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Hue musings and a contest!!

Happy Friday!!!!

Holy cow was this week long. Isn’t it funny how some weeks just drag on and one and you just feel like Friday will never get here and then are weeks that zip by seemingly faster than the speed of sound and boom ~ Friday!

I know for myself it is most assuredly my attitude. If I have a poor attitude then time just slows down and everything takes longer and seems harder. My daughter mentioned on Monday that she thought I had murky chi ( yes, I am most definitely making a murky chi colorway) and I believe she was right.
Just a little off my game.

So…maybe you would like to help me shake the murky with a little color-inspiration storytelling game.

I love story and sharing almost as much as I love color so how about a you tell me a story and I’ll make it a colorway game!

So….what should our story theme be? Hmm…. .

Okay I just went out to the barn to ask the team and we all decided on stories involving food ( cause…food!) specifically desserts!

So basically what is your favorite desert described in great detail since I do have to create a colorway out of your story. Maybe with a little history like: is it your favorite cause it was your grandmother’s recipe or did you discover it on an exciting adventure to an exotic place or maybe you studied in France and are some really great pastry chef.

It is at this point where I will confess, with maybe the tiniest bit of embarrassment, that I am a really big fan of Diners, Drive-in and Dives hosted by Guy Fieri. I know… it’s cheesey. (haha) I just find it hugely entertaining. I love the story of all of those places and people.

Here are the rules:

I need a story posted in the comments section of this blog post about your favorite dessert or one that holds some sort of significance for you.

Team Blue Moon will pick 4 of them and I will create a colorway based on those 4 stories. Each of the winning story writers wins a skein of the colorway I create for them.

Deadline is April 13th

We will announce winners on April 15th

And then I will get to work on making yummy colorways!

Look at that already my chi is less murky!

You know what is not murky?

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All of our new shaded solid goodness on Tigger Targhee!

I am having a bit of a color crush on our new shaded solids!

I hope you all have a super wonderful weekend!

25 Comments
  1. nurnanc #

    This recipe is in “My Favorites” cookbook (by me) . The book has been in progress for about 10 years. Who would make a summer peach cobbler with canned peaches? No way. Fresh peaches only, thickened in a saucepan with brown sugar and a couple tablespoons of flour. Mmmmm..the kitchen smells so good. Meanwhile stir up a cake-like cobbler batter. Put the thickened peach syrup (about 3 cups) in the baking dish and sprinkle with 1 cup of frozen blueberries. The blueberries might streak through the peaches just a little. Top with the cobbler batter and lightly sprinkle it with freshly grated nutmeg. This is always, always a big hit with our family.

    April 2, 2016
  2. stashmaven #

    I am a chocoholic and have trained my 3 girls in the yummy goodness of dark chocolate. My all time favorite dessert was made at an Atlanta restaurant where I had many excellent meals. I could never finish it and always took 2/3 home for consumption over the next few days. The dessert was a pyramid made of solid dark chocolate about 5 inches tall. inside was a wonderful creamy chocolate mousse- lighter in color. I dream about that dessert and wish I could replicate it.

    April 2, 2016
  3. mimifan #

    My favorite dessert is lemon bars. I got this recipe from a friend about 20 years ago. Basically, I bullied my way into getting the recipe. Since then, I’ve made it countless times and it is always a great favorite. Super yummy buttery crust, and a tangy lemon curd on top, not too sweet. I have shared it with only one person who could successfully replicate it (my cousin, who is sworn to never making it at any event that I will be attending).

    April 2, 2016
  4. bbechthold #

    Over 26 years ago my husband and I moved into our new home. A few weeks later, we made a lasagna dinner from scratch. For dessert we made blackberry fool. Fresh blackberries puréed with lemon juice and a bit of sugar, then layered with vanilla flavored fresh whipped cream. The fresh berries and the decadence of fresh whipped cream…ooooh my!!!

    April 2, 2016
  5. mykerme #

    The transatlantic crossing on the Queen Mary 2 was my aunt’s favorite vacation. Somewhere in the mid-Atlantic the dining room served Sticky Toffee Pudding for dessert at lunch; this is really a rich cake not a pudding. It always showed up once a crossing. If you need to check the nutritional information, you probably should not order it. Sticky Toffee Pudding has butter, brown sugar and chopped dates for starters. The QM2 served the muffin size piece warm with a glossy toffee sauce that was a luscious golden brown. We ordered ours “a la mode” with vanilla ice cream to cut some of the sweetness. A dollop of whipped cream is more traditional. The servers always asked if we wanted more. Our usual response was, “Can we have it again for dessert tonight?”

