Category Archives: Pie & Other Pastries

High teas are generally divided into three sections, the savoury options were often “finger” sandwiches (small enough to eat cleanly with two fingers). They were filled with cucumber slices, watercress, tuna and similar light fillings. I think I have shared the story of my grandfather as a boy, who regularly won MVP when playing soccer. The […]

With the weather being so different this year, the berries have been at least a month early. Freezing strawberries and raspberries is not my first choice but blueberries are another story entirely. I am told July 13th is also Pick Blueberry Day! so perfectly magical timing. Unsprayed and straight from the farm, my friend shared […]

When I hear numbers like over 30% of our food ends up in the garbage I am concerned about what that says. What are our levels of respect for the food products we use and the energy it takes to grow, harvest, transport, process and deliver nutrition to our tables. ” In my kitchen filled […]

Cream puffs, profiteroles, buns or “windbags” as they are known in Germany, are an alternative form of “pastry”, known as choux pastry. “Choux” is French for cabbage, which is what the individual cream puffs were said to look like once baked. The first record of this style of pastry dates back to the 13th century […]

I hope you have been following along with the last two posts so that this one makes sense. To quickly recap if that is not the case, I made rhubarb lemonade syrup the other day and discovered that the “left over” puree was tasty and needed a better end than the garbage. I made a […]

Yesterday,  I posted Rhubarb Lemonade Syrup and talked a little about making full use of the gifts we get from the earth. After I was finished making the syrup, this was left over, the now sweet and lemony rhubarb “puree”. I tasted a little bit and “Mikey liked it”. My brain got working and this […]

Fairies have a multi-branched family tree of elemental “spirits”, not always in the ethereal sense. One of the oldest mentions of fairylike creatures was 3,000 years ago in The Illiad by Homer. He wrote about the nymphs answering the call of Zeus for all Immortals to come. It can get confusing as within the legends […]

Hallowe’en may be past but for those of you in the United States there is still Thanksgiving to celebrate this month and plenty of time for more pumpkin recipes. Woo Woo! Pumpkins have taken over from turnips in North America as the carrier of a candle for poor Jack-of-the-Lantern, not allowed entry into either Heaven […]

So after yesterday’s post you might have a little bit of dough left over. I was looking for a quick treat to finish off the pastry and had a left over pear. This is what happened when I opened the fridge. You will need for the pastry: 3/4 cup plus 4 tsp flour 1/2 cup […]

Yes, autumn is coming. The breezes have that lovely first hint of coolness to them. The leaves are dropping and all around the garden, plants are getting ready to go to sleep. I haven’t pulled morning glory out of the hedge in at least a week! But it is not here yet, so before we […]