When the cork hits the fan-or our trip to Charleston

The crap view on 17 in Mount Pleasant last weekend...

OK so the weekend was not total crap and I will explain the cork and fan part in a bit.

Charleston was nice although the weather took a serious bite out of our plans. I have no gorgeous photos of Rainbow row or the beach outside of our Isle of Palms hotel.
 The photo above is the best photo I have of downtown Charleston and its clearly through a rainy windshield. We only ended up in the historic district at night and it rained the whole time!
The first night I visited Redux studios while the family shopped. I felt wrong taking photos but I did go into the studios of Teil Duncan, Kate Long Stevenson, Raven Roxanne, Alex Waggoner and more. It was delightful!
Next we met up with a childhood friend who lives in the area at Rarebit. I have nothing nice to say about the food but I ordered a champagne cocktail that so lip-smackingly delicious that I had to try to make it at home. Receipe to follow.

 I should mention that our trip was a scouting trip to be sure we want to make a new home there. We do.

On Sunday we drove around West Ashley that is just across the Ashley river from the peninsula. I had read good things about Ms. Rose's and we stopped in for brunch. I ordered fried chicken that was seriously mediocre but my husband's shrimp and grits was so spectacular that we will go back.

If  you are in the area, I also highly recommend Coleman's Public Hose in Mount Pleasant. Don't let the non-descript exterior fool you. It was exceptional.

Now back to the cork.

I knew that delicious champagne cocktail had elderflower liqueur in it so I grabbed a bottle as soon as we returned and bottle of inexpensive sparkling wine. The bottle had a strange safety cork. Being unfamiliar with it my husband popped it like any other cork and it released with such violence that it hit a 10 ft. high ceiling fan blade and splattered a bit of the on the fan making a "tink"sound and shaking the fixture. Had it not hit the fan I am quite sure it would have hit the 18 foot ceiling. We laughed.

Here is the recipe should you wish to partake.
I used a vintage  8 oz. pilsner glass instead of a champagne flute.
1 oz. St. Germain liqueur
3 oz. Champagne or dry sparkling wine
3 oz. lemon lime soda
Twist of lemon zest (do not skip this)
Enjoy but watch out for the cork!

A meal to remember-the recipes

Toot toot! I am tooting my own culinary horn today. 

On Saturday evening I made a slightly tardy Valentine's dinner using some of the molecular gastronomy techniques and ingredients I received at Christmas.

The lighting of my photos was horrific but trust me when I tell you, all was super delicious. My husband and I are the sort of foodie that is easily pleased but very hard to impress. The flavors of my main course were impressive, if I do say so myself. We were all very happy.

I will explain what I did but I have no formal recipes.

The first little bites were bacon, honeycrisp apple sliced thin and cut into heart shapes, topped with black tea and lavender honey "caviar".

The bacon and apple are self-explanatory. The little jelly balls or "caviar" are another story.

They are made by bringing 3/4 cup of liquid to a boil with 2 grams of agar-agar powder and dropping the hot liquid with a pipette into very cold oil.

In this case, the liquid was tea sweetened with lavender honey. Agar-agar can be found at Whole foods and online.

The next course went unphotographed but was delicious. The plan was Gruyere tuilles (imagine mini taco shells) with proscuitto and tawny port foam. The foam did not happen and since I had an eager family we just had the delectable cheese bits with proscuitto.

These were really easy.

I took about 1 or 2 tablespoons of grated gruyere and formed a flat circle in a non-stick pan over medium heat. The cheese melts and forms a pancake of sorts that you carefully flip and cook another minute. When you remove to a paper towel you must quickly bend the hot, crispy cheese over the edge of your spatula, forming a tiny taco- shell shape. The trick is not to over brown these or they are bitter.

Fill with rolled proscuitto.

The main course was Pan-seared salmon with carrot cardamom puree and blood orange/Meyer lemon gelee cubes.

 I made the carrot puree early in the day and heated it before plating everything.

I used three carrots  peeled and coarsely chopped. Cover with water  and a pinch of salt, boil until soft.

When they were cool I put them in a blender with about 3 Tbl. of the cooking liquid, 1 tsp ground cardamom, and 1/4 tsp vanilla extract and blend until smooth.

The gelee cubes used the same formula as the "caviar" but instead was poured into a glass dish (much easier) and cut into tiny cubes.

I juiced and zested 1 blood orange and 2 Meyer lemons to make 3/4 cup liquid and sweetened it with 2 Tbl. sugar. I brought it to a boil with 2 grams of agar-agar and poured it into a glass baking dish. It was set in 15 minutes I cubed it and set aside in the fridge but refrigeration is not necessary if you are just going to use it in a few hours.

I pan-seared the salmon at the last minute. This is really easy just use a non-stick pan on medium high heat with a few Tbl. of olive oil and make sure to salt and pepper both sides of the fish. The time will vary based on the thickness of the fish so an instant read cooking thermometer is handy. The fish should be between 130 and 135 F when you pull it.

Lastly, we popped the Moet and I grabbed the store bought macarons.

