Pear Pie

I'll close the year with this recipe for pear pie that I found at Allrecipes.com. I made a few alterations in the preparation, but it still turned out great!

Pear Pie

1 recipe pastry for a 9-inch double crust pie
1/2 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon lemon zest
5 cups peeled and sliced pears
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon lemon juice

1. Combine sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon, and lemon rind in mixing bowl.

2. Arrange pears in layers in a 9-inch pastry lined pan, sprinkling sugar mixture over each layer. Dot with butter. Sprinkle with lemon juice. Roll out remaining dough; cut slits for escape of steam. Moisten rim of bottom crust. Place top crust over filling. Fold edge under bottom crust, pressing to seal. Flute edge.

3. Bake at 450 degress F (230 degrees C) for 10 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C), and bake for an additional 35 to 40 minutes.


Wishing all my blogging friends a very happy and prosperous new year!!

Favorite Books of 2010

Each year I try to get through an average of at least three books a month. I managed to read 40 this year. Not bad, but I've certainly had better years. Many of the books were from authors I read on a regular basis: Charlaine Harris, Susan Wittig Albert, Janet Evanovich, Laura Childs, Dean Koontz, Alexander McCall Smith, Mindy Starns Clark, Neta Jackson. None of them disappointed me. A couple were from authors I've loved in the past: Ellis Peters and Iain Pears. Neither were quite as good as I had hoped for. Although I won't say anything I read was really bad, my least favorite book of the year was probably The Road by Cormac McCarthy. It was terribly depressing!

In no particular order, here are my favorites for 2010. I've provided the link to those I reviewed.

1. The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (Stieg Larsson) - I enjoyed the first in this trilogy, which I read last year, but these two were much better.

2. The Meaning of Night (Michael Cox) - This book sat in my TBR pile for several years. I'm glad one of my reading challenges inspired me to pull it off the shelf.

3. Revelation (C.J. Sansom) - Petty Witter at Pen and Paper introduced me to this series. This, the fourth, is my favorite to date.

4. Nemesis (Lindsey Davis) - This might be the 20th title in the "Marcus Didius Falco" series, but it's just as fresh and well-written as her earlier novels.

5. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers (Mary Roach) - Leave it to Mary Roach to take a topic like dead bodies and make it both humorous and interesting without being offensive.

6. Conspirata (Robert Harris) - Harris's first book on the life of Cicero made my list last year. This one was wonderful and I look forward to his third and final novel on the subject.

7. Death in a Strange Country (Donna Leon) - I read the first in this series earlier in the year and thoroughly enjoyed it, but this second "Commissario Brunetti" mystery confirmed my desire to read the entire series.

8. The Crossing Places (Elly Griffiths) - I can thank Dorte at DJ's krimiblog for introducing me to this new series. I plan to read the second, The Janus Stone, next year.

9. Delicious & Suspicious (Riley Adams) - Light, easy reading, I really enjoyed this cozy mystery that revolved around a Memphis BBQ joint and included a fabulous pulled pork BBQ recipe in the back of the book.

10. Beat the Reaper (Josh Bazell) - I won this wild, crazy novel in a giveaway at Jenner's blog this summer.

Gingerbread

We had a very nice Christmas at our house. Bingo was fun on Christmas Eve with everyone winning at least twice. As the "caller" I don't get to play, but since I keep the unclaimed prizes and they were things I would have chosen for myself...I felt like a winner too!

In recent years Christmas Day has been a fairly quiet, low-key day at my house. This year I decided to try yet another recipe from the Delicious and Suspicious mystery I read this summer. Although mine turned out a little dry, the flavors were quite good. Maybe I cooked it just a tad too long.

Lulu's Early Morning Gingerbread Treat

1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup softened butter
1/2 cup orange juice
1/3 cup molasses
1 egg and 1 egg white
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon powdered sugar

Beat sugar and butter at medium speed until well blended. Add juice, molasses, and eggs. Beat well and set aside. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cup. Level with knife. Combine flour ginger, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg in a small bowl. Gradually add flour mixture to molasses mixture. stirring until well blended. Pour batter into an 8-inch square pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool gingerbread in pan on a wire rack. Sift powdered sugar over cooled gingerbread.

