A Fanciful Twist

Hello Brussels! Here come the Valencia's!

That is, Valencia Oranges...

I can't think of a better way to begin February, than with sweet succulent oranges, can you?

We have had baskets and baskets of oranges from my neighbor's tree.  She had enough to go around 20 times, and she did.  Gifting so many to neighbors and family. (our 5 year old orange tree gave us 1 orange this year, haha! - but it was beyond good)

We are sooo thankful.  As we normally bring home bags of oranges from the store every week for morning fresh juicing.  So, this is a grand gift.

They are sooooooo good. Sweet like candy.

I have orange marmalade in the works as well.

Oh yes, February, such a good month!

Love is in the air.

Hearts are the symbol.

Seeds are getting planted.

Thoughts of roses begin to grow, as baby buds begin to be born.

Time to dust the dry ones from last year...

And then, there's Brussels!

Sprouts, that is.

:)

In my garden, growing as I type.

Literally, growing brussels sprouts has been like waiting for a baby.

Not that I know what waiting for a baby is like.

But, I can pretend.

The total time of growth has been 9 months...

The reason for this is that, babies (sprouts) don't turn up until it gets cold.  So, I planted the seeds last spring, and they grew and grew and grew into huge plants.

Then, in December, babies started to show up...

Growing bigger and bigger, little by little.

And, since I am rather patient it seems, I enjoyed their slow pace.

They have about a week or two to go.

In the meantime, I found out through lots of reading, that I needed to remove the giant leaves between the growing babes.  Which I have done in the photos above.

And, that the leaves are delicious and edible.

Which my neighbor and I had debated on in October.

Both agreeing.

We should eat them.

Both being lovers of cabbage and spinach and all.

I am a huge veggie fan.

I have not found a vegetable that I don't like yet.

Anyhow, I set out to trim off stalk leaves...

Finding myself with ever so many, I bundled them up and shared with one of my neighbors. (the one who gifted the oranges in fact)

Then I came home and prepared mine.

And, can I just say...

They were incredibly delicious.

I rolled up the thick waxy leaves, tightly from top to bottom, and then chopped them up right to left...

I heated up olive oil in a pan while I chopped up lots of garlic and sweet onions.

I popped the garlic and onions into the olive oil, let them cook for a couple of minutes, and then tossed in the brussels leaf greens.

A little garlic salt with parsley to taste...

Followed by some slivered almonds and craisins.

Oh, and a hearty slurp of balsamic vinegar.

I invent as I go along.

How to describe them?

The texture was not chewy, but not soft like spinach.

Perfect really.

A lovely texture.

The flavor was, mild and delicious.

A new fave.

The one thing that happened to me -

As soon as I ate them, I had this massive jolt of energy.

Not sure if it was all in my head or not :)

They were yummy.

Accompanied by homemade fish cakes (not batter dipped, but browned in olive oil) and another one of my handmade breads...

I am getting all the baking I can in, because when summer comes, which is really April to October here, there will be little to no baking in the heat.

I am so impressed by the edibility (is that a word?) of the brussels sprout plant leaves.  And still, we get to eat the scrumptious sprouts soon.  And then, I hear there will be a large cabbage like creature atop the plant after I harvest the sprouts.  Which, is said to be tender and delicious as well.

Are you a veggie lover?

Which are your faves?

I am planting brussels sprouts again this year for sure!

Happy first day of February!!!

Cha cha cha cha, cha cha!

Love, V

 

 

 

ps:  My blog archives are down, and Typepad (my blog service) is working on fixing that. 

Also, afancifultwist.com (one of the domain names that brings people here to my blog through Network Solutions) is down again too.  Network Solutions has given me so much grief this month.  I can't think about it or I will cry from anger.  But, in case you are wondering, that is the issue.  1 month of pain in the tooshie nonsense with that company,  I tell ya.  I am trying not to think about it.

I am doing that trick, where, you force yourself to smile, and all of a sudden you feel lighter.  Have you tried that?  It works.  It sends sparkly waves to your brain and heart.  Watch, try it.  Tell me if it works for you?

