What do you call that? Delicious.

 (Petit Strawberry Tartlets)

by Mary Courtney Blake

On one particularly sun-filled day this week, I found myself suddenly pulling into the parking lot of my local farmer’s market, my mouth watering in anticipation of deliciousness.  I was not disappointed.  This happens to be the glorious time of year in Carolina when the Piedmont blooms red with strawberries.

Purchasing my pint of perfectly ripe strawberries, I rushed home to transform them into one of my friends’ favorite springtime treats.  I use these pastries when I want to impress, when I want to really offer something special.  I offer them now to you, my faithful readers so that you too may impress.

Petit Strawberry Tartlets

Ingredients:

Puff Pastry

Strawberries

Cream Cheese

Chevre/Goat Cheese

Powdered Sugar

Vanilla

Spearmint Leaves (optional garnish)

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Roll out your favorite puff pastry to a thickness of approximately 1/8” to 3/16”.  I suggest that you make your own dough as you can make it up to a day or two in advance.  However, if time is a concern use a store bought dough if you must.

Using a cookie cutter (or the lid of a jar or rim of a glass) cut out circles that are approximately 2” in diameter.

Lay out your pastry circles on a baking sheet. 

Bake them at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes until they have puffed up and are slightly golden.

While your pastry is in the oven, gather your ingredients for the cream cheese frosting: Cream Cheese, Powdered Sugar and Vanilla.

Put the cream cheese in a bowl (I use 4 oz. for 16-20 pastries) and vigorously stir in powdered sugar and vanilla to taste.  (A little vanilla goes a long way.)

Now it's time to gather your strawberries!

Placing them on a cutting board, take a sharp knife and cut off the tops of your strawberries then slice them length-wise into approximately 3/16" widths.

Now, it's probably time to take your pastry out of the oven.  Remove the baking sheet from the oven and transfer your pastry circles to a cooling rack.

While your pastry is cooling, load a piping bag with the cream cheese frosting (if you don't have one, a quart sized zip-top storage bag with a snipped corner will do).  Once the pastry is cooled, frost liberally.

Assemble your Petit Strawberry Tartlets by placing a strawberry slice vertically (wide end down) into the frosting.

Now take the goat cheese and scoop tiny dollops next to the strawberries using a 1/8t measurer.  Garnish with slivers of fresh mint.  Enjoy!

Playing for Others End of Year Speech.

by Mary Courtney Blake

As the Visual Art Director and as a Committee Advisor for Playing for Others, I was asked (along with the other seven Advisors) to give a short speech at this year's End of Year Celebration.

Here is the speech:

This past weekend I went out of town to visit an old friend who was having an art show. This friend of mine is a painter and she had created a show around the idea of Home. To her home is not so much a place as it is the moments, memories and feelings that make up our lives. As we ate dinner, we caught up on all of the big things that we had missed in one another’s lives since the last time that we had seen each other. All of the big life lessons, the great art shows and the dreams for the future. And then I turned to her and said, “So, tell me about the important things in your life.”

At first she looked at me a bit confused, and then she smiled as she began to understand my request. We began to talk about the simple moments that we as people tend to overlook but that often end up being the most important moments of our lives; the moments of sharing meals, serving others, laughing, walking the dog, finding the perfect cup of coffee.

It is easy to count our lives in the big moments and achievements. It is easy for me to look back over this year and discuss the art show, the concert, the musical and the check presentation. But those things are not what make us who we are, who we are is what makes those things. We determine who we are in the small moments when no one is watching.

Art has the power to heal, the power to change perspective and to create understanding. I was very proud of all of your accomplishments with this year’s Arts Festival Week. It was great to present the awards for the art show and to present the sculpture to friends, family and strangers. However, these were not the moments when I was most proud. I was most proud of you when I happened to be walking through Amelie’s one day after our show and heard and entire group of people discussing the impact your art had on them, or the evening when I invited two women to add their comments to the sculpture and was able to sit with them and learn from their hardships and journeys, or even the day that I was taking down the sculpture and was able to discuss what it meant to love our friends with the seven year old girl who helped us load the truck.

You see, your art was not great because it was big, flashy or made the newspaper. In fact, it wasn’t even in the craft, design or execution, though those things are important. Your art was great because it opened the door for others to share their secrets, joys, pains and lessons. It caused, if only for a moment, people to reflect on their own lives and even to grow from stories that we shared. For this I applaud you.  


You have a great responsibility as artists to present new ideas and understandings to the world. Just remember, the goal is not the big moments we create, but rather letting who we become in the small moments to impact those around us.