belle and burger: July 2011

Monday, July 25, 2011

Laothoe populi.....a sweet little moth

The Poplar Hawk-moth (Laothoe populi) ......the latest focus in the pollinators series I have been working on. I was inspired by all the layers of grey and brown stripes. I must be feeling like fall ha! hahaha fall is what we make it here in central Texas.
~I decided to put my moth friend on some very simple flowers on an even simpler pale grey hi-waist skirt.It will also layer nicely with tights and boots

and here is the pretty lady who bought my first of many moths to come...

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

belle and burger home sale***next 2 saturdays

Hey y'all ...I am having a home sale in liew of the farmers market for the next couple weeks.( All prices will be reduced since I won't have to leave the house!!)

~Multitudes of lovely frocks.

~I will have loads of $10 tanks!!!!

I will be also be showing a sampling of some fall looks( Austin fall) and serving Arnold Palmers.....would love to have you stop in for a spell. This is just a peek at some of my offerings and of course I will be makin' new stuff to add all week.

That will be July 23rd and July 30th from 11-4pm. I will also be available for appointments to come look if you cannot make the Saturday drive-bys. email me at belle south girl at yahoo dot com check with me for my location or look at the FB event page
*****please, if you can, laugh loudly at my super goofy photos; when it is 100ºlike e v e r y day you get a little fried

Friday, July 15, 2011

feeling figgy and a bit buttery

~We have had the incredible fortune of swimming in figs for about 2 or 3weeks this summer.... and how lovely they are!! Kg's mum has 2 beautiful trees just steps from her kitchen door. Part of our heat coping stradegy this summer has been late day swims at Ma Mi's and drying off a bit while picking the figs .

Burger has keen eyesight(much more so than me) and took great pride in spotting the ready to pick delectables. I love them freshly plucked and can eat 'em by the pound but there are sooo many lovely things to make with them as well. Ma Mi makes fig preserves ( amazing biscuit /ice cream topper...i might could beg the recipe from her to share with you ins). I used all of our harvest making scones.....this recipe is BY FAR my favorite scone recipe right now and I will definitely be making variations with other fruit. The biscuit had the perfect tenderness. it is a drop scone which really helps with the under working of the dough.I substituted agave nectar for the maple syrup out of need...it was perfect all 3-4 times I made them.

I also discovered the art of making butter when I made these. I did not have butter milk so (!!!???!!!)I cruised the inter web for a solution. I had no idea that with heavy cream you could literally whip up your own butter and butter milk. This seems silly to me now considering how often I whip up cream 'round here..but i never over whip! It is super easy and quite satisfying and the butter is quite amazing, especially on fresh baked figgy scones.

It is so easy I am gonna tell you how to do it right now...

making butter(and buttermilk)

ingredients and tools 1 cup of heavy cream kosher salt(totally optional) pint jar with tight lid 20-35 min a strong arm patience

1. fill your clean jar half way with heavy cream. and start to shake and then shake it a whole lot more. It will turn into whip cream first.

2.Then slowly it will begin to separate. keep shaking till there is a clump.

3. pour off the liquid from the fat . that is your fresh buttermilk.

4.clean your butter ball. In the original instructions(which I cannot locate at the moment) I read it said to need the butter in a little cold h2o to clean. IN this lovely book (I have since brought home from the library ) it says to put some h2o in the jar and shake then pour off the h2o; repeating 3 or 4 times until the h2o is clear. I have not tried that method yet but sounds way better than the kneading method.

5.mold your butter. I made a log once twisted in wax paper and then also just put it in a ramekin .Honestly we ate it so quickly it did not matter. Just make sure you cover it so it does not absorb any odors from the fridge.