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i know you’re busy, but the leaves are changing, the light is changing, and the very air feels different. do yourself a favor; leave the cell phone in the car and take a hike. go to a park, along a river, through a woods, to a botanical garden - just get out there and immerse yourself in the transcendent and transient glory that is fall. won’t be long till it’s all gone.
many years ago we went to visit an installation at clemson university by
. (for you old school readers out there, we featured photos from this excursion on
ideas for creative living
, the predecessor to beauty everyday...)
it featured this woven castle...made from bent, woven, and wrapped saplings, or sticks.
it was to our delight that we recently found a copy of his book, stickwork, while on a visit to
.
enjoy looking!
this weekend rinne's family space;
, hosted a little party in celebration of georgia's apple crop. it was fun to see all the families gather and participate in the apple sauce making demo and pie baking contest.
early saturday morning i woke up and made my pie from the apples that we picked up in the georgia mountains. i decided to make an apple crumble pie which have always been my favorite.
click below for recipe
crust...
i used
recipe for an olive oil and brown sugar crust. this makes enough crust for a traditional apple pie or 2 crumble pie.
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Pinch salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
5 tablespoons olive oil
Ice water
For the crust, combine flour, salt and sugar in a large bowl. Add the olive oil 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing with a fork until the flour resembles coarse meal. Add the ice water 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing with a fork, until the mixture begins to hold together. Form lightly into a ball with your hands and wrap in plastic wrap or wax paper. Let dough rest in the fridge at least 20 minutes.
Remove dough from fridge and divide into 2 balls. Roll out half the dough and fit it into a 9-inch pie pan, letting some dough hang over the edge. fold under and crimp the edges. place in fridge and let rest for 2o minutes
the topping
1 stick of butter,
and cooled
3/4 cup regular oats, not the instant kind
3/4 cup raw almonds
1/2 cup AP flour
a sprinkling of cinnamon
a pinch of salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
in a food processor, make some oat flour by processing oats until they represent grits. transfer to a bowl. process the almonds the same but you want them to be a little more coarse. transfer to a bowl and mix the remaining ingredients with a fork. set aside.
the filling
4-5 apples
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 Tbsp AP flour
a dash of cinnamon
a pinch of salt
peel and core the apples and cut in to half moon pieces. put in a bowl. add the rest of the ingredients and mix them up with your hands. pour the apple mixture into the pie shell and sprinkle the crumble topping.
place in oven on the middle rack with a cookie sheet underneath.
check back in 40 - 50 minutes to see if the crust appears to be done. serve it up alongside a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream.
i had an idea for a new kind of flower arranging.......
get a big leaf, like an elephant ear or a castor bean, and cut a little hole in the center and stick an awesome flower through it, then float the whole thing in a shallow bowl. i have an assortment of aluminum pans that i used. a really big party size one would be awesome, but i don’t have one yet. anyways, here’s some pics- lots of fun with close ups, too!
i went for a walk at the botanical gardens this week to look for signs of fall. there’s an overgrown part that just has a path mowed through it. it’s my favorite part because of all the wild, overgrown glory. here’s a peek..
this weekend's weather was about as perfect as weather gets. i crammed in so much into one day including breakfast out, junk store hopping,
sale, dahlia farm, and we ended our day at the elberton fair. not too bad for a lovely fall day.
my highlight of the day was the dahlia farm. with the dry summer and fall that we have had i wasn't expecting the dahlias to be too impressive but boy was i wrong! i didn't realize it but i was really in need of some floral therapy. thanks mimi for letting us enjoy your beautiful gardens, year after year[gallery]
we just returned from a quick afternoon to apple country around ellijay, GA. we started going up a few years ago and we now try to make it up a couple of times every fall so we can catch the different ripenings.
i was reading a vegetarian times newsletter and saw this recipe for maple bundt cake. i love the pairing of maple syrup and apples so i decided to cook some apples down and add them to the cake. good decision. the cake is so quick and easy to make. and your house will smell like fall which is never a bad thing.
enjoy!
1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Lightly coat 10-inch Bundt pan with cooking spray.
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in bowl.
3. Whisk maple syrup, oil, vanilla extract, apple cider vinegar, maple extract, and 1 1/3 cups water in large separate bowl. Stir in flour mixture until just blended.
4. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 50 to 60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean and cake begins to pull away from sides of pan. Cool in pan on rack 20 minutes. Unmold onto rack, and cool completely. Dust with confectioners' sugar before serving.
*if you want to add apples like i did.....peel and core 6 apples and dice them. i simmered them for 30 minutes. add a tiny bit of apples if needed.
20 years ago, rebecca wood started
. over the years she has employed so many local artists, made millions of handcrafted pieces, and inspired so many. congratulations rebecca for 20 years of handmade southern beauty!
come celebrate with us us tomorrow- saturday october, 8th fron 9am to 4pm for food, fun, and lots of special handmade pieces made by the many R.Wood Studio artists. we will also have a raffle for a very special 20th year piece made by rebecca. we have some very special sales throughout as well.
see you tomorrow, at the studio!
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