Shadow Shot Sunday #8

Hosted by Hey Harriet
(click above image for more photos)

Holiday Bingo

(Click on photo to enlarge)


It's Christmas Eve!!

My family will gather soon for an evening filled with fun and games, lots of good food, presents to open and.....Holiday Bingo!

I wish for all my blogging friends, whether you celebrate Christmas or not, joy and peace during this holiday season!

More Decorations

Last week I posted about my angel band. Here are some more decorations that I originally shared on my Yahoo 360 blog. You can click on the photos to enlarge them for better viewing.


This first photo is my mantle full of Christmas "stuff". I've added quite a few items in recent years, but some of these things are 40 or 45 years old! We use to actually use the dog salt and pepper shakers on our dinner table. I like them best. And how about that little egg whisk!

I assume we got this Nativity set in 1963, the year stamped on the bottom of each piece, and it's been my responsibility to set up ever since. Well, maybe I had a little help those first few years. Only during my college years did it stay packed away during the holidays. There use to be a light bulb that nestled above the star painted in the background and I could sit forever in the darkness, viewing the scene by "starlight" and marveling at the miracle of Christmas.

iPod Roulette - 2010 Holiday Edition

This is the time of year I keep my car's satellite radio tuned to Christmas music. There are several holiday stations to choose from, but I prefer the one called "Holiday Traditions" which plays music from the 40s, 50s, and 60s. Think Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Andrews Sisters, Glenn Miller, Bing Crosby and the like.

I have a much wider variety of Christmas music in my iTunes library. I didn't post an iPod Roulette entry in December of last year, but looking back at my entry from 2008 find it odd that with more than 300 songs to choose from I ended up with several repeats this year. I still question the "randomness" of the iPod shuffle feature. Oh well. I spent an entire evening listening to Christmas music, but here are the first 15 that came up.

1. We'll Sing You A Christmastime (American Boyschoir) - There's nothing quite like a good boyschoir.

2. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (various artists) - This instrumental album titled "Peaceful Christmas" features harp, flute, english horn, cello, and guitar.

3. Santa Claus is Coming to Town (Pointer Sisters) - A very 80s sound, but it's fun.

4. Silent Night (Phil Keaggy) - An instrumental album, one of my very favorites.

5. It Just Don't Feel Like Christmas (Rihanna) - I'm not sure how I ended up with this!

6. Silent Night (The Temptations) - I got this as a free download from iTunes.

7. Up On the Housetop (Pete Jacobs Orchestra) - Big Band music from the 40s.

8. I Believe in You (Sinead O'Connor) - From the "A Very Special Christmas 2" album.

9. Up On the Housetop (The Jackson 5) - Back when Michael was a child.

10. O Holy Night (Al Green) - I love to hear the Rev. Al sing.

11. The Little Drummer Boy (Peggy Lee) - This is my younger daughter's favorite version of "Little Drummer Boy". I like it, but I like Mandisa's version better.

12. White Christmas (Bing Crosby) - A classic. What more can I say?

13. Once in David's Royal City (The Chieftans) - From their "Bells of Dublin" album.

14. Mary's Little Boy Child (Harry Belafonte) - This is from the same album as the boyschoir from #1.

15. I Saw Three Ships (Bronn Journey) - Another instrumental album.

Shadow Shot Sunday #7

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(Click above image for more photos)

Does a shadow become a reflection when it meets the water?

Angel Band

I do my share of grumbling when it comes to decorating for Christmas and if my younger daughter didn't always help me, it just might not get done.

This little band of angels is one of my favorite Christmas decorations. I don't recall where they came from, but I've set them out for as many years as I can remember! They're really nothing special... just little painted pieces of plastic. If you click to enlarge the photo, you'll notice one is even missing its stand. I don't remember when or how that happened, it may have always been that way. No matter, though, these angels are special to me and I look forward to setting them out each year.

A Christmas Shell

This is the purse I would always pull out of my closet to use all through the holiday season, sometimes even into January. I bought it in a craft booth at a music festival many years ago.

You may remember from an earlier post that I now have a new purse, a Miche Bag, which allows me to change the shell to match my outfit (or my mood).
Remember this photo?

As one of my birthday gifts this fall I picked out a holiday shell for my Miche Bag. They only had a few to choose from and several of those were a little too "glitzy" for everyday use. This one, though, seemed to be just right! Understated, yet still festive!