Creative cookery

I can cook and sew and all that stuff but I really don't enjoy cooking. It's tolerable if I can get creative with it. So we had a bunch of peaches given to us that I made juice out of with my new juicer. But it bothered me to waste the left over pulp. I tried mixing it with the juice but that spoiled the enjoyment of the juice. So I decided to make a peach pulp pie. Couldn't find a recipe for one online. (Red appliance on photo is my juicer.)

On the left is the pulp with sugar added. I made a pie crust and spread the mixture on the crust. Then I topped it with a blend of brown sugar, cinnamon, butter, oatmeal, etc. It turned out a little tart, but otherwise perfect, so next time I'll add more sugar.

Glad to not waste the pulp anymore. I'll enjoy the juice more. I froze the surplus pulp for the next pies.

Went out back to the ponds for a little while to practice photography. No improvement, but I am learning how to adjust the settings. And I'm absorbing the functions of the settings, hopefully for better shots. Didn't take good ones today, but couldn't stay out long. My allergies are kicking in and I don't want to end up with bronchitis, especially not this early in the season. Or preferably ever. Last year I got real bad with it in November. Here are a couple of shots I took a few days ago before I rushed down to the oasis to pump water. They're just common species. That's all I have here.

female Eastern Amberwing

Plateau Spreadwing

In order to do better I may have to start shooting in RAW. And I'd need a better program for processing RAW images. I might prefer to just do the best I can with JPEG. When Mac or someone knowledgeable visits I'll have them see what they can do with my camera and decide then. I have to weigh my age, allergies, learning curve, etc. Just don't know. When I stand beside someone photographing the same thing and their shot is awesome, mine looks really amateur beside it. Of course they shoot in RAW with better camera bodies.  For now I want to see what's the best possible with my camera in JPEG, and shoot for that.