Tuesday 2 July 2019

Not pretty, but good.

That's kind of a theme in my life - not pretty, but good.
Case in point, my cooking. I'm a pretty good cook, but my presentation will never win any awards. I wouldn't place first in a fall fair competition, but what I make is usually pretty tasty.

Today, for instance, I decided to make a pie with the ridiculous amount of strawberries and rhubarb I still have (tired of hearing about that yet?). I made my usual strawberry / rhubarb custard pie. If I had made my own pastry, it likely would have been a little bit pieced together, repairs made with a smear of a wet fingertip. It wouldn't have mattered because the pie filling would have hidden any ripped or repaired sections. Not pretty, but good. Today it was frozen pie crust time. I always have a little extra filling which I put in these little baking dishes. The kids call them "mini pies". Thank goodness I set everything on a cookie sheet (which, by the way is not shiny and silver, but permanently darkened and stained). The filling oozed out over one side (because my oven is not level because our floor in our very old home is not level - not pretty, but good).


The pie tin I used (well, actually just put the aluminum foil pie plate inside of it) is very old - came from my mom, I think. Not pretty, but good. (the pie plate, I mean)


The little 'mini pie' is in something that is pretty. This little baking dish is from a set, all very matchy, various sizes of baking dishes. The set was a gift (I never would have bought that for myself) from my mother-in-law when she was somewhat addicted to the Home Shopping Channel. Thoughtful, though, and I have used them.

Tonight for supper, I made use of some of the bulk purchased peppers and zucchini. At my store, they offer a product called, "Naturally Imperfect" from No Name. It's great - you save money by buying produce that has slight blemishes or are not picture perfect in shape or size. Not pretty, but good. I bought the zucchini that way. I turned a couple of them into zucchini boats and I made stuffed peppers as well. No recipe - just a throw-together ground beef mixture much like meatloaf inside of the peppers and zucchini.



See my crumpled up tin foil to keep the pepper upright? Not pretty, but good.

One of my chickens' names is Lacy. She was named that because she was so pretty with a lot of white feathers mixed in with her brown feathers making her appear "lacy" around her neck. Well, she ended up being quite the favourite of our twice-as-big rooster and many of her feathers were (permanently??) broken off and worn away. She is truly the rattiest looking chicken I've ever seen, but she faithfully lays an egg every day. Not pretty, but good.

And to wrap up the theme (tired of it yet?), here is a picture of Scooter-the-cat-with-no-tail who once had truly the most magnificent, glorious tail ever seen on a cat, lounging on son's used car which also has a few little less than perfect features but is a hell of a fun first car for a young adult male.


 I quite like my less than perfect life - it's good.

25 comments:

  1. Someone said that if you think your choices are always between perfection and nothing you will always have nothing...My mother always told me that something is better than nothing...And I am thinking I may have stuffed zucchini for dinner tomorrow.

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    1. Oh yes, I rarely strive for perfection (at least in my home life- professional life is a little different).

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  2. Not pretty, but good. Love it and am going to use it extensively! (Do I owe you any royalties?) Your not pretty, but good strawberry-rhubarb pie looks oh-so-yummy! I could go for a piece (could I have a little scoop of vanilla ice cream on top?) right now!

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    1. Nope, no royalties. Yes, you would absolutely be invited for a piece. I have frozen vanilla yogurt, is that ok?

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  3. When you mentioned pies overflowing in the oven I had to say "Been there, done that"! Your pepper and zucchini boats are my kind of meal.

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  4. I think your "less than perfect" life is perfect! :) I love that mini pie dish, it's very cute! Nothing wrong with with your peppers and zukes! I don't know if you know this trick, but if you slice a little off the bottom of the pepper, you can make it more level when you're cooking it.

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    1. Good tip! Thanks - and your food always looks sooooo good!

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  5. And Scooter wants you to remember, he's a black and white, and they are pretty close to perfect, with or without tails.

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    1. Oh, ha ha, your mustachioed cat would know under good authority!!

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  6. "Not pretty, but good" is what gets us through life!

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  7. Replies
    1. Always striving for perfection can really become damaging for some people.

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  8. I like your theme here and it more less sums up me (personally) - mid eighties and still going strong (ish).

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  9. That was a creative and fun post to read.
    Thank you!

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    1. You're welcome. I tried to find your blog, but perhaps you don't have one at the moment?

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    2. No, I never started a blog. But I do enjoy reading them :)

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  10. Lovely post ... I'll take real life over any Instagram moment. I read that for the picture perfect moments on many of the cooking shows, it takes several tries to get perfect, plus there's a whole team making that one moment perfect ... Mary-Lou =^..^=

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    1. No doubt! We have to remember that anything that is put out there on tv (or now various online videos, etc.) has a team of people in the background making sure it's 'perfect'. Or in the case of people, there are hairdressers, makeup artists, a whole rack of clothing and accessories, and finally photo editing.

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  11. We live in a 130 + year old farm house. A lot of things sag and creek and moan, but it is our little diamond in the ruff. We all are kindred spirits of perfect imperfections! Thanks for your thought provoking post!

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  12. Nothing is ever perfect in life and most times the less than perfect is so much better. I enjoyed this post, Jenn, and the pie looks so good and yes vanilla yogurt would be fine. I may borrow the idea for the pepper and zucchini boats for dinner next week as we're back to at-home and more sensible eating after our long road trip. It was fun but weight provoking.

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  13. No one said life is perfect but yes, good! I think your pies are pretty, by the way. And I adore Scooter. I hope chicken feathers grow back. Poor Lacy!

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  14. I like your theme, it works for me too. Reminds me that even though it isn't what we want or expect, it's just right for us where we are. I forget this from time to time, thank you for your post. I made homemade biscuits today, not pretty, but good. I'm getting better, and now my family will eat them, and not want to play hockey :)

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