Hello! Welcome to Ivory Pumpkin. Here you'll find snippets of things that I like and, hopefully soon, of things that I've created. Please stay awhile and browse.







Friday, November 6, 2015

Fairy Friday

The Blackberry Fairy


THE SONG OF THE BLACKBERRY FAIRY

My berries cluster black and thick 
For rich and poor alike to pick.

I'll tear your dress, and cling, and tease, 
And scratch your hands and arms and knees.

I'll stain your fingers and your face, 
And then I'll laugh at your disgrace.

But when the bramble-jelly's made, 


You'll find your trouble well repaid. 

Cicely Mary Barker
Flower Fairies of the Autumn

Have a lovely weekend!
Ivory Pumpkin



Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Tea on Tuesday

I nearly forgot I started  Tea on Tuesday posts! Now that things have slowed down a bit, I have a little more time to dedicate to blogging.

It's time for an Autumn Tea Party and a recipe. I love this sandwich I came upon it about a year and a half ago and I've been inspired to create similar sandwiches. The recipe for it is here.



Pear, Blue Cheese, Caramelized Onion, & Arugula Panini

Adapted from Clean Eating

Makes 1 sandwich

Ingredients:

1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 medium-large yellow or red onion, thinly sliced
Salt & Pepper
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar (optional)
1/2 ripe pear, cored and thinly sliced
2 slices whole grain bread
2 teaspoons honey Dijon mustard
1/2 oz blue cheese, sliced thinly
Handful of baby arugula

Directions:

Heat oil in a medium to large skillet over medium heat.  Add onions, stir to coat with oil, and season with salt and pepper.  Let cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until onions are soft and caramelized, about 25-30 minutes.  I like to add a splash of balsamic vinegar in the last few minutes of cooking to deglaze the pan and add some flavour to the onions, but this step is optional.

Remove onions from pan, and add sliced pear.  Cook over medium heat for around 3 minutes, until softened and slightly golden coloured.  Remove from heat.

Spread mustard on one slice of bread, top with arugula, onions, pears, and blue cheese, and the other piece of bread.  Heat in a panini press, or if you don’t have one, heat the sandwich on a griddle pan (or skillet) with a heavy pot on top of the sandwich to press it into the skillet (I put a can inside the pot to weigh it down), then flip and repeat on the other side.  Serve warm.

Enjoy your sandwich with these pretty pictures!





Monday, November 2, 2015

It's Autumn....

It's been Autumn for awhile now but, for me it officially starts after Halloween. Halloween is its own season all together. Also, in Southern Nevada it doesn't really feel like autumn until November. In October we are still in the high 70's and 80's. On Tuesday the temps will drop down to the mid 60's and the leaves on the trees are just starting to change color.

I hope you all had a lovely Halloween. Of course, I didn't get to do even a smidgen of things on my list and my 100 days of Halloween blog posts are practically non-existent due to my work schedule. One day though I promise to get better at it.

It's time to go inside. Not indoors, but inside ourselves and reflect on the year that's been and dream of  things to come.

It's time to go for walks on windy days and let the gusts tousle my hair.
It's time to listen to leaves crunching under my feet and watch them scurry across the sidewalks.
It's time to drink hot tea and eat apple pie and cuddle on the couch with a big bowl of popcorn and watch movies and read books.
It's time to knit and crochet with warm, woolly yarns.

Well, look at me waxing poetic! Anyhoo, here are some pics of pretty places!





Enjoy and Happy Autumn!