You know how much I love gardening, and I am far from complaining. But everything is reaching its prime at the same time. The peaches, apricots, tomatoes, figs, artichokes, fennel, sorrel and soon to be apples are being harvested now.

Tomatoes

But unlike store bought produce, my homegrown fruits and vegetables don’t last days on end. They need to be utilized immediately or they decay. The windowsills are full of tomatoes and there are bowls and bowls of apricots….coupled with a recent grocery store run where someone purchased several pounds of fresh strawberries!

I don’t like wasting anything so I have been making and baking all week. I prefer to space out my food blog posts because not everyone likes to bake or cook, but this task of produce management is dominating my week. It is food triage~~the items that spoil first get the attention.

Keeping up on the picking of the cherry tomatoes is nearly impossible. The neighbors are getting bowls of them but there are still so many of these ruby gems on the plants!

We just made a huge cookie sheet of roasted cherry tomatoes with mint and garlic. It is hard to describe what the mint does to the roasted tomatoes, but it tastes nothing like mint. I did post this recipe quite some time ago and it is still one of my favorite easy appetizer recipes using cherry tomatoes.

Spread a crostini with goat cheese and top with these warm (or cold) roasted tomatoes, and it is heaven! To get the recipe and see the original post, click here. Truly, if you have cherry tomatoes, you will love this!

Apricots

The best way to consume fresh apricots is eating them right from the tree, still warm from the sun. With the others, I made an Almond Apricot Tart with Whipped Cream last night. To see this Martha Stewart recipe, click here.

The crust is made with ground almonds and the custard layer has Amaretto as one of the ingredients. I love the combination of flavors coupled with the sweet, juicy apricots.

Though the recipe does call for whipped cream, we enjoyed it sprinkled with confectioner’s sugar. Today I will need to research more apricot recipes as we still have another whole tree to pick!

Strawberries

Now onto the strawberries! So far the recipes include Strawberry Rhubarb crisp and Strawberry Rhubarb pie! I like to experiment with different pie crusts, but my latest find is the All Butter pie crust from the book, Bravetart. If your kitchen is 74 degrees or more, the pie crust becomes more challenging and is difficult to manipulate. My basketweave pattern is a little wonky because the dough became so soft. But it is delicious anyway!

If anyone has another rhubarb recipe, please share as there is still several stalks in my refrigerator.

Peaches

The peaches are winding down and as I breathe a peach sigh of relief, I want to share another recipe that I previously posted. I hadn’t made this salad in quite sometime and forgot how good it is (and easy to make). It is a combination of the wonderful flavors of peaches, tomatoes, fresh corn, feta cheese, cilantro and a honey vinaigrette. Just perfect for the summer months.

Today, I hope to make tomato sauce and pico de Gallo. I can now see why farmers need to rest over the winter.

If you are visiting from the Charming Homes & Gardens link party, welcome! There are so many talented people sharing their lovely homes, gardens and inspirational ideas. I am so happy to be a part of it!

I hope you have a day filled with hope and promise! Just a reminder, if you are not following me on Instagram, please check me out @lifeatbellaterra. I am finally learning how to do Instagram Stories! Wonders never cease!

This post shared with Pretty Things and Thursday Favorite Things

The garden is literally bursting at the seams. With the heat, the ripening has exponentially increased. But it’s a good thing, as being in the garden is calming for me, especially in today’s chaotic world. To see my post on Gardening 101, please click here.

It is that time of year again when the fig tree is producing fruit. The fig tree is part of the mulberry family (I had no idea). They are low in calories and have no fat. A large fig has approximately 47 calories making it a great healthy snack. Our fig tree produces twice a year, but this latest crop is producing figs on steroids. The fruit is HUGE and fleshy and sweet.

I have many books on making preserves, jams and jellies to reference.

But the easiest recipe and one I had not tried before, is from the Williams Sonoma, The Art of Preserving book.

Really, this recipe is so easy. First trim the figs.

Since I am using a combination of our gargantuan figs and a few smaller ones from my friend and neighbor, Anne, I cut the figs to more or less the the same size.

The figs will cook in a combination of orange and lemon juice. We still have some remaining oranges on one of our trees but you can also use store-bought fresh juice.

Add sugar to the orange/lemon juice combo. Bring to a boil and stir to dissolve the sugar.

Add the figs, reduce the heat to medium, cook and stir gently for 5 minutes.

Using a slotted spoon, remove the figs to a bowl. Add orange zest to the syrup and cook, uncovered until reduced by one-third, 2-3 minutes. I inadvertently added the zest when I added the sugar, but I don’t think it affected the taste of the syrup.