♥

 

pss:  Random song tid-bit.  Only because it is still in my head, after singing it on the phone to my sister at full lung capacity last night :)

That is one of the perks about having my sister.  She gets to see my extra wacky side.  She is the only person in the world who knows my secret dance moves.  I am not sure if she likes it (the wackiness), but she gets to have it either way.

Baking + Caking & Visits Galore

My last 7 days have been filled with people, and visits, and tales, and outings, and guests, and shopping, and planting and baking baking baking.

In fact, the last few days have felt much like this cake looks.

Baking, and cooking in general, are things that I love and come naturally to me.  So, throwing baking and making into my day is quick and a fun highlight for me.

I whip up pastries on a whim quite often, as I love to have something totally homemade when folks stop by.  Such was the case with this cake.  I call it, the Hansel and Gretel fairy tale cake. 

Why?

Well, it seems to me, just the cake the witch would bake up to lure curious children into her gingerbread cottage.  (video at the end)

I LOVE the Hanzel and Gretel version with Cloris Leachman. 

Especially the cake luring in scene.

I should say that, that cake was the lovely end to a string of guests this week.

It actually began with pies...

Actually, it began with one blueberry pie for Mister Lovee.  He brought home oodles of blueberries in hopes that I would bake him up something good...

So, I made him his very own lattice top blueberry pie.

I used this recipe for the filling, and it was beyond excellent.  If you feel like you have too much dry ingredient, don't worry, you don't.  Just pop it all in your pie shell.  It will all come together beautifully.

I used my go to crust recipe, which I created after trying lots of recipes that failed.  I now use this recipe below for all of my pie baking.  It is lovely supple glorious dough.  It makes enough dough for two single crust pies or one double crust pie.

Sorry about the bad looking handwriting, but my right hand and wrist are still a bit swollen and very sore from my gardening shenanigans.

Click here for a pdf printable version of my pie crust.

(give it 60 seconds to open)

Also, a tip for making lattice tops can be found here...

It was sooooooo goood!

My new fave dessert I think.

Not too sweet (which makes it a fave), with burst in your mouth berries.

I also took out over a dozen monster aloes this week, from a completely over grown area.  I then relocated them to another part of the garden.

Honestly, this was the most difficult job I have ever done in my life.

You can see the root ball system in the photo below in the back left.

Torture.

There were 3 of those root balls.

Mister Lovee jokingly thinks I am hiring men to do the work behind his back.

I am not.

I am trying to get all the hard work done before the heat of summer comes along, when it simply won't be possible.  It will be too hot and the dirt will be too hard and dry.

While I work...

Gentle poppies keep coming to life....

Nothing like the unfurling of a paper thin poppy, me thinks.

So beautiful...

Before I took out the aloes (in between baking and guests), I decided that a very aggressive desert broom had to be pulled out of a crucial garden spot.  That is, if we wanted to give a home to a lucky 25 cent citrus tree.

We have ever so many desert brooms.

Most people hate them.  With their allergy gobs of fuzz and such.

I quite like them, and throw a fit when one needs to be cut down.

But, after dealing with this monster below, I sort of don't know how I feel.

It was a huge bush/tree thing.

It took me two days to get him out, and still the root was too deep, so Mister helped me cut it about 5 feet down.

Of course, the babes want to be on top of me while I am working.  If I ignore them, they take up wrestling for a while.  Yay for wrestling ;)

To this mix, I threw in some bread baking.

As I wanted to send my parents away with fresh bread...

I whipped up some Challah...

My tips on working with yeast.......

Make sure your eggs and all items are room temperature.

And, above all, turn your cold bowl upside down and run it under hot water to warm it up before you begin.

I almost always use this recipe for Challah.

Flawless scrumptiousness...

A really hearltfelt gift I think...

And then, save one loaf for a treat of blt's on piping hot bread.

While bread bakes, bees find flowers.

It is so good to see the bees.

Oh so good.

The warm air is bewitching with the strong scent of hyacinth flowers (it has been a warm lovely winter here in the 70's most days).

Of course, if you know me, then you know I can't resist doing extra amounts of things when I am already extremely busy.

I work best this way.

(I know what you might be thinking.  And, no, I don't take supplements or anything for energy.  And, I have been off of caffeine for one year in February.  In fact, I feel like I have have to push myself very hard sometimes, to get all the things done that I want to do.  I find that, once you get going energy somehow finds you.)

