Monday, May 29, 2023

Memorial Day in the US

 It's Memorial Day, to remember and honor the people who died in wars. 

One way to honor them is to celebrate the living, and when Handsome Son announced he plans to come over this afternoon, I thought I'd better make a little something.

Yesterday I'd set dried apricots into apple juice overnight thinking maybe a sauce for fish. 

Then Gary came dashing in last evening, i was spinning and winding on, so I couldn't put the spindle down. 

He had been grilling chicken and got a plate out of my kitchen cabinet to leave me some slices for today.


So then I thought ah, apricot sauce and chicken, great. Then when handsome Son planned to come over I rethought.

Made the apricot, juice and cane sugar into preserves this morning


the idea being jam tarts. 

A search for a nice pastry recipe not written in impenetrable British terms was, um, fruitless. So I searched on and remembered making the artisanal apple pie which readers will remember from a while back. That was when I found that artisanal doesn't mean quick. 

But the pastry, buttery and flaky, was worth a try.



I noticed that the preserves set up much more glutinous than expected because I forgot the pectin in apple juice as well as apricots. 

So I had to think yet again. I doubted if it would work to bake the tarts as usual with the preserves in them. Better bake blind (empty) then add the preserves.

I like this way of baking blind which I did ages ago and liked - draped over the other side of the muffin pan


I rerolled the extra pastry to freeze for a future fruit pasty



Cook's privilege bottom left 

See it's lovely and flaky

 
I had to take a guess at baking time, so settled on 15 mins at the normal flaky pastry 400°f. I could have taken them out a minute earlier, noted for next time.

So here are Memorial Day Fruit Tarts. A couple will probably go next door, Gary loves anything to do with jam. And I have extra preserves, maybe to go with the extra pastry.

Yesterday I took a stab at gardening, got the sage tied up searched in vain for Iris rhizomes. I think they may have rotted. 




Found one, which I'll hopefully replant in a better spot. Out front I know there are quite a few under the pachysandra waiting for rescue another day. 

And in honorary family news, most people wave cute baby pictures of grandchildren, or sweet little dancers in tutus. 

Here's my honorary granddaughter with her marathon and 5K friends.


Front row. Banana suit. I rest my case.

Also seen lately, on Freecycle




And let's not forget on Memorial Day, the people now fighting and dying in Ukraine, fighting our proxy war, to secure Europe from a would-be dictator.


Happy day everyone, enjoy being here.

23 comments:

  1. I love how at every seeming disaster you just changed the plan and went with the flow. Brilliant.
    Well done on your adopted daughter. I can’t run to save my life.

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    1. Granddaughter! I can't run either. She's doing marathons!

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  2. The tarts look worthy of Memorial Day - a special treat. I won't ask the significance of the banana suit although I AM curious.

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  3. Yes, rest your case! They all look happy. I now have a new method of blind baking. You and HS enjoy you day together.

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    1. It's so much easier than fooling about with beans. Also more fun.

      In the pic, she'd just run a half marathon and was about to be a pace runner for their 5K.

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  4. I wish Americans thought more about other countries...

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  5. Oh my. Those apricot pastries look amazing!
    And hurray for your honorary granddaughter! She must be pretty darn awesome.
    "Rot" iron? Okay. I blame that on the fact that people do not read books anymore. I mean- it sounds like "rot", right?

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    1. The tarts went over well. One of my favorite local ads: For Sale, weak old chickens!

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  6. I must try that method of blind baking. I love reading about the little somethings you create for Handsome Son.

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    1. It's nice to have an appreciative audience.

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  7. Boud, you are certainly creative when it comes to food prep and the resulting fruit tarts looked well...good enough to eat, which all surely did.

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    1. Yes, between them handsome son, Gary and his house guest whipped through most of them.

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  8. As a long ago student of the English language, I loved ''rot" iron and all things that sound alike.
    I hope your other bed of iris are rescued and replanted soon.

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    1. I need to deal with the other iris tiny bit by tiny bit.

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  9. The tarts look delicious! You always adapt, Boud. I admire how you do that!

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  10. Those tarts look good! Nice banana suit.

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  11. Congratulations to honorary granddaughter/banana, the fruit tarts are a win!, and yes about Ukraine fighting a proxy war for all of us.

    Chris from Boise

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  12. closed the window before I hit publish! I have an old family recipe from my great grandmother...Grannie's fried pies. pie pastry with apricot filling fried in a little oil. been a long time since I made them. if I dig out the recipe and try again I think I'll bake them instead.

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  13. That is a very clever way to bake tart shells. I will definitely have to try that. Of course you had to sample one! It's part of the job.

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    1. I forget where I got that idea, but I really like it. It also solves the stuck shell problem you sometimes get.

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