Return the figs to the pan and cook for one minute to heat through.

The oven is my choice for sterilizing the jars and lids. After washing them in hot soapy water, I put the jars in the oven on a cookie sheet for at least 30 minutes at 250 degrees. I then fill them with the hot figs, leaving 1/4″ at the top. Any sticky syrup on the rim is wiped away before I add the lid.

After being severely burned using the hot-bath canning method, I now do all my fruit processing in the oven. (Note: please research this if you are canning meats or other foods that require different sterilization). After the jars are filled and the lid snugly secured, I replace the jars in the oven for 15 minutes or so to ensure that are completely sterilized.

I let the jars cool overnight to set. They will seal as they cool.

Once the jar is opened and the seal is broken, the figs will last for 30 days in the refrigerator. The fig preserves can be used on chicken or pork. Or spread on warm bread or toast. Or just eaten with a spoon!

One of my favorite uses is a crostini appetizer with goat cheese and figs.

The syrup on this recipe isn’t as thick as a jam or preserve, but is very flavorful. All in all, a quick and easy recipe to make. And a way to enjoy figs until the next production cycle!

On a separate note, I know these are troubling times. I want my blog to be a place where you are welcomed, perhaps learn something along the way, and to celebrate the simple beauty in everyday life. Nearly a year and a half ago, I wrote a post on Kindness. It was difficult to share some personal moments with you, but the message remains the same. Kindness is free and the rewards are tremendous. And it is something we all can practice. If you would like to read this post again, click here. More than ever, we need each other.

Sending all my loving energy your way.

For every old house I have owned, the walls seem to tell a story. In addition, there are odd occurrences that sometimes don’t make any sense, but I shrug my shoulders and say, “well, it IS an old house”. You know, the door that slams by itself, with no wind, for example. The old antique marble that is now on the stair step I just vacuumed. The basement light that go on by itself.

We always hope for what I call the “good ghosts”, the happy memories of those previous owners and their lives that permeate the walls. In my life, I have lived in several historic homes, ranging in age from the 1700s to the early 1900s. And each one had its “ghosts” or own personality.

But I need to share this story with you that happened this week, because I am baffled with no logical explanation for it.

Some history first. If you have followed my Restoration Chronicles, you know our home is 110 years old. Most of it is original, but new sections have been added to bring it up to today’s standards.

The kitchen is a new addition we built in 2000. So it’s 20 years old, but “new” compared to to the rest of the house. The kitchen is on the west side of the original house, and the new construction is built beyond the original structure.

As you also know, we are currently in an appliance crisis, with way too many things breaking at the same time. This past week, our dishwasher, even though the water is turned off, kept filling with water. Unfortunately, it overflowed and ruined a large section of hardwood floor in the kitchen.

Finally, we yanked it out because we could not shut off the source of the water. The plumber came back AGAIN and replaced all the shut-off valves. This finally did the trick. If you look closely, you can see the dark water damage marks in the flooring.

Please keep in mind that the kitchen is new and before it was built, there was nothing in its place. However when my husband removed the dishwasher, he found a gold locket on the floor with a beautiful monogram on the front.

No one in our family has ever seen this locket before. The initials look like KMK~~~again nothing familiar to us. These are not the initials of the previous owner. From 1945-1957 the Korrick family lived here, but no one with these initials. It looks rather old, right?

So I opened the locket, and found this picture inside! Certainly not a contemporary photo!

So how does a locket, with a picture of a man taken decades ago, find its way under our dishwasher, in a kitchen that was built from all new materials 20 years ago?

I can honestly say I found all this a bit disturbing, only because we have had a series of so many unfortunate events lately. Here is list of the quirky things that have gone wrong in the last 14 days:

1. Flood in the basement due to water heater splitting; flood alarm on the floor did not alert us.
2. Dishwasher floods with no water going to it. Plumber turned off the water and it continued to fill for the next 6 days. Ruined the hardwood floor
3. Clothes dryer at cabin stops working.
4. Ice maker in refrigerator quits
5. All the electrical outlets in master bedroom at the cabin stop working all at once
6. My Nespresso coffee machine is leaking water. First time ever.
7. The driving lights on the car go on and off, but never when we take it into get fixed.
8. The desk light at the cabin randomly goes on and off. I would turn it off and it would go on by itself. Repeatedly.
9. The fire alarm apparently went off yesterday. No one heard it. The fire department showed up at our gate.

It is becoming a pricey month. So I am blaming all of this on Mr. Locket Man. Isn’t this so strange? Mr. Locket Man is sitting next to my religious statue in the breakfast room until I can figure this out.

