Floating your boat your way

There are certain things that really float my boat. They’re not necessary and there’s probably an easier way of doing it and maybe a bit old fashioned but I still do it.

Like tea. You can plop a bag in a cup of water and nuke it for two minutes and bingo...tea. OR you can put on the kettle. Get out the teapot and brew it on the stove. I must confess I do the plop the bag thing a lot but every once in a while I do the brew thing and it tastes so much better.

Then there’s the pie thing. There are amazing frozen pies out there that make me thing why bother. If you doubt me you haven’t tried Marie Callendar’s Razzleberry pie. Wow. It is amazing, always gets rave reviews and eaten to the last berry. But every once in a while I do my own pie from scratch, my triple-berry pie that is simply delish. And it is better, but maybe I’m just saying that because of all the work and I get to say...I made it myself from scratch.

b And what about washing my own car. Yes, I do. I don’t do the drive-thru car washes because I love my car and what if they scratch my baby! Plus there is a certain hands-on connection between me and car that I really like.

Another thing that I really love is setting the table. I know you can get a placemat and a paper napkin and be ready to eat but I loooooove linens. Okay, maybe I’m too lazy for linen but cloth tablecloths and napkins. I love the look of a nicely set table and hate, hate, hate paper plates. Probably from being a kids and having potato salad down my front more than once.

And then there’s the dishwasher. I must confess that I use the dishwasher all the time even with just me and the cats to dish wash for. But I have friends who use their dishwasher for storage and do all their dishes by hand.

So is there something you do that you could be done easier? Something you do the old fashioned way and glad you do?

Hugs, Duffy

BTW...here is my triple berry pie recipe. Not exactly mine but I got it online and love it!

• 2 unbaked pie crusts (I make my own, store-bought works great too and you can cut one into sections for a lattice work topping if you like)
• 4 cups  strawberries, washed and sliced
• 2 cups  raspberries, rinsed
• 1 cup  blackberry, rinsed
• 1⁄2cup  brown sugar
• 1⁄2cup  granulated sugar
• 1⁄4cup  cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon  cinnamon
• 1⁄4teaspoon  salt
• 1 orange, zest of

1. Preheat oven to 400. Combine the berries with a 1/4 cup of sugar and let stand over a sieve for a half hour to drain some of the liquid. Combine the rest of the ingredients minus the crust. Using a 9 inch pie plate, arrange your crust and spoon the filling inches Place the second crust over and crimp edges. Make sure to cut a vent into the dough or use a pie bird. You can also do a lattice top pie which is just gorgeous and is what I did.
2. You can brush the top of the pie with a mix of one egg yolk and a teaspoon of water (which makes for a lovely golden brown crust).
3. Bake for 20 minutes at 400 and then bake at 350 for another 40-50 minutes. Remove when crust is golden brown.

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