    April 3, 2016
  6. Syd T #

    My Grandma’s Boysenberry Pie! Hands down my favorite desert. Made with love and filled with Boysenberries! She never had to look at a recipe, they were all in her head and her hands. She made the most amazing pie crusts, and would test it by pinching the mixture between her fingers. When the “little pearls” would flatten just right she knew by feel the butter and flour ratio was right.

    Thanks for the question, was nice to revisit her in my memory. I think I need to make a pie now.

    April 3, 2016
  7. janewolfe #

    Ice Cream! Forty years ago this month, my husband took me on our first date to Baskin Robbins. I’m pretty sure I ordered Jamoca Almond Fudge – a little boring as colors go but coffee, chocolate, and cream is still delicious. We also liked Baseball Nut – Vanilla base with a raspberry ribbon, studded with chopped cashews. He is still buying me ice cream.

    April 3, 2016
  8. mrsSquid #

    I make a lot of desserts i love.. chocolate truffles, cookies, cakes, etc..but the one with the most meaning is the “Only for company” mini-chocolate chip coffee bundt cake. My mother would make one for company .. or for taking to an event.. promising we’d get the leftovers..but there never were any! Once i got the recipe I could finally make sure I got a piece. Of course when i take it anywhere there still aren’t any leftovers.

    April 5, 2016
  9. LeAnn #

    Blackberry pie with vanilla ice cream! My grandmother picked blackberries every summer – not at a u-pick, but wild ones along the creek bank at the back of her property (in Scappoose), or in the vacant lots further down the bank. She’d take a board and lay it down on top of the blackberry vines so she could get deeper into the thicket “to get the really good berries”.

    My birthday is in February and blackberries are my favorite, so Grandma would freeze enough berries that she could bake me a fresh berry pie for my birthday, each year. It was better than any cake; it was like a beautiful burst of summertime in the middle of gray, wet February. Best birthday present, ever.

    My grandmother is gone, but my mom tries to pick berries at a cousin’s house each summer so she can freeze enough to bake me a pie for my birthday. I love my family!

    Blackberry Birthday!

    LeAnn

    April 5, 2016
    • LeAnn #

      Sorry, should have provided some color impressions for translating to yarn! Warm, dark purple for the berries, of course, but there should be a lighter shade for the juicy filling – reddish-purple, shading to lighter still – where the “extra” sugar sometimes settled at the bottom of the filling, right above the crust. Medium brown patches for crust, but remember that the juice bubbles up on the crust and caramelizes, so it can be dark purple/brown/almost black, too. And then there’s the ice cream – creamy off-white, but also with that yummy shade of pink/lavender where the melted ice cream blends with the berry juice, in the bottom of the bowl.

      If I had to summarize down to three things, it would be a kettle-dyed warm purple, shading from dark to lighter pinky-lavender and white for the ice cream, and then some small bits of warm brown pie crust. yum!

      April 8, 2016
  10. stephi_gordon@yahoo.com #

    I live near Glacier National Park in Northwestern Montana. Huckleberries grow wild – they are not able to be grown by humans yet. Bears feast on them and hikers seek them out in late summer – hucks! They are a deep, dark purple. Their color is almost like that of eggplants. They are eaten off the bush, used in syrups, jams, pies, served on ice cream, added to pancakes, they flavor local vodka, and they are coveted by locals. Some call them purple gold.
    My favorite desert was Huckleberry Mud Pie!!!!!!! Deep purples of the hucks, dark brown of the crust, dark brown of the chocolate, golden-brown caramel, and creamy white vanilla ice cream!!! Yum – I have just made myself crave this again! I would buy a gorgeous Huckleberry Mud Pie colorway any day!!! Stephanie (indigodogmontana on Rav)

    April 6, 2016
  11. Tania #

    My favourite desert is orange cranberry loaf/muffin with plain yogurt.
    Years ago when my family and I immigrated from Europe, I tried McD OC muffin and was amazed by the taste of this combination. And the yogurt reminds me of my old country.
    BTW, we didn’t have cranberries there.

    April 6, 2016
  12. accusingeyes #

    My favorite dessert is key lime pie! It reminds me of my PopPop. As a kid whenever we would visit PopPop in Queens we would always visit the same diner. I don’t think that diner exists anymore but they had an almost perfect key lime pie. The custard portion of the pie was a perfect creamy light green color with a velvety texture. It had a perfect balance between sweet and tart. The diner used crushed, toasted pecans for part the crust which gave it extra depth of flavor. The crust was a lovely graham cracker color speckled with darker brown flecks from the pecans. It was delightfully buttery and also added a bit of texture to the pie. Finally, the pie was topped off with homemade whipped cream for a nice splash of white on top of the green custard. Just thinking about the pie makes me want to make the trek to NY to visit with my PopPop.