In the meantime, I am trying to reach the previous owner’s daughter to see if she recognizes this locket or photo. A bit of a mystery as it doesn’t explain how it got under the dishwasher.

Have you had any unexplained experiences in your home? Well, this makes for fun dinner conversation if nothing else!

Enjoy your Saturday and weekend! We just picked our son up from the airport, which is why I am a bit late posting today. We are blessed to have him here for the next two weeks!

If you have not read the prior posts of The Restoration Chronicles, links are below.

The Restoration Chronicles Chapter 1

The Restoration Chronicles Chapter 2

The Restoration Chronicles Chapter 3

The Restoration Chronicles Chapter 4

I hope you had an enjoyable Memorial Day weekend.

The appliance crisis cloud seems to have followed me to our vacation home with three things failing on us. The clothes dryer, the ice maker on the refrigerator and all the electrical plugs in our bedroom. What the heck is going on? I think it is time to take out my sage stick and scare away the home ownership ghouls. I won’t even mention the desk light that kept going on and off by itself.

But, if you own a home, inevitably things will go wrong. I just wish they would spread themselves out and not break the bank.

Some good news. I was able to find time to do a bit of painting (yes, on a canvas!). We have good light at the cabin and so painting amid the peace and quiet is very therapeutic.

Unfortunately, due to COVID, my art classes in Phoenix have been cancelled until September. In a previous blog post, I mentioned following Kelli Folsom’s video still life lessons, Vital Arts with Kelli, with the intention to have the flexibility of online instruction. The ultimate goal is to paint every day. Right now I hope to paint at least every Friday.

The lesson I selected is an antique sugar bowl with oranges.

Here is the photo of the live setup. I believe this arrangement works because orange is the complement of blue ~~they really look lovely together against the rustic wood table.

Kelli’s video instruction is approximately 35 minutes. I like to listen to a good portion of it first, before I start painting. Again, I did this in acrylic paints while Kelli uses oil. Vastly different mediums.

Here is what I love about painting. Everyone has their own interpretation and style. No two are the same. When I see Kelli’s loose brushstrokes, I wish I could paint that way. Her painting of the still life is very different than mine.

Here is my version. It is not quite done yet, as I am in the stage of just staring at it for a few days to see what I can improve upon.

But isn’t this fun to see the differences in style?

What I find most challenging is getting the shadows/darks in the right places, the different values and the scale of the pieces. And orange is one of those colors that is hard to create!

If you recall, I started painting when my middle child went off to college~~nearly 5 years ago. I have never painted before and it is intimidating to start something new at an older age. To see more about my painting journey, click here.

But each time I put the paintbrush on the canvas I learn something. Especially in this time of uncertainty, I find comfort in starting and finishing a project. I’ve decided I am not good with ambiguity as I like beginnings and endings. Doesn’t life seem to be a big blur right now?

Painting is a way for me to spend hours focusing on something else. Tuning out the world and its problems is a good thing.

Do you have a hobby or interest that is therapeutic? If so, please share. Many of us may be at a stage in life where we are looking for new challenges or skills.

Wishing you all a wonderful Wednesday.

Greetings from the White Mountains of Arizona. We are up at our cabin and the weather is 60 degrees this morning with sunny, clear blue skies.

The community in Pinetop-Lakeside is small, with limited shopping and resources. Other than a few local grocery stores, you need to drive to the next largest town, which is Show Low for a Walmart or a Home Depot.

True confessions first. I am not a shopper. It is one of my least favorite things to do. Given the choice between spending the day shopping or cleaning toilets, I would choose the toilets. However, there are bloggers I follow who seem to discover hidden gems at WalMart so yesterday I decided to muster up the courage and go.

Trip to Walmart

With the Memorial holiday upon us, Walmart has an aisle display with their seasonal items. Here is where I found Ree Drummond’s The Pioneer Woman line of products.

Ree Drummond is a blogger, author, food writer and television personality who lives on a working ranch in Oklahoma. Her style is mix and match, flea market and everything handed down from your grandmother.

Quite honestly, I don’t know much about her but I like her charming brand. She apparently has a line of dishes and other products there which I didn’t seek.

Please note that I am not fond of paper anything as I would much rather use dishes. But these dinner plates are 11” wide and 1.25” deep and do not feel flimsy.

The ruffled edge has such a vintage feel and look. The coating on the plates gives some substance to the paper, vs. styrofoam or plain paper plates.

The Buffalo check tablecloth is 60” x 84”, slightly smaller than our outside primitive pine dining table, but I like some of the wood showing on the ends. It is a light weight fabric but it does the trick!

The napkins have a cute pale blue dot and a gingham decorative edge. I like how they feel patriotic without being obvious.

