Thursday, July 7, 2011

Things that go BANG in the night

We woke at 4 a.m. Thursday to a huge bang outside. Then a few creaks and crackles. Then a crashing tree!

Our house is surrounded by giant trees, so we were terrified for a brief moment not knowing which tree was crashing and in which direction. The sound stopped and we were unscathed, so we ran outside to see what happened.

It was the oak RIGHT next to our bedroom, but the limb fell parallel to the house and caused no damage.
From left to right:
It did land on my little sweetgum tree, bending it horizontal:
But I'm hoping that after the arborist comes tomorrow to take down the branch, we'll be able to prop up the little tree and save it. I also really hope that the whole oak won't have to come down!

Since I didn't want to die in my own back yard in case the rest of the limb decided to crash down to earth, I stayed inside and cleaned my house. And then I baked Brad a pie...
I've been cleaning out the freezer so I can fill it again with fresh berries. I had some rhubarb and blueberries, so I adapted a recipe from my trusty 1965 Farm Journal's Complete Pie Cookbook inherited from my great grandmother:
I'd previously made the "pineapple-rhubarb" variation, so I just subbed blueberries for pineapple. It was really soupy from the frozen berries, but Brad said it was excellent.

Cheater Crust from Ma's friend, Nancy:

2 1/2 c flour
3/4 c canola oil
1 t salt
1/4 c + 1 T water

Combine all ingredients with a fork and use your hands to make a ball. Divide in half to make two crusts and place one ball between sheets of wax paper. Roll out to fit pan and then, while it's still in the paper, move it to the pan. Peel off the paper and fit to the pan. Add filling and repeat process with top crust.

Rhubarb-Blueberry Pie:

1 1/3 c sugar
1/3 c flour
1/2 t orange zest
1/8 t salt
3 c rhubarb
1 c blueberries
2 T butter

Combine sugar, flour, orange zest and salt. Add rhubarb and stir to coat.

Place in pastry-lined pie pan and dot with butter.

Adjust top crust and flute edges. Cut vents.

In a 425-degree oven, bake 40-50 minutes or until juice begins to bubble through vents and crust is golden brown.

:)

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