    April 7, 2016
  13. Jon #

    As a child, I was always in the kitchen. I kicked my mother out of there Thanksgiving morning when I was 12 to take over the big dinner. I was constantly reading cookbooks and Julia Child is my hero!

    One day when I was about 15 or 16, I found a carrot cake recipe. I told my mother I was going to bake it and she said “ew gross.” Undaunted, I purchased the ingredients and set to work.

    The cake is full of nuts and shredded carrots, cinnamon and walnuts, raisins and crushed pineapple. For added excitement, I put in cinnamon. The cake is frosted with a decadent cream cheese and coconut frosting. Each piece is 600+ calories and worth every bite! The cake is best served cold out of the refrigerator. Of course, my mother loved it and I do too…

    Visually, each slice is a beautiful walnut color sprinkled with yellow and black and orange, topped by a creaming white.

    YUM!

    April 8, 2016
  14. hatusu #

    Fall is my favorite time of year, most likely because it is the perfect season for baking and knits. Each fall my mother would kick the season off by making Zwetschgendatschi (or put more simply, Plum Cake).

    The batter was simple: sugar, vanilla, eggs, butter, sour cream and flour. She would mix the batter and pour it into a pan, after which she would carefully place quartered slices of plums all over it. Afterwards, cinnamon would be sprinkled on top.

    The outer edges would crisp to a golden brown, while the insides would remain more pale gold and creamy in color. The plums would turn a darker antique gold in the middle, while the outer edges would move from violet to a deep reddish plum. If you were to lift a plum off the dough, you would see an almost orchid pink (at its palest) to burgundy stain on the dough where the plum had been. All of this was tied together by the cinnamon brown, which was lightly dusted over the top.

    She has since passed away, but I cannot help but think of her whenever I see a plum.

    April 8, 2016
  15. liselov #

    I’m 4 months pregnant and gestationally diabetic. The only thing I craved were gooey rice Krispy treats. You know the kind? With marshmallows (pure sugar) and Rice puffed cereal (pure carbs)? They were everything I shouldn’t want. Simultaneously, they were the only thing I wanted—needed. HAD TO Have.
    The doctor was clear, there were to be no sweets, or both my baby and I would suffer.
    So, in desperation my husband steamed carrots for me – and sprinkled them with thyme. Like the sprinkles on top of the treats. It was so sweet! But carrots were also off the menu. Who knew they had so much sugar?
    Much to my surprise he snuck back into the kitchen the next day to try to create another masterpiece that would reduce my cravings. So he steamed broccoli then put it in a blender. To make it crunchy he added water chestnuts. And then baked it into little squares and surprised me with it when I got home from work.
    I was SO touched! Don’t tell him this, but they were really, really gross. Because they wouldn’t firm up he put them on broil and burnt the top. Underneath the char was soupy greens that could only be eaten with a spoon. If you’d seen the joy on his face when I compliment it, you’d know why I couldn’t tell him how gross they were.
    The third time he made them his mom came over for dinner. This was going to be served as desert. She immediately could tell what happened when he called them “Rice Crispy Alternatives,” and hugged him with a chuckle. I heard them murmuring later and he was nodding and smiling.
    The next day when I came home from work he presented me with desert first. I know I blanched a bit when he said desert. But I was determined to hold onto my smile. From behind his back he withdrew a glass of water. In it were ice cubes with little edible flowers frozen within. The happy purples, pinks, greens and soft yellows still make me smile.
    My daughter, who’s now 14 thinks I’m corny to put flowers in ice cubes and call them desert. But I have to admit it’s my favorite desert, more than any rice crispy treat, and a wonderful memory.

    April 8, 2016
  16. mkeefem3 #

    Nostalgic favorite dessert from my childhood is my (late) Aunt Joyce’s Strawberry Rhubarb pie. Each summer I would get to spend one week with my cousins at their grandmother’s house at the shore. It was a beautiful brick red colonial built in the early 1800’s, on the banks of the sound with breathtaking sound views – deep blue water, sand and bright green grasses. We would eat most meals at a picnic table out back overlooking the beautiful water view. The pie was the highlight for me: flaky, buttery crust browned just perfectly on top. Inside, bright red perfectly ripe strawberries mixed with rhubarb in a delicious marriage – the chunks of rhubarb pale red with perhaps a touch of light green, their tartness harmonizing perfectly with the sweetness of the ripe strawberries. It’s probably been 30 years since I’ve had a piece and my mouth is watering just thinking about it! 🙂

