Scrippito...

Here's another fun thing we did at the Hay Creek Festival.

Scrippito.

Scrippito is carving on two layers of rolled out clay exposing the darker bottom layer.

The lady running the both had some very beautiful pieces and showed the boys how to carve.Each child was allowed to draw in one square.

Logan made a sunflower.

Lance made a design, top right hand corner.

Liam taking a stab at it.

His is the viney one in the center.

It was fun to see what designs they came up with.

Ahhh...PEARS

There's something idyllic about pears...


So beautiful!


OH, yeah, anyway, pears. Where was I? Today, I will show you my favorite way to eat pears. I like them fresh, but they are even better poached in cinnamon and spices. This takes me back to my childhood. Having been born in Holland, I have a plethora (I love that word!)of favorite dishes that I really miss and don't get to eat very often. I've found some recipes on the internet over the years so I can replicate them. This isn't the exact recipe but it's pretty darn close!


You do need to peel the pears and core them. I use a melon baller kind of thing to scoop out the innards. Make sure your pears aren't too ripe, just barely. They will get cooked anyway and need to be firm.

Do you like my blue gloved hand? My hands are SO dry and I'm trying to keep from having to wash them with soap too often. I digress...but thought I should explain.


Place the pears in a large pan. The size depends on how many pears you are using. I like to use apple juice, you can use cider as well, I just didn't have any on hand.

Use 100% apple juice, let's keep it healthy folks! Add a couple of cinnamon sticks, a shake of cloves, nutmeg, whatever floats your boat. Oh, and vanilla. A good teaspoon or more. (The real stuff!)


And then just simmer on low for a while. The longer you let them sit the more they absorb the flavors.

Okay, you need the amount of time? Maybe an hour, more or less is fine. Then let it cool down completely if you are putting them into plastic containers. (Me and plastic don't mix when it comes to heating it, BAD for you...)

Remove the cinnamon sticks.


I put mine into two quart glass jars, I still can't believe that all those pears, and all I have show for it is 2 stinkin' quarts...and those boys eat them so fast!

I'm the mean "canner", I don't let anyone touch the canned stuff till it's all WAY out of season.

These are outrageously good. Dessert quality.

Enjoy Fall's bounty.

The Summer in Review

I can't believe summer is already over! I thought it would be fun to share our summer summed up in a few pictures. I promise, my next few posts will be food-related! I have all sorts of posts coming up of cooked pears, roasted chicken with potato and leeks, apple cakes...just to whet your appetites and keep you coming back for more.


Our summer began with our usual trip to Cape Cod. Sparklers on the beach is our custom every year. We go with 3 other families, stay in the same beautiful house, and cook yummy food and play scrabble all week long. This year we had 17 people.


This is my favorite pic of the boys, taken at the Cape.



Here are some of my favorite flowers growing in the garden.



They have all since dried up. The poor flowers at the top of my long driveway only get rainwater, there hasn't been too much of that lately! Usely they last into September.



We found this "mask" on our property when we moved...



Here's a shot of my garden before it really took off. Notice the HORSE? That was Liam's homeschool co-op project, he had to play a "pony express rider" and Oma C. made him the horse. This is where he now pastures...


And, oh so sad, our Kimba had kittens and then subsequently "left" with them. We haven't seen or heard from them since. Precious has taken over all of our affections, quite happily.


Oh, we can't forget our garden path! Bill, me and the boys worked so hard on that project. We re-covered the walkway, washed and rinsed all the stones and put them back. Then we proceeded to burn out our well pump that same day. But, we don't really want to remember that.


The beautiful rainbow. The boys and I were "spell-bound" at the beauty of this gorgeous rainbow over our house. What an awesome reminder that God keeps his promises.


L3 turned 7!


Summer's bounty of fresh fruit wrapped up into our favorite pie. I have never, EVER, made this many pies in my life, let alone, in one single summer! Peach blueberry raspberry was our favorite, but I did make a lot of just wild raspberry, blueberry, and peach by itself too. Yummy! I miss them already.


Oh, tomatoes. This was a another first for me this summer. I have canned tomatoes before, but I've never made salsa before. If I may say so, it was incredible!


Cousin Jeff from NJ, kindly shared his tomatoes with me and his roma tomatoes were "out of this world good!" I made slow roasted tomatoes with them, they are insane!

Wagon rides...

L3, L2 and L1 on a wagon ride at the Festival...


A volunteer jumped up and sat on the front seat with them
A little squished


There's something really funny and cute about this picture
(not the guy's butt!)


This was one of the boy's favorite things at the Festival.


Hold on tight boys!
Going down a very steep hill!


Lukie had to get "in" on the action too.

Field Trips

We had a wonderful time at the Hay Creek Festival on our Field Trip. SO many things to see.

This woman was demonstrating several "period" stringed instruments.

The highlight of the day was the glassblowing demonstration.
Here he is rolling out his first gather. It's such a science and an art!

We were in for a "treat" because they were attempting to blow a bottle with a new mold they had obtained. They had never used it before. They had to heat the mold to 400-500 degrees beforehand. The guy then got his second gather, rolled it, and quickly put in in the mold and blew in it. The guy on the ground closed the mold for him.

He was standing on a stool to be able to blow in his tube, it started to tip and the announcer grabbed him by the britches!

They took it out, here is the first try. You can see there is a lot of glass inside the bottle. After about their 3rd try they were able to get it right.

Here is the usual glass blowing technique we have seen before.

After a long hot dusty day... I thought this was a great shot, a mix of old and new. I call it "Colonist holding soda"

Homemade Delectable Applesauce

Apples!

My favorite fruit because it's so variable. You can eat it raw, saute it, bake with it, and cook it down into delicious applesauce!

After you wash the apples, peel them.

I like to cut them in quarters and then peel and core them. That's how my mom taught me and I can manage it fairly quickly. I have an apple peeler thingymabob, but for saucing, it's takes too long. I can peel an apple quicker than I can work that thing. However, it's a great gadget for apple tarts because it can also slice the apple at the same time in very thin slices. Pretty cool!

I cut up a bunch at a time into a bowl and then dump the bowl into a large pot already heating on the stove. I start with medium high heat and then lower it as it begins to break down.

Notice they are starting to break down.

Stir! I just use a wooden spoon. You can also use a masher. I just don't have one! A spoon works just fine. I'm a substituting kind of girl. It's my life. I thrive on it.

Now, you add the "all important" CINNAMON! I love cinnamon. I buy it in bulk. I have been known to buy it one pound at a time. The goat farm I get hubby's goat milk at now sells it in baggies. It's organic and oh so good!

I'm quite generous with it as you can see. Add as much or as little as you like.

Keep stirring every so often.

Now, doesn't that look good?

It didn't last very long.

I had to go to the orchard on our mountain yesterday and buy another peck of apples. The owner is SO nice. I get seconds from her which are really nice. They kind of look like the apples you get in the bags at the grocery store (somewhat banged up and little spots here and there) but for a fraction of the price. My next batch will be Gala applesauce!

Yum, my mouth is watering already.