Gone To The Beach

Monday, July 21, 2014

Lavender Sky, Violet Ocean

Midsummer. July is drawing to its end---midsummer as we know it, is here.

A sunset walk. So peaceful on a cool quiet evening...

All stresses and worries float away with the peachy pink and lavender clouds.

Stripey stopped by at dusk! He is not thrilled with our new addition Mo and waits til it's dark for his dinner each night. When I go out to look for him, the darkened hydrangeas are magically lit up with lightning bugs---fireflies. Childhood memories, glowing in the warm summer night.

Wishing you all a beautiful and peaceful week.

love

lizzy

gone to the beach....

Thursday, July 17, 2014

The Best Tomato Tart

Hi, guys! The first field ripened tomatoes arrived in the farmers market last week.

Not a huge crop yet.

And they aren't supermarket perfect. Field grown heirloom tomatoes are fragile and delicate, but so ripe and sweet and juicy. Yum.

I've been waiting, and thinking about making a tomato tart for weeks now.This is not a pizza! And it's just an idea I had, not a real recipe. I rate it A+ though, if I do say so myself.

Most of the online tart recipes call for puff pastry, which I don't care for with veggies, only for fruit tarts. And maybe call for a cheese and egg sort of custard which sounded like much too much work. I was trying for ''rustic'' and vaguely recalling the Julia Child tarts I made a few years again when I was working my way through the last Child cookbook.

Instead I made a traditional 2 crust pie crust.

This mix was in the fridge so I used it to use it up. (Not great, a bit tough. But I was being lazy.)

I rolled one half out into a not very lovely circle.

The other half, the usual top crust, I rolled into little logs and used to make an edging, a little wall to hold the cheese.

Crimped it pretty. Put in fridge.

Tomatoes prep: I sliced the tomatoes a scant quarter inch.

Layered them on a plate and paper towels,

with another plate on top. I salted them lightly, too, to draw out the juice. We don't want watery soggy tarts, do we?

I let the tomatoes rest about 1/2 hour. I preheated oven to 425*, baked the tart shell for 10 minutes, unfilled.

Filling: I used two kinds of cheese: first, a very ripe brie, cut in thin slices. I set the brie slices all over the pie shell, then layered on the tomatoes. [Gently wipe off the salt as you work.]

I used lots of herbs, dried because I didn't have fresh on hand, but fresh would be wonderful. I was going for a Not Pizza vibe, so no basil or oregano. Used a lot of tarragon, fennel seeds, black pepper, lemon pepper. A sprinkle of sugar.

The second cheese is just a supermarket crumbled goat cheese. Spread on the top.

Baked for about 35 minutes.
The brie sort of melts away to a creamy sauce, the goat cheese remains intact on top.

I should have photographed the tart slice with the big sweet butter lettuce I served on the side. The tart experiment was a success! It came out just as I pictured. I loved the pop and surprise of the non-traditional for tomatoes herbs, and the sweetness of the tomatoes and the brie. (Only the crust needs work. Next time I will make homemade.)

I'll definitely make it again. we loved it!(Though I suppose it it sky high in calories?) My kids and I are not terrible fond of uncooked tomatoes so this is a beautiful way to use the farmers market's field picked sweet tomatoes.
I also reheated the leftover section of the tart and cut it into small squares to serve at ''cocktail'' time the following day. Wonderful first course.

Try it! Or a version. Stay away from traditional pizza cheeses but you can sub feta or ricotta insalata for the goat cheese.

Final market note--I must show you the last of the peonies.

Aren't the golf ball-y buds adorable.

And here's some of her cute vintage containers. This week she used old glass milk bottles. I love it. (Te seller probably thinks I'm a nutcase, oohing and aaahing over her milk bottles,lol!)

Now on to zinnias. In coffee cans?

PS I love hearing what you all are cooking--or NOT cooking! I plan to make Kelley's mango salsa, from last week's comments, to go with a grilled, marinated pork tenderloin. Doesn't that sound delicious! Thanks, Kel!

love

lizzy

gone to the beach.....