So, I made two more blueberry pies to gift.

Fresh blueberries were available in abundance this week, Mister Lovee says.  So he brought a lot home.  Perfect for more pies.

This time around, I covered the edges in foil so they would not burn.

I also made pecan pie to gift.

(using this filling recipe and my pie crust recipe above)

But, I forgot to take photos.

Would a pecan color dog work as a stand in for that photo?

Oh oh, one other thing.

I accidentally drizzled in about 1/4 teaspoon of orange extract into the pecan pie filling, which everyone raved about ( I was apprehensive about it before tasting).  It added a lightness of flavor that even non-pecan pie lovers liked. 

So, it was a happy accident it seems.

And then, the end to all things good.

The Hansel and Gretel Fairytale cake, for a guest, age 6.

I used this recipe for the white cake. 

I doubled the recipe so I could make a two layer cake. 

Then, I took a tip from one of the comments on the recipe page for doubling the recipe.  I used 2 tablespoons of vanilla and 1.5 cups of milk, and simply doubled everything else.

The greatest tip I can give is, only use a hand mixer to cream the butter and sugar.  Then, mix the rest by hand (with a wooden spoon or such).  If you get too much air into the batter (by using a mixer) your cake will sink in the middle.

If it does sink, just fill your cake with frosting and raspberry jam between the layers, and use lots of frosting for decorating the top ;)

I was out of butter for making frosting, so I just used powered sugar, a couple pinches of salt, sour cream , 4oz of cream cheese, and a small slurp of vanilla.  It was all I had, and it turned out great.  You need lots of powered sugar, and not so much sour cream.  You can eyeball it as needed.  If it is too runny, just add a bit more powdered sugar, and salt to taste.  A tiny bit of salt takes the edge off of the sweetness, and enhances overall flavor. (oh, and two drops of red food coloring, to make pink)

And so, a surprise night-time tea party ensued for my two guests...

My guests (a 6 year old and her Oma) loved the cake.

I told the 6 year old that the cake was hers, and she should bite into it.

She was very apprehensive about such an act.

Her Oma convinced her it was a once in a lifetime experience, and they both bit into it together at the count of 3.

It was a wonderful fun time!!

And, I sent the cake home with Miss Littles.

Cake and tea.

Pinkies raised, as reminded by the 6 year old, and clinkety clinking of tea cups...

Then we took a stroll through the night garden, and the 6 year old said...

"This is what is called enchanting..."

And, we all laughed ;)

So, I guess you can say....

My week looked like this cake.

Sprinkly, sweet, sparkly!

With cherries on top.

Ya sure, it isn't all fairy cake and frosting.

But, who can even tell?

;)

I am sure the oven is snoring right now.

Phewey! What a long update there.

BTW-

I have been watching a hoarders show, so, in the midst of everything, I am purging.

I am inspired.

I am cleaning out closets and cabinets in the evening, while watching the show on Netflix.

Although really, I don't think half of the hoarding business on the show has anything to do with hoarding, but more to do with emotions and feelings and deeper stuff.  So, I think I can try to understand how folks can get to that point.  Even though it is quite unreal.  It is deeper than just pitching stuff.  So much deeper it seems?

 I feel like I am going insane when my house is a mess and my kitchen is out of order.  So, I can see how if your house got crazy out of control, you could just slip into an abyss of sorts.  Is that it?

Still, it inspires me to get things that are out of order, in order.

Like going through stacks of magazines, etc.

Why do we keep this stuff?

Mister Lovee won't let me get rid of some of it, so, I will have to sneak it ;)

Yikes!

Love, V

 

 

ps: 

 My fave part begins at the 5:00 mark, but the extra wonderful part with cakes and such begins at the 8:50 mark.

2012 Valentine Printables!!

Hello heloooo!!  I have been trying to get here since Sunday.  I have been up to so much, I can't even tell you, the projects, oh my!  Baking, planting, more baking, more planting + painting & drawing.  However, I will share those tid-bits another day, as I have a gift for you today.

Since you are extra super nice (not to mention witty, and fun and super duper lovely!) I decided to make you a new set of free printable Valentine's!

I absolutley adore adore adore Valentine's day!