Maybe next time I will make those too.

I love a challenge in the kitchen so this was fun to me.

Tell me, do you enjoy gourmet food and cooking?

Randomess

HERE

Today I am just posting unrelated photos of a few new  5 x 7 pieces while I tell you about my weekend.

I was hard at work on my son's room redo that I will be showing you on Thursday as part of Linda's Linking participant ORC.

The room isn't even done but I got so excited I emailed photos to my son, Mr. Death Metal Maniac, which is the name on his email profile and new to me. Nothing makes a mother prouder.

HERE

Mr. DMM also answered his phone, a rare occurrence, and told me all about his college classes. I was pleased to hear that he is crazy busy. He was also surprised to hear that I was redoing his room ( I only talked about it all summer) and that I have a website. I don't know how he crosses the street.

HERE

Saturday, my husband was home, another rare occurrence. We decided on an impromptu dinner out and nixed Oktoberfest in downtown Fredericksburg in favor of Culpeper. Culpeper, Virginia is about 40 minutes from my house and is a quaint little town in horse country. There is a restaurant that we had heard about and just not ever bothered to visit. I mean it is just Culpeper, right?

Boy, have we been missing out. The dinner was amazing and I am not easy to impress in the food department.

This is what we ate:

Crispy pork belly on rhubarb compote bruschetta

Grilled Lamb Steak served on a Citrus Braised Eggplant and finished with a Cardamom Scented Yogurt

 Pan seared Tuna  with roasted red pepper and golden raisin reduction

 Coffee and Chocolate Covered Almond Ice Cream

Chocolate Pots au creme 

It was heaven.

How was you weekend?

C'mon summer!

Geez! I thought I'd be sipping a margarita and forgetting to make dinner by now but, NO!

Its so close I can taste it, I think.

Our sons were in a car accident in Pennsylvania the other day and they are OK but my son's injuries involve the joy of "lawyering up". Just when I thought it would get easy.

Thursday was the last day of school for everyone but the seniors and I did manage some quality painting time.

I am darn lucky to have a hiatus from the rudeness of the alarm clock for a few months every year and after this many years of it I get a little cranky towards the end.

I am totally ready to start picking tomatoes, catch fireflies and stay up too late.

An after-dark dinner al fresco seems overdue too.

What summer activities or non-activities are looking forward to?

fun things lately...

My Spoonflower fabric arrived in record time. It is so gratifying to be able to keep a painting I made and sell it too. This was done using the image of the painting in a mirror repeat creating a kaleidoscope effect.

Pillows coming soon.

"Wet words" 24 x 30 oil on canvas by Kerry Steele

I have been working on a large commission but there are times with any painting that I need to put it aside for drying or to refocus. I often use those times to paint other things. "Wet words" is one of those.

 I started this a few days ago using a new glazing medium to spread the yellow on the canvas. It seemed to nearly paint itself and I loved the effect. While it made one layer go on nicely it made it nearly impossible to put on another color without it all blending together. I was a little frustrated. Yesterday, I picked up some Liquin impasto. It is a gel that you mix with the oil color to allow fairly quick drying texture to your painting and it stretches the paint. I was able to do some knife painting over the glaze with it and parts of the glaze had dried enough for brush work. The two products are new to my work and have counterparts for acrylic painting that I have used but they behave so very differently.

In other news, I am no longer married to a butcher. *gasp*

Its still the same old guy but he changed stores and departments and is now bringing home all manner of unusual produce.

Last night we had fiddleheads. They are baby ferns and I had eaten them pickled before but never fresh.

I sauteed them with olive oil, butter, salt, and garlic for about 5 minutes. I took them off the heat and tossed in a about a tablespoon of minced fresh thyme and basil. We topped them with a bit of parmesan.

Totally yummy!

Weekend fun

I never thought I would say this, but thank god its Monday!? I hope your weekend was every bit as lovely as mine and all of the mommies had a great day.

Our party was smashing success.

 I can safely say that it was the best party we ever had.

Thai chicken

The key was having the kids bouncing happily away in a bounce house and keeping the adults well lubricated and fed. We had crabcakes, salmon and lobster phyllo cups, lamb chops,and these amazing Thai chicken hors d'oeuvres that were a new thing for us.

Mini cupcakes meant that there were no half eaten slices of cake all over the place.

My croquembouche was a bit lopsided.

Last time I made one was for a New year's eve party and it was great. The caramelized sugar did not like the humidity.

The whole thing was exhausting and I ended up wearing bunny ears.

Sunday was a great day to share with my little girl. We saved the present opening until her actual birthday.

THEN, I got to open my mother's day gift!

My husband and I were in an antique shop months ago and I mentioned loving those canisters. The man went back secretly and hid these in anticipation of Mother's day. He gets a gold star.

I also got a handmade card from my 18 year old son that read:

Happy Mother's day

Guess what?.....

Chicken butt.

Awesome.

Tell me, tell me

Amanda Nisbet

This Amanda Nisbet fabric, "Positano" got me thinking. Trouble is so did a bunch of other stuff. Today I am going to tell you about a few of my inspirations, cravings etc and I want to hear yours too.

