Tuesday, July 25, 2017

This bird needs a pie...

I was a bit under the weather over the weekend, energy levels at a complete standstill, but Mr E and I still drove out early Saturday morning to get coffee and stop at a few local garage sales to see if there were any treasures to be had. 

As my beloved would say, it was "slim pickins" at first, the first five holding nothing to catch our eye - but then we found the one  and a smile spread across my face as I gathered an armful of goodies.

The pie bird gave me an instant hankering to bake pie...though I still haven't decided what kind. Blackberry and apple keeps wafting through my mind, though. 





Mr E was lucky too when he spied a child's wooden kitchen stove, something Blossom had recently mentioned she'd like for Cully May. He paid for it and with a mighty wide smile placed the handmade piece onto the back seat of my little yellow car (the Jeep is still in repair mode) before setting our course for Blossom's house.

She was thrilled, and asked her dad if he could cut a hole on one side to put in a small tin sink, which he thought was a great idea. As Cully May turns one on August 4th Mr E will be sure to have that done before her birthday.  Like us, Blossom loves to do simple birthdays with gifts that have meaning or purpose, and this pre-loved child's kitchen stove/sink for Cully May is perfect.
I'll take some photos when Mr E has completed the task.




This morning I sat down with a number of favoured cookbooks, buttered toast and a pot of tea. 
We've run out of baked goods you see, so all I had was bread to accompany my cuppa.





But I'll tell you a secret. 
I absolutely 'love' cold toast lathered in real butter. 





In fact it took much self restraint to stop at just two slices.





I'm thinking of baking Paul Hollywood's "Lemon Drizzle Cake" because I've never made one and I believe citrus cakes to be the yummiest.
It does require lemon curd in the recipe, something else I've never made, so this cake shall be a 'two new recipes' experiment.
I'm also spurred on by an old episode of The Great British Bake-Off which featured a Drizzle Cake challenge so I will pop that on the telly as 'background' encouragement to my baking this afternoon. Do you do things like that??


Last night I made Beef Bourguignon from Julie Goodwin's "Essential Cookbook. 





She was the very first winner of Australian Masterchef in 2009, a true home cook who loves comfort food. Served with creamy mashed potato and baby peas it was delicious, and I totally forgot to take a photo!





My plan was to top the leftovers with puff pastry for dinner another night, but something awful happened to spoil that idea.
Whilst we were eating dinner I'd left the remainder of the beef bourguignon to cool in a bowl on the kitchen bench before popping it in the fridge. I suppose we were twenty minutes at the dinner table before I gathered our empty plates to carry to the sink.

Rinsing them off I glanced over at the cooling stew and was horrified to see a fly sitting on the rich red wine infused beef and just under it's rear a speckle of white freshly laid maggots. 

I was gutted. We're so careful to keep flies out of the house but this critter had snuck in and hid until we were out of sight. 
The fly was killed with a few good bolts of spray, as were his offspring, and the spoiled leftovers relegated to the rubbish bin. 

Not sure I'll make this again for a while, but anything I do make will have a cover over the top as it cools in future.  




From the library I borrowed a few books for inspiration this week, plus The Darling Buds of May dvd set (again)  because it makes me smile and also warms my baking heart.




Now you may be wondering about the Handmade Lampshades book?
I thought it looked interesting and something I could glean from as we have one old lampshade stored away which I've often thought needed a makeover (or replacing).
Thinking old doilies would be nice, interspersed with lace or other fabric??
Anyhow, I may give it a go.

And the pies and puds book?
Well I bought that pie bird at the garage sale so logically I have to bake a pie to use the bird. 

Could be an interesting (and tasty) week.

Will you tell what you've got planned around the home this week?
Hopefully it involves warm hearts and wide smiles.

hugs



10 comments:

Unknown said...

Blackberries and Apple sounds just right! Because Mark was away so much when we lived in Kenya I have a lovely guy called Amos who helped out around the garden and other things - He built me a boat out of some scraps around the place for the children and also a cute little oven for them with a door that opened and shut. They loved it!

Suze said...

Oh what a shame about the potential pie.

I love mulberry and apple so your fruit pie sounds wonderful to me.

Winifred said...

Mmmm I love blackberry & apple pie. The bird looks great & so useful.

Funny that despite it being really cool we have quite a few flies. I can't remember having any flies in the house for donkeys years. It's not just us other people are having the same problem, very odd.

i love lemon drizzle cake too but I've never made it with lemon curd, just real lemons. Yes toast has to have butter, real butter but I love hot toast with the butter dripping. It's only bettered by fresh scones, butter & strawberry jam. Lush!

Look forward to seeing the cooker for Cully May.

Lin said...

That Paul Hollywood book is brilliant. Sadly we seem to attract flies here so everything is automatically covered. I used to have some pretty lace umbrella type of covers but sadly they are long gone and I have some very utilitarian round ones now. I adore lemon curd so I have to restrict myself to how often I make it. I do it in the microwave which is quicker and works really well. Enjoy your cake. xx

allthingzsewn said...

Hated to hear about the leftovers, that sounded like the kind of recipe better the second time around too. Anxious to see what you do with the lampshade and Cully Mae's stove. We have a neighborhood yard sale coming up in Aug. I believe, I'm praying my legs have totaly healed so I can traipse through the whole thing. Although we do move the car from time to time. Well, lunch time here guess I'll go check out the fridge.
Hugs

Anonymous said...

I had to look up what a pie bird is! Then I realized that was not a white ceramic cat in the basket. LOL What a lovely lot of frames and little baking things you found! The lemon bread sounds good, and so does the drizzle cake. I was disappointed for you when I read what happened to the leftovers! Oh, yuck! I'm wondering if red wine vinegar would do as a substitute for the red wine. What do you think? I'm looking forward to seeing Cully May's birthday present!

Ondrea said...

Oh my! I spy a Little Bo Peep needle book that I still have from childhood! I can't believe you found one exactly the same. Some lovely things there. Cully May's gift sounds lovely and I look forward to seeing a pic of it finished. Clever Mr E. I am interested to see what you come up with re a lampshade.

Janice said...

I'm glad you found some bits and bobs on Saturday. Pie birds are so cute, as is that little needle book. I saw a group of three framed in a craft room on Pinterest which looked great. Cully May will have a wonderful gift for her birthday, made extra special by Mr E adding a special touch. How sad about your leftovers. It reminds me of my hummingbird cake with the kittens. Very disappointing for you. I made a nice casserole tonight - nice comfort food. Fortunately it is too cold for any bugs at the moment. I'll freeze leftovers to take with us in the caravan. Some baking is in the pipeline too, seeing we are home for a few days.

Unknown said...

I must confess I share your love of cold toast.

Allie-oops Designs said...

Ooh I love your little pie bird!!! You know, it's really too bad we don't live close - I have a child's hand made wooden refrigerator that I use to keep my quilt books in. I'd send it to you but it's awfully heavy - I'd have to mortgage my firstborn to pay shipping.