Friday, November 28, 2014

Peace AND Prosperity

I woke up around three this morning thinking, "NOW I'm ready for dessert."
It was too cozy in the bed though and even the thought of pecan pie did not get me out from under those covers.

What another beautiful day it is here. There's one lone beer bottle on the table in the backyard along with the Saltines box from where the oysters were yesterday. Anna posted a picture on Facebook of the oysters and I stole it.


A Florida Thanksgiving still life right there, y'all. 
Thanks, Ms. Anna!

Mr. Moon and I had such a late breakfast that it could more honestly be called "brunch" although no cantaloupe was involved. Angel biscuits were though. I think this year's batch was the best I ever made. And speaking of baking, I have finally figured out how to make pie crust. I mentioned this a while back but to recap, I have never in my life been able to make a decent pie crust. Some of the most frustrating moments of my life have involved flour, shortening or butter, salt, water and a rolling pin. 
But then one day I got out the old, old cookbook that was my mother's and which she found me a copy of 



and I followed that recipe to the T. Except that I used butter instead of shortening. And dear god. It works. 




I know I have posted this recipe before but it bears repeating. For those of you who already make good pastry, go on about your business. For those of you who have struggled with it- give this recipe a try. I think that for me it went against my intuition as a cook to use the tiny amount of water given in pie crust recipes. How did that even work? 
Well. It does. Beautifully. The dough is not a wet dough AT ALL. Just moistened. And then mashed into a ball and rolled out after (ideally) chilling it for a bit. It doesn't break, it stretches and goes into the pie pan all lovely. 

Sixty years old and I finally learn to make a decent pie shell. 

Some of us are slow. 

Ashley is back in the little bathroom. Mr. Moon did not see the need to run a space heater twenty-four hours a day.
He's probably right.
However, she escaped a little while ago when I went in to try and get a picture of the tiny beast and is now somewhere in the kitchen or laundry room, hiding. 
Here we go again. 
She is so very, very shy. I let her and Maurice touch noses for a few seconds and they both handled the encounter with dignity and no aggression. A little curiosity and that was that. 
I think that yesterday was hard for her with so many people wanting to see her and pet her and hold her. She has made huge progress but we must be patient. 

And that's the news from here. Mr. Moon has gone to town to attend to various and assorted chores and errands. He is going to do my Black Friday shopping for me. 
Here is my list:
1. Kitty litter.
2. Chicken scratch.

I think I'm going to go work in the yard some, trimming back the dead and frozen parts of plants. 
I have been blessed with the knowledge that in the past few days I have won the British Lottery twice and now Mr. Ali Tarhouni of Libya is offering me 20% of 22.5 million American Dollars if I will only so kindly get in touch with him. Of course all of this means that I will soon be able to hire a gardener and will not have to do my own yardwork and that all of my overalls can be custom-made of silk, velvet, and cashmere. 

I'll keep you informed on how all of this goes. 

Enjoy your leftovers. Go make a pie. 

Love...Ms. Moon






7 comments:

  1. Fresh Oysters=yummy and almost as good as great s--,almost ;) Hard to get the real fresh ones up here and they are sky-high $ I have like you never done well with pie crust.Will give your way a spin.I cheat and buy store bought.Enjoy the weather,it is going to get down right spring like this weekend.Peaceful Friday to you and yours, pet Ashley for me.

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  2. please post the angel biscuits .thank you

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  3. I used to be good at pie crust but now have to figure out a good gluten-free version. Not so easy.
    I capitulated to store-bought crust
    yesterday. That little kitty is doing great with all the giants.
    It's good she's (she?) feisty.

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  4. so much love. it's a beautiful thing. as are you too.

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  5. I suck at pie crust but I might try your find there...I hate buying crust, so I end up doing various crisps and crumbles, which are pretty tasty anyway...oh and the idea of luxurious overalls is to die for!

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  6. I love those spam e-mails telling me that some complete stranger wants to share his millions with me. They crack me up and I never tire of the painstakingly stilted English. I read them all. We should save them up, really. They'd make a terrific book.

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