    April 9, 2016
  17. Turtlemoon #

    As a kid we literally lived on what we grew on the dairy farm I grew up on. So my mom one year for my birthday got creative and made me a carrot cake. It wasnt as if she was trying to sneak veggies in my diet. I was the weird kid in school who brought a thermos of veggie soup for lunch every day and always ate my veggies first … funny that I am now a vegan! The cake wasnt pretty in the traditional sense but was if you looked closely. The vibrant orange bits of grated carrot mixed in with the yellow chunks of walnut meat contrasting against the bright white of the cream cheese frosting and light tan of the cake itself … was beautiful. When my daughter was born I continued the carrot cake tradition. I would roll out marzipan veggies and create a garden atop the cake to decorate it, crushing cookies for soil. Now as she is older she bakes my carrot cake each year, vegan style. 🙂 Two weeks from today will I blow out a bunch of candles atop my carrot cake, can’t wait! My mouth waters in anticipation!

    April 9, 2016
  18. northstar100 #

    I’m a HUGE fan of desserts and have an insatiable sweet tooth. My favorite dessert depends on the the of year – I like heavier desserts in the cold, dark, rainy months and lighter desserts in the sunnier, warmer months. What has been on my mind lately is a fruit tart that I get at New Seasons (actually, lots of shops have them from time to time). I has a thickish, shortbread-ish crust with a generous layer of creamy custard that is the palest buttercream shade. The topping is generally strawberries, blueberries and (sometimes) kiwi. A glaze pulls it all together and adds a luster that is completely intoxicating. Each bite is a burst of fruit, the smoothness of the custard and the crunch of the crust. Mmmm… I’m going to have to see if I can find one for the weekend.

    April 9, 2016
  19. julie #

    When I was a child my favorite dessert was the rare occasion when my mother would make chocolate fondue! Out would come the fondue pot and a large tray of things to dip: strawberries, grapes, oranges (the chocolate didn’t stay on the oranges well but they were my favorite!), pineapple chunks, chunks of angel food cake, marshmallows (hmm, maybe another favorite!). It’s a good thing I don’t have a fondue pot now because I would probably eat this way more than anyone should! For yarn, I see rich brown studded with colorful gems for the fruit and maybe something a little tan/white/off white for cake and marshmallows. I haven’t this for years. Now I think I need to find a fondue pot to borrow….

    April 9, 2016
  20. Meglette #

    As a brand new pastry chef at the “best place to take your date on Valentine’s Day” restaurant in town, I was tasked with coming up with the “best dessert to get your date to say yes to anything” Valentine’s Day dessert.
    Cheesecake…yep…cheesecake; but it had to be…um…sublime…amazing!. And with that I came up with the White Chocolate, dark chocolate covered Chukar Bing Cherry cheesecake; or the “YES YES” cheesecake for short. (Picture Meg Ryan in the diner/I’ll have some of what she’s having…)
    I blended creamy white chocolate and cream cheese all melty and smooth and all the other usual suspects…for the batter, and then dropped in the dark chocolate covered Chukar Cherries (made just a tad gooey from the heat in the kitchen) into the batter, the chocolate making scintillating swirls in the the creaminess. There is a hint of dark cherry red and pink (like a blush) in that swirl from the exposed cherries (oh my!)—and then All of that poured into a dark chocolate cookie crust and Badaboom Bada-Bing! Yes—Yes—Yes! Cheesecake.
    My thanks to Chukar Cherries for the inspiration. I had had some on a recent backpacking trip.

    April 9, 2016
  21. carjobo #

    This brings to mind an epic dessert “discussion” that has become family legend for us. My dad was born in New England and currently lives in Maine, and my daughter was born & raised in California. When she was about 6, we went to visit grandad and enjoyed a nice, relaxing lunch, until it was time to order dessert.
    You see, my daughter was passionate about rainbow sherbet at the time and wanted to savor the creamy raspberry, orangey, limey goodness. And her grandad was convinced that she should order a New England staple, Indian Pudding, which is a warm baked custard of cornmeal, cinnamon, ginger and other warm spices, with butter and brown sugar and molasses for sweetness.
    As they are both strong-willed, a lengthy discussion about the merits of each dessert ensued. Nobody remembers how it was ultimately resolved, maybe by ordering one of each, but years later we agreed that they are both delicious (and would both make marvelous color ways!).
    Thanks for the trip down memory lane and I can’t wait to see what you create!

    April 9, 2016
  22. pencraftco #

    Years ago, when I was a college student in north Idaho, I lived next door to a lovely older couple. I was introduced when I first moved in, but I only remembered his name: Paul. I missed her name and figured, rather than ask, I would just pay attention to what Paul called his wife and then I would know. Turns out, he called her “Mommie.”

