I Know What I Like

When we bought our house many years ago it was stained a nasty dark, dark brown. It hadn't had any treatment in 15 years and you could scrape a nail over the siding and get to bare wood. Something had to be done. My husband sanded the entire house with a hand-held orbital sander (that's what he had and it worked, but it took a loooong time), we brushed primer over the whole thing. Twice. And then we painted it a lovely light blue with a greyish undertone. New Zealand Lake, the color was called.

Our house has stayed that same color for about 20 years. We'd repaint a side of the house as it needed it, but the look stayed the same.



This year it was time to paint again and my husband decided it was time for a change. He wanted to go grey. I agreed, so long as it wasn't a really dark, lowering grey, the tone that says Communist East German government housing.

We went together to the paint store, debating over swatches. This one was too dark, that one was too yellow, and then we found one that was just right. Light grey with a blue undertone. Perfect! We bought 15 gallons and brought it home, set up our ladders and drape cloths and began to paint. Wait just a doggone minute...it's the same color. The exact same color! We couldn't even tell where we'd started painting or where we'd left off.

If you're a Red Dwarf fan, you'll know what I mean when I say that we went from Ocean Grey to Military Grey.

Well, at least we know what we like. And one thing I like is this pear bread. It's super easy to make and stays moist and delicious for a week. So in case you're working on an onerous task like painting your house, you can make it early in the morning when it's still cool and then have painting break snacks for several days. Unless you're smart like us and import help (son and nephew). Then it'll be gone in a day.


Pear Bread
- adapted from America’s Best Recipes

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup plain yogurt*
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla etract
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 cups peeled, cored, and coarsely chopped pear (about 3 pears)
1 cup chopped pecans

1- Preheat oven to 350 deg. F. Thoroughly grease 2 9-x-5-inch loaf pans (or 4 mini loaf pans, or 1 large and 2 small).

2- In the bowl of an electric mixer cream butter. Gradually add sugar, beating well at medium speed. Add yogurt and beat well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Stir in vanilla.

3- In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, soda, salt, and nutmeg. Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture alternately with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.

4- Gently fold in the chopped pears and pecans.

5- Spoon the batter into the loaf pans. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes for large loaves, 45 minutes for small loaves, or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool on a wire rack.

Yield: 2 large loaves or 4 small loaves

* I used Oikos Organic Greek Yogurt and it was delicious! You can click on the link to get a coupon, if you'd like to try it.