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Strawberry tart I made in a sweet pastry dough crust with crabapple jelly glaze. But now I will paint some paintings of them.   I love the ruby red strawberries dripping with rosy glaze.

Today I made crabapple jelly.   It looks like rubies and smells like floral perfume.

I have been enjoying making breads this spring.  This is a light rye bread baked in a masonry dutch oven inside my regular oven.  The dutch oven gives it the steam to produce a really nice chewy thick crust.

We had a lot of fun picking and eating currants on the ranch.  There are both golden and red currants.  We bought a jelly bag so I could make jelly.  But I ran out of time before I had to come back to Chicago.    The currants are delicious with homemade granola.  Here a neighbor friend made some as a gift. A forgotten flower bouquet from friends that has dried quite nicely. Some hand-picked pie cherries.  There are both pie and sweet cherry trees full of fruit right now.

I've been using my own sourdough starter for about six months now.  But I always love to find a new bakery that uses natural leavening and non-commercial yeast.  (Does things the old-fashioned way.   Hewn Bakery in Evanston, IL is a place I visited for the first time this past week. I ended up getting a cheddar round, a chocolate hazelnut brioche, and a pan country loaf.  (They were out of country round loaf, which is a bit crustier.)  All the breads are so amazingly delicious.  I've been eating all three.  I put half the cheddar in the freezer and the other two are on the counter.  They are light, yet substantial.  Especially the brioche loaf.  I want to toast...