this week over here

Trying to be very patient these days as there are NO signs of spring in our neck of the woods. Husband and I have searched several times....nada. So I filled the house with daffodils.

The second amaryllis that was planted in mid November finally bloomed. It is a white with delicate red edges, very pretty and a much preferred shorter height.

It is a Hippeastrum Picatee amaryllis. 

Made Ina's Lemon Roasted Chicken from her Barefoot in Paris cookbook. Same way I have always made roasted chicken, just rub butter or olive oil onto the skin, lots of salt and pepper and stuff the cavity with lemons. I left out the yummy croutons that are part of her recipe. The best part of a roasted chicken is the creative meals that come from it for the next few days with the leftover.

Ina Garten photo

After making chicken broth in the traditional way with the carcass, I made a Mexican soup with the freshly made stock, leftover diced chicken, black beans, corn, sauteed diced red pepper and red onions, cumin, chili powder and cayenne pepper. Topped it off with half and half that I whipped a bit,  at the end off the heat. 

Really delicious, the two men in my house loved it! Still had chicken so made Sophie Conran's Chicken and Leek Pie recipe. Very simple to make, dinner was ready in 40 minutes, another man pleaser! Temps have been in the twenties all week so still into the comfort food. 

I have been continuing with my Annie Sloan chalk paining/lessen the amount of brown furniture in the house campaign I have been on. I painted the country dresser in our bedroom that sits under the television yellow, actually a soft gold called Arles. 

It used to be this (before new upholstered bed was purchased)...

Also had the handyman install wood blinds from Overstock (this room photographs terribly from the glare).

After researching the value of similar pieces online, I decided it was fine to paint the dresser. This style of furniture is not popular, the similar dressers I found had not been bid on in online auctions and ours has a crack  in it on the side so any value it had has been diminished. Also painted the sunburst yellow to bring some color to opposite wall. Have not distressed it yet, will let some gold show through.

My fiddle leaf fig cutting just sprouted a new layer of growth! It seems to be happy.

Can you tell what these are? Swimsuits and coverups! Just tried them on, I have to be in them in less than 3 weeks!!!! We are heading to Mexico with teenagers and families for our son's last high school spring break. Husband and I are attempting to get rid of the winter weight quickly. No more comfort food.... light soups, salads and lots of dog walks and exercise. Wish us luck, we need it!

What's going on in your house this week?

this week

 Here is what is happening over here....

 We are burning through the large pile of stacked logs sitting in the garage and eating lots of pistachios from the mega bag we bought at Costco. See the coffee table...brass leaf with nuts and a discarded shell bowl? Looks like we are almost finished but there is still the big bag with plenty more in the snack drawer. I need to stop going into the snack aisle at Costco, the bags are too big. Does this happen in your house? The day a new item is brought into the house, everyone is interested and takes their share but the following days, no takers. Oh well, new strategy...walk past the snacks, head to the flowers instead.

Found pretty tulips, lilies and alstroemeria last visit.

I remembered to take an Ina food photo! I made Asian Grilled Salmon from her Parties cookbook which I think is one of her best.

 I doctored the recipe though because it was too bland. The sauce consists of just olive oil, soy sauce and mustard. It needed bite and sweetness so I added honey and lime juice. Made it much better and the honey created great caramelization. This is son's plate, I sadly had one little scoop of mashed potatoes on my plate. See the black thing on the middle of the filet? He asked in a typical teenage tone what it was so I picked it up and ate it, yum, crunchy and delicious. Do you cook frozen broccoli in the microwave? It is so easy, I think I do 6 minutes covered. Then toss with lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Costco does have the best frozen broccoli. 

I also made Parker's Beef Stew on Super Bowl and I did forget to take a shot, very delicious of course and not quite as rich as her yummy Beef Bourguignon recipe. 

I have been fooling around with some master bedroom changes. I change things in the house at this time every year, part of the hibernation process. I decided it should be feminine and light with touches of green and blue. I use our bedroom as my personal living room since I record shows on that television. Have now chalk painted the bedside tables, a baker's rack we brought down from a guest room and the armoire. The only brown thing left is an antique farmhouse chest of drawers. Will post some pics later once a sunburst arrives for over the bed. 

Here is the baker's rack which is now in place of a table next to my favorite chair. It houses favorite books, magazines and serves as my charging station and a nice place for a scented candle. I painted it in Annie Sloan Country Grey.

Loving our birds at the feeders. I will never get over the beauty of a cardinal in the midst of a bleak landscape. Mother Nature is so amazing. This beautiful boy was outside the kitchen window.

Ran out of personalized stationery so just ordered and quickly received this simple design from etsy seller Short Grass Designs. Can be ordered in lots of colors and comes with kraft envelopes. Would make a great gift.

What is going on in your home on these winter days?

this week

We finally have a rug in the dining room. The jute rug that was back ordered for months is now in place. Same style rug that we have in the living room, family room, kitchen and hallway. Much better, instantly quieter and cozier. Our friends brought the happy tulips. Florists finally figured out that  no one really wants bright foil plant wrapping. This one is made of kraft paper so no need to pot it into another container.

I refreshed the paint on the chandelier that came with the house with chalk paint and gold leaf paint. I tried it without the shades over the holidays but it cast strange light on the ceiling and it seemed unflattering to our faces. Some of the bulbs turned black even though they work so I put the shades back on, the light is softer with them.

