ANNICE THE ARTIST

Being a woman over 50, it’s so nice to have the ability to feel like I am 5 years old just by painting.  I’ve always loved this inner child of mine; it is fresh, full of joy, and feels the closest to what I consider “the real me”.  So I felt lucky when my friend Annice told me she wanted to make her Holiday gifts this year, and wouldn’t it be a great idea to paint on glass bottles over at my house?  Yes!

SADHVI IS HAPPY!

It turns out that you are either someone who jumps into anything creative, or you are not.  Funny enough, the judgemental chatter of the mind of each is the same.  Annice is so full of life that I was surprised when she said she couldn’t paint.  Impossible!  Me on the other hand, I just love the process, and it doesn’t matter if it’s a masterpiece or not.  How wonderful it was to see Annice go beyond her mind’s judgments and create some pretty cool designs.  We listened to some good music, enjoyed yummy snacks, drank schnapps, and laughed a lot!  Time stopped for us that Sunday afternoon and it felt rejuvenating.  I hope you make the time for your inner child on a regular basis – it’s fun!

One of my favorite artist’s is Georgia O’Keefe, and this is one of my favorite quotes from her:

“I’ve been absolutely terrified every moment of my life – and I’ve never let it keep me from doing a single thing I wanted to do.”
Georgia O’Keeffe

TA DA!

Diane Puckett

Time really does go faster as we age. It has been a year since we moved to the mountains of Western North Carolina, but it seems like we just got here. The year has been quite a whirlwind of change.

Full Moon in DC

The biggest change – leaving the Washington, DC area, a place I had lived over half a century, (did I really say that?).  It’s my entire life. Though we had planned to move to Asheville for years, it was still a big deal, and happened far more quickly than anticipated. With a beautiful full moon and all the planets apparently in alignment, our house sold in two days.

Thus began the whirlwind. Three full moons later, we would move to the mountains, and there was much to do.

There were many people to say goodbye to, knowing I would never see most of them again. I closed the psychotherapy practice I had worked years to establish, bidding farewell to clients and colleagues. The local pottery studio, my hangout of kindred spirits was toughest to leave. Well, other than my sister, but that’s too tender to write about now.

We headed South on a cold December day, cars crammed full of stuff and our two beagles along for the ride. Not long after we arrived, a snowstorm followed, leaving us with no electricity and lots of tree damage. It was a tough winter, especially since we knew almost no one. Our holidays were non-existent, as we were busy moving.  The day I found myself strolling through Walmart for entertainment, I knew something had to change. Facebook provides an illusion of a social life, but it’s not reality. The North Carolina Center for Creative Retirement at UNCA was my lifeline during that long winter, feeding my brain and giving me a connection with other people.

Molly

Molly Beagle, my best bud for thirteen years, slowly wound down and passed on to the Rainbow Bridge. Our last day together was a sacred time – we cuddled up, and I talked to her about the good times we shared together.  At the end, I sang the Golden Girls theme song to her. I’m grateful Molly had some time here in our beautiful new place. We buried her next to my studio where she will have her own garden of the flowers she loved.

Diane's studio

Living here feels like I’ve finally come home. I love the spirit of this place, the creativity, the energy.  It’s been a year now, and I feel like I’m finding my niche. I’ve made good friends and know many of our neighbors.  I have an almost-finished pottery studio, a dream-come-true.

I’ve given in to my craving for a hammered dulcimer and have begun music lessons again after a 45-year hiatus. Maybe this time around I’ll practice.

Most of all, I love the magnificent mountains. I cannot even think of adequate words to describe them. May I never take them for granted or stop seeing them.

Sadhvi

I didn’t think I could fit in any fall planting this year in my garden.  I went back and forth quite a bit in my head until a couple of weeks ago, there was a moment out of time where I found myself cleaning up a few beds and amending the soil with some composted manure without much effort. 