The fabric made me want to make a wallpaper for my little girl's room. then I thought, "Duh just paint it".

Whaddaya think?

Also in the little girl world realm, is this fantastic shared space for blogger, Elizabeth of  Little Black Door's daughters. I am crazy about it.

ORC Little Black Door

My little girl's favorite color is green but it is not mine. I am really digging these green pillows here though. I already have mostly white bedding, pink and black velvet bolsters and a painted (ASloane graphite) dresser in her room. I really need to leave matchy-matchy world and incorporate some pattern and color.

Elizabeth did a bang up job of it.

One thing I love is is cheese grits. I am absolutely not allowing myself to eat such things at the moment but Oh how I would love to dive into that. It is so easy to make and comforting. 

I make them with regular Quaker grits following the directions and add as much or little Colby Jack cheese when the grits are done. Plus a sprinkle of garlic salt. Don't even think about using instant grits or fake cheese.

One reason that I will not indulge in such deliciousness is that I would like to wear this.

 If I can't wear a skirt in the next few weeks that Groundhog is in a world of trouble. Snow in March!

So tell me:

What are you dreaming of changing in your space?

What is knocking your socks off in blogland?

Made anything yummy lately?

Any fashion love to share?

Do you also want to kill that stupid groundhog?

Where should it stop?

Here is another "whaddya think?" post.

We all like chinoiserie...yes?

Sometimes we feel like we cannot possibly get enough of it and we want it for our birthday with sugar on top.

via Pinterest

 It takes immense talent to create  such a confection. But really, where should it stop? Is this cake your dream or too much?

Shortcuts for sanity

This week my Mother in-law and her girlfriend came to visit for a day before departing for a beach getaway. Last night, they returned for another night before heading back to Pennsylvania.

Our steady stream of visitors has made us pros at feeding our guests in a manner that impresses them every time and keeps us from going insane.

The menus are decadent but super easy. Monday was filet mignon with bearnaise butter and pasta with shallot, thyme and truffle butter and a baby green salad. All of the gourmet butters were purchased at Wegman's grocery. If you do not have a Wegman's grocery near you, move.

Since there were 8 for dinner the grown-ups and the wee one ate in the formal dining room and we left the teens to the kitchen table. I chose my grandmother's Metlox California Ivy plates because they are a bit festive but also dishwasher safe. This pattern and others like it are widely available on eBay.

I used antique linen napkins, napkin rings, and silver.

The napkings were not pressed and starched so the collection of mismatched antique napkins rings solved that problem and lent a more casual feeling to the table.

Thursday night's menu was salmon stuffed with creamy lobster and roasted red pepper dip (another Wegman's purchase) so I used my fish knives which are also mismatched.

The table is slightly unfussy but a step above the everyday and the menu is secretly idiot proof but our guests always think we have gone out of our way to do something fancy. Win-win.

Make this!

via Southern Living

I recently subscribed to Southern Living magazine and  well, yum. I had been meaning to make this Caramel Apple dip (above) and was procrastinating because I just didn't feel like it. I thought it would be effort. Let me tell you that it was so easy. Five minutes easy and the super rich, creme brulee-like result is decadent.

I don't often post about food but it was that good.

Find it HERE

There may be a bit of silence while I paint some furniture that I hope to be posting about soon.

When life hands you peppers...

We have eaten this many and have about 100 more ready to pick

No, you don't make pepperade! You DO have to start cooking.

Its harvest time at my house and even though I love vegetables that we have grown, I find it a bit overwhelming at times. This is our first vegetable garden at this house.

We look forward to stuffing these peppers with sweet Italian sausage and roasting them with olive oil and sliced onions every year. This garden seemingly produces watery peppers so that wasn't the killer treat we hoped. Its OK because a rough chop of peppers and onions roasted in olive oil served with a crusty baguette is easier.

On Saturday, I took out my behemoth food mill and processed tomatoes for sauce. I set aside some for my Tomato-basil granita ( think savory sorbet) and cooked the rest down to a paltry amount of sauce. I didn't know there were so many more ready to be picked so I get to do it all over again in the next day or two.

Today I made  a standard that I read about in Vogue back in the '80s. I had no way to write it down and noticed that the amounts in the recipe were 1-2-3.

This curried carrot soup was in an article about spa food. Remember when that was all the rage?

Anyway, I don't have the nutritional info but I ran the recipe through a calculator and there are less than 4 grams of fat, 55 calories per serving and a bagillion vitamins and minerals.

3 carrots peeled, rough chopped

2 ribs cellery rough chopped

1 medium onion rough chopped

3 cups chicken or vegetable broth

2 Tablespoons of curry powder (less if you can't take the heat)

1 Tablespoon oil

Add the carrot, celery and onion to a saucepan with the oil and "sweat" the vegetables, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes. Add the curry powder  and stir over medium heat for one minute. Add the broth and simmer for 30 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Let cool and puree.

It is fabulous cold too.

I'll be back with design stuff once I get this mess cleaned up! *sigh*