One of the amaryllis is going to bloom soon! Took over two months, I planted both in mid November! I believe they are both Lemon Star amaryllis, it's been so long I forgot which ones we bought. Its sister is still just sitting there with just a few leaves, it feels plump and is green so I think it will eventually bloom. I am rooting some fiddle leaf ficus shoots in water and nursing a shoot that was rooted earlier and is now potted and doing well. Trying to get the kalanchoe plant on the left to flower.

I am continuing with my Ina Garten cooking. I made her Shrimp Scampi recipe from Back to Basics over the weekend when entertaining some friends. I forgot to photograph it secretly (no way was I going to whip out the camera in front of guests as it came out of the oven.) It looked just like the cookbook photo and tasted very good. 

source

Only thing- it called for way too much butter, a stick and a half! The shrimp were sitting in a deep pool of butter. One, it was a waste of butter and two, totally unnecessary. I would definitely make it again but cut the butter in half. Going to make my son happy and make her Penne with Five Cheeses next and make all of us happy by roasting a Lemon Chicken with Croutons which I have made before and it is delicious! 

What are you up to this week?

this week...food and books

 I made Ina's Blueberry Crumb Cake from her Barefoot Contessa at Home cookbook. It was delicious, more like a coffee cake because it is not too sweet and has a thick crumb topping. Too much topping we thought, overwhelms the moist yummy cake below. Seemed like half cake, half topping.

Next time, will make much less topping. I used a springform pan to make releasing the cake from the pan easier.

We tried her Mustard Roasted Fish recipe from Back to Basics. Very tangy and good, everyone liked it. Much richer than our usual grilled fish. The color was kind of blah and unappetizing. The food stylist made the fish look prettier for the book. Made her Roasted Potatoes in the oven at the same time. Same method we all know for this dish. Used a separate plate for the salad, this would have been prettier with some green on the plate.

I have been receiving beautiful books in the mail. In January, I go though my Amazon Save for Later cart of book titles. I add them whenever I hear of a good one throughout the year. I then purchase several after researching for the best prices and narrowing down the list. Once they arrive, I ration them, reading through them very slowly to savor each one. It takes me months to go through them. 

I have just started Martha Stewart Entertaining, A Year of Celebrations that was published in 2011.This book is huge and gorgeous! It is the new version of her amazing first book Entertaining that is full of beautiful ideas and does not seem dated.

Each page is a visual treat.  Her gardens, her homes, her collections of every kind of tableware, glassware, etc. the presentations, the recipes, the serving ideas, it is all quite astounding! I am loving this book! 

I also purchased her Martha Stewart Gardening, a Month to Month Guide book which for some reason came without the cover but here is a page from it, equally as pretty as her Entertaining books.

 Here are a few others I bought....

And my husband was sweet to order Carolyne Roehm's Flowers and surprise me after seeing it mentioned on the blog.

These books will keep me company throughout the winter, simple pleasures.....

this week

I have been in the typical January reorganize/refresh/nest mode that occurs every year at this time. Been attacking closets, basement storage and even bookshelves. I love the process of purging, donating and organizing and knowing what I have in the house to find things quickly.

Flowers are at the top of the grocery list each week, loving these mums which have that divine scent of freshness when you first walk into a greenhouse or florist shop. My grocery always offers 3 bouquets for $12 with lots of choices. They do not include roses and tulips but those are often inexpensive as well.

I have been buying hypericum berries for the last month, my favorite early green ones seem to be gone but they still have these sweet matured pink ones. The pens and pencils by Iomoi were in my Christmas stocking purchased by moi to make things easier on my husband who is rather clueless in the gift giving department.

I prefer small little bouquets sprinkled around the house. The candle was a gift from our son's girlfriend, another Anna striped candle.

I veered from Ina's recipes for a moment to make a bean soup in the crock pot from the big fat ham bone left in the freezer from Christmas Eve. Delicious and rich. This photo is  before it simmered for 6 hours.

I also made Ina's spaghetti and meatballs, another recipe from her Family Style cookbook. 

I have not made meatballs in years. I rarely cook meat at home, we eat fish, poultry and lots of beans and lentils.  Everyone knows to order it in restaurants so this was a treat for my husband and sons to have it at home. They were delicious. I forgot the grease spattering part of sauteeing them that required clean up on me and the cooktop.

I have been trying to cook exclusively from the freezers as part of my purging/organizing. We have several appetizers left that I never used during the holidays. Decided to ask friends over for Super Bowl in a few weeks to use everything up. Found  frozen shrimp so last night tried Ina's roasted shrimp cocktail from her Back to Basics book. 

They tasted a bit better than boiled shrimp because well, what doesn't taste better roasted with olive oil, salt and pepper? Quick and easy too, just the sheet pan to clean. Mine were not the gorgeous color that Ina's were though. I think this can be attributed to the fact that I used frozen smaller shrimp from Costco, hers were probably huge fresh ones from a Hamptons seafood shop. I will use this method again and make sure the shrimp are very dry after thawing. Determined to get the pretty color of the ones in the photo. The sauce was good too but the exact way I make cocktail sauce so nothing new.

That's what I am up to this week, what have you been up to in your home? Have a great weekend, we are stir crazy so are going to head to Pittsburgh, one of my favorite cities, tomorrow for a fun day exploring. We are in the midst of a thaw, very warm temps so good to escape for a day before snow again.