Merci Beaucoup!

The Maine House is baking today! A gift for the neighbors was in order as they had been so kind as to provide our visiting grandchildren with some of their own grandchildren's playthings. Rena, who was born in Italy, but raised in The Bronx, brought me over a bottle of wine tied with the most magnificent leopard ribbon for our birthdays in July.

Think we shall save this for the holidays!

She also came over to meet the children when they were here last month. I thought it was the nicest gesture, as we really do not often see each other. Rena's husband Rudy, is from El Paso, Texas so once we found that out, we certainly had the love of Texas in common. They had met in Italy when Rudy was serving in the Marine Corp. We also have a similarity of having four grown children. Today, I made Estelle's Lemon Blueberry Muffins and put them in a white braided ceramic breadbasket with a red and white linen tea towel. Now, I think that was a rather nice neighborly gift, don't you?  If you ever need to say, "thank you" to one of your neighbors, these make a terrific little homemade gift from the heart!

Estelle's Lemon Blueberry Muffins

2 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

zest of one lemon

1 egg

1 cup milk

1/2 cup  butter

1 cup frozen blueberries

Lemon Glaze

1 1/2 T. lemon juice

1 cup confectioner's sugar

Mix dry ingredients and set aside. Beat eggs, milk and shortening. Stir in blueberries. Add dry ingredients and stir gently to combine. Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, combine sugar and lemon juice. While the muffins are still warm, drizzle the tops in the lemon glaze. Makes 12 muffins

I also tucked in a little jar of Lemon Curd from The Stonewall Kitchen!

Not to worry Darling....I saved some for you!