Inside the napkin there is a recipe printed for Ree’s Spicy Dr. Pepper Shredded Pork, which serves 18! Cute idea.

The Centerpiece

With no fresh flowers and outdoor plants limited to pine trees, I found artificial geraniums and ivy in the garage. Using an old wooden dough bowl as the base, I spread the geraniums out and stuck flags and pinwheels in for color and theme.

All in all, I am pleased with The Pioneer Woman products! They certainly provide a festive, patriotic theme for this Memorial Day weekend and at an affordable cost.

What are your plans for this weekend? I plan on spending some time today painting on a canvas and just enjoying the peace and quiet of the pines. We went out to dinner to a real restaurant last night~~the first time in months! It is so joyful to be able to carefully socialize again.

Let us pause to reflect upon the selfless men and women who have honorably served our nation and made the ultimate sacrifice to allow us our freedom. We pay tribute to their memory and remain forever indebted to them for their service. Happy Memorial Day!

Tablecloth $14.99

Napkins- 20 count $2.98

Dinner Plates 8 count $2.98

Salad Plates 12 count $2.98

Pinwheels $0.98 each

I am always curious as to why there are times in life where “things” happen in multiples. And not good things. Well, I seem to be in one of those downpours lately. As I mentioned in Saturday’s blog post, the 75 gallon water tank in the basement split and flooded two rooms. A plumber, two helpers and $1200 later, the problem is fixed. But my nice, neat organized basement spaces are in a state of disarray as everything needs to be put back in its place.

Yesterday, I stepped into another flood of water coming from our dishwasher. Yep! All over the hardwood floor in the kitchen. This appliance didn’t drain and I removed a few gallons of standing water with a turkey baster. Sigh.

Last night, my daughter came home from a week at our mountain cabin and let us know the clothes dryer stopped working. The burnt rubber smell part of the story is concerning. Sigh again.

For me, I guess I am a believer of things happening in threes. So hopefully this will be the end of all things breaking down for awhile. But this is the nature of owning an old home, or living in a home for a long time. My guess is that our dishwasher finally needs replacing as does the belt to the clothes dryer at the cabin. Just wish it all didn’t happen at the same time. Cha-ching.

Does this happen to you, too? Do you believe in things happening in threes?

Onto Other Things

On a brighter note, as I am the eternal optimist, it is 62 degrees outside this morning! Whaaat?? A few days ago it was over 100 degrees, however, the forecast for the next few days is perfect Spring weather with highs in the 70s. Crystal clear blue skies, sunny and very cool evenings. Lovely.

We are supposed to head up to the mountains for Memorial Day but I almost don’t want to leave this gorgeous weather. Do you have plans for Memorial Day weekend? I’ve been so distracted with this pandemic it’s hard to believe it is the holiday weekend already.

Update on the Back Staircase Project

We are slowly removing the gross glue and old paint from the stairs. There are some disappointing surprises. One of the treads is broken and one of the risers has been poorly patched. A few setbacks but there are four more steps to uncover so who knows what we will find. Lately, nothing seems to be going as planned.

All Things Peaches

We are still picking peaches off the trees. The peach pie I made is truly one of the first ones that wasn’t swimming in juice with a soggy bottom crust. I blended two recipes~~the all butter crust is from Stella Parks New York Times Bestseller, Bravetart. The filling is from the Country Peach Pie recipe from the Food Network Kitchen. By far, one of the best peach pies yet!

Elisabeth is on a homemade ice cream kick. Last week it was fresh strawberry ice cream.

This week, fresh peach ice cream. With the leftover peach puree from the peach ice cream recipe (yes, we are getting fat over here!), we are enjoying peach margaritas!

Front Porch is Finished!

The new welcome mat from Wayfair arrived yesterday. The mat is 24″ x 36″, substantially larger than the previous one. It is non-slip, made from coconut fibers and is an elegant addition to the spruced up front entry. All for $43.99. This project is finally DONE.

Vegetable Consumption

We are eating so many good things from the garden. This is the first year I planted shishito peppers. Flash frying in hot olive oil, served with salt and a squeeze of lemon, these peppers are just delicious. If you haven’t had these peppers before, check to see if your grocery store carries them. I know Safeway does and this is a very quick, yummy appetizer. Occasionally you may get a hot one, but the all the ones from our garden have a mild flavor.

Artichokes are ready to harvest too. We typically par-boil them, cut them in half and basted them on the grill with olive oil and garlic. The Houston’s Restaurant recipe with remoulade sauce is a family favorite.

Hoping your Wednesday is filled with joy and beautiful weather! Pray that no more appliances break this week!