For Mother's Day, I made myself a strawberry rhubarb pie! Deirdre and her kids came over (John was painting at a wedding) and we had such a nice day. Rhubarb pie is my favorite, I must say, but to show my love and also to avoid being a total selfish pig, I decorated it to honor Mary, our mother!
I'm actually a bit out of practice in my kitchen work, having been out of commission for so long, but fortunately I already posted the recipe and method here.
As things warm up and our poor pitiful New England spring puts in an appearance, I was gratified to see my little crabapple tree in bloom. I found it a few years ago when we cleared a lot of brush up there and am so happy that we exposed it so we can enjoy it! My photos are not great, because it's so white that it is hard to capture with the phone!
This is our back yard and the tree is right up close to our property line. Above it is an apple orchard but I have no apple trees — other than this little cutie! I made crabapple jelly the year before last (last year a late frost did a lot of damage to all the fruits around here). I'm looking forward to trying again!
Kitchen Corner
Last week I said I'd show you this last cupboard in the kitchen. (I also said I'd show what's in my “active pantry” cupboard next to the stove, but I'll do that later.)
When they demo'd the walls, they found this!
This cupboard here which had been covered in drywall, just behind the chimney breast (they had already put in the beadboard at this point):
Here it is now — I'm giving you a view with the back stairs too. Someday maybe I'll be able to take the carpet out but this is not that day.
The bookshelf had to be moved out of the pantry to make room for the seed bench in there. It will go back soon!
I thought about what to put in this cupboard.
It had to be some category of thing that I wouldn't forget about — in my world, things that are out of sight are out of mind — and also, I later realized, something not affected by the heat of the wood stove; medicines and vitamins wouldn't be good to put there.
Also, inside, it goes back to the right, towards the stairs, in a sort of inaccessible way… it was really hard to prep and paint!
For now I have decided on the unaesthetic category paper goods and light bulbs — putting them here gets them off the pantry shelves where they are untidy and in the way.
So that's a little boring! Maybe you have a better thought?
bits & pieces
- I loved this consideration of N. C. Wyeth, one of my favorite illustrators. Julian Kwasniewski excellently describes the world we enter when we view his pictures, the influence of his work, and, importantly, the value of paintings over photographs in the formation of children's minds. I am sad to say that the current style of illustration for mainstream (and often Christian and Catholic) literature is in a state unfitting to the genre (since children deserve to be offered the best of our imaginations) and also weirdly, unaccountably uniform in style. We need to revisit the masters of the past to escape from today's commercialism.
- Biblical truths turn out to be biological truths as well. A good article on the meaning, in physical as well as spiritual reality, of the one-flesh union of man and woman in matrimony.
- An interesting personal memoir of the psychological madness that overtook education in general and Catholic schools in particular in the 60s; the ideology behind it is still with us today and we need to be alert to it.
from the archives
liturgical living
Tomorrow is Pentecost! What a beautiful time to ask for the Holy Spirit to come dwell with us!
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Sarah says
What a love of a little tree! It looks happy. Do you like money plant? That’s the current splash in our garden – crab apple and purple money plant together.
I read your previous pie post and loved it! I also would enjoy any details on how you make your pie crust. I’ve tried lots of things and enjoyed them for a while – vodka in the crust, King Arthur’s recipe – but I’m still trying to duplicate my mother’s crust. Buttery, shattery, just salted enough to be worthwhile. Just before I read your post, I was pulling our rhubarb in the garden. Thanks for the inspiration! I bet it must have been fun to take the picture of the pie on your brand new stove!
I hope you had a lovely Mother’s Day! I’m definitely a better mother because of all the good things I read here. Just think – I wouldn’t have had that full shelf of landmark books! Or the good lines from Little Britches about his father pausing before correcting him. Or your pizza recipe! The list goes on. We thank God for you.
Leila says
Thank you so much!
Someday I will give all the details on the crust, but the main thing is to keep it dry and not be worried that it’s not smooth like a cookie dough!
Emily B says
The link for the article about marriage is going to the article about N. C. Wyeth 😬
Leila says
Fixed now!
Dixie says
That pie looks amazing! Delicious!
Leila says
Thank you!
Mary says
Yes, please, to a big slice of that delicious-looking pie right now!!
Oh, what an art to be able to create such a culinary masterpiece!
Leila says
It’s really not hard! Click on the embedded link for the (simple!) recipe!
Christina A says
Strawberry rhubarb is the best! My grandma was the pie queen, and that was her crowning glory, complete with homegrown strawberries often. Tonight, at our church’s Easter Fest, I had a strawberry rhubarb lattice pie that tasted so much like hers; what a treat!
My friend has this great recipe for a rhubarb custard pie for those times when you’d like to use a ton of rhubarb and/or don’t want to go buy strawberries. It’s even kid-approved around here:
https://thebucketwoman.wordpress.com/2014/05/20/rhubarb-custard-pie/
Ellen says
Thank you for sharing the article on good illustrations in children’s Books. We had many of the Wyeth Books growing up and I remember looking and looking at each of the pictures. I don’t know that I liked all of the art but it was so vivid. The author of the article is very right to point out that the pictures appear to live. They show the breathlessness of the fighting and the effort involved. I know my brothers really enjoyed the books probably even more than I. I read another article from a secular source this week on why children in upper elementary grades are not reading as much. The author of the article was so puzzled. To me the answers are so very clear one of the biggest reasons being that the books offered to them in schools and libraries are total garbage. I have learned with my own children Using a lot of the book recommendations here, that if I provide only good books and not cheap entertainment with cartoonish pictures they’re appetite for good books and deep stories grows and grows. Now that they are learning to read on their own I am so pleased to see their good taste. Of course now I am scrambling to provide the next level of book. Thank you for all your good work Auntie Leila.
Leila says
All so true! It’s unbelievable that we have a golden age of children’s literature, complete with a panoply of amazing illustrations, and we have, as a society, simply abandoned it all for dust or worse, poison.
Laura K says
We are exceedingly fortunate to live (/homeschool) a few miles from a woman who turned her personal children’s book collection into a full fledged library. Small membership fee for the priceless experience of discovering literary treasures with my children; not just letting them browse free of any anxiety about what they might come upon (in contrast to the public library of late) but finding so many more beautiful, richly illustrated children’s books than I ever thought existed, every time I go. And your blog has helped me make wishlists! Finally got to read swallows and Amazons together this spring and I will never forget it. Thank you.
Helen says
Put candy, cookies and treats in the cupboard!
Elizabeth Helen Brame says
Also, stencil a Swedish motif!! 😉
Leila says
Yes, I would like to decorate the door. I have more brass knobs too — just not sure if I want this one to match or not.
Mrs. Bee says
I forgot about the “secret” cabinet! It got me thinking about why the builders put it there so long ago – was it just good use of some random space, or was there a purpose in its being close to the chimney? I stumbled upon this post (https://mainecrimewriters.com/2018/04/10/those-chimney-closets-what-were-they-for/) with some possible explanations and hypotheses – but the “let’s keep baby warm in here” idea floated in the comments is clearly not the right answer 😀
Christina A says
So, I read a piece you recommended about the movie A Stranger in Town starring Frank Morgan, but now I can’t seem to find the piece to share with a friend. Could you possibly share the link again, or simply tag me in the Bits and Pieces it was in? Thanks so much!
Leila says
Really? I wrote about it? I don’t remember ever seeing it! But now it’s on my list. Maybe when I watch it, everything will come back to me LOL