Cooler, so got out the baking stuff

    I hate to have the oven on when it's hot and humid but today has been relatively cool and fresh so no problems there.

    I have had some puff pastry in the freezer for who knows how long so I dug it and some sausages out when I got home from the senior's centre. The pastry didn't look its best but rolled out OK and the sausage rolls came together nicely. But what to do with the leftover pastry? There wasn't enough for a double crust pie but I managed to line a pie plate with it.

   A quick dash into the garden and a plunder of the rhubarb patch produced enough rhubarb for a crostini (at least, I think that's what it's called). It's basically an open topped pie with the fruit dumped in the middle and the sides partially wrapped around it. A few dabs of jam on top and a final brush with a beaten egg and it was ready for the oven.

   They turned out not too badly and, with a salad, made a satisfying meal. Amazing what you can conjure up from the freezer and the garden!

Prices

    Early run to the grocery store this morning (tennis was rained out) and I was a bit flummoxed by the sudden increase in prices from last week. I saw a 3 lb. bag of avocados for $9 and eggs were $3.60 a dozen, to name a couple of shocks. I didn't buy the avocados but I did buy the eggs. Butter was also up in price but I did buy it too.

However, on the way home I noticed that gas was $1.87 a litre quite a bit down from the over $2 price a week ago. This is courtesy of our Premier, Doug Ford who promised to reduce the tax on gas if he was re-elected. Glad to see he kept his promise this time! 

Canada Day

    Yesterday, July 1st., was Canada Day and I had my flag hanging at my front door to celebrate. Shortly after breakfast I headed to my other tennis club to play a round robin until it started raining. Following a BBQ lunch  there were speeches and prizes (I won a can of tennis balls - very welcome) and we all sang "O, Canada" our national anthem.

     I didn't do much in the afternoon and had a light dinner as lunch was pretty hearty. There were fireworks in the evening which I watched on my back deck but one annoying fellow was still setting them off after midnight which was not very neighbourly!

   Today, as it was still quite cool in the morning, I had a long walk before breakfast and have been watching Wimbledon ever since. Things are getting interesting! More of the same tomorrow so it has been a very pleasant long weekend so far.

   

Butter Tarts

      "Sparkling Merlot" asked about butter tarts - I thought they were a thing in most Commonwealth countries. This is all that's left of the half dozen I bought at the Farmer's Market on Wednesday and I'm surprised there are even three left. I have to keep them in the freezer so as to limit myself to one a day!

    They are actually quite easy to make although I have never been able to reproduce the proper pastry. The filling is basically melted butter, brown sugar and eggs but the big controversy is whether to leave them plain or add nuts or raisins. These have pecans although I am partial to raisins too. These just looked the most scrumptious! To make them truly Canadian (it is Canada Day today) you can add maple syrup to the filling. 

   In our part of Ontario you can follow the "Butter Tart Route" where different towns and villages claim to have the best butter tarts around. Now following that tour would be my idea of heaven!