Anthony Ruivivar

Monday, January 17, 2011

Traditional South African Farm House

At the Rietvlei Nature Reserve.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Gallivanting and marauding…

I recently won this darling little pair of vintage hand poured soy candles

from Small holdings Farm

They smell heavenly.

Check out their loot…they have some fun things!

I also galavanted over to my fave haunt

yep…habitat home store…

in search of some windows and doors for a little barn re-do I are contemplating…

Friday, January 14, 2011

It's a Pie Party!

It's time for the all-American treat....PIE!

Link up and join the party!

My husband's birthday is Monday so we decided on a Banana Cream Pie for his special day. The recipe is pieced together from two different recipes - parts can be credited to Emeril and other parts are from Ron Silver's Bubby's Homemade Pies.

Here's the recipe with pictures. Enjoy and Pie-Party On!!!

Nut Pastry Dough:

1/2 cup finely chopped, raw, unsalted walnuts

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1½ tablespoons cold unsalted butter, diced

1 large egg, lightly beaten

Make dough and bake ahead. It will need to cool down before adding bananas, cream filling, whipped cream and chocolate sauce.

Vanilla Pudding

2 cups heavy cream

1 1/2 cups whole milk

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise and seeds scraped

3 large egg yolks

2 large eggs

1/2 cup cornstarch

Combine 2 cups of the cream, the milk, 1/2 cup of the sugar, the vanilla bean, and the vanilla seeds in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a gentle boil, whisking to dissolve the sugar. Remove from the heat. Combine the egg yolks, eggs, cornstarch, and 1 cup of the sugar in a medium bowl, and whisk pale yellow in color. Set aside.Whisk 1 cup of the hot cream mixture into the egg yolks. Gradually add the egg mixture to the hot cream, whisking constantly. Bring to a simmer, stirring constantly with a large wooden spoon to cook out the cornstarch and the mixture thickens, about 5 minutes. (The mixture may separate slightly. If so, remove from the heat and beat with an electric mixer until thick and smooth.) Strain through a fine mesh strainer into a clean bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing down against the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Chill in the refrigerator for about 4 hours.

Chocolate Sauce

3/4 cup half-and-half

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1/2 pound semisweet chocolate chips

1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Scald the half-and-half and butter in a small, heavy saucepan over medium heat. Remove from the heat.

Place the chocolate and vanilla in a medium, heat-proof bowl. Add the hot half-and-half and let sit for 2 minutes, then whisk until smooth.

To assemble the pie spoon some of the vanilla pudding into the pie crust. Add, 1 1/2 cups sliced bananas covering the pudding. Cover the bananas with remaining pudding. Top with whipped cream and drizzle with chocolate sauce. Use extra chocolate sauce to decorate each serving dish.

My husband is so excited about his birthday pie.

Everyone participating in the pie party will be entered in a drawing to win a copy of the Country Living The Little Book of Pies & Tarts: 50 Easy Homemade Favorites to Bake & Share that will be released in April!!!

Horses in Pyjamas!

Free To A Good Home!

I have a spare copy of the late Elspeth Thompson's 'The Wonderful Weekend Book' on my hands to give away as not surprisingly entries for my recent 'Some Seasonal Silliness' quiz were thin on the ground. Well truth be told they were not existent ~ perhaps the festive season was bad timing on my part. So what I will do dear readers is pick a recipient out of a plant pot or the ilk, from anybody who leaves a comment here by the end of the weekend i.e. midnight on Sunday.

I treated myself to this book in December 2008 as a Christmas present to myself and you can read more about it, by either clicking at the link at the top of the page or visiting here. As well as being a regular gardening columnist for a Sunday national newspaper, Elspeth was also the author of several books. Although this is not a gardening book there are quite a few garden related snippets and I am sure that it would appeal to many of you. It is best summed up by its subtitle ~ ' Reclaim Life's Simple Pleasures". I will post the name of the winner towards the end of next week ~ in the meantime I hope that you have a wonderful weekend!