Tea on Tuesday

Tea this week includes a beautiful skein of Alpaca yarn sent to me by Regina of Howling Wolf Herbs. 375 yards of a deep brown fingering Alpaca that is soooooo soft! Regina is an avid loom knitter, who has a beautiful site with wonderful herbal products and yarn. Thank you so much Regina! On my loom, but nearing the end, the diamond and ruffle shawl is shown in the second photo. This pattern is part of the "shawl project", and will have both a simple and more challenging version. This version has a lace inset, and is made in fingering weight yarn. A simpler version can be made in heavier weight yarn without the lace inset, to make a simple crescent shawl with a gentle ruffle along the edges.

Here is a close-up photo of the diamond lace inset, which makes the pattern a little more challenging (but not too hard, I promise.) And now for tea: this past week, we enjoyed this pear pie with Bartlett pears right off our tiny pear tree.

Our Pear Tree Pie

dough for a double crust deep 9 inch pie

8 - 9 ripe pears, peeled and cut into small chunks

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

Pinch of salt

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 Tablespoon butter

1 Tablespoon sugar

Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a pie pan with dough (I like a deep dish clear glass pan,) chill until needed. Combine the pears, brown sugar, nutmeg, almond extract and salt. Taste for sweetness, add a little sugar if needed. Add flour and mix well. Pour pear mixture into prepared pie pan. Dot with butter. Cover with top crust. Place on a lined baking sheet. Bake in lower part of the oven for 20 minutes at 425 degrees, then reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake 40 minutes more, until pie crust is lightly browned and filling is bubbly. Cool and enjoy!

Copyright 2011 by Invisible Loom and Craft, Renee Van Hoy. All Rights Reserved.