Glow Cloud

Sorry guys for being like the glow cloud descending on Night Vale just randomly dropping animals from the sky. My post  from yesterday must have been an opening of the flood gates. Shit gets to me sometimes. Put on a happy face and scroll through some offerings of cheerful visions will ya?

Giant Dahlias. Not quite Dinner plate size but darn close.

Strawberry Rhubarb Bars.... Make These

CRUST
 2 cups of flour
2/3 cup of powdered sugar
1 cup of butter


Filling
4 eggs lightly beaten
2 cups of strawberries
2 cups of rhubarb
2 cups of sugar
1/4 cup of flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt

Crumb Topping  

 1 cup of flour

1 cup of sugar

1/2 cup butter`

2 tablespoons of whipping cream, not whipped
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
 Prepare the topping first and set aside. Just stir together the sugar and flour and work the butter in until you have a nice crumbly mixture.

Make the crust by stirring together the flour and sugar and cut in the butter to make a coarse crumb. I used my hands and then press the dough into your 9x13 baking dish. Bake the crust for 15 minutes and during that time prepare your filling.

Give the four eggs a gentle stirring to break up the yolks and then mix in the eggs, sugar, flour and salt. This should not be lumpy. If your crust is ready to come out of the oven then gently fold in the fruit. Don't add the fruit and have the filling sitting around for 10 minutes waiting for the oven timer to ding and tell you the crust is ready. Stir the fruit in right as the crust is ready. Pour the filling over the hot partially baked crust.
 Sprinkle the topping evenly over the filling and return the pan to the oven to bake for an additional 50- 55 minutes or until the edges are beginning to get color and the filling is set and not jiggly.
Cool completely.

I've yet to try this with other fruits but I think peaches, pineapples, plums, all would work really well. My rhubarb and strawberries had been frozen previously and this didn't seem to make a difference.

I found this recipe on the Mennonite Girls Can Cook website and just tweaked it by using strawberries instead of all rhubarb. Basically I used the fruits that I had on hand.

I shared a plate full of these with the hard working accountants in the tax office next door and they seemed to really enjoy them. Put the coffee on because these are rich and sweet and need a good warm swill of something to turn the volume up to 11. 

Now back to a few photos.

A few weeks ago I planted these in wire baskets outside and in one vintage planter indoors. They are such tiny little bulbs. I hope they survive the Ohio winter and reward me with something brilliant blooms in spring 2016. Both varieties are new to me. Kinda interesting looking though, don't ya think?

Another type of Dahlia I grew this year. Smaller bloom but sensational color.

  And look there will you? Glass on glass mosaics are time consuming. The one in the above photo required many hours of standing at the glass grinder to smooth out each edge until the pieces fit together beautifully. Time well spent. Such a great use for odds and ends of my glass. The goal is to crank out about 10 of these in January and make some loot. Alas, January is cold and dreary and the glass is silent and cheery.

Snickerdoodles. No way to get past the joy of a Snickerdoodle.

Butterfly and

Me. Of course, I've gone and cut off my hair. Although I'm feeling a little Claire Underwood in my veins lately and could go considerably shorter before it's all said and done.

So. see there. you have it. I haven't gone off the deep end and waxed poetic into some frenzy of self loathing and aggressive manner. A girl needs to cry and whine every now and then.