RELAXING con L'ACCENTO ITALIANO

Here's a lovely idea of having a stylish romantic picnic somewhere near water or creating a relaxing place in the garden! These beautiful coverlets and cushions in lovely oriental floral patterns and of different shapes are from L'accento Italiano. Images found via Gypsy Purple

 

PEAR RHUBARB COBBLER

Taking advantage of the fact that our garden has provided us this summer with a few large rhubarb bushes, I was especially interested in finding delicious recipes involving rhubarb. And here is one more yummi and easy to make dessert - a mixture of fresh rhubarb and pears baked under crumbly biscuit layer! 
I also love the idea that any kinds of berries and fruits may be used as a filling and it's really great when you need a quick dessert! 

Ingredients:

Filling:
about 500g fresh or frozen rhubarb
3 ripe pears, any variety
2 tbsp water
1/4 c sugar * (I always use cane sugar)
2 tb cornstarch
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
1 1/2 tbsp butter or margarine

Crust:
1 1/4 cup biscuit mix (I used sugar-free biscuits)
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp melted butter
1/2 cup milk

Method of Cooking:


FILLING:

1. Thaw, if necessary, rhubarb, wash, core and peel pears; cut rhubarb and pears into small cubes, add water.
2. Combine sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and salt. Add to fruit mixture.
3. Pour it all into a greased oval or square baking dish. Dot with butter. Cover and bake in hot oven (150C\400­F) for 10 minutes or until bubbling.

CRUST:

Combine biscuit mix and sugar, add butter and milk. Mix with a fork. Drop by spoonfuls on hot fruit mixture. Sprinkle additional sugar on top. Continue baking until biscuit is done, 15 to 20 minutes. Serve hot!

FASHION PARADE: PEONIES

With this post I would like to make a luxurious summer parade of Peonies, having gone triumphantly through a blog of a fabulous photographer Georgianna Lane, last a bit longer. In Georgianna's blog you can enjoy watching the stunning photography and have a delightful reading as well at Paean-to-Paeony, Peony-Passion and Farewell-Peonies.

Well, these 4 sorts of peonies are from our garden, but pity that I can not tell you their names. A few attempts to detect their sorts by catalogues were not successful, because some peonies are looking really very similar. So I guess only a specialist could distinguish subtle differencies between one sort and the other. But if any of you could recognize or have any suggestions of what sorts these are, please do let me know;)

HOMEMADE RHUBARB CAKE

This mouthwatering recipe has been shared with me some days ago and comes from Germany, from my dear friend Melanie's mother!

Yesterday, when the clock struck midnight, I decided a perfect time for baking has come! And by the 12.30. pm, I found myself chopping rhubarb, whisking eggs and pounding almonds. And, about an hour later, the reward was an excellent cake - juicy and rich in taste and of a very light texture!

Ingredients:

Dough:

150g butter or margarine, 125g sugar, 1pk. vanilla sugar, 2 eggs, 2 egg yellows, 50g flour, 75g cornflour, 1+1/2 Tsp. baking powder

Stuffing:
600g rhubarb, sugar as much as you want
Covering:
3 egg whites, 1 pinch salt, 175g sugar, 50g ground almonds, 1 Tbsp. lemon juice

The featured roses embroidery made by my Mum, about 30 years ago :)

Method of cooking:

1. Stir butter, (cane) sugar, vanilla sugar, eggs and yellow of an egg until creamy.

2. Mix the flour, cornflour and baking powder and fold in slowly. Add the dough into a greased springform pan.

3. Cut the rhubarb into 2-4 cm short pieces. Cover the dough with it and add some sugar if you want it. Bake it for 25 minutes by 180°C.

4. In the meantime, whisk egg whites and salt until it`s stiff.

5. Fold in the sugar, almonds and lemon juice.

6. Take the cake out of the oven, brush it with the covering and bake again for about 20 minutes.

A Bunch of Hearty Thanks, Melle,  for you and your Mum !!:)

GYPSY SHOPPING: SKEEM CANDLES

...and here I am again! Trying to get back to regular posting in spite of magnificent weather calling upon to spend every moment possible in the arms of Nature! And an important part of my summer celebration ~on-line in real life~ is collecting wonderful countless impressions and ideas - meanwhile, put in to drafts to be shared then with you! 

  Now, that I'm finally sitting at my computor is also with the help of the weather which had arranged a perfect summer rain and I am simply not able to go out :) It's pouring down outside, the wind is nearly gale-strength, waves of rain sweeping over through the lush of green in our garden - everything is purling and gurgling behind the terrace walls, accompanied by sudden rolls of thunder...! I'm in the mood to turn relaxing music on and light up some aromatic candles!!

 And one of my latest finding that comes in unison with the topic of the day is Skeem Candles - a Philadelphia based creative team of husband and wife - graphic designer Geoff Weiser and former retail buyer, Suji Meswani. The Skeem brand was launched in 2004 after more than a year of research and development to perfect the wax formulation, creating scents, colors and making the candles themselves.

'The rich, colorful designs and unique long-lasting scents are inspired by their vast travels which include three to four annual trips to exotic locales such as, India, Costa Rica, and Thailand.'

The SKEEM's PHILOSOPHY reflects a wise conception behind the brand:

"...We've never understood the plain-ivory-candle-in-the-fancy-box thing. Isn't it a bit of a let down when you open it up, and the box, which is the nicest part, is just trash? We’ve thoughtfully designed all our products so they are beautiful and intriguing on their own, without any excess packaging. Our candles are silk-screened, then poured with our custom soy/paraffin wax blend to ensure a clean, even burn.
Once the wax has burned down, our pillars are reusable as drinking glasses. We also encourage you to reuse our 3-wick containers for things like holding cotton balls, storing paper clips, or even as a sugar jar. In addition to making beautiful, long-lasting products, we’re proud to manufacture candles that can be reused and recycled. It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness."

Looking at all this beauty makes my appetite going wild and now I want ALL these candles plus matches right now! ;) All right, for this evening I will be pretty satisfied with what I have from Ikea but, very intrigued about the aroma and highly attracted to the design, I'm really eager to try the SKEEMs the soonest possible... aren't you too?!