Sadhvi's October White Zinnia

Sadhvi's Favorite Salads for Fall

Often, I will make a big thing out of something that really does not take much time…it just has to BE the right time, the right moment!  I watered the beds well, and waited a few days until I sprinkled a mixture of leftover lettuce seed packets over them.  I did want some collards and didn’t have any seed, so I bought a 6 pack of starts for $2.39, planted them, and well, that was easy!   

"Firecracker vine"

Sadhvi's Fall Garden 2

Sadhvi's Pink Zinnia in October

My friend, Kathy, is making her living these days as a freelance editor, and a new book that she developed and edited has just come out.  I’m particularly excited about it–and not just because Kathy is the editor.  It’s called Craft Hope:  Handmade Crafts for a Cause, and it is written by Jade Sims (a beautiful woman under 50!)  Here is how Kathy describes the book’s origins, in an article featured on the website of Lark Books, one of the premier publishers of craft books in this country  (to read the whole interview, click here):

A year and a half ago, I was tooling around on the Internet, half goofing off from my then-job as managing editor at Lark Crafts and half hunting for book ideas. I wanted to do a book that offered both beautiful craft projects and a way to make a difference in the world, but I couldn’t quite figure out how to do it. I googled “craft” and “charity,” probably for the 20^th time in months, and this time I landed on the recently launched Craft Hope site. As soon as I saw the Craft Hope logo, I knew I loved the aesthetics of Jade Sims, the site’s creator. Part way into her description of the first project—sewing pillowcase dresses and bandana shorts for a children’s shelter in Mexico—I knew I loved Craft Hope and had found my author. What I didn’t know was that I’d also find a friend.

Kathy

After looking over this wonderful book, I asked Kathy to let us feature it on the blog.  I also asked her to send us a description of the book in her own words. What follows is what Kathy, our featured beautiful woman over 50, sent me from her home in Charleston, South Carolina. 

The book, she says, “tells about crafters using their passion to help those in need. Part of the movement of crafts online has been the tremendous number of people sharing their love of crafts through personal blogs. Jade Sims was one such crafting/blogging mother in Austin, Texas. After a few years of successfully blogging, she began to wonder if she could find more meaning from this mix of craft and community, so she launched Craft Hope, an organization that combines love of crafting with a desire to help others. Her first project,” (the pillowcase dress project described above), “brought a surprisingly large response. Her next project, handmade cloth dolls for an orphanage in Nicaragua, resulted in over 400 dolls sent in from all over the world. In July, she shipped 2,614 handmade blankets, booties, and beanies to infants in orphanages in India. These items were sent to Craft Hope from crafters in the United States, Canada, Switzerland, New Zealand, Australia, England, Scotland, Holland, and Malaysia. Crafters in more than 100 countries now follow the Craft Hope site, and the audience just keeps growing with each project.

The book Craft Hope presents photos, instructions, and templates for 30+ craft projects by top designers, each matched with a specific charity and with alternative suggestions for local places to contribute the item. It also highlights the charities that are being helped through Craft Hope.com. There’s information on how to give locally, how to give thoughtfully (making sure items are appropriate and useful), and how to empower those you are helping. One dollar from the sale of each book will go to Global Impact, an organization representing more than 50 leading U.S.-based international charities.” 

So, to all our crafters out there, can you think of a better way to spend your time than working on some of the following projects to help  Jade Sims with her important work?

• Pillowcase dresses for girls in a shelter in Mexico
• Cheerful quilts for homeless children
• Soft dolls for orphans in Nicaragua
• Patchwork Pillows for families in transition
• Sock monkeys for children in African communities affected by HIV/AIDS
• Knit scarves for teens who have aged out of foster care
• Soft puppies for children convalescing from cancer treatment
• Art Kits for children undergoing heart surgery in Iraq

By the way, here’s what the book looks like:

 You can purchase it on the website for Barnes and Noble.

Sadhvi

It’s the 4th of July tomorrow, so before the summer is over, I want to share some pictures of the poppies that came up this spring in my garden.  I think I might have one or two that are blooming right now, but most are gone.  I’ve seen a couple of birds eating the seeds out of the pods, which helps the seeds to spread.   I always save some seeds to give to others…there is always more than enough poppy seeds to go around!

