Pumpkin Pie (makes one 9-inch pie)

Pie Crust

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 tbsp. chilled vegetable shortening or lard
• 2 tbsp. chilled butter, cut in 1/4" pieces
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 3 tbsp. ice water

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, vegetable shortening or lard, butter and salt. Use your fingertips to rub the flour and fat together until they look like flakes of course meal.

   Rub the butter and flour together

2. Pour ice water over the mixture, toss together, and press and knead gently with your hands, only until the dough can be gathered into a compact ball.
3. Dust lightly with flour, wrap in wax paper and chill for at least 1/2 hour.
4. Lightly butter a 9-inch pie plate. On a floured surface, roll the dough out into a circle about 1/8 inch thick and about 13-14" in diameter. Lift it up on the rolling-pin and unroll it over the pie plate, leaving enough slack in the middle of the pastry to enable you to line the plate without pulling or stretching the dough.
5. Trim the excess pastry with a sharp knife to within 1/2" of the pie plate and fold the extra 1/2" under to make a double thickness all around the rim of the plate. With the tines of a fork, or with your fingers, press the pastry down around the rim.
6. Preheat the over to 350 degrees.

Filling

• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup milk
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 tbsp Applejack (optional - I don't use it)
• 1 1/2 cups pureed pumpkin, freshly cooked  or canned

My mid-century dining room table

Fast forward more than a year, and I still hadn't bought any chairs. If I wanted to use my table my seating choices were limited to my desk chair, or a small stool that I'm pretty sure my mom bought at Ikea when I was still in junior school (does that make it an antique?)

A year later, and these were still your only seating choices

Style at Home - April 2011

Why do people do this?? So Gross!

• 4 thrift store chairs: $40 at the Salvation Army Thrift Store
• Sandpaper and TSP: $0 - I had it on hand
• Foam Paintbrush: $1.09 at Canadian Tire
• Coronado High Gloss Black Paint: $21.99 at Primetime Paint and Paper

Have you noticed recently that owls have become very 'in'? It seems that every time I open a decor magazine or pop into a home store owls or other types of fowl are everywhere.