Clean and Bright

While thinking of a title for this post, the words from the song Edelweiss from The Sound of Music came to mind. The flowers above are hyacinths, not edelweiss, but you get my drift. Yesterday was taking down, today was putting back together. 

No sun shone today. The sky dripped grey off and on. Dismal. These photos were taken at 2:00 pm, when one would assume the light is as bright as it's going to get. I turned on the lights and lit the candles, yet still the shadows lurk and photos are grainy. We must make our own light at this time of year. I spent a happy couple of hours tidying up, puttering, and pulling together things from various parts of the house to complete this mantel. The clippings of rosemary and sage are from a quick foray into the garden in between raindrops. 

Have you been puttering lately, or are you into full-speed ahead mode? 

The Many Colours of White

I read recently that there are more shades of white available than of any other colour. Just looking around my house, I can well believe that. 

My husband's paternal grandmother crocheted this tablecloth, also seen in the above photo. She loved needlework and created many beautiful things, of which I have several. I wrote a tiny bit of Dora's story here. I don't know how old this tablecloth is, but I'm guessing between 40 and 60 years old. For the past 20 years or so, it has adorned a table in my mother-in-law's home. I'm honoured that last summer she gave it to me. Although slightly yellowed with age, the intricate and even stitches have undeniable beauty.

One of this year's goals is to improve my photography skills by reading and applying the information in my camera manual. On each photo I've added specifications - the speed, f-stop and ISO. I can see differences in the above photos, but they are minute. So which one is the better photo? My camera is not a full DSLR so my options for control are limited. However, from this experiment, I can see that I have a LOT more to learn about photography.

Mary, from the Little Red House, is encouraging people to link up with her theme of the colour white today. Her camera prompt was a good excuse for me to play with some of my whites and to get to know my camera better. It will be fun to see what others come up with.

Crispy Chocolate Almond Pastries

On Saturday I had a hankering to try out this recipe I'd found on line awhile ago. It turned out well, although I will make some changes next time. This pastry, with crispy phyllo layers touched with butter and a crunchy nutty chocolate center - all topped with a dusting of icing sugar - simple and oh, so good.

A recipe is hardly needed. I melted 1/2 cup of dark chocolate chips and stirred in about 1/4 cup of slivered almonds. For each roll, I used one sheet of phyllo pastry, brushed with melted butter, then folded in half. A good tablespoon of chocolate was placed along the bottom center of the pastry, the sides folded in, more butter applied, then the pastry was rolled up, placed on a parchment lined baking sheet, brushed with more butter, and finally, baked at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes.

Dust with sifted icing sugar and serve while slightly warm.

Next time, I'll add some cream to the chocolate mixture to make more of a ganache. I found that the chocolate chips hardened fairly quickly. Adding some candied orange peel or candied ginger would add a little zip as well. And I'd toast the nuts. 

I'm linking to White Wednesday at Faded Charm.