I picked my favorite pictures so I hope you enjoy them.  For me, having some joy in my life is important.  I don’t think I would be still around at 52 if I didn’t!  So I have planted my garden only with the flowers that make me happy.  It’s one of the main reasons that I love living in Western North Carolina.  It has such a long growing season.  Oh, one of the best sources of poppy seeds to plant is the online store onestoppoppyshoppe.  Seriously, this is the place to go and get you some poppy seeds!  They have an amazing selection…just looking through their online store is a simple delight!

So, on with the show…it really was a spectacular season of poppies! 

Pink Poppy

Purple Poppy

Watermelon Poppy

  

White Mauve Poppy

Red Orange Oriental Poppy

Double Red Poppies

 

 

Poppy close up

Oriental Poppies Group Shot

Poppy and Calendula

Sadhvi

These are certainly interesting times we are living in, don’t you think?  I mean, with so many ways to connect, everyone I talk to is simply overwhelmed with “life”?   If the call is not lost, or they are in the middle of doing something, or their computer is down, or there is another call coming in, or I have to run, god forbid any daytime conversation can go a little deeper than actually hearing stress.  It is very apparent that everyone, even retired people I know, are about at their limit of what they can handle!  Oh, I forgot to mention the pressure to get the latest, or to upgrade.  My husband thinks that I should soon get the iPad, because it would be so good to be able to have it with me when I have clients with me while driving – geez louise!

Therefore, I think it is more important than ever to have something that makes one very happy, that is thrilling even, and does not cost a lot of money.  For me baking something from my garden satisfies that need.  And in the moment it is rhubarb time!

Sadhvi's Swiss Rhubarb Tart

I didn’t grow up eating rhubarb, but being with my Swiss husband has made me very aware that there are some people who consider it a divine comfort food.  Actually, my mom, who grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania, also swoons with the mere mention of the word too.  She told me that there was a patch of rhubarb growing in their yard, and they used to eat it raw with a bit of salt on it.  Well, it IS a vegetable she told me!  So when we moved into our home some 8 years ago, I made a point to plant some in our garden.

Sadhvi's Rhubarb Plant

They say that for the first year or so, you shouldn’t pick too much because the plant is getting established.  I went out a few days ago to pick, or rather, “twist”  the first batch, and I made a simple Swiss tart.  It was so delicious that I ate some and decided that I now love rhubarb!  My friend who is German told me that the first rhubarb, called  ”May Rhubarb”,  is the most tender and delicious, and he got weak in the knees just hearing me describe the tart!

Here is the recipe.  It’s easy.  Take a break from FaceBook, from email, from the routine of your day, and try it.  You’ll like it!

Sadhvi’s Swiss Rhubarb Tart

So many people have their own pie crust recipe that I say to go ahead and use it!  I have my own recipe that I use all the time, for savory and for sweet tarts and it is good, but so is yours.  I would say to make it yourself and not buy one pre-made though, because there is such a big difference!  And honestly, it takes just about the same amount of time  to make your own that it does to take one that is made with bad ingredients out of the freezer. I like to chop hazelnuts pretty fine and put them on the bottom.   Then take a fork and poke the crust.

At this point preheat the oven to 425 F and position the rack the second from the bottom.

Then wash and cut up the freshest rhubarb you can find, which is hopefully right out of your garden!  I spread the cut pieces over the crust.  Then sprinkle 3 T. of sugar or so over the rhubarb.  Now mix 1 cup of organic half-and-half with 2 fresh eggs, and  1 T. of pure vanilla extract, a pinch of salt.  Pour it over the tart.  Slide it into the oven and bake for about 20 minutes.  Take it out of the oven and sprinkle another couple of tablespoons of sugar over the top, and return it to the oven, but now on the second down from the top rack, and broil it for a few minutes.

