CertainSeason

Patty's Birthday

The flourless chocolate cake with gilded raspberries is becoming the go-to traditional cake for friend's birthdays.

I mean, why mess with success?

Tom and Diane Visit

Had the nicest time with my brother Tom and his wife, Diane. They are on a nationwide wedding tour, starting with their own daughter's the end of July and with a new one practically every week thereafter it sounded like. It almost made me feel like I should propose to Bill and get married while they were here!

They arrived on Wednesday evening and left Friday afternoon. A nice relaxed visit...it rained one night and we stayed home. Ran around to the Pember and to Roy Egg's studio, down to Gardenworks and to Patty and Mark's where Patty graciously took Diane out for a carriage ride. The weather turned cool while they were here, which was nice.

Diane and I keep threatening to paint together, but there just wasn't time this trip. Hoping she comes back for a longer stay so we can do that.

Monsoon Season and Visitors

Lots and lots of rain and lots and lots of visitors. Mary and Emma (sister and niece) were here ever so briefly (alas) and Bev and Clinton and Bob Rigdon from L.A. was supposed to get here, but Irene foiled his plans. Bev ended up stuck with us for three or four extra days. Mary and Emma...in and out! And I'm not just sucking up here...but don't they look like sisters rather than daughter and mother?

We went to the Southern Vermont Garlic Festival, which was tasty and fun. We cooked up a storm (an unnamed storm) including Billy's lovely rice pudding pie with the prune puree layer. We didn't have prunes, so this time he used apricots to good effect. We made tomato puddings and tomato tarts and homemade pasta with cherry tomatoes (noticing a theme here?)...hard to remember all the food we've done, but there were some merguez sausages with homegrown peppers and onions in there somewhere (that was transformed into Chicken cacciatore last night). But all I got pictures of was the garlic festival and Gramma Billy's Rice Custard Pie (renamed for the occasion.)

And it has been raining and raining and raining...my gauge (which I can't show because my computer is doing weird things) shows three inches in the last 48 hours. It's been more. It's a small gauge. The ground is soggy.

Bill's Birthday Dinner

With all the stuff I document on here with photos, I can't believe this is the only picture I got from our dinner party last night. Pre-hurricane, plenty muggy, but all outdoors with Bev and all our Granville (well, not all, but many) friends.

Anyway...dinner was:

Tomato Tarts with assorted cheeses and pates

Beef Tenderloin in Bourbon Mustard Glaze with Horseradish Crema

Creamy Corn with Poblanos and Creme Fraiche

Boston Baked Beans

Panzanella and Tomato Pudding

Strawberry Vanilla Cake

Auction Acquisitions

Went to the auction at the Halderman house. There was lots we would have loved to have bid on, but finances being what they are...

Nevertheless, we got a set of pewter plates and cups, a beautiful set of ironstone platters and covered vegetable bowls, some nice braided carpets for the kitchen, a surprise birthday gift for my goddaughter/niece and these lovely Aladdin lamps.

Made some nice tomato tarts to take to Patty and Mark's, too.

Bill picked up some nice 1940s-1950s desk lamps.

A Deed, Indeed...But Whose?

So the phone rang yesterday morning, and it was Mrs. Halderman, the wife of the couple from whom we bought the house. They have sold the farm...250 acres for $420,000 in case