Recipe: Ginger-Pear Clafouti

It was my turn to bring the snack to Master Gardener class.  Thought I would share.  Turned out SO yummy.  A real any-occasion dish -- brunch, tea, dessert...  Enjoy!

Ginger-Pear Clafouti (Melissa Currier 9/22/2011)

(Makes 48 servings in 2 lasagna-sized Pyrex.  Scale at-will. Small scale will work in a 10" skillet -- start on stove like a frittata.)

8 T TJ's Organic Brown Sugar

1/2 C Ginger Brandy

2 t Cinnamon

10 Ripe Organic Bartlett Pears

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3 C Bob's Organic Whole Wheat Flour

1 C Organic Bread Flour

12 T TJ's Organic Raw Sugar

1 t Celtic Sea Salt

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16 Large Nellie's Cage Free Eggs

2 C Hatch's Light Cream

2 C Hatch's Lite Milk

16 oz. TJ's Greek Yogurt

4 t Vanilla Extract (bourbon-base)

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12 T Organic Butter

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Preheat Oven to 400 degress with butter in Pyrex

Prepare pear mixture, toss and set aside.  Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Beat wet ingredients in another bowl.  Pour wet mixture gradually into dry mixture, mixing well as you go.  Batter should be smooth.

Ladle a portion of the batter into your preheated baking pan(s) (1/2-3/4") and return to oven until it begins to set like the first side of a pancake.  Remove from oven and spread pear mixture evenly into pan.  Cover with remaining batter.  Put the whole thing back in the oven, reduce heat to 375 and bake for approx. 20 minutes until it puffs up and begins to brown nicely.  Toothpick stuck in center should come out relatively clean.

Serve hot or cold.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar (optional).

Willpower & Won't Power

When you have a lot on your to-do list, sometimes the hardest thing to do is stick to your to-don't list.  That's when willpower is really more about "won't power".  When we bought TOPH, we knew there was a very long to-do list, and we had to make a to-don't list to keep ourselves on track.

As a passionate digger of dirt (and soon-to-be-official Master Gardener), I would like nothing more than to focus on, and obsess about, our neglected yard and escapist landscape and grimmest-of-the-grim absentee gardens. But I have sworn off proactive gardening on our property until the Spring of 2013.  I am limited to clearing brush, cutting firewood, preparing for goats and grading in some minor drainage-required areas.  Oh, and some very selective transplantation and/or removal of "vintage" plantings that are impinging on the solidarity of our pieced-granite foundation and deteriorating sills.

My hubby is sacrificing too.  And, honestly, he's fighting genetics to stay on the wagon, so I really can't complain too much about my clean fingernails.  I married a tinkerer-packrat and the poor fellow will also have to wait awhile to have his dream: a barn.  In the meantime he will have a workshop in the basement and disparate storage in hidey-holes around the house and some no-power, no-heat space in the too-small, not-tall garage, but it's not the same.  And I get that.

I have to say that living without our nearest and dearest habit-hobbies is forcing us to really think and plan and mull over what we will eventually do.  Time will tell if their absence makes our hearts fonder and goals sweeter. I'm guessing YES!

In the meantime, we are progressing on all of the many before-the-snow-flies necessities around TOPH.  And we are available to consult on any of your yard and/or gardening projects and vehicle projects (land or sea).  We are living vicariously through you.  Don't be shy!

POD-crastination

OK, we are officially in one of those cart-before-horse situations.  We've got a lot of projects to do in the short term that require massive muss and fuss (and dust), so we've retained the PODs we used for our move to keep work- and our precious-few living-spaces clear.  But these projects are taking longer than expected (shocker) and the PODs are costing us money, which cuts into project budgets. 

• Basic budget logic says, "Um, hi.  You have a 4,000+ sq. ft. house with a bunch of empty rooms.  Why are you paying to store stuff in the driveway."
• POD-crastination logic says, "Why move things around a bunch of times?  Your boxes of stuff are high and dry and dust-free.  Out of sight, out of mind.  Wait 'til the coast is clear."
• DIY logic says, "Use sweat equity and repetitive-task-torture whenever possible to save the almighty DOLLAR."

SO, it's 2-to-1.  PODs lose. Domestic open space legislation = FAIL.

We shall dedicate this rainy week to find (temporary, but remotely logical) places for everything and put everything in those places.  And just to make sure we accomplish this, I have invited my mother to help.  Nothing like inviting a task master to your own work party.  Sigh.