Whip up some fresh organic cream, put it on top, and enjoy!

Content coming soon.

Sadhvi

It feels like ages since I’ve posted something.  I had a really bad cold, and I didn’t feel like doing anything for a couple of weeks.  I also turned 52.

I had this urge to bake a chocolate cake with white, fluffy icing just like my grandma, Mabel Carter, used to make.  I never made her “7 minute frosting” before, but I thought it was high time now that I am starting to look like her!

After looking hard and not being able to find her recipe in my collection, I decided to make one that sounded just like hers, called “Wonderful Marshmallow-Like Frosting” by Susan Branch that is in her Sweets to the Sweet book.  She has a cult following, and I am one of her groupies.  Here’s what she says, followed by the recipe:

“The classic boiled frosting, pure white, shiny and fluffy.  You’ll need a candy thermometer.

1/3 c. water                                        a pinch of salt

1 c. sugar                                           2 egg whites

1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar           1 tsp. vanilla

Stir the water, sugar, cream of tartar & salt together in a small, heavy-bottomed pan.  Hook a candy thermometer to the edge of the pan & boil without stirring until mixture reaches 240 F.  In the meantime, beat egg whites until stiff.  Pour the 240F syrup over the whites in a thin stream, beating constantly until thick & glossy.  Stir in the vanilla.  Now frost the cake!

I found a simple chocolate cake recipe called “Gateau Therese” in David Lebovitz’s The Sweet Life in Paris.  This is a must read book, by the way.  The following is what he has to say about it…

“Every Frenchwoman I know loves chocolate so much she has a chocolate cake in her repertoire that she’s committed to memory, one she can make on a moment’s notice.  This one comes from Therese Pella, who lives across the boulevard from me; when I first tasted the cake, I swooned from the rich, dark chocolate flavor and insisted on the recipe.

Madame Pellas is fanatical about making the cake 2 days in advance and storing it in her kitchen cabinet before serving, which she says improves the chocolate flavor.  And the Brie she keeps in there as well doesn’t seem to mind the company…”

I actually use just one stick of butter, which is probably a few grams less than what is called for, and, since most of my friends are into gluten-free eating, I use ground almonds instead of flour.

9 ounces (250g) bittersweet chocolate or semisweet chocolate, chopped

8 T. (120 g) butter

1/3 cp. (65 g) sugar

4 eggs, at room temperature, separated

2 T. ground almonds

A pinch of salt

Try this recipe…it’s really really good.

And, oh, thankfully, it’s Spring!

Sadhvi

I tried to fax one piece of paper to a client of mine today.  It didn’t go through.  Hmmm, I called her to tell her that there seemed to be a problem.  I asked her if she had gotten any faxes recently?  She said no, that actually, she had never received one; she just sends faxes on occasion.  Well, she tried to find out if she could get it working, and couldn’t.  Too bad, right?

Then I emailed a terrific coupon to a friend of mine  from the local health food store: a pound of organic coffee and a big package of granola for free, with any purchase – wow!  My friend wrote me back saying thanks, but her printer wasn’t working today.  Darn!

iPhone

My husband rarely gets any bars around where we live with his iPhone because the service is so bad with AT&T.  But it’s supposed to be so great now that our area has finally got 3G service, and now I see they even offer 4G service – oh boy!  It never makes any sense to me as to why someone would want a cell phone with little or no coverage, unless it was really just a toy, which it is.  I had one for about 3 days, which was the limit of my patience with no coverage.  Strange enough though, the comments I got from people just seeing me holding that worthless phone were kind of funny…they all thought I looked cool holding it!

Then I get an email from a friend saying I should check out this system called EVERNOTE that says it will help me  ”Remember everything”.  Now that is a tempting proposal, but really, just looking at their web site just made my migraine worse (click on the big bold EVERNOTE link above and see if you don’t get an immediate reaction to run away.  I double dare you.)

