Pears often get overlooked, the ugly step-sister in the fruit family next to the more elegant apple and colorful orange. My main memory of pears growing up was my grandmother serving us canned pears and cottage cheese. Yum . . . Not! I also remember that the canned peaches were totally slimy, but I was overjoyed when I got the the fruit cocktail with the little cherries. The Powers-that-be said that this was "fruit," so sadly we went along with it. Anyway, back to pears.
Fresh pears are a whole 'nother animal. Cynthia Page from Newport Beach gave me an unbelievable recipe for "Pears Baked in Cream". Your guests will think you're a gourmet cook when in reality this dessert is super easy.
Here's what you'll need:
2 Tablespoons of butter
2 Tablespoons of sugar
3 Anjou or Bosc pears, unpeeled, halved and cored
1/2 cup of heavy cream
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter a shallow baking dish with 1 T. of butter and sprinkle 1 T. sugar over the bottom. Put the pears cut side down in the dish. Sprinkle with remaining sugar and dot with butter. Bake for 10 minutes. Pour the cream over the pears and return to the oven for 20 minutes more. Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Serves 6 heavenly!
Double The Beauty
Recently I was at a party in Dallas for my nephew C.T. who was getting married. I saw the arrangement below and was totally struck by how beautiful and unique it was. I couldn't wait to get home and try it. Mine didn't turn out as good as the florist's, but hey I'm not a florist.
All you do is pick out a low container and cut soft some oasis to fit it. You then throughly wet the oasis. Next cut 5 to 7 roses so that the stems are all about 6 inches. Stick them into the center of the oasis and surround them with hydrangeas.
I think the arrangement turns out better when there isn't too much of a contrast in color. Below you will see how the floral designer used dark hydrangeas with some red in them along with red roses. I in turn used cream hydrangeas and pink and cream roses. (I guess you could use two other types of flowers. You would just need lots of flowers for the outside.)
Fun Saying
"I'm tickled pink". This is a southern expression (maybe western as well) that I absolutely love. An image really doesn't come to mind (no one I knew turned pink), but even now I'm tickled (pink) by the memory of the cute women who would say it. And, it's just plain fun to say.