May 30, 2009

Of Pretty Things, Young Girl and Old Apples



A couple of months ago I went to the annual Arts, Craft and Quilting Exhibition, a rather big do I should add. It was my good friend Leigh's birthday and being a very handy lady with a needle she jumped at the invite to attend. Leigh was most taken with the quilts and I couldn't stop her from touching nearly all that we saw (even though the signs clearly stated "do not touch"). It was exciting stuff. We simply had to thoroughly check them out; it's called admiration. I don't think the security lady saw it that way.

As for me I was going nuts at the huge wall of the prettiest aprons you ever did see. It stirred me to the extent that I considered reacquainting myself with the sewing machine. And boy has it been a while. I bought this beautiful fabric and I imagined seeing myself in a very pretty, dare I say it, "sexy" little number. I noticed many of the aprons had a "desperate housewives" kinda style and I kinda fancied one for myself.

Mmmm. On completion of the garment I thought to myself it looked a little skimpier than I'd imagined. I did after all make the larger size. Never mind.

I decided to have a little photo shoot of my creation so off I went in search of a model. As luck would have it I found this beautiful maiden with wild hair roaming in the woods and she agreed to wear it. Wasn't that lucky. Her name was Nicole.
















I was really pleased with the outcome except for one thing. It looked great on beautiful maiden but I looked like a total frump in it. It was cute, skimpy, not very protective and almost french waitress kinda stuff if you know what I mean. What was I thinking? I think they call it mutton dressed as lamb. Looks like the lamb scores it. Hope you enjoy your new apron Nicole.

Everything has it's price. In exchange for the maiden's time, I promised to reward her with an afternoon treat. Considering all I had was one packet of cooking chocolate (and trying to ignore chocolate for this week), I went with the three neglected green apples (turning brown) in the fruit bowl.

I peeled them, stewed them with cinnamon, sugar and lemon and allowed them to cool. I grabbed some puff pastry from the freezer, covered the sheets till slightly thawed; cut into quarters; topped with the apple and attempted to shape them into apple turnover lookalikes. With a sharp knife I slit them, brushed generously with egg white and sprinkled well with sugar.



After bunging them in a preheated oven, twenty minutes later and hey presto they were sitting on an oven rack waiting to cool down. So easy.



They were absolutely scrumptious. Those old browning apples served their purpose and turned into the most delicious turnovers I have eaten in a long, long time. What, did I think that younger, fresher apples would have made better turnovers? Goes to show, never judge a book by it's cover. Actually this old bird just might give that apron another try. Hang on. I think I see the maiden running back into the woods, bows on her back and turnovers stashed in her pockets. It's not been my day.

11 comments:

  1. That apron is absolutely divine! Did you have a pattern or did you make it up? I am going to try and sew aprons for my kids today with help from my wonderful mum because I can't sew, yet.

    Your apple turnovers look so good and sound so easy to make. I'll have to add that recipe to my ever growing folder. :-)

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  2. Haha, oh ma. You are rather hilarious aren't you.
    Oh and thankyou for your beautiful apron, i'm sure it will come in handy in the forrest. =)
    Tsk tsk, my clever mother...
    And yes, the apple turnovers really were as delicious as they looked!

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  3. What a great story you even have a way with words I'll be reading more of this stuff. And I might even try the apple turnovers too.
    See you again soon.

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  4. You sew too? You really are a woman of many talents and your apron is beautiful, as is your daughter. All this and yum apple turnovers too.

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  5. Thanks for dropping in BunnoGal. I most certainly did have a pattern. I purchased it from Spotlight and the brand was Kwik Sew and the Pattern No:3320. There are three styles and I sewed Style C. Hope this helps.
    Good on you for having a go and making aprons for the kids. It is actually the best way to start learning because if you muck it up at least there isn't much waste. Good luck.
    PS: How is the book 'In Praise of Slow' going......the book I was hoping to win. Hehehe.

    Now you have an apron; how about having a reason to wear it; you know; like maybe; cooking?

    Glad you enjoyed it Anon. Please do visit again. It's so much fun when I get an encouraging comment so tar very much.

    Do I sew Debora? Please don't get me started. There was a time when cooking well and truly took a backseat to sewing. I taught myself out of desperation actually, because when the kids were little there were costumes needed for plays, concerts, christmas, easter hat parades, book parades etc etc etc and I had no one to do it for me. I have to say though, I became addicted for about five years and I was churning out garments (little and big) by the tonne. I loved it! I'm so grateful that I did and over the years it has been a very handy skill. And to use your words, 'there, I've written a book'.

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  6. Awww. That apron is stunning. I showed my housemates. Sarah was like, "Frick, I'd love one of them!" You could sell them at your road-side cafe one day. :D

    Nice post, but I'd like to hear your reasoning for calling Nicole a "nympho!

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  7. Ooooh dear. Well spotted Issy. Adding that 'o' completely changed the meaning. Duly noted; duly changed.

    Would you like a job proofreading? I think you'd be good at it.
    xxxx Ma.

    PS; Nice to hear Sarah liked it.

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  8. Thanks for the info on the pattern. Much appreciated.

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  10. I am hoping that one day you should put all of this in a book ..........you may have got a word wrong(at least the word you used was very interesting) but boy you do write a great story...missed your calling I think but maybe not too late at all!!??

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  11. Well Gayle; I decided to review the word in question and I changed it in the story. I made a genuine mistake by adding an "o" to the word which completely altered what I was intending. Was I mortified? Yes!! As you would know, adding o's to a word is an affectionate way of addressing something or someone, at least it is in Australia.

    Looking up different sources I conclude the word "nymph" means "a minor nature goddess usually depicted as a beautiful maiden" or "beautiful maidens living in trees and rivers". Completely innocent or am I naive?

    Looking at my gorgeous Nikka, the story simply evolved as she looked wild and woolly with her magnificent mane and her exotic beauty. She really did remind me of a beautiful maiden that emerged from out of the woods. And that is all that this author intended.

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