Doesn’t this look divine? This was the recipe we made for Cross Country Bakers last month. It’s a French dessert made with apple custard-like filling. Mmmmm… I thought it was about time I posted a recipe for you all, so try this one out for your next dessert (or have it for breakfast like we did!). Enjoy!

Apple Cinnamon Clafoutis

Ingredients:

* About 3 or 4 apples
* 2 large eggs + 1 yolk
* 1/2 cup blond cane sugar
* 3 Tbsp. cornstarch
* 3 Tbsp. all purpose flour
* 1 cup whole milk, cold
* 1 vanilla, seeds removed (I didn’t have vanilla seeds so I used 1 tsp. vanilla)
* 1/2 cup heavy cream
* ground cinnamon

Steps:

* Preheat your oven at 350ºF.
* Peel the apples and cut into cubes or slices whatever you feel is best for the oven dish you are using (I used ramekins)
* Beat the eggs and yolk with the sugar.
* Add the vanilla seeds and mix.
* Dilute the cornstarch in the cold milk.
* Add the flour and cornstarch to the previous preparation, with the cream. Mix well until homogeneous. Add ground cinnamon to your liking.
* Grease small ramekins (or a larger dish) and sprinkle with sugar. Remove the excess.
* Divide the apples  between them and pour the cream over.
* Sprinkle with ground cinnamon and place in the oven for 40 to 45 min, until golden. Remove. Eat warm or cold.

Original recipe from Jungle Frog Cooking.

I meant to post my Tell Me Thursday about it on Thursday like I was supposed to, but didn’t have time. So it’s coming late… on Monday.

Those of you who have read my blog for a while know I play the harp and I have been saving for my own bigger harp. Well, a little over a week ago I had a wonderful surprise. Back in March, I was able to order the harp, but the company was backed up on orders and told me it would be 6 months before it would be done. So I was prepared to wait till September to get my harp, and I was praying hard for patience (and at the same time praying that somehow it could be finished earlier – say, August).

Well, the Lord loves to answer prayers and He answered that one far beyond my hopes. A week or so ago I was working on a sewing project in the basement, and I heard a lot of screwing, banging around, and general racket going on upstairs. I, however, was deeply engrossed in making a ribbon flower, and absently thought my mom and sister must be hanging pictures (which would be very odd and besides, there was far too much noise to be only picture-hanging. But you must understand, ribbon flowers take a lot of focus).

Well, my mom called me to come up and “let the cat in.” When I came up, Mom had a video camera in her hand. That meant something was up! I still was clueless and had no idea… I walked into the family room and there… was… I’m sure you can never guess. Yep, my harp!!

Isn’t she a beauty? It sounds beautiful and I LOVE the deep, full bass notes. It’s been so much fun playing through all my old songs and hearing how much fuller they sound! Once again, a huge thank you to my friend, Raeanne, who let me play her little harp for nearly two years while I waited for this one… it was an immense blessing.

The Lord is good!

I had received my own camera for my 16th birthday, and we were out one weekend just doing yardwork, burning brush, etc. and I had my camera on me, as usual. I was out in the yard, and my mom was up on the deck off the back of the house, when she started calling me to come up and bring my camera. This little bird, which we later identified as a Ruby Crowned Kinglet, must have flown into the window and was laying on the deck, stunned. I took a few shots and then mom put on her gloves and picked it up. It didn’t seem nervous or anything, but just sat there, and I got this wonderful photo. After that it fluttered off and landed on my sister’s shirt and camped out there for a while. Apparently it wasn’t too badly injured because later it left. I love looking at this picture because of that memory and just because I like the photo – I like how the lighting came out, and the gray tones. When I decided to enter this one in the contest I tried editing it with Photoshop, and it looked nice… but I decided to go with the original photo after all.

]]> http://maidensofvirtue.com/blog/index.php/2010/02/23/ihf-photo-contest/feed/ 5 http://maidensofvirtue.com/blog/index.php/2010/02/04/tell-me-thursday-harp-heaven/ http://maidensofvirtue.com/blog/index.php/2010/02/04/tell-me-thursday-harp-heaven/#comments Thu, 04 Feb 2010 12:16:27 +0000 Kathryn Grace http://maidensofvirtue.com/blog/?p=530

I posted this photo yesterday for Wordless Wednesday. Amazing isn’t it? It’s not everyday you get to see a whole room FULL of harps.