I look at it as a me day, and like to do fun lovely things for myself.

It is also the perfect pick me up holiday after the Christmas went by too fast blues.

I love the ruffled over the topness of Valentine's day.

It's like, all the ruffles and hearts you can muster are not ever too much.

Just my kind of holiday!

The fun cakes and treats and sweet overload aura of the day don't hurt either.

Even if I don't adooooore sweets, they are just as fun to bake and make and look at.

There are 4 new styles on one sheet, which looks like this when printed...

CLICK HERE for the PRINTABLE PDF

Simply click the link above, give it several seconds to open, and then print!

I printed mine on cardstock...

Cut out each image, and voila...

Free Valentine's for you!

Cakes and love, and of course, an owl for good measure.

Always perfect messengers for all sorts of things, me thinks ;)

I so hope you like them.

I spent a whole day working on them and getting them here to you.

Why?

Because I like you.

Cheesy, but true.

Well......

I suppose I have to go keep digging.

You can't imagine how my project has turned into a monster.

I need a tractor.

I think?

OKay, tea-time...

See you soon ;)

Love, V

By the by, I whistled this the whole time I made you these Valentine's.

Click.

Silly.  I know.

But, true too.

 

 

ps:  You must peek at my sister's wreath tutorial.

I so want one now!

 

pss:  When I started blogging, one of my first friends was Lisa-Gabrielle over at Jungle Dream Pagoda.  She had a little girl and a toddler.  Of course, 5 years later, she has a gorgeous talented teen and a very grown up sassy fabulous little girl.

Well, the littlest girl now has her own YouTube show.  And let me tell you, she is sooo charming!!

Here's the video...

Who Who???

You will never ever ever guess what happened this week...

Busiest week ever.

I don't even know where the days went.

So......

You know how I am all flower, tree and plant obsessed?

And talk to my plants, and practically live for seeds?

Well, the plant lovers dream came true!

This is what happened.........

My neighbor wanted to get a steam cleaner, and I had to run a few errands, so we jumped into my car, went here and there.  Then, we stopped at one of those big box stores for her steam cleaner.

Of course, I "had" to go to the plant section.

My neighbor comes with me, and I nudge her in dismay, showing her that the manager is throwing all the plants away into a giant dumpster.

"If it doesn't look fresh, it is getting thrown away," she tells her employees.

(they looked a-okay to me, a bit over-grown or in need of some love, but okay)

My neighbor says "no no no no, why are you throwing them away???!!"

The manager looks at us and says, "well, you can have them if you want."

Have them, we ask?

Well, not "have" them she says.

Then she says, you can buy them for 25cents each.

25 CENTS each!

So, we load up 7 carts of trees and shrubs and desert plants.

We would have kept going, but the manager told us to walk away.

That was hard, knowing more would get tossed.

So, I take each item out of the cart so she can ring us up.

Then I load the car, in two trips.

Then, we unload at my house.

Then I organize it all by plant type.

Then my neighbor and I split our plants.

Half and half.

Then we load half back up into the car, and take them to her house.

Then we start planting, and planting and planting and...

Well, still planting.

These are mine below...

My suv was so full, you couldn't get another toothpick in...

We never worked so hard.

Loading, loading loading, bringing home.

But, we saved soooo many plants and trees from the trash can!

And it was soooooooooo worth it.

It was like, plant Christmas!!!

My dad says it (the tossing out of plants and things) happens at all big box stores, all the time. (which I knew, but sort of had blocked out)

Isn't that sad?

I still have my work cut out for me, however, I am working on some new paintings.  So, I will have to learn real quick how to manage my time.

So, that is the plant tale.

I know some people who dumpster dive as a way of life, and find all sorts of perfect food and plants and things.  It is crazy, what gets thrown away.

On another note...

We (me and lovee) needed to take a trip to the groceries this week.  But, I sort of wanted to play that game, where you try to make a meal out of whatever you have in the house.

We always have staples like butter, flour, olive oil, oats, fruit, veggies etc.

So, I sauteed some onions, garlic and peppers.

Then I defrosted some pesto.

Then, I went searching on my own blog for this recipe for pizza dough.

And, boy was it better than I remembered.

Lovely dough to work with.

I get two pizzas out of one dough mixture, and I just knead everything by hand.

