A Blueberry Crumble Day

Photo: nutmegnanny.com

Today I will satisfy a craving for blueberry crumble. There are several fruit and batter desserts that are alike. A crumble has a little oatmeal in the streusel topping.

So in a nutshell what are the differences between 7 similar fruit desserts?: A crumble has a streusel topping made of butter, all-purpose flour, oats and sometimes nuts, and it is baked in an oven. A crisp is a crumble with no oatmeal or nuts (and yet people confuse it with a crumble). A cobbler is fruit topped with biscuit dough usually of all-purpose flour. A buckle has a greater cake to fruit ratio, a fruit coffee cake if you will. And finally, a brown Betty is made with bread crumbs and brown sugar. (I'd eat a brown Betty, but have never made one.) A grunt (aka slump) contains all-purpose flour and the ingredients of a cobbler or crumble, yet is made in a skillet on the stovetop, so it steams, as opposed to, bakes in an oven. As it steams it can grunt. I almost always go for a crumble. Here's the recipe:

Blueberry Crumble

Ingredients:

Blueberry preparation
16 oz fresh (or frozen) blueberries
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice (or squeeze 1/2 of a lemon)
a sprinkle of salt
Chopped nuts are optional.
💟💙💜
Streusel topping
1/2 cup (1 minute or 5 minute) oats

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 - 4 tablespoons butter (One stick has 8 tablespoons. I use as little as I can get away with, but use up to 4 tablespoons for a good streusel texture and flavor.)
a sprinkle of salt

Directions:

1) Mix the blueberries, sugar, lemon juice, flour and salt.

2) Pour into a buttered square or round 9" pie baking pan.

3) In a mixing bowl combine the next 6 streusel topping ingredients and mix well. You can work the butter into the flour with your fingers if you wish. 

4) Distribute the streusel topping evenly over the blueberry mixture.

5) Bake in a preheated 350 degree F oven for 30 - 35 minutes. The blueberry mixture will bubble and the streusel topping will start to brown.

Remove from the oven and eat warm. Some people like to add a scoop of ice cream or whipping cream, but I eat it as is.


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Sweater Clips Are Useful

Finalyson Half-Sleeve T-shirt Dress

I'm a huge fan of a T-shirt dress so when Uniqlo put them on sale for under $20 I bought one to get me through the spring season. Cozy to wear at home and nice enough to run errands around the neighborhood without a change of clothes. The 100% cotton is thick and super soft. Half sleeves let you wear the dress without a sweater. Two practical side pockets sold me on the dress. A smart purchase at an unbeatable price. And yet, I only ordered one dress (not all the patterns available) because the dress is boxy, not an A-line cut, which I knew from customer reviews. To give it a shape I use a sweater clip. 

I'm considering ordering 2 matching gold sweater clips to attach to the sides of the dress instead of using a single clip that I attach to either the front or the back of the dress. Some of the metal sweater clips are fancy like jewelry. Or I may be happy with the one I own.

Truthfully I never use a sweater clip to close a sweater. Do you? If I start, then I can justiful ordering 2 more!

Photo: Walmart

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Echo's Swimming Cover ups

Confession: Since my teenage years my habit is to wear a man's short sleeve cotton shirt as my bathing suit cover-up. Old habits die hard! Perhaps it's time for me to finally buy a stylish real cover-up! Wisely, many of us are still in lockdown, so retail stores are closed, yet online ordering is fine for cover-ups, which tend to be oversized and forgiving. Echo New York, the maker of fine silk and cotton scarfs, launched super cute feminine cover-ups for the spring/summer. There are a variety of styles, colors and prints, as well as, fabrics to suit different tastes and body types. I'll show you a few of my favorites:

1) Floral Hankerchief Hem Dress - Top image↑ 100% polyester in 3 colors. So adorable you could wear it anywhere this summer!

2) Beach Stripe Maxi Caftan - My favorite 100% cotton fabric for a cover-up; also in 3 colors; 3) Bi-Color Lily Smocked Caftan - 100% polyester in 3 colors; 4) Crochet Maxi Caftan - 100% rayon in 3 colors.

5) Tropic Palm Chiffon Caftan - 100% polester in 4 colors.

There are skimpy choices also on Echo's website, but I like to be shielded by the sun, as well as, want to feel fashionable and appropriate if I leave the beach, or pool for the drive home. Perhaps we'll need to skip a public watering hole this year, but some of my readers have access to a sparse beach where they can practice safe social distancing. Lucky you!

Echo's bathing suit cover-ups are perfect for lounging in the backyard, or wherever you are! Oh let the balmy weather begin!


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Old Navy Makes Cotton Face Masks

What a nightmare our global pandemic is. Over 95,000 people have died from Coronavirus in the USA alone. And despite the fact 80% of the ill recover, who wants to get sick for any length of time?

Moreover, humans are social beings. Six months ago could you imagine being afraid of another person's droplets? How about having to stand six feet apart from most everyone? Or cleaning your hands every time you touch an object outside your home? Buying food is stressful! Nowadays I remove my shoes before stepping back inside my apartment, then spray the soles with 3% hydrogen peroxide before placing them in a designated area to dry. WTH!