I cannot handle another thing to make my life simpler, and that includes hearing about it either…including, but not limited to: Kindle, the latest Smart Phone, the new GPS device, getting more business using Twitter, or any of the  other new and wonderful Social Media that keeps making me feel like I have to keep up…that’s it, I think I have reached my limit!

Instead of trying to keep up with the latest s0-called technology, I am going to go back to what I enjoy the most: recipes and gardening.  And being curious about other people…maybe I will start to interview my interesting friends and family for a while.

Now excuse me, I have to go through the emails that came in while I was writing this post before they build up to the point where it becomes my new part-time job.

Sadhvi

Where I live in Western North Carolina, this past winter has been unbearable in that there has not been a lot of sun, something I really need.  Some might say that the snow has been too much, but I happen to like snow.  There is a certain stillness and quiet that comes with snow that I find calming and nurturing.  I don’t really mind the cold either, because as a gardener, I know that it’s good for a lot of things, like killing off bad bugs and poison ivy.  And besides, the old farmers that I sometimes run into driving their tractors with their well-worn overalls on say so!

I also like being in a place that has winter because I can rest from the garden fever that I get during the growing season.  Every year, without fail, I have to fight the urge to start growing everything right about now.  Magically, just a few days ago, I woke up to birds singing and I knew that the green has been awakened from its winter sleep.  Everything feels different now.  I always act calm and disinterested when the seed catalogs start coming, which this year was not too hard because they started coming around Christmas!  But just a few sunny days with temperatures in the 50’s like it’s been, and I find myself drawing on a piece of scrap paper what I imagine the garden to be this year.

Sadhvi

This past weekend we were snowed in.  Last Tuesday and Wednesday we had a blizzard with constant winds of about 50 mph, night and day.  The weekend before we had 3 solid days of non-stop rain, with a little mud slide thrown in nearby.  Now I know, I could be 6 feet under rubble in Haiti, so believe me, I am not complaining:  I am just noticing things!

So if I could get away, it wouldn’t be to the Caribbean, it wouldn’t be to Mexico, it would be to one of my favorite thermal baths in Switzerland.

When I lived in Switzerland http://www.myswitzerland.com, I got such a thrill out of taking the train and going to one of the many beautiful, clean, and affordable hot springs.  I liked to visit and experience the different minerals that made up each of the hot springs.

It was very interesting to find that the salt-based hot springs made me feel like I had just been disinfected; very clean, and all cuts were healed.  The baking soda mineral bath was a true delight!  It made my skin feel like silk, and it was the most relaxing.  In the little town of Vals was a smallish pool that had mountain meadow herbs like fresh-cut hay and lavender flowers that was very nice.

But maybe my most favorite was the one in a little village called Scuol in an area that speaks a language that is a mixture of German, French, and Italian, and that language is called Romansch.  It is supposedly a dying language, which makes it intriguing right there.  Listening to people speak Romansch, which is Latin-based like English, made me feel as if I was not on the planet Earth, and I like that feeling -  a lot.

I wish I could take a few weeks off and go to Switzerland, where they are also having record amounts of snow and cold.

But at least they have these incredible mineral baths that you can escape to!  Where dipping  your toe  into 38 degree Celsius water (that’s 100.4 °F) and feeling the body turn into liquid relaxation as you slink into the waters that make you feel like you have gone back to a primodial place called  “Aahhhhhh” … yes, I’ll take one of those right now, please.

Sadhvi

I have never been a big fan of February.  If February was at the beginning of winter, I think I would choose to live closer to the equator and put up with scorpions and cockroaches and hurricanes.  In Cleveland where I grew up, I don’t remember having any conversations with anyone in February simply because the only thing that was on anyone’s mind was another month of winter, and to talk about it only made it worse.  One thing that makes these cold months bearable for me is cooking and baking.  I am no David Lebovitz although I feel closer and closer to him now that I have read several of his books, and get his blog regularly.  In fact, I even had a wonderful dream about him, which as I remember, made my day.  Among other things, David has made me aware that there is a difference in chocolate!  My favorite in the moment is Callebaut’s, which is available from two of the health food store in town, and not so expensive – lucky me.

