flynn070

These rainy, cold, blustery days call for some baking! Apricot Tart The filling, divine enough to eat as a breakfast treat, can be made days ahead and refrigerated. I made this three days before baking the tart and stored it in the refrigerator. Filling 12 ounces dried apricots 2 cups water 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 1/4 tsp almond extract Optional: 1 TBS. rum, cognac or kirsch ( I used kirsch ) Optional: 2 TBS thinly sliced toasted almonds (I did not use )  Soak the apricots overnight in the water. Place the soaked apricots and water in a heavy saucepan. Add the sugar and mix. Over high heat, stir the mixture until it comes to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Uncover, raise the heat to high again. Stir constantly until the mixture begins to thicken and the apricots fall apart. This will take a while (almost 20 minutes for me). You can also slice the apricots as you do it with your spoon. Remove from ...

Dogwood (Cornus kousa) 'Celestial Shadow' The autumn colors here are still magnificent. We have yet to have a freeze and I love how the temperatures stay on an even scale, just dipping ever so slowly. The overnight temperatures are averaging around 40 with the daytime highs around 50. The gray wet weather pattern that dominates the winter season has begun. Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum) (seedling) The two Japanese Maples that flank our back deck have been very slow in turning color but all of a sudden they are spectacular. These were unnamed varieties and I chose them mainly because they were large specimens at a decent price. They have put on quite a bit of growth this year. Acer palmatum 'Bloodgood' An existing Japanese Maple in the front yard is "Bloodgood". It too has grown well but there is significent bark damage and I am reluctantly considering replacing it. I would like a taller tree for that spot. It pains me to dig this one up though. Acer palmat...