Crafting of a Different Sort

 

Today I made chowder from the 2 butter clams I picked up on a beach walk earlier in the week.  First I steamed open the clams, and, frankly, was a bit put off by the appearance of these large cooked clams.  Then I cleaned them up, because they were full of "stomach contents".  It all left me wondering how restaurant steamed clams are so clean and consumed right from the shell?  You would NOT have wanted to eat these creatures straight from their shell.  I digress.  In 10 years of living at the beach this is the first time I've cooked the clams that populate our shores.  It won't be the last.  

I intended to make a butterscotch banana pie, using butterscotch pudding from a mix, layered over banana slices.  I had the graham cracker pie shell made and baked by the time hubby got home with milk for the pudding.  However, he also brought home lots of fresh berries.  I offered him a choice;  butterscotch banana or lemon raspberry cream.  I guess you can deduce his selection.  My cream pies are simply a jar of lemon curd stirred into fresh whipped cream, with a little sugar added to the cream. 

In addition to the 2 dishes I cooked up today, and 2 loads of laundry, and trying to wash the stains out of the new guest room carpet, I finally got the cafe curtains made.  Okay, made is an overstatement because here we have a no-measure-no-sew result.  I started with a lovely bark cloth drapery panel I bought for $20.  If not for tension rods and clip-on curtain rings, there would be no window coverings in my home.  Now it's time to feed the horses, and fix dinner, with a wee nip of wine for the cook.