May and June

It's been so long since I last wrote that I thought I'd break things up into months to let you know what we've been up to!

May was all about the end of the school year for Daniel and me working on commissions, some of which I can't show yet. 

However, Lola growing up was a big part of our summer. We all graduated from puppy school (and by now have forgotten much of what we learned). Lola is such a good dog - she loves to play with her toys, she doesn't chew on anything she isn't supposed to and she is the snuggliest dog we've ever had.

By now, she and Winslow are best buddies and love to hang out together. We have to make sure she doesn't get too wild with old Winslow, but other than that they get along wonderfully!

Other than that, May was all about the garden being at its most beautiful! 

Our fruit trees were coming along nicely as well. The kumquat tree has been blooming all summer and is full of fruit that will be ripe in the winter. 

Our quince tree, which had two quince last year, is full of slowly ripening fruit. We are looking forward to the winter when we can hopefully make a good bit of quince jam.

Which brings me to our fig tree and the month of June. 

In June, the figs started to ripen and we picked several pounds of figs every day, which had to be processed immediately. Luckily, they don't all get ripe at once!

We dried many pounds of them and made jam to last all year. My favorite jam from this batch was with added orange blossom water. So good! The dried figs we use in Muesli and a rye sourdough bread I make that is amazing!

We also gave many figs to friends and I baked a few of these gorgeous fig frangipani tarts. By the end of the month - and about 90 pounds of figs later - we were glad it would be a whole year before the next harvest!

And of course, there has to be some art in my post. These were two commissioned paintings I finished and sent off to France at the end of June.

I'm working on one more large one for this client, which should be done in the next few days. 

I hope you have all been well this summer and have enjoyed a slower pace, the joys of longer days and maybe a vacation. I visited Germany in July and will tell you all about that in my next post!

❧ Silke

A beautiful fruit

We have a big pomegranate bush in our garden. It was a stick when we planted it five years ago and is now huge!

Last year it bloomed like crazy, but we got no fruit. This year, we probably have about 20 pomegranates ripening. Most will probably be ripe while we are in Europe and our friends will get to eat them.

But I wanted to pick at least one and enjoy it.

Perfect!

Wishing you a very juicy day!!

❧ Silke

Wordless Wednesday - Pomegranate Harvest

For more of Wordless Wednesday click here.

A Garden Update

Seeing my dad's garden photos made me realize that it had been a while since I'd taken some pictures of our garden where things happen so quickly this time of year!

Our beautiful pomegranate bush is still blooming and now carrying quite a bit of fruit - for the first time since we put it in. I'm going to have to collect some recipes to use all of them. If you have any ideas, let me know!

Our fig tree is loaded with small figs and I can't wait for them to get ripe and see several fig tarts in our future...

The blueberry bushes are still small, but already filled with blueberries. Maybe we'll get enough for one pie this year...

Our peppers are growing beautifully,

as are our tomatoes. Some of the little ones are already getting ripe (and are oh so sweet!),

and the bigger ones are still growing.

In the herb department, we have lots of lemon balm (which makes excellent iced tea),

parsley,

and basil. More than enough, although that is almost not possible!

One of our wild leeks is blooming - such a gorgeous flower.

And our kumquat tree is about to flower prolifically. When it does, the scent of the flowers is intoxicating!

Speaking of flowers, our vitex is in full bloom,

as is the yarrow and the yellow lantana.

Our oleander really suffered in the freezing weather this last winter, but is finally getting going. One flower has already opened.

Our lilies are doing well,

as are the balloon flowers,

our hydrangeas,

and our creeping gardenia.

After I took the above photos and while I was watering, I had two delightful surprises. First I found this little white mushroom in the yarrow,

and a few minutes later, a plump toad kept me company.

It's the little things that make our day, isn't it?

Peach Crisp

It all started when Daniel had to go to Hilton Head and came back with these five big, beautiful, ripe peaches. Ten minutes later, they looked like this:

And 45 minutes after that, they came out of the oven hot and bubbly and too delicious for words...

Click here to find the recipe for this scrumptious peach crisp.

But first, here are our variations: I didn't make the crisp in ramekins, but rather in a baking dish, which pretty much doubled the baking time. Also, we thought the lemon flavor (zest and juice of one lemon) was a little too strong and overpowered the peach flavor. So, next time - and there will be a next time soon - I'll probably just use zest and juice of half a lemon. And maybe add a little ginger...

Enjoy!! 

Fig Tart

Friday, I made a fig tart that is simply to die for. We had collected quite a few figs from our tree so that we had enough for the tart and still have some left over to simply eat!

This is definitely a great recipe and I thought I'd share it with you all!

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Rosanna Jolis's Fig Tart with Pink Peppercorn Glaze
from The Martha Stewart Cookbook
makes one 11-inch tart

Pastry Cream
1 cup milk
1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 egg yolks, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Glaze
1 cup fig purée (English fig jam)
2 to 3 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon crushed pink peppercorns (we couldn't find any and I just used a little cracked black pepper, less than a teaspoon - I think it's stronger than pink peppercorns)

1 11-inch Pate Brisée tart shell (fine the recipe in this blog post), prebaked and cooled (or simply use your favorite pie crust)
12 ripe fresh figs, quartered (or more if you have small figs like we do)

To make the pastry cream, heat the milk in a heavy saucepan until hot but not boiling. Combine the sugar, flour, and salt in a mixing bowl, and slowly stir in the hot milk. Pour this mixture back into the saucepan and bring to a boil over low heat, stirring constantly. Cook the mixture until smooth and very thick.

Off the heat, beat in the egg yolks, one quarter at a time. Return the mixture to the heat and boil for about a minute, stirring vigorously. Remove from the heat and continue to beat until the mixture cools slightly. Stir in the vanilla and butter, blending thoroughly. Cover the pastry cream with plastic wrap, directly touching its surface and let it cool completely.

To make the glaze, put the fig purée in a saucepan over low heat and add just enough water to reach spreading consistency. Stir in the peppercorns and heat briefly.

To assemble the tart, stir 1 tablespoon of the glaze into the cooled pastry cream, for flavor, and spoon the cream evenly into the bottom of the tart shell. Arrange the quartered figs in concentric circles on top, and drizzle the remaining warm glaze over the figs. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Oh, so very good!