A Quick Review of this Week at Maisonvogue

A Quick Review of this Week at Maisonvogue 

Just a quick 'hello' ....I have been so busy and not much time to blog ..but I will make up for it in the coming weeks as our Son's are coming over from my British Island home of Guernsey for 3 weeks glorious vacation  ...They will be here this afternoon and are at this very moment flying over from London to come and visit us .
We haven't seen each other , well touched each other for over 2 years ....We see each other most days on FaceTime ...I am so grateful to FaceTime.
It is 5 years since they have been to visit us in Alabama 
They have been traveling to wonderful places all over the World 
They have been here many, many times over the last 20 years 
I am so EXCITED I could burst.

I bought two items home from Pottery this week
Here is my bird that I showed you the other week 
Now it is glazed ...I used an unusual glaze that bubbles up in the Kiln and leaves places of the clay peeking through.
It is going to be put on the new fence out in the garden ...to make us smile when we see it 
Danny will put it on today ..I will photograph it when it is ready.

The boys are coming to my Pottery Class on Wednesday ...we will have so much fun .
They are also going to make lunch for everyone of a very old traditional Guernsey dish called Bean Jar


Guernsey Bean Jar

SERVES: 12


Ingredients450 g (1 lb) butter/lima beans
450 g (1 lb) haricot/navy beans
4 tablespoons oil
2 large onions – diced
4 carrots – diced
700 g (1½ lb) ham hock or leg of pork on bone (or shin of beef)
3 – 4 bay leaves
Salt and pepper to taste
Water for rinsing and to cover beans

Making your Bean Jar use dried beans in a slow cooker they must be properly soaked and cooked. Most beans contain varying amounts of a toxin known as kidney bean lectin, red kidney beans having the most. Throwing away the soaking and rinsing water gets rid of leached toxins and boiling the beans for at least 10 minutes with fresh water makes them safe to be added to the slow cooker where they need to be cooked on high setting for the first hour. It’s better to add salt near the end of the cooking time, as salt tends to toughen the bean skins.

• Soak beans for at least 5 hours – preferably overnight.
• Drain out the water.
• Rinse and boil beans in fresh water for 10 minutes.
• Drain the beans and drain out the cooking water.
• Spray inside the slow cooker pot with non stick cooking spray or lightly grease.
• In a large frying pan, gentle sautée onions until soft – about 5 to 10 minutes.
• Transfer the softened onions into the slow ccoker pot.
• Set slow cooker on high.
• Add carrots and stir.
• Add beans to the slow cooker and push meat in amongst the beans.
• Tuck bay leaves around the meat.
• Season with pepper.
• Add boiling water until it covers 
• Replace lid and cook on high for 1 hour 
• Turn slow cooker to low and cook for a minimum of 10 hours. Bean Jar can be cooked for up to 24 hours, I usually cook mine for 16 hours.
• Do not disturb for at least 3 hours.
• You may need to check the water level.
• Season with salt and remove the meat bone from the slow cooker.

My beloved Spider Lilies are in full bloom ...I have lots all around the garden but intend to buy more bulbs for next year and splitting the plants I have as they create lots of new bulbs and all of the flowers I have came from just 2 original bulbs ....They are such a happy color as Fall approaches.

As you can see I had an accident ...OOPPS !!  
Ha! ha! I can laugh about it now but I didn't at the time.
I made this beautiful Chocolate Pie ...full of chocolate, eggs and heavy cream ...no good for you at all 
But it was to be a treat for all of us when the boys arrive
I made it ..baked it and then it had to go in the fridge to set 
That was the problem ...I was lifting it up to put on the shelf and my injured arm just didn't co-operate
It lost all of it's strength and just gave way
This photo was taken after I had cleaned up the floor ...it was smothered in hot chocolate pie ...such a mess ...I took me ages to clean it up 
The splashes went all over the kitchen on the cabinet doors, laundry room doors-ME !! 
I had to remove the grid at the bottom of the fridge 
And it took 1 hour 10 mins to finally clean it ...
I do have another Chocolate Cracked pie in the freezer that I made several weeks ago 
I am not going to remake this pie and if I do I will make it when I know Danny is home and can put it on the shelf for me.

This tray I made came out as I intended ...I had fun making the ladybugs and the flowers ...it was fun to glaze ...I underglaze it on the flowers and Ladybugs then covered them with wax so the glaze I poured over it would not stick to them ...I love this glaze you never know how it will turn out 

Elsie wanted to say 'Hello' ...I just love this scarecrow's face ..it wouldn't scare me .
I have put her in a big flower pot overlooking the front garden and driveway 
With Pot Mums in front of her ...again I will post the photograph when we go out and cut the lawns today.
It's going to be a hot day again in Alabama today at around 90f/32c

Thanks for popping by 

I hope your week was more exciting than mine

But now I have 3 weeks of joy and laugher

Happy Days to you all 

Kindest Regards

Janet