    Sooner or later, I figured he would mention her real name. But nope. It started to become embarrassing that I didn’t know Mommie’s name. A year went by, then two–and then a decade or more. But I always found a workaround and these were not the sort of people that one could ever really feel embarrassed around! They were wonderful.

    Paul had a huge garden and he would motion to me around the fence. That always meant a gift of some sort. Apples, pears, carrots, beans, packages of elk meat from his latest hunting trip–always something. One day he asked,”Like peas?” “Yes.” “Mommie needs some help shelling some. Could you come over?” “Sure.”

    I walked around the fence, sat down and was entertained for well over an hour by funny stories of Paul’s life when he was looking for work during the depression and Mommie’s latest fiasco in the kitchen. I shelled a giant bowl of peas and told them I needed to go home to get some reading done for my classes. I got up to pour my peas into the big bucket they were collecting them in for freezing and Mommie slapped my hand. “Don’t you dare,” she said. “Those are yours fair and square.” This is how it always was. They treated me as if I were one of their own.

    Another time, they called me over for desert. Amazing. I had to have the recipe. I still have it in her handwriting, now with spots and small tears from being made so many times. When I opened my recipe box, just now, wondering if I would even find it, it was sitting right on the top. Of course it was.

    Mommie’s Cobler. Cream 1/4 c soft butter and 1/2 cup sugar. Sift together 1 cup sifted flour, 2 tsp baking powder and 1/4 tsp. salt. Add to above alternating with 1/2 cup mild. Beat till smooth. Pour into greased 2 quart casserole. Spoon over drained #2 can of peaches, raspberries, blueberries, boysenberries or other berries. Sprinkle over 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup fruit syrup. I use huckleberries and a 9 x 12 pan and double it.

    She called it Best Ever Cobbler. It is!

    Mommie’s cobbler has a light golden crust and pale cake over deep reddish purple huckleberries. It just begs for ice cream. Mommie served the cobbler with vanilla ice cream, and where the ice cream melted in the warm huckleberry, the color shaded from pale pink to deep purple.

    Mommie and Paul visited me in Montana after I graduated from college. I took my first husband up to meet them and we visited several times over the years. Bill always teased Paul about buying Paul’s Scout. No way. That was Paul’s hunting rig. One visit, Paul offered the Scout to Bill. Bill wrote a check on the spot. Paul wasn’t driving as much then.

    A year later a friend sent me Paul’s obituary. Lila. Mommie’s name was Lila.

    April 10, 2016
  23. Tammy04 #

    My favorite dessert recipe is sweet potato pie. I had never had this delicacy growing up in Missouri (and being white) until I met my husband. He is black and comes from a Southern family who knows how to create some seriously delicious soul food, including the absolutely essential sweet potato pie. My husband’s mother, especially is an amazing cook so I had an impossible act to follow when I married her son. Not only was I following a cook who is expert overall, she was also a cook who was expert at a genre of cooking that I was UTTERLY CLUELESS about! Since most soul food is fried/ high in fat/ dependent on pork products none of which my husband actually wanted in his daily life (other than when visiting home), I was off the hook for learning most of those dishes (whew!) but he could not live without his sweet potato pie. Now, my mother in law is one of those cooks where if you ask her for the recipe, she will smile an evil smile and hand you the recipe (which bears no relationship to how she actually makes anything) so I had to figure it out on my own. Over the last 25 years I have perfected my own rich, cinnamony-y version with a Graham cracker crust. My husband actually prefers my version to hers! I think the reddish cinnamon colors of the pie, with the dark brown crust with flecks of almost black and spots of tan where I leave chunks of potato in the mix would make a beautiful colorway!

    April 10, 2016
  24. cubie #

    My favourite dessert is my mother’s Shoo Fly Pie. The inspiration for this pie came from the slices of molasses pie that my mother used to buy from the Mennonite women who sold their bake goods at the local Farmers’ Market. There are three amazing layers to this pie – the toasted crumble topping, the dark gooey molasses filling, and the golden flaky crust. With a rich, sweet, somewhat bitter taste this pie is no ordinary molasses pie. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream and it’s the perfect way to start your day (how could molasses not be good for breakfast) or to end a meal.

    For me when I eat this pie, it is not just a great dessert it’s also a way of staying connected with my family. The recipe comes from a cookbook written by my late grandfather in the 1980s. He collected the recipes of dishes he had enjoyed when dining with family and friends for his cookbook and my mother’s Shoo Fly pie was one of his favourite desserts.

    April 12, 2016

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