International Dog Day!!
My beautiful Emmett!
Oops … we missed International Cat Day on 8/8 …
Posts by Liz
The snuggle brothers
Not the first time. It doesn’t happen a lot, though and I am always surprised … there are 3 actual dog beds, 1 cat bed and numerous chairs, etc. that have cushy throws. But, this morning, they decided they both wanted the kitchen dog bed!
Smoky … and the plumber came a day early!
Good news first … yes, the plumber called Monday, late morning … they were freed up and wanted to know if they could get my leak fixed right then … YES!! It was actually fairly minor, fixed quickly and I’m back to normal kitchen sink operations.
Meanwhile …
Wildfire smoke from southern Montana fires is stuck in the valley. There is a good chance it will clear this afternoon/overnight as a cool front with moisture is due.
Smoky red sunrise.
Thankfully, there is no smoky smell and no falling ash.
The smoke makes for an odd, kind of glowing light in the woods and I will be glad when it clears, but it did keep things from getting as hot as forecast yesterday.
Returning from the after breakfast walk.
Front porch flowers are hanging in. The begonias have not been 100% happy. I thought last week, that they were goners, but they have rallied a bit after a trim and feed. Next year, I will return to fuschia hopefully.
Here we go, Tuesday :)
Birthday Pie: a week late
Last Sunday was my birthday and it was a wonderful day, but with all of the bug stuff happening, baking and cooking was not top of my list.
BUT, I had seen this pie about a week before my birthday:
I immediately bought a subscription to Bake from Scratch Magazine .
It is a gorgeous magazine full of wonderful recipes including Erin Jeanne McDowell’s Banana Coconut Cream Pie from her book:
I have the book on pre-order :)
Late May, I happened on a YouTube video from Erin’s series for Food52.com called “Bake it up a Notch”. The video I watched was how to make puff pastry and it included both traditional puff pastry and a fast, easy “rough puff” which takes about 10 minutes to put together and after an hour in the refrigerator is ready to use. I had so much fun and so much success with the rough puff! Erin is fun and funny as well as a great teacher of “how to” do some complex baking things. She always includes a section on “how to fix what went wrong and/or why something can go wrong”. AND, she spends time on encouraging observation, i.e. yes, follow the recipe, but also pay attention to look/feel/smell.
My next EJM baking success was biscuits. Biscuits have been my baking nemesis! But this video, released on Father’s Day, of Erin and her Dad making biscuits … Erin in New Jersey and her Dad in Kansas … so helpful and now I make both the sky high traditional biscuits and drop biscuits whenever I want. Both freeze well (pre-bake) so it is also fun to have some in the freezer, ready to pop in the oven.
All of the above to say that I am now a HUGE Erin Jeanne McDowell fan! Aside from being an excellent baking teacher, her passion for food and being in the kitchen and just her general joie de vivre (exuberant enjoyment of life) are just what I want right now!
Back to Birthday Pie!!
I also did not have all the ingredients I needed for the pie … on my birthday and as I’ve been grocery shopping every 2-3 weeks vs every week, I find I really don’t WANT to run to the grocery on a non-shopping week.
But, this week was my week for grocery so I got the few things I didn’t have … except, I forgot Nilla Wafer cookies … RATS. I looked for a recipe to make my own and wow – they are easy and I had everything needed and in a happy coincidence the wafers take 3 egg whites and the coconut custard for the pie takes 3 egg yolks … so happy, happy, no leftover whites or yolks to use up in whatever.
The wafers:
The only tricky thing – for me – is that the cookies are piped. I have tips and pastry bags but I have not done a lot of piping. I need more practice and also to follow the recipe directions of leaving a lot of space because the cookies spread. However, as they were going to be buried in custard and some crushed over the bananas … appearance was not an issues. AND they are SO good: crispy, light, vanilla wafer cookies
I used Erin’s “All buttah” pie crust recipe and for this pie, it includes some toasted coconut.
The coconut custard in the making … crust and wafers awaiting.
Half of the custard topped with vanilla wafers…
Top with the remaining custard and into the refrigerator for 4 long hours! Long because it smelled so very good!
Finally! The custard gets topped with banana, crushed wafers, whipped cream and then some bits of banana and coconut. Mine is not nearly as pretty as Erin’s, but it is delicious.
Birthday Pie!!
Wine o’clock on the front porch
So.
We all had a very full Saturday!
Auggie: out and about on cat business, checking in for food and short naps
Emmett: Sprinkler, fetch games, supervising me :)
Me: a baking project to be shared tomorrow!! And I made a few more masks for myself and hemmed some curtains. And… the sprinklers don’t turn themselves on and the toys don’t throw themselves, i.e. I was outside playing some myself. Oh … and this weekend’s problem … leak under the kitchen sink. Plumber scheduled for Tuesday. Meanwhile dishes are being washed in a dishpan which means many trips to toss dishwater. Who needs a gym???
5:45 ish … after Emmett had his supper and we had a post supper walk … wine o’clock while I think about what to have for my supper.
See you tomorrow with some baking fun :) !!
A good week
Here we are: Friday night, 2/3 of the way to Autumnal Equinox and NOAA says the worst of the summer heat is behind us (in NW Montana) – YEA!
Thursday was beautifully cool after a warm, muggy start that included some welcome showers … then a cool front with drier air and I never had to turn on the A/C. This, after 4 days of mid-90’s daytime and upper 60’s overnight … not my favorite!
The Jeep had a long overdue service including it’s Air Conditioning and even though it was a pleasant 70F on Thursday, WOW – great to have excellent cooling as I drove through the valley to pick up this week’s vegetables from the farm.
Today, Friday, although it did get up to 85F, it started very cool so took all day to heat up. There was a nice breeze, so between bouts of work, we all got outside.
A good week.