Collection of 34 Wildflower Arrangements - Part 2 ( 2016)

"we gathered the wildflowers

yes, life there seem'd one pure delight

as thro' the field we rov'd.

yes, life there seem'd one pure delight "

-  George Linley  

Hi everyone!

This is the second part of my wildflower arangements done 

between Spring and Summer of this year. And I´m proud to be 

able to present it in a collective form, that way you can see the different styles, 

different flowers and different vases I used for each of the bouquet. 

Part 1 is quite a lot , and the flowers in there were 

absolutely gorgeous and  so beautiful as the ones here in part 2.

My garden is very small and I have a conifer hedge all over
so I couldn´t plant flowering bushes on the ground as slugs would 
devastate all the flowers overnight in one sitting. It is in the night 
that they are active particularly after the rain.

      

This one on top is an arrangement of  all natural wildflowers, 

onion flowers and wild redberries.

                                      

The decanters were found at a local flea market

You might have noticed, that yellow roses were included in some 

of the arrangements. That is because my 22 year old rosebush had blooms 

that started in May til almost end of summer. I used these roses just to 

give the wildflowers some color contrasts. 

That wraps up on Part 2 of my wildflower collection. 

Thanks for taking the time to have a look at  my 
arrangements and bouquets . I hope you liked them!

 "And 't is my faith, that every flower 

enjoys the air it breathes".......William Woodsworth

It was nice to have you here!

Collection of 40 Wildflower Arrangements Part 1 (2016)

"You love the roses - so do I.  I wish the sky would rain
down as they rain from off the shaken bush.   Why will it not?

Then all the valley would be pink and white and soft 

to tread on.  They would fall as light as feathers, smelling sweet;  

and it would be like sleeping and like waking, all at once!" 

Roses......by George Eliot 

                             

It´s walking Lily, mom in-law´s 5 year-old chihuahua that gave me the

inspiration to look out for blooms grown anywhere in the fields and in our
path .The wildflowers were just there ready to be picked-up.

From all those dog walks, I was able to really gather the simplest

 bunch of wildflowers...beautiful flowers!!! 

  

 I put them in several vases that I collect...nothing expensive though, 

 I see to it that the vase I used corresponds to the colors of the flowers as 

well as the style of arrangement... 

In some cases, I have added flowers coming from my garden to set a 

contrast to some bouquet  to make it look funkier...!

I hope that you have enjoyed the various arrangement !
Visit Part 2 of this collection coming up next.

Thank you for your visit!

Apricot Bars

Wachau is the region in Lower Austria where quality "marillen"/apricots  are cultivated. 

They call these fruits locally "marillen" .... sounds like a girl´s name but they are actually "aprikosen" in german and apricots in english.

The harvest time is between June and July and only fully riped fruits are offered in the market. Due to its nice location and a blessed weather, Wachau is hilly and ideal for the farmers not only to grow apricots but also grapes for quality wines that made the region famous.

Wachau apricots

Just have a look at this amazing view, the weather in the Wachau is perfect for apricots and grapes.. and it´s also great to bike along the Danube River for those who love this kind of sport.

The Wachau, Lower Ausria

Today, I´m sharing my recipe for this apricot bars using Wachau apricots. I baked this sometime in July when the fruits were available in the market but only shared now as I have very important priorities that made me so busy the las months...

.... so, I hope you´ll get your baking tins and try this yummy dessert which is so simple and easy to make.

                                            

....... Let´s bake !!!

Apricot Bars

Ingredients

250 g Flour
150 Sugar
100 ml Oil
100 ml water
4 Eggs
1/2 pack baking powder
1 pack vanilla sugar ( Dr. Oetker)
Juice of 1/2 Lemon
Apricots



Preparations: (Preheat oven at 170°C)
1. Wash the apricots, remove the seeds and cut into halves...set aside

2. Use separate 2 containers to separate the eggs.

In the first container, beat the egg yolk, add the sugar, vanilla sugar and the lemon juice.
Beat until the mixture becomes smooth in consistency.
Using a spatula, fold in flour and the sifted baking powder to the egg yolk mixture adding
alternately water and oil.

In the 2nd container, beat the egg whites until peaks are building and become stiff  folding all
carefully into the egg yolk mixture in the first container. Spread the batter in a lined rectangular
baking tin. Arrange the apricot on top of the batter.

3. Heat 2 tablespoons of peach or apricot jam either in the microwave for 1 minute or under low fire until jam is liquified. Use a pastry brush to carefully pat jam on top of the apricots.
Bake under 170°C (38°F) for about 40 minutes. The cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean. Sprinkle sugar on the cake top.
Cut the cake into bars carefully and arrange on a platter.

Tip 
To make sure that the cake doesn´t get too dark on top, cover the baking tin with aluminum foil during the second half of the baking time.

Enjoy baking !