never seem to be without a deck of cards. Challenging the notion that poker is, in and of itself, evil.





A visit with my folks.





Led me off to a simple macro wonderland.









They want to know if this is a poisonous tree. They were told it was some sort of wild cherry. Anyone know?









I got to steal one of my 'daughters' to go shopping.





We got Seth a dog tag.





Then we took off for a Pampered Chef bridal shower.

I was the only one who does not own a single piece of Pampered Chef ware. That stuff is quality; another word for expensive. Call me the WalMart Budget Girl, but what a lovely way to outfit your kitchen!

Gorgeous and delicious cake, made by my too-long-between-visits friend, Pam. She needs to open a bakery. Really. Seriously.





Pam, and the bride to be, wearing an apron made by another of my 'daughters'. She needs to sell these beauties.





Where do guys go when girls are at showers?









Swimming, and....

More archery.





I think we'll be shopping for more arrows soon.

~Faith

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14 comments:

  1. Hey there Faith. That tree is a pin cherry. It is a wild cherry...verry correct. One popped up in my parents yard a few years ago...so I looked it up. They are not poisonous...but not too tasty. However...they grow very tall very fast. I believe 30 to 50 ft. So they might want to move it, but I wouldn't kill it. It is an interesting addition and nice for shade. Oh...and the birds love it. :0P

    Blessings, Lori

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  2. The cake can only be described 'elegant'. beautiful design. And what flavor?

    The tree is wild cherry. I have several here. Birds love the fruit. It is claimed that one chopped down eaten on by a cow will kill the animal. Have heard this from several sources.

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  3. The tongues are too cute. :)

    That IS a gorgeous cake! I second the bakery notion.

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  4. We had one of those pin cherry type trees in the yard when i was growing up. They do grow fast, and if i remember right they are a brittle tree, prone to breaking like weeping willows, silver maple and box elder. They make a nice tree when they are small, but when it gets large and has branches hanging over anything valuable it might should be taken down.

    The sweet pasta dish actually sounds reasonable. I think it might taste like the part of a cheese and fruit danish where the pastry is more dense.
    Food experiments are fun, and its surprising how well some strange things work out.

    I keep forgetting that Dunkin' Donuts are not ubiquitous in the rest of the country. My sister was pretty upset when they had moved to MO after having been in RI and MA for so long and surrounded by Dunky D's. There were none in MO that she ever found. I used to love their French crullers, but they discontinued them i think. They were profiterole type with a honey glaze.


    Your parents' garden has some nice things in it, clematis and hardy dinnerplate hibiscus?


    I have been invited to Pampered Chef parties before but never bought anything. They do have a nice two-piece trifle bowl i'd like to have some day. :o) I have to get the timing of party invites and money in the bank in the right order.

    The cake is very pro looking, and it matches their outfits!

    oh, and...

    I can't wait two years for blueberries! Ahhhhhh! lol

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  5. Hey, those wild cherries look an awful lot like our chokecherries and they make a delicious jam, jelly and syrup. The syrup is to die for over vanilla icecream. :O) Enjoying my time reading your posts and getting alot accomplished here on the home front too*wink*

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  6. I own two pieces of Pampered Chef clay. One is a burgundy covered baking dish and one is the rectangular baking sheet. I also own an ice cream scoop and it is amazing. I used to own a hand chopper but it got lost I guess moving out here. That recipe sounds interesting. John made a face when I read it to him so I don't think he will try it. That cake looked amazing!!!

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  7. I am always amazed at the number of kids that are always visiting your house. I guess your place is the fun place to be, you are very blessed to have that going for you.

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  8. Hey Lori,

    Thanks! This is one of two pin cherries that actually are across the road from them, leading down into a valley. I have some here as well, I think right in front of the house. They don't sound very tasty!

    ~Faith

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  9. Sissy,

    One tier was chocolate, and one was vanilla. And now that I'm typing this out, I can see she was carrying the black and white theme right into the cake as well. It was yummy!

    I think I've heard something similar about wild cherries being harmful to animals. I could never figure that out - because I was thinking they were talking about the wild pie cherries that are also common here. This would make more sense, if it's true.

    ~Faith

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  10. Alyse,

    The rest did not want to be put down on record with blue tongues, but it was pretty funny. Michael, I'm sure, ate just as many berries, but his tongue did not stain, or it may have been a few minutes earlier. The blue goes away pretty quickly.

    ~Faith

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  11. Icebear,

    Well, I finally took some time to look it up as I seemed to be the only one that didn't know what it was. LOL It's fast growing 20 - 40 years lifespan, so not good for lumber, but I wonder how it would be for firewood at a campsite?

    I didn't find the DD bagel to be any better than the bagels I buy at the store. Granted, I'm picky, squeezing the bagels to make sure they are soft and chewy. But our friends from NY were very excited about having DD bagels nearby now. Perhaps they need some practice as yet. The Bavarian cream doughnut was not good. They all had a plastic food display look to them. I was very surprised. But hanging out with friends and checking out the new digs was definitely irreplaceable. I need to take them down to the local bakery doughnut shop. They've got some really amazing doughnuts there, and the Bavarian cream weighs about a pound. LOL

    I hear ya! I've been trying to grow my own blueberries for about 10 years. I'm still waiting! But at 5 bucks a gallon and a day out with friends, its a pretty good deal for no labor during the year.

    ~Faith

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  12. Kelle,

    I could have sworn I heard people calling poke weed choke cherries. I just looked it up and I see that pin cherries are called choke cherries as well.

    Laughing here, I had to look up choke cherries and poke weed as I thought I'd heard some locals calling poke weed "choke cherries" as well. I've got that cleared up, poke is NOT choke cherry. What I also found out is that every time I though I heard people talking about Poke Salad, but they were not MAKING salad with it, I realize now there were saying Poke Sallet. LOL

    Good informative day for me.

    ~Faith

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  13. SM,

    I've heard people talking about that ice cream scoop. The one that you shake up or something to heat the scoop. They love it!

    ~Faith

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  14. Chai Chai,

    Don't you just love a house full of children and young people? They help keep us young and giving us perspective. Ideally it should be a mutual thing; all ages spending time together, offering their perspectives to one another, and giving all of us a more balanced way of looking at everything. The older bring wisdom, the younger keep you laughing.

    ~Faith

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I always enjoy hearing from others. If you become a regular commenter, I'll assume you are being friendly and pretty much comment regularly right back. :o) God bless and have a terrific day!