Under a Blue Moon

She’s baaaack…..

Can you guess who?

Does this help?

My niece Sara has resurrected her Winemaker's Wife Blog!! There has been much going on in the lives of the Winemaker and his lovely bride (not to mention the chickens) and she is back to entertain, inspire and share with us.

Join her as she settles into her new home (with tales of traveling with six opinionated chickens in an Austin Mini Cooper….), new recipes, new decor, new entertaining and finally being able to share their amazing wines with the the rest of us.

It's a brand new era of The Winemaker's Wife.

Monday’s Musings

Laundry day

This morning I was looking at a piece of vintage lace and I realized that it needed washing.

I went to the laundry room and pulled out various jugs of laundry detergent, fabric softeners and stain removers so I could get to my trusty box of Biz at the back of my cupboard. I was grumbling that this was a totally unsatisfactory arrangement especially since I use the box of Biz a lot.

Then I had one of the aha moments where your carefully planned out day takes an entirely different direction.

I had an old jar in the garage so I dragged it out and scrubbed it then I made a stencil of the word "Biz" and etched it on the jar. The result is subtle but the addition of a small china mug to replace the plastic scoop and I think it is way more charming than the ugly old box.

We are having a blissfully gloomy day here in Granite Bay. Yesterday's 100 degree temperatures have been replaced with cool, rainy clouds and the occasional far off rumble of thunder. A perfect day to curl up on the couch and read. Only when I got up to refill my iced tea someone had claimed the couch for her royal self.

Look at that – she has no intention of sharing the couch with me.

Swoon!

Look what came in the mail today! I ordered it from Barnes & Noble because they seem to be the only book seller shipping it right now. Amazon and Borders both had a month to three month waiting list for it.

I tend to wait to order decorating books because I can almost always find used ones that are in really good shape. However, in light of all the inspiration Ms. Ashwell has given me over the years and the current financial situation she finds herself in, I wanted to support her right NOW.

The photos are delicious. And the book is quite heavy. Page after page of inspiration and gorgeousness. I've only been able to give it the most cursory glance (since it just arrived in the past hour) but I am going to devote the better part of the weekend pouring over and devouring it.

Look! I have a sink that looks almost identical to the one below. I love it paired with the pale grey marble.

I hope this book heralds the new beginning of whatever direction Rachel Ashwell is going. I know it will be gorgeous and inspiring and I can't wait to see what she has in store for us.

Monday’s Musings

Weekend of the tarts

We had guests this weekend. Nicki, Dennis and Ozzie came up to visit on Friday and just left an hour or so ago.

We love having people come up and see us. We are sort of far away from everyone so we really enjoy having visitors that we can wine and dine.

This weekend it was all about the food. Tarts in particular. On Friday night I made wasabi/panko encrusted salmon, a vegetable tart and a caesar salad. The vegetable tart was so easy and so pretty and was the highlight of the meal. Here is a before picture:

It couldn't have been simpler to make. I used a frozen deep dish pie crust that I pressed into my own tart pan. I pre-baked the shell and when it was cool I sprinkled on crumbled goat cheese. Then I layered thinly sliced red onion, red bell pepper, yellow Summer squash and zucchini. I drizzled on some olive oil and then seasoned with salt and pepper. I baked it at 375 for about a half an hour.

~~If you go to tastespotting.com and search on ratatouille tart you'll find the original recipe, including the pastry.~~ Okay I was really feeling lazy when I first posted – here is the link to the orginal recipe of the Ratatouille Tart. I feel better now.

On Saturday Rick picked apples from our very own tree and I decided to make an apple tart. I looked on-line for a recipe and ended up kind of cobbling together several recipes to come up with this one.

Again, using the frozen pie crust (Marie Callander's) I pressed it into my tart pan and pre-baked it. While it was baking I made a simple applesauce using the apples, some sugar, a dash of maple syrup and cinnamon. I spread it on the tart shell and then layered thinly sliced apples in a pleasing pattern on top.

After I baked it (40 minutes at 400F) I brushed on a glaze of marion-berry preserves, golden syrup and a splash of rum. I would have used apricot jam if I had it but we were out so I used the marion-berry preserves instead. It gave the tart a bit of a rosy glow.

I think if I was to make this again I would go to the trouble of making the pastry myself and would do a sweeter pastry.

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. It's a three-day one for us in the states. I'm about to start sewing yards and yards and yards of hand-crocheted lace to a bed skirt.

That ought to keep me busy and out of trouble for a while.

P.S. Two weeks of being Diet Coke free! It isn't getting any easier yet. But I'm sticking with it.

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