Thursday: Slow and Steady with stationary and cherry brown-butter bars

I found some old letters I had not posted in the mail yet...

between those + some new ones I wrote, 

I have 6 ready to mail... 

I love using beautiful and simple stationary! 

Mr. Husband worked from home and Cleo kept him company! 

We had the last of the tomato vodka sauce with pasta and the

very last of the fried chicken I made on Sunday!

I made the cherry brown-butter bars!

 They turned out well, the pan worked well...super easy to get out!

(I used parchment paper like suggested in recipe also). 

They are good... 

I am thinking of making them again but adding a smidgen of

 lemon juice and lemon zest of 1 or more lemons... 

I was hoping for a bit more 'zing' ... 

but they are good and I am so glad to have made them! 

Thinking of my Grandma esp as she was going to bake with 

cherries also this week! 

I am also thinking I may like these better with a fruit that has more

tartness, like raspberries... it was really good to try a new recipe

and I look forward to future iterations of it! 

The cherry bars had many steps, from pitting the cherries,

weighting them for the correct amount after pitting and then

baking the crust, making the top batter, putting the pitted cherries

in and pouring the top batter on top!

So I had reinforcements in the form of a small piece of chocolate 

and later ice cream with (blessed!) blueberries!

***

The cherries and blueberries were both blessed on the Feast of Transfiguration.

To answer the question of why fruit blessing on this feast....

there are, it seems, many reasons...

I am so used to fruit being blessed on this Feast now that I don't even

think about it... I just try to get many choice fruits

and bring them in a basket to be blessed... 

the priest of the church blesses them with prayers and the 

sprinkling of Holy Water (that is blessed on the feast of Theophany,

Christ's baptism or, if one runs out, again on the Feast of Mid-Pentecost, 

traditionally speaking). 

I love this answer from the OCA website on the blessing of fruits on the

Feast of Transfiguration:

"The feast of the Transfiguration is presently celebrated on the sixth of August, probably for some historical reason. The summer celebration of the feast, however, has lent itself very well to the theme of transfiguration. The blessing of grapes, as well as other fruits and vegetables on this day is the most beautiful and adequate sign of the final ­transfiguration of all things in Christ. It signifies the ultimate flowering and fruitfulness of all creation in the paradise of God’s unending Kingdom of Life where all will he transformed by the glory of the Lord."

You can read more here on other reasons as well. 

***

Well, with Mr Husband home, I had extra meals to prepare 

and I did not 2 but 3 loads of dishes in the dishwasher + hand washing!

I am so glad I made that Fried Chicken on Sunday!

It re-heated really well in the toaster-oven! 

I started listening to Tolkien's Silmarillion on Audible 

while I was cleaning up...

I managed to get some of the clutter (and all of the baking dishes!)

taken care of!

***

The cherry pitter I bought worked great, btw and with using parchment paper

with my new 8x8 baking pan with removable bottom,

I did not have a spec of baking to clean from that 8x8 pan!

And the removable bottom did help get it the bars out 

VERY easily! It does seem that the pan is made in China

and that the language I was asking about IS Chinese. 

***

Well, I must have gone through nearly 10 cookbooks looking for 

another cherry recipe! I found one in the Joy of Cooking 

for a Cherry and Sour Cream Pie! 

I hope to make this on Saturday!

We have a guest coming for dinner (as in supper) Sunday night...

I am planning on roasting a chicken, 

having potatoes, a green salad, a fruit salad and 

I hope, Cherry Sour Cream Pie for dessert :) 

***

Tomorrow I hope to do some grocery shopping....long over due!

I can get most things online but there are things I can't get...

***

I pray that this blog post finds you in God's care

and that you will have what you need to do the next thing,

whatever that may be in your life.

God bless you!