Monday, July 14, 2014

What Am I Doing!?

Hi guys! I hope you went out to see the full moon this past weekend? And, off topic, how is your To Do List going?

The summer is whizzing by and I feel like I am getting nothing done! Between puppy care, sand sweeping, beach towel washing---and lots of cooking and company---it seems as if I never get a moment to sit down and sew or make things for my etsy shop.

I need to manage my time better? Tell that to my little helper here. He thinks puppy pads are for weenies, he wants to ''go'' outdoors. Good boy!

And see my worktable aka the dining room table, covered with Things To Do? You can imagine my dismay when a wind storm blew in last weekend and I had to relocate all this stuff to set the table for my indoor BBQ.

This is my current take-it-to-the-beach Mr. Sunshine panel. It gets a lot more stars. Hmmmm.

This is what happens when I sew rainbows on the beach in gale winds. Crooked rainbows. Third try so it stays for now.

A tiny sewing box and pincushions for my etsy shop. Unfinished, need I say that?

The black blob on the left is Mo's snout. He thought this was very interesting and yummy looking.

This is the antique quilt top from this spring. I have gotten as far as soaking the extreme grime out in Orvus Quilt Wash. (A big disappointment. It does nothing much, I think the surface dirt would have soaked out in plain water just as well. It's clean enough to quilt though, so---okay. And anyway, I spilled the Orvus bottle and it's all gone. The floor where it spilled isn't especially extra clean either,lol.)

A few of the blocks are really ugly. Replace or consider them charming? While gritting one's teeth. {Chimney Sweep variation, Mel.)

My kids bought me a new real ironing board at IKEA, yay. I've used a small table board for many years. I hope this is not a hint? They gave me a new broom for Christmas so ya never know, hint hint hint?....

Now I can gently press the top and order backing and binding, audition fabrics below:

I am restoring this beautiful late 19th century Log Cabin runner, using antique fabrics.

I want to use it on my autumn table this fall. Just two of the blocks are very damaged. And again as you can see the special quilt soap did nothing to clean it. I'll soak it in mild Restore when it is repaired and quilted. Don't you love the forgetmenots?

I am trying to teach myself to crochet scalloped lace pillowcase edgings.

I am reading this book.

(Plus all the old "Butch Karp,NYC DA" series by Robert Tannenbaum. Whoa. Repetitious, indeed.) And knitting hats, a pattern from my friend here , Hunter, who recommended the above book but that's another post.

I saved the seeds from my Sweet William volunteer flowers, as Mel suggested. What a mess. I just left it for later, lol.

For fun I escape and go thrifting. This week's finds:

A beautiful if pale sepia transferwareplatter.

I love the delicate botanical design, perhaaps simple poppies? Arts and Crafts era, maybe 1890? Japonaise/ Aesthetic Movement style.

Here's the imprint on the back.

And I found this Susan Branch for book 99 cents. Christmas in July? Yes, yes. A few years ago I got rid of all my books, in a de-clutter binge and regret the loss at least once a week. Included in the discards were ALL Susan Branch's books, gifts from my mom. And now that I follow SB's lovely blog www.susanbranch.com of course I want the books back again.

On a possibly more focused, more productive note, I downloaded Map My Dog Walk onto my iPhone. (It's available for Android, too, and it's free. The maps are very fun!)Mo is up to 1/2 mile almost, 4 times a day! By fall I think he will be able to walk down to the beach, though I may have to carry him home.

learning "Come"

What do you all have planned? I know Lori at Humble Quilts is going to do a new quiltalong! Flags of the Revolutionary War, by Jan Patek. Fun.

google images

I got the book on eBay for 9.95, instead of full price of 22.99. I'm not sure I will be able to keep up, and all those star points!? sigh. But I am gonna try. In honor of my dad, who loved flags and made these Thirteen Colony wooden flags. The big one hung on the grey shingled side of my parents' Cape Cod house for years. If you look close you'll find his flag on Jan Patek's quilt.