Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Home made Blackberry Pie



Sunday afternoon the hubby picked blackberries from our "private patch" behind our house. We made a deal that he would pick the berries IF I would make the pie, a REAL pie, no agave, no wheat flour just a good old fashioned pie! I said okay.
These berries were perfect for pie. Your could smell the sweet sugary goodness of blackberry as soon as he brought them in the house.
So I of course went to my old Better Homes and Gardens cookbook to make the crust.

And the pie filling. LOVE this pie recipe!
Gathered my ingredients together and began making my mess, oops I mean pie! LOL!
Mmmm, the filling.
The beginning of the crust. I thought I would share a couple secrets to a great crust! My hubby always insists I make the crust because according to him they are delish!
When you add the water, make sure it is ice water! VERY cold! Be sure to add one tablespoon at a time, some types of flour require more water than others.
When it begins to pull away from the sides it is ready, you want the crust to be flaky when it is baked not doughy by adding too much liquid.
Roll out half the dough (I made a two crust pie).
Fill the crust with your filling... YUM! Roll out the second crust and put it on top. Crimp the edges and make some slits in the top for the steam to get out. Now comes another secret...
I brush the top of my crust ALL OVER with whipping cream.
Then sprinkle it with sugar...
I bought a pie crust shield from Pampered Chef to cover the edges of my pie.
I also place my pie on a stone from Pampered Chef, it seems to help the crust bake evenly. It also keeps the drips from getting to the bottom of the oven.
While my pie is baking I have to deal with the left over mess! Ick, I hate making my own crust for this reason.
Look at the view! It is a gorgeous day! Love being able to see the water through the trees like that!

My pie is done just in time... it's time for dinner... I want to serve my pie still warm with vanilla ice
cream!
Since we are being bad for dessert, we are being good for dinner. Fresh salmon burgers, and salad! I was in such a hurry to get dinner over with so we could eat the pie I forgot to take a picture of the burgers all cooked! LOL! Trust me they were go-od! I used whole wheat buns.
Mmm, time for dessert! Soo good!

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you have a great afternoon!

Monday, August 30, 2010

Where I blog!


Today I decided to join my very first link party! Kate at Centsational Girl is having a "Where I blog" party! I read LOTS of blogs, and have always wanted to be brave enough to join in on the fun of link parties! So here we go!

I usually blog in my living room, with the back door open a bit so I can hear the waterfall from the pond on the patio and listen to the birds chirping. Out the front window I can watch the sailboats sailing by in the bay from afar, and observe the squirrels playing in the pine and cedar trees in the front yard as I gather my thoughts together for the day. 

Thanks for stopping in today!

MY first grass air strip landing!


The hubby and I were having a nice lazy Sunday morning... no real plans for the day, but to enjoy being together... I was browsing craigslist for various goodies... furniture, sailboat, cabin on a private island with an airstrip, chandeliers, free firewood, WHAT! back up!!! cabin on a private island with an airstrip??? I read the ad to my hubby, and showed him the pics. He asked if I wanted him to call on it... uh, ya! So he called and was told we could take a look at it this morning (yesterday) because they were actually there. So he makes all the arrangements to meet them. Uh, honey, have you looked outside??? It is yucky, cold, windy, and cloudy. He laughs and says and you are landing on a grass airstrip! WHAT!!! NOT ME! I don't fly when it's not crystal clear and beautiful, and I don't land on grass air strips that are only 1600 feet long and covered with trees on 3 sides and water on the 4th! Said all at once in a panic! Yes, the photo above is the island, Center Island to be exact. 176 acre island, PRIVATE island!
Then he told me the bad news, the people already had a full price offer, (but were going to have to carry some of it) so we had to see it today or they were going to accept the offer they had. NO! This place is soo perfect! A private island, with an airstrip, and a place to moor my sailboat I was searching craigslist for. Eagles, deer, birds of all kinds, beachcombing, crabbing, clamming, salmon fishing, ling-cod fishing, shrimping, diving for scallops and oysters all on this tiny island! So I said okay.... so we got to the airport the wind is gusting the sky is getting worse and up we go!
We were only up maybe 5 minutes and had to turn around, couldn't fly with visual, the clouds were to low, so we went and had breakfast. (it was still legal for us to be up if we had wanted to go a different direction by the way, but we needed to go where the weather wasn't the greatest and if I hadn't been in the plane my hubby probably would have continued ;))
We tried again an hour later, and made it! I have to admit it wasn't too bad! Although I was shaking and in tears when we landed! Haha! So I didn't take pictures!
But I trust my pilot completely, and knew he wouldn't take me if he doubted his abilities! He was on cloud nine by the way! Having me in the plane, on a grass strip, in not so perfect weather!
I tired not to think about taking off again! Hehe!
Here she is! I LOVE her! So worth the trip! Keep your fingers crossed! If you want to read more about Center Island go here. You will need to go down the page a bit to see Center Island.

I will keep you posted!

Saturday, August 28, 2010

After photos of Justin and Genna's house

I am finally home! Yay! I am back to having internet access!
Above are the color chips Genna and Justin picked out for the paint in their new home.
Genna picked out this photo from Better Homes and Gardens as her inspiration for her living room.
This is a quick picture of Lacey and my son Adam, they came for a visit while I was visiting in Reno. It was so wonderful to spend time with them!
Here is the after paint in the living room. We went to several stores looking for affordable bamboo blinds for the windows, I finally bought some at Home Depot that hopefully will go up soon, I will post a pic when they are up.
The new brown wall in the dining room! As I was pouring the paint into the paint tray, it was like pouring melted chocolate. Yum!
It's hard to see the color on the living room walls, but I promise they are no longer boring white walls, they are a light brown/tan.
I painted the built- in the same color as the wall, then painted the shelves white.
In real life it really added a homeyness feel to the room.
The red kitchen wall after 2 coats of paint! I hate red walls! Ugh! it took 5 coats of paint to cover it.
But it turned out gorgeous! I painted the wall behind it in the laundry room the same color, Genna LOVES red.
Adds a nice pop of color in the kitchen I think!
It matches her new coffee maker! Hehe!
The night before I left Justin cooked dinner of carne asada tacos and homemade guacamole! Mmm, mmm delish! He even shared the recipe!
I love your new home Genna and Justin! Can't wait to see what you do next!
Genna, I love your new dark hair color too!

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you are having a great weekend!

Monday, August 23, 2010

Happy Anniversary to my sweet hubby!

Today I want to wish my sweet, hunky, hubby a Happy Anniversary. We are celebrating our 7th anniversary, our 16th year together. I LOVE you babe!

My sister Becky and I drove over to where my dad lives to help them finish cleaning out my grandma's house. While in Reno I rented a compact car to get around, when I arrived to pick up the rental this is what was waiting for me! Haha! A Chevy Silverado extended cab truck! The fuel for it was no fun but it was nice to have something to haul things around!
My sister Becky had to take a few minutes to pick some blackberries! It was so much fun to hang with her for a few days and I can't wait to spend a week with here next month at her house!
Justin is finally feeling better, so here is the last two rooms of Genna and Justin's house. This is the master bedroom from the doorway into the room.
From the master bathroom.
The walkin closet.
The little niche above the walkin closet.
The master bathroom. Behind the glass doors is a huge garden tub.
Double sinks!
Such a great size master bathroom!
Genna made us a fruit pizza for dessert Saturday evening when Adam and Lacy were here. She is really enjoying her kitchen!
Mmmm, yum!

Well back to painting! Back soon!