One of our favorite springtime activities in the Chicago area is stepping back in time at Kline Creek Farm for their Lamb & Wool Festival. Typically occurring toward the end of April, the 2017 festival will be Saturday, April 22 & Sunday, April 23 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., but …
This spring is flying by — in a blink, it’s mid-April! We didn’t end up making the spring desserts we planned to share during the last five weeks since our chef & baker broke his wrist recently, but we still found something fun to make for Easter weekend! We’ve been binge-watching …
In honor of one of our favorite math days, we will be celebrating as usual with a lovely slice of pie! One of our favorites is Pineapple Pie — I know, I know — I had never eaten (or even heard of) pineapple pie either until about 17 years ago when my husband first baked one. He found the recipe in a fantastic cookbook I gave him for Christmas one year & it’s been a favorite of ours ever since.
The filling is so good, it is tempting to eat the whole thing with a spoon before it even makes it into the pie shell. The sweetness is wonderfully balanced with just a hint of tang from the pineapple. Perfect for spring or summertime, it’s also quite the treat during autumn or winter when you’re feeling the urge for a tropical getaway…even if it’s just of the culinary variety.
What are some of your favorite springtime pies? Do you prefer fruit pies this time of year or more of a custard or cream type?
Ah, spring has officially sprung and all of the lovely plants are blooming and the buds on the trees are popping open. I love seeing all of the new growth this time of year (even if it makes my allergies kick in a bit). Seeing those pale greens and yellows at first…then all of a sudden some happy little daffodils & tulips start popping up and it’s so nice to get outside and start exploring.
Late last week we had two mornings of overcast skies & a light drizzle — perfect for capturing some of these early spring plants — so I threw on my rain jacket & went on a couple of rainy morning strolls with my camera.
We live near a pretty park that is known for growing many varieties of lilacs. A few lilacs like the ones in the cover photo were just starting to show signs of deep purple blossoms getting ready to pop. Masses of daffodils were blooming and some of the tulips were just starting to say hi. 🙂 I will definitely head back there over the next couple of weeks as more tulips & lilacs begin to bloom.
Last fall we planted some daffodil bulbs in our backyard — two pretty varieties to add some cheerful color to the areas where our purple coneflower and shasta daisies will bloom later this summer. We’ve really enjoyed having the early-season color from the daffodils in that bed this year.
The photo above is of one of my favorite perennials — Lady’s Mantle. I shot this image last week during our morning rainstorm. I first noticed this little gem many years ago in Toronto at Casa Loma where they have a huge bed of it — the sprinklers had just gone off and I was intrigued by the water droplets on the leaves. When we moved into our house, Lady’s Mantle was at the top of my list of plants I wanted to add to our yard. I still love the way the leaves look after it rains — especially on the baby leaves that are just starting to sprout.
These are just a few of the happy plants I saw the other day. I also adore magnolias, but the timing wasn’t quite right to capture those the other morning since it was quite windy. Hoping to get some new shots of those very soon and will definitely keep shooting more of our plants as they start to bloom so I can post more of those throughout the season.