Tears of a clown

Tears of a clown - Smokey Robinson and the Miracles

I had a brilliant day meeting up with my friend Lorna and mutual friend Magnus at Lorna's place. Lorna is the the keeper of her mother's legacy, the Southern Hemisphere Botanics gardens at Crombie Point on the shore of the Firth of Forth. If you're ever near and are interested in the vegetation of the Southern Hemisphere do contact Lorna to see if you can visit. You can find more info on this Facebook page. And she is participating in and thus opening the garden for the Fife Garden Festival on 7 & 8 June

I love peonies and there are so many kinds in bloom at the garden right now. This is Paeonia Obovata, or the woodland peony, one of my absolute favourites. Even here where it's almost done blooming it's still so beautiful. With the heart looking a bit like a jester's hat and the stamen all falling down it made me think of 'the tears of a clown' song. I've got scores of other images, like this tree peony, but I still need to upload them somewhere.

Thanks very much for your kind comments on yesterday's baking without scales experiment. The pie did turn out ok-ish, the pastry was a bit too brittle for my liking, so next time I'll be sure to find some scales somewhere. For those of you who wanted to know the recipe, here it is:

Dutch Applepie
Ingredients :
150g plain flour
150g self-raising flour
185g salted butter (cold)
150g fine white sugar
Zest of ½ lemon, grated
Filling :
750g apples, tart, preferably cooking apples but granny smith will do
3-4 tbsp brown sugar
1tsp cinnamon
1tsp ginger powder
100g sultanas
3-4 tbsp cruesli/cereals
2 tbsp lemon juice
Crust :
1 egg, beaten

Method :
Sieve the flour into a large bowl, add sugar, the grated zest of a ½ lemon and the cold butter. Cut the butter into small pieces in the bowl.
Start kneading and knead until it has become one large piece of dough.
Divide the dough in three equal parts.
Grease a baking form of 24 cm, sprinkle it with a bit of flour, loosen the bottom.
Flatten one part of the dough on the baking form bottom, cover with aluminium foil, with a rolling pin flatten and spread out the dough equally over the bottom.
Close baking form, now take another (third) part of the dough and spread this against the sides of the baking form, covering at least a two-thirds of the form’s height. Best way to do this is to take small parts , make those into rolls, flatten the roll against the sides with your thumb. Try to do this as equally as possible. Take care to press into the bottom.
Store baking form with dough and the last third of the dough into the freezer compartment of fridge (in Singapore at least, in more moderate climates the fridge itself will do) to cool.
Take a bowl and pour lemon juice, brown sugar, cinnamon and ginger powder into it.
Peel the apples , quarter them, take out the core , slice them, put the slices in the bowl , stirring them into the lemon juice , sugar and spices.
When finished with apple slicing take the dough out of the freezer/fridge.
Sprinkle 3-4 tablespoons of cruesli or other cereal (oatbran or breadcrumbs will do just as well) on the bottom of the dough.
Sprinkle half of the sultanas over that and arrange 1 layer of apple slices rooftile wise in circles, covering the whole bottom. Sprinkle the other half of the sultanas on there, then add the rest of the apple slices, as before.
Roll out the remaining part of the dough in a circle, preferably as big as your baking form. Preheat oven to 190 C/375 F.
With a long sharp knife cut thin strips out of the dough to make a lattice like top over the pie, one half of the dough horizontally, the other half vertically. Use the knife to transport the strips.
Brush the strips with the beaten egg.
Place the pie on a baking sheet in the middle of the pre-heated oven, baking time 55 minutses. After 25 minutes cover top with a piece of aluminium foil to prevent burning of top.
When done place on a cooling rack and let it cool at least an hour before opening the baking form.
Serve with whipped cream on top, if desired