So here’s the recipe for one of my favorite’s, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.  It’s so easy and so much more delicious than the traditional ones, that if you make it once, I have a very clear psychic message from another dimension that this recipe will become one of your favorites.  It is adapted from Alicia Silverstone’s vegan recipe, and it is as follows:

Sadhvi’s Peanut Butter Cups

½  cup Earth Balance Butter, or some regular organic Butter

¾  cup of your favorite organic peanut butter

¾  cups of your favorite organic graham crackers, ground up in the Cuisinart

¼  cup organic sugar

1 cup of the best chocolate you have, like Callebaut’s

¼  cup or so of organic half and half

¼  cup of chopped smoked almonds, peanuts, whatever you like or have around!

Line a 12 muffin tin with paper liners.

Put the butter and the peanut butter in a small saucepan, and over low to medium heat, whisk and stir until it’s combined.

Add the sugar and combine.

Add the crushed graham crackers and mix.

Now pour this mixture evenly into the muffin tins.  Or spoon it.  Whatever is easier!

In another small saucepan, combine the chocolate and half and half over very low heat.  Whisk it.  Smell it.  Love it.  Just don’t cook it too much!

Pour over the peanut butter mixture in the muffin tins.  Put some chopped nuts on top.  Refrigerate overnight.

Then, before you let anyone try one of these the next day, sample one yourself.

And be transported to another time, another place…maybe another month!

I like to make cookies to give to family and friends around this time of the year.   They must be easy, delicious, and wildly appreciated as well!  So here is probably my favorite cookie recipe that comes from my husband’s hometown of Basel, Switzerland.  There are so many different recipes for the “Basler Brunsli’s,” but this one is the one I like because it is so simple to make, and everyone just loves to get it, including those people who cannot eat gluten. 

There is a bakery in Basel that sells them the whole year, and when I lived there, I would often pop into the shop during the dreary months of February and get a small bag. 

One thing that thrilled me and I found so special about the Swiss is that no matter how much or how little one buys, they will always ask if you want it gift wrapped, and they will do it so beautifully for you.   

A Christmas Market in Switzerland

The translation of “Brunsli” is “little brownie”, but really this cookie tastes nothing like your typical American brownie…it is made with ground almonds (which, if you are lucky, can be bought in bulk at your local grocery store, or online  at Bob’s Mill (www.bobsredmill.com) ), or you can just grind your own almonds.  Oh, and make sure that you put lots of good wishes and love into them when you make them…I always like to say, “Anyone who eats these will have a good life feel loved!”, or something like that.  It can’t hurt, and I do believe those wishes get transmitted through the cookies to those that eat them.  Happy Holidays!

SADHVI’S FAVORITE “BASLER BRUNSLI” RECIPE 

1 cup (225 g) finely ground almonds (with the shell)

1 cup (225 g) powdered sugar 

3.5 T. (50 g) unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa powder

2 vanilla beans 

2 egg whites 

1 pinch salt 

2 T. Kirsch 

1. Put the ground almonds in a big bowl.

2. Get a big sieve and measure out the powdered sugar & cocoa and press it through the sieve with a spoon into the bowl w/the ground almonds, or use a sifter, if you have one!

&

mix it with a wooden spoon.

 3. Split the vanilla beans and put the seeds into the big bowl w/ everything.

(You can substitute some good quality vanilla extract or a pack of vanilla sugar as well) 

4. Put the egg whites with the pinch of salt in a little mixing bowl….whip up so it is starting to get foamy, but not stiff! 

5. Add the Kirsch to the egg white mixture, and then add it to the almond mix. Quickly make a dough, imagining that everyone who eats one of these will have a wonderful life.

 6. Put the whole bowl in the refrigerator, covered, for an hour or so.

7. Roll out dough, kind of thick (½ inch) and make into shapes and forms.

My favorite is heart-shaped, and this is the traditional way. 

