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Under a Blue Moon

Decor, cooking, organization, all the pretty things

Content/Sidebar/Sidebar

And this little piggie

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Winter is sneaky here in Northern California ~ we get this false Spring almost every year where it starts to warm up in February.  We start breaking out our sandals and start hanging out at the nurseries wondering when the impatiens will be in.

Then of course we get weeks of cold, wet weather and have to put our pale, pasty feet back into sensible shoes.   Mother Nature can be cruel that way.

Sweetpeas Every year I think I’m going to do sweet peas and every year I forget to get them started.  I should have planted seeds late in the Fall but maybe it’s not too late for starting them indoors. 

When my sister Kate and I used to live on the same street I would come home from work during the late Spring and I would find a bouquet of sweet peas on my front porch.  She always remembers to start them but then her gardening work ethic is way better than mine.   She would order carefully thought out colors late in the Summer and had a sweet pea tee-pee in her backyard.

That’s probably the root of my forgetfulness – I probably subconsciously just wait for her to grow them and share them with me.   

There was one awful year when her husband thought the seedlings poking out of the ground were weeds and he whacked them all out.  He might still be sleeping on the couch for that transgression.

I think I need a trellis full of these blooming, don’t you?

February 1, 2007 9:39 am Andrea Filed Under: Musings

Ugh

Wine

iStock photo

Feeling a wee bit under the weather this morning.   Err ~ afternoon I mean.  Drove down to my Dad’s last night and met up with my visiting sister.  Someone may have had more wine than was prudent.  I can’t even muster up the energy to write a proper sentence. 

What is the first rule of blogging?  Have your camera with you at all times.  Where is mine?  Not entirely sure – it isn’t with me, that is for certain.  So instead of showing you the actual empty wine bottles (which would have been embarassing and rather alarming) I’ll just rely on iStockphoto. 

Since my brain is all sloshy right now I think I’ll just share some YouTube videos that I can watch over and over again.

Torvill & Dean – Bolero – anyone remember this performance?  It still gives me goosebumps to see it.  I wish the quality of the recording was better.

Horse Rescue – this is just touching.

Where’s Matt – makes you realize how small the world really is

Juggling – this guy really is amazing

There you have it – a little mindless entertainment for you.  Anyone care to share their favorite YouTubes?

January 31, 2007 1:21 pm Andrea Filed Under: Musings

Angels

Angels

1. Anjo Guardião, 2. Angels Instead (reloaded), 3. Victoriana, 4. The Child who ate Turkish Delight, 5. version1, 6. And the Days Are Not Full Enough, 7. Angel, 8. Garden Angel, 9. Untitled, 10. Amorek_090605_kpjas, 11. Highgate1, 12. Cupid and Psyche, 13. "Central park", 14. Crocker angel, 15. Angel in the Graveyard, 16. …

So many melancholy angels.

I do love Flickr.  More of my favorites.  I forget what I was looking for but the next thing I knew I was claiming images of angel statues as my favorites.   

I especially love Psyche Revived (number 12).   The original by Antonio Canova is at the Louvre.  Antonio is a handsome bloke, don’t you think?  I have my own Three Graces.  Not quite as grand as Randolph’s copy but I like it nonetheless.

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I liked my gratuitous pretty photo in my previous post so much I made it my new banner.  Let me know if looks wonky on your end.  Or if it’s not showing up. 

January 30, 2007 12:01 am Andrea Filed Under: Musings

Pear Custard (alternative title: The importance of measuring properly)

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First a gratuitous pretty photo.  I’ve been meaning to do a food related post forever but I cannot take an appetizing food photo to save my life.  Why is that?  I know it’s not just me because I’ve seen plenty of other not very appealing food pictures out there.  I think when you don’t have the aroma of whatever the dish is it loses part of its appeal. 

One thinks of food as being something that just needs to taste good but really food needs to appeal to all our senses.  Smell, appearance, textures, and even sound – (crackling bacon anyone?) along with taste.  I think that’s why food stylists really have it cut out for themselves.   My hat is off to those of you that do it well. 

P1280001_1  My mother found this pear custard recipe sometime during the mid 80’s.  So I can’t properly credit the original creator of the dish.  Let me tell you though – it makes your house smell like heaven while it’s baking. 

I’m pampering Rick because he had surgery on his hand Friday.  One of his favorite desserts is this pear custard.  I have made this over a dozen times and for some reason I never saved the recipe.  It wasn’t ever a problem though – I would just call my Mom and she would read it off to me.  Again. 

It was bittersweet to call my Dad’s house looking for it this afternoon.  My sister Mary is visiting from Wisconsin and I made her go to my Mom’s recipe journal and look for it.  My mother had great intentions with this journal – but really what ended up happening is instead of copying recipes to it she just shoved clippings in between the pages.  Mary looked through all the clippings three times, while we discussed the proper pruning method for lilacs, and couldn’t find the recipe.  After the third time she flipped to the front of the book and wouldn’t you know it ~ the pear custard recipe was one of two that were actually written into the journal. 

Pear Custard

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

8 ripe pears, peeled and quartered
1 1/2 cups milk
2/3 cup heavy cream
2/3 cup sugar
4 eggs
2/3 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 Tbls. butter

Arrange pears in a baking dish.  In a blender mix the rest of the ingredients, except for the butter, until blended.  Pour over pears and dot with butter.  Sprinkle a tablespoon or two of sugar over it all.  Bake for 50 minutes. 

I have a very bad habit of not measuring vanilla.  I just grab the bottle and pour an approximate amount in.  This afternoon I grabbed the bottle and as I was pouring it into the blender I realized I had grabbed almond extract instead.   Oops.  If I had used a measuring spoon I would have noticed and could have caught myself before adding it to the other ingredients.  I just added a swig of vanilla – we’ll see how it tastes.

And I have the recipe copied down now.

January 29, 2007 12:01 am Andrea Filed Under: Food

Magical

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The pictures in this post are all screen captures from the movie Practical Magic.  I was watching it on Saturday night and realized that my dream house is the house from the movie.  I must have subconsciously stored it all away.

I’m not so enamored with the actual style of the house (Victorian) (although I wouldn’t turn it down, if someone wanted to give it to me) but I do love the interiors and especially the garden.  A few posts back I was talking about my fantasy rose garden that would have been swept away in the great flood of 2005 if it had been a reality ~ this is exactly how I envisioned it.

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Just about that size with white picket fence.  I just had some archways going on over the gate in my little fantasy garden.

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Oh there is it. 

There are certain movies that I can watch over and over again just for the sets.  Stepmom is another good one (Susan Sarandon’s house).  So is that movie with Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton – Somethings Gotta Give – I love the beach house in that movie.  Or the apartment in Green Card with Andie McDowell’s rooftop garden.

When I watch a movie with a good house set I keep trying to peer around the actors so I can see the details of the house.

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You there!  Aidan ~ get out of the way!

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Hmm – my next house might need a conservatory.

I used to tear out pictures in magazines of decorating styles I liked.  Particularly kitchens.  One of the pictures I ripped out was from a scene in a movie with Barbara Hershey in it because I loved the leaded glass in the kitchen cupboards.  Now I can just watch movies on my laptop and do screen captures instead.  My new decorating wishlist file.

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Oh.  I guess I need the ocean just a couple hundred feet off of my front porch.  I could live with that.

As it turns out this movie was filmed near the San Juan Islands in Washington and they actually built the house just for the film and then TORE IT DOWN.  Can you even imagine.   

January 28, 2007 12:01 am Andrea Filed Under: Musings

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