Keeping evil spirits out of the garden and home- bottle trees were created to catch those evil spirits. Here’s an article about the American Bottle Tree on Smithsonian Gardens blog.
I photographed this blue bottle tree in Lenox CT as we went for early morning coffee in November. The bottle tree has African origins and has now spread across the country but was primarily evident in the South. Now you can order a bottle trees online from you know where.
After our walk, my friends Jen snd I Went to have a coffee. There was a slice of of Earl Grey Tea Bread in the case and she’d had it before. Encouraged me to order snd try it . It was brought to the table with a generous amount butter and lemon zest on top.
We were at de Fer Coffee in the Strip District. And she was right. It was delicious. The butter slathered on top reminded me of the A.A, Milne poem the King’s Breakfast when the Dairymaid asks the Alderney “Don’t forget the butter for
The Royal slice of bread.” I’d say the cow did the butter spreading royally!
Remembering how my mother read aloud to me, this is a poem I can hear her voice recite the verses. Another she’d read with great expression was Milne’s poem Disobedience. I’d not thought of either in years.
Until the slice of bread arrived at the table in the coffee shop.
Funny how a slice of bread with lots of butter sparks a childhood memory of a poem being read aloud and the cadence and tone of a mother’s voice can come alive in your head, decades later.
Once my cousin John B wrote that my mother’s voice was mellifluous. I had to look it up!
Pandemic adjustments for serving La Prima Espresso customers delicious coffee.
I had my first cup since the beginning of 2020. You can’t go inside now but they’ve found a way to offer safe service.
The coffee as wonderful as ever!
Carrie, you would LOVE it!
My friend R came for coffee on my front porch Saturday morning. She brought lovely French pastries. And a box of……
Cannelés from Gaby et Jules French bakery In Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh.
(Click here for a recipe if you don’t have a French bakery nearby)
(pronounced “can-eh-lay”), also spelled canelés. They come from the Bordeaux region of France..” from Chef Iso website “ basic ingredients–milk, flour, eggs, butter, sugar, and vanilla. But baking them at high heat in ridged fluted molds transforms them from a liquid batter to deep golden brown treasures. The outer shell is crunchy and crisp while the inside is delicious custard.”
Early in the Pandemic my friend Debbie shipped scone mix and an unusual kitchen tool. A “brodpisker”in Danish or a Dough Whisk.
Here’s an Epicurious article all about this wonderful tool.
(Of course, you don’t want to overwork you’re scone dough!)
Thanks, Deb.
A friend sent three boxes of Scones mix.
When the surprise arrived, I didn’t have one of the essential ingredients- a stick of butter.
Today I followed the directions and baked them.
Mmmmm Thanks Deb.
They were delicious.
One week to go in the NaKniSweMo challenge. Sponsored by McWalker Yarns of Millvale PA.
At least 50,000 stitches total in your completed sweater- Bound off, blocked, all ends woven in. Cast on was November first to be finished by midnight November 30th. The sweater party will be held at McWalker Yarns Saturday December 7th at 2PM.
You can check out last year’s sweater fashion show here
I’m a little behind this year. A lot behind.
An inch of ribbing and two sleeves. My arms are pretty long. I’d better stop blogging and knit.
With houseguests, touring the city and travel to Ohio I didn’t knit the past five days. Uh-oh.
Rhubarb colorway of Winterburn Yarn by Baa Ram Ewe spun and dyed in Yorkshire. The pattern is Purl Code Sweater by favorite knitwear designer Isabell Kraemer.
I’ve knit lots of words into my sweater using Morse Code alphabet.
No names of aristocrats for the guillotine, as the memorable character Madame DeFarge knits in Dickens’ Tale of Two Cities. We had to read it in high school but fifty years later I still remember.
The knitted messages I knit into the sweater are the people I love, place names, favorite lyrics and favorite books from childhood.
All you need is love.
At noon, I met my former teaching colleague and friend Jennifer for lunch. Her suggestion. My first visit to Geppetto Café – Butler Street in Lawrenceville neighborhood ofPittsburgh. Open for breakfast or lunch. It is a delightful place to eat and the service was excellent.
Coffee,latte, espresso, teas, milkshakes (a Nutella milkshake was on the menu) and ice cream. too.
Savory crepes, sweet crepes, eggs, fruit, waffles, paninis and salads. Mmmm. I had the Challah French Toast. Jen ordered The Bonjour pictured below- scrambled eggs and Brie in a crepe with fresh fruit on the side and Applewood Smoked bacon on top. A leaf shaped dish of maple syrup.
Patrons have contributed much of the decor. I didn’t count all the wooden Pinocchio figures but the owner graciously showed all the items that people have brought in- the books, paintings,wooden Pinocchio puppets and marionettes.
Margaret Welsh wrote a wonderful review in City Paper calling Geppetto Café a “European-style breakfast nook.”
How about all these books suspended in net from the ceiling?
A snowboard bench in the front.
P.S. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinocchio_(1940_film) “PInocchio is a 1940 American animate musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Productions based on the Italian children’s novel The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. It was the second animated feature film produced by Disney, made after the success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)” Geppetto was the wood carver/carpenter who created the wooden puppet Pinocchio who can” become a real boy”
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