Although I've never been a germophobe, if I pass a chatterbox on the sidewalk who is careless with social distancing, I'll walk in the street. Whenever a bottleneck of people stands on the pavement, I crossover to the other side of the street ... so uncharacteristic of me, but this disease SHOULD be taken seriously!

Here in Manhattan, we must wear a face covering to enter supermarkets and drugstores. It's a practice I support (and hate) in order to keep everyone safe.

Of all the cloth face masks on the market, I love what Old Navy is offering. Made of 3 layers of cotton poplin, they are designed according to the CDC's recommendation for non-surgical masks (which advises a mask have at least 2 thick cotton layers). They lack a pouch, yet you can place a filter inside and it will stay. I like the elastic over-the-ears straps and the 3 folds for a good fit under your chin. 

Although there are lots of playful colors, patterns and prints made from leftover fabric from Old Navy's popular clothing, you accept what comes in a "surprise pack" of either 3, 5, or 10 masks. There are 2 sizes: children or adults. An excellent price. A cotton face mask should not cost $15+ each! But oh boy, they are on backorder until the middle of June! Well worth the wait. Best price for the quality!!💙


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Yellow Split Pea Curry

Split pea soup is delicious, but tonight I wanted something different so improvised (from looking at recipes) a yellow split pea curry. It may not taste exactly the same, but I think you could use whatever you have ... yellow or green split peas. What I like about the meal is, there's less of it, so you won't have to eat it 5 more times, the main reason I didn't want to make pea soup. Here is my recipe for the curry:

Yellow Split Pea Curry

Ingredients:

1 cup yellow split peas

3 potatoes (I used 1 medium and 2 small. Eyeball the amount), diced

1 fresh Jalapeno pepper (You can substitute a different  hot pepper if you like. If you go dried cayenne pepper, be sure to use less.)

4 cups of water

1 cup celery, diced

1/2 of an onion, diced

1 medium tomato, diced

3/4 teaspoon cumin seeds

1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

1 1/2 teaspoons salt (I used Cajun salt.)

bay leaf

A sprinkle of cilantro flakes

A sprinkle Rosemary flakes (Not an authentic Indian spice.)

A sprinkle of Worcestershire sauce (I toss it in soups, stews and curries, but it isn't an Indian spice. It's British.)

Optional: 1 teaspoon coriander seeds (which I didn't have. Next time!)

Directions:

1) Dice the vegetables and toss the ingredients into a saucepan in order.

2) Follow with the spices.

(You can roast the fresh hot pepper of your choice and onions with a little oil in a frying pan before tossing them into the pot to give the curry a smoky taste if you're ambitious. I skipped it. It makes a difference, but I like the convenience of not having to wash a 2nd pan.:)

2) Cook for 30 minutes or until the peas are tender, yet still firm.

Makes 2 tasty servings.

While the curry was cooking, I started dinner with a glass of merlot and brie on whole grain crackers. With the starter cheese and wine, the curry was enough of a dinner. Now that it's committed to the blog, I, too, can make it again!

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Alexandrite The Chameleon Stone

Alexandrite in daylight and at night. (See comments.)

In 1830 a new stone was discovered in Russia's Ural Mountains. According to one (at issue) story, it was named after the Russian Tsar's 12 year old son, who later became Alexander II, an association giving the new mineral world attention. It is now found in Sri Lanka, East Africa, India and Brazil, but is very rare and therefore valuable.

Not only is alexandrite a rare gemstone in nature, it is a rare variety of chrysoberyl, an aluminate of beryllium with a hardness rating of 8.5 on the Mohs Scale of Hardness, making it suitable to wear in rings, necklaces and bracelets.

Jewelers describe the gem as an "emerald by day and a ruby at night" because the chrysoberyl changes color. The stone can be a rich green in fluorescent light (i.e. sunlight; daylight) changing to a purplish [more valuable] or brownish [less valuable] red in the incandescent light from a lamp or candle at night. It has to do with the complex way in which alexandrite aborbs light. The chameleon-like qualities of this unusual chrysoberyl are so striking that such transformations in the jewelry industry are known as the "alexandrite effect."

Because it is scarce and one of the gemstones most difficult to obtain in nature, top quality natural alexandrite can sell for up to $15,000 per carat. A size over 3 carats gets very expensive.💰👑

Three characteristics determine the price: 1) Size - Bigger stones cost $50,000 - $70,000 ... more than diamonds, emeralds, rubies or sapphires; 2) It's dramatic color changing effect - i.e. how well it changes color; and 3) A color change closest to green and red - is more expensive than other combinations. The original fine stones found in Russia's Ural Mountains set the standard of what colors are most desirable in the stones.

Images by Charlie Bexfield, Gem-A.

Certain types of alexandrites called cymophane have a "cat's eye effect," a band of light similar to light bouncing off a cat's eye. It was made popular in the 19th century by another royal son, Prince Arthur, the 7th child of Queen Victoria, who gave a ring with a cat's eye to Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia as an engagement gift.

Alexandrite is the birthstone (along with pearls and moonstones) for people born in the month of June, yet you will be hard pressed to find anyone born in June who can afford the natural gemstone. But hey, if you ever were to cough up the moola to buy the gem, it will appear you bought two pieces of jewelry, one you wear during the day and another at night!🤣😁

Another look at alexandrite in the center.

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