I made one veggie cheese, and one with just pesto and sweet onions.

I so recommend trying this dough this weekend.

Just make sure you run your bowl under warm water, before you begin working with your yeast.  Just a tip.

I roll my dough out thin, as it puffs up nicely, and I like a thinner crust.

It was sooo goood.

And I am not even a pizza lover.

Oh oh, the Fairies also are on a journey out of the country, to their new home, so they are now available in print form, in my shopling.

So, that's the 411 around here.

That was such a wordy post, wasn't it?

I still can't get over the whole plant thing.

Anything weird wild wacky or plain crazy happen to you this week?

Off I go for now....

Love, V

It's the Little Things...

It has been gloriously moist and cloudy here for two days.  Such a treat to get a little rain.  Yesterday was delicious.  Moist cool air, drizzle and dark skies.  Since it is always sunny here, a little dark drizzle makes me feel like baking and mystery novels, and doing tedious little chores.

I love scary movies during daylight hours (especially on rainy days).  They seem less threatening to my over abundant imagination, with thoughts of things that go bump in the night.

I have been doing chores that are making me so happy.  Like, reorganizing my sock drawers to other more accessible spots, with more space.  Cleaning out and organizing earrings and make-up.  Trying on ridiculous lipsticks.  Going through a lifetime supply of hair ties and scarves. 

Drawers for everything, places for everything. 

Knowing where everything is.

While, some girl out runs trolls on the television.

Then I have lunch with Isaac and Malachi, and Norman Bates turns up for tea.

We invite Linda Blair, but, that gets a little too much, you know what I mean?

I'll have Tubular Bells in my head for a week.

All the while, it rains outside.

An oatmeal cake bakes.

The pups cozy up.

As I continue to happily organize this and that.

Some days are made for little things.

I love days when the most important chore I feel I must do is dust pretty rocks.

I so needed a day off.

It feels ridiculously decadent, to take time out to dust rocks.

To wash them, and admire their color under water.

Mister Lovee and I oooo and aaaah at the moist specimens.

Random change of subject...

Did I tell you I have a new neighbor?

She's been here since early autumn.

We have had so much fun, and we both love to go rock hunting.

Plus, I am the "other mother" to Harley.

Her son, and my new boyfriend.

He is massive huge in person.

I mean HUGE.

I have some lovely purple bruises from playing with him :)

He will nip your bottom and your love handles if you ignore him.

He demands love 24/7.

Matty and him had a scuffle.

Matty lost, but isn't afraid, still.

But Miles, Miles loves Harley.

They have play dates.

It is so great, to have two girl ladies on my street that I enjoy.

Well, I am feeling a little under the weather today, so I won't chat your eyeballs off.

But I do want to share some garden snippets before I go, that are making me butterflies in belly happy.

Like, Icelandic Poppies...

And, watching them spring open...

Winter flowers are the grandest treat.

Just when you think you can't stand the anticipation for spring...

Winter poppies unfurl...

With ranunculus and tulips popping through the earth...

I know my flower talk is probably disgustingly boring.  I just can't help being obsessed.

Probably more than last year.

It's keeping me sane.

Do you think you can bear more garden posts here and there?

(yarrow)

So, I have bought some bulbs and plants online in the last year and a half, and since then, my snail mailbox is FULL of garden catalogs.

Flowers and more.

Dangerous those catalogs are.

I get all crazed, promising not to plant any more, whilst folding pages of things I must order.

I swear my heartbeat turns up real high, and I can't think rationally when I look through them.

Am I alone in this, or does the same thing happen to you?

Okay, enough babble for today, I want to dust a little more, and then go to Le Poste, since it was closed yesterday....

I love dusting.

I don't mind having trinkets and treasures that I have to dust.  It is one of my favorite chores, and I look upon it fondly.  It gives me time to admire all the little things I collect.

What is your fave chore?

Mine are dusting and washing and bleaching sinks.

Off I go, see you soon with a sweet gift ;)

 

 

 

ps:  Speaking of scary movies...

Have you seen, Don't be Afraid of the Dark?

Ooooo, scary little troll fairy things!!!

Complete with a haunting mansion and enchanted garden!

I just love Guillermo Del Toro.