Last weekend some friends of ours whom we had not seen in 3 years came up for a visit! Hannah, the older of the two, is an amazing harpist. I’d love to call myself a harpist – perhaps I can – but I have only been playing just over a year and am teaching myself. I have a small 27-string lever harp, which you can see to the right there. I am borrowing it from my incredibly generous friend, Raeanne, who is letting me use it until I can save up for my own harp.

Anyway, back to our guests. Friday morning we somewhat spontaneously decided to make the trip up to visit the Lyon & Healy harp factory. What a place! Perhaps it’s just that I am in love with harp that made it so wonderful, but this place is amazing. We toured the factory and got to see how the harps are made. Did you know it takes about a year to complete a harp?! Now I know why they are so painfully expensive.

After touring the factory (no photography allowed – sorry!), we were taken to the harp showroom, which was my WW photo this week. Dozens of harps all lined up in every size, color and kind. We were given a “salesperson” and a little room to the side, and any of the harps we wanted to play, they would wheel in for us! And we could play as long as we wished (it was a good thing we got hungry for lunch or we would have been there a really long time! ).

Hannah requested to play a pedal harp designed by Carlos Salzedo, a modern harpist. This is not my favorite harp from L & H for its looks, but of course I wasn’t going to NOT play it! The sound was just amazing and as you see from the pictures, it is HUGE, especially compared to what I am used to playing!

If you are wondering the difference between a lever and pedal harp, lever harps have – guess – levers on them, which allow you to play your notes sharp or flat. Pedal harps use – surprise – pedals to play flats and sharps, and you work them with your feet which frees your hands. You can play more complex music on a pedal harp, and they are much larger with more strings (concert grands – what I am playing in the photo – have 47 strings).

Below is a photo of my favorite harp. I would probably have to save up my whole life to buy this, but it was amazing to play it even if just for a while!

The harp I am currently saving for is a 36 string lever harp from Harps of Praise. Below is a picture of it:

Want to help me get my harp? Of course you do! If your blog needs a fresh look or maybe you are just starting a blog…or maybe you just need a signature to end your posts or a button; head over to www.PrairieRoseDesigns.com. Or you can check out the Maidens of Virtue Shoppe. You can know you are helping the harp fund.

Thanks for visiting!

Come back tomorrow to read the Tell Me Thursday for this photo!

All right, here’s the information on the photography contest I’m hosting! It’s going to be open to entries all year – that leaves you plenty of time to take LOTS of photos (you can enter as many as you want at whatever time during the year!).

This contest is open to all ages, and there is only one category, as I think that children are quite as capable of taking photos that can compete with adults.

The theme for this contest is one word: Pure. I wish I could enter this contest myself because I’ve been thinking of all the different ways this word can be portrayed in photographs! Be creative and use your imagination; think outside the box and come up with as many different ways to apply “Pure” to a photo subject.

Entries will be judged on photo quality, composition, lighting, and originality of interpreting the theme.

We will award one First Place winner, and several runners up. First Place prize information is forthcoming.

You may enter as many photos as you want, at any time during the year (so you could enter photos as you take them, or save them and submit them all at the end). You will only be eligible to win one physical prize, though multiple photos of yours may be awarded runner up.

This contest is FREE to enter; we would, however, appreciate a small donation to go toward the first place prize (this is not required to be entered in the contest). You can make your donation at the contest page.

We will be accepting entries through December 31, 2010 and the winner and finalists will be announced January 15, 2011.

Please visit the contest page HERE to read full details that are not included in this post!

I am counting on lots of fabulous entries!

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Photo #1:

This is my lovely sister playing her new panflute outside by our pond (how romantic, isn’t it?). This is a beautiful instrument with a pipe for each note.

Photo #2:

This is a little kitten we rescued, named Eppie. We named her after Eppie in “Silas Marner” because she was black (if you know the story, Eppie has to go in the coal shed as punishment for disobeying – hence the black part). She has flattened ears ready to pounce in this photo (I love it when cats do that)!

I am submitting these photos into the I Heart Faces logo photo contest. By entering, I am granting I Heart Faces LLC permission to consider my photos for use in the marketing and promotion of their website.

P.S. This is not the photo contest I mentioned before – more on that coming soon!

I’ve been thinking I should do a photography contest because it seems like photography is very popular right now; at least I seem to be running into a LOT of people who are interested in it.

Feel free to comment and let me know if you think this is a good idea and if you would be entering! (By the way, all you writers out there – this is not to replace the poetry/essay contest I hold in the spring. This is a separate contest and I will still be holding the writing contest, Lord willing. Cast your vote if it should be an essay or poetry contest here).