8. Place onto baking sheet lined with parchment paper

8. Let them sit over night at room temperature, to dry out, covered, with a dish drying towel.

9. Preheat oven to 480 F on the next day and bake for 4-5 min.

That’s it.  Enjoy!

Happy Holidays!!!

Sadhvi

This week’s sharing for Oops50 is one of my secret recipes: the perfect pie crust!And, like most of my recipes that I use, this one comes from Switzerland.

In fact, it’s the very same crust that would be found in any tart in any bakery in just about any village in Switzerland.  Yodelaydeeh-hoo!

Switzerland was an interesting chapter of my life that lasted 12 years. It all began when I fell in love with a Swiss man at The Ranch in Oregon in 1985 and moved to Basel, his home town.

Basel is quite possibly my favorite city–it is so medieval & so cool. What’s kind of funny is that I thought I was in Sweden for maybe the first 5 years…ok, maybe that is not so funny! When I found out that I was wrong, I called my Mom, Sally (there was no e-mail back then) and told her. She responded with, “Oh…what’s the difference?” I love my mom!

While it did take me years to understand and then speak the language, it did not take me long to jump into cooking and baking, with all the recipes written in German and grams!

I not only got used to a gram scale for all of my recipes, but I found it to be so much easier. The one I have is mechanical and doesn’t need any batteries.  Better yet! 

It is called the “Soehnle Culina Mechanical Kitchen Scale” and I have had it for over 20 years. Google it and get one.

I use this pie crust for both savory and sweet tarts. It’s the only one I ever use because it’s so easy. And if you try it, it will be hard for you to buy another grocery store pre-made crust with long and hydrogenated ingredients ever again!

Sadhvi’s Secret Swiss Pie Crust

300 grams white flour

¾ – 1 t. salt

150 grams of butter

1 egg (not beaten!) with 4 T. half and half

Add the flour and the salt together in a bowl.Cut the butter up in pieces over it. Now mix it all together with your hands. When it starts to look golden yellow between your fingers & crumbly, you are done.

Take a coffee cup and crack the egg into it. Now add the half and half, and mix it up with a fork. Add this to the flour and butter mixture.(At this point I take one of those bowl scrapers and combine it all to make a little roundish ball.  Do not knead!) Take a piece of parchment paper and cut it out a bit bigger than your pie pan.  Put the dough on the paper, shaping it into a flat disk.

Fold it up and either put in the fridge for a few hours or put it in a freezer bag and freeze. I usually make up a bunch because they keep a long time, and I make a lot of tarts and quiches. When it’s time to make one, just take it out a few hours before you’re ready to roll it out.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees, put in your filling, and bake for 40-45 minutes, or until done!

The apricot tart above was made with my pie crust recipe.  If you want the recipe for the filling, let me know and I’ll post it on oops50.com in the near future!

Hello, and welcome to my first post on the Oops50 blog.  My name is Sadhvi, and I want to share secret recipes, things that are useful, and things that make me happy.
At this time of year, something that will make me happy very soon is one of my favorite flowers, the poppy!

I have hundreds of them that are getting ready to open.  And I can’t wait.  Even saying their names (like “Early Grey” and “Watermelon”) makes me smile.

I love looking at poppies.  Maybe it’s because they are so shy and unassuming before they open up.  I almost don’t even see the buds!  Maybe it’s because they don’t last for long.  Or maybe it’s because each one makes me stop and be filled with wonder and awe.

The anticipation is a wonderful experience…that’s the great aspect of planting from seed!  I like to take pictures of my poppies so that when I share the seeds with family and friends, they know what to expect.

These wonderful flowers are so special that everyone should have some in their garden.  Like any flower or living thing, if you give them what they need, they will flourish.
Here is a site where you can order your seeds.  Julia is the owner, and she loves poppies the way I do. Take a look at her site and her fantastic assortment and start your own poppy collection in your garden!

http://www.OneStopPoppyShoppe.com