KID PIE & PEACHES

The last peaches of the season are big guys...only takes three to make a small pie!

A favourite treat around here when I'm baking a pie is the crust trimmings I call 'em "rat tails" because they are usually long skinny pieces trimmed from the outside edge of the rolled out dough. However a nicer name is "kid pie," what they called 'em in South Dakota, Jack says...just add sugar and cinnamon and bake for about 10 minutes. Have them right out of the oven with your mid-morning coffee!

FEELING FALLISH

Even though we have a bit more of summer to slog through, my thoughts have turned to fall! This ceramic pumpkin has proven excellent as a centerpiece for the dining table.

I've changed out the sunflowers for mums outside the entry.

On the mantle I've used an inexpensive triple candle holder with lots of bay leaves, artichokes and pumpkins.

Did I mention that Fall is really my favourite time of year and my favorite time to decorate? I did all this the day after my cataract surgery...not letting a little thing like blurry vision keep me from having some fun!

UNDER THE SINK WITH MOUSIE

A few nights ago we heard a strange scuffling sound. Thought it was the fridge making noises. Next morning we discovered lots of mouse turds under the sink! So Mr. A went to the Ace hardware to get some expanding foam to fill in the pipe holes. He was told that the mice just eat the foam on their way in so he used wire to cover up the holes to the outside. But that didn't stop the mouse! Seems he was coming from the hole where the dishwasher pipe went through!
Now we have a mouse trap armed with Parmesano reggiano. Gee, hope the mouse is Italiano! Ciao bello mousie!

PEACHY KEEN!

At last! The peaches are late this year in the Rogue Valley.
Here's a box of 49er peaches from the orchard on Old Stage Road. You can't get these in the grocery stores any more...they have quit growing them commercially because they don't like to travel thousands of miles to the chain stores.
I prepare them with the sugar, cinnamon & thickener so I can freeze them in a pie tin lined with foil. Then I peel off the foil and vacuum pack them for freezing so that all I have to do is pull 'em out and plop them into a pie shell. There's nothing better than a fresh peach pie served up with vanilla ice cream in the middle of winter!



Vacuum packed peaches for our 2-person King Arthur pie dish.