Rugs, and yummy things

Butter tarts are supposed to be a very Canadian thing.   It's said that they can be traced to the late 1600's here, especially in Quebec, where they were made with maple sugar and possibly syrup.   The first written recipe though is dated 1900.   They can be plain, with raisins or walnuts.   They are quite unique in flavour being both buttery and sweet.  It uses just a few ingredients and is infinitely variable as it is a forgiving recipe. Yesterday,  I made butter tarts.  Although I do like a good, runny butter tart, I end up dripping them everywhere, so these aren't runny.  They are buttery and nicely sweet, but not cloyingly so. 

1 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup butter, 2 eggs, 2 tbsn milk, 1 tsp vanilla.   Mix and divide evenly between 12 tart pastry shells.  Bake for 25 mins and 350 F.    I wish I had had some raisins in the pantry, because that would have made them perfect.    It doesn't look like a lot of filling, but you only need 1 1 1/2 tbsn - 2 tbsn in each shell.   They expand quite dramatically.

I made bread from a recipe that is supposed to be historical.  However it's a no knead bread, using a combination of flours that I'd not seen used in that way before and it was soft and fluffy like a commercial sandwich bread for those lunchbox type sandwiches.  As well, it was a bit bland.   I really prefer a bread with some body to it and flavour.    Most of it got eaten although with as soft as it was, it became difficult to slice after day 1.   The chooks liked the last bit.

I finished weaving the rugs.   To get the last one done, I wove until there were only 4 inches of warp behind the shafts.  I was manually lifting shafts help open the shed, in order to get the last inch done.    Still, the rug was a bit shorter than I would have normally woven.  However, I'd been looking for a new bathroom rug for a while but haven't found one it a colour or style I liked, so the old one is now gone and the small rug is in front of the shower.  Win!

The rugs are all hemmed and ready to be used.  The two with the multi coloured strips are bright and cheerful.  The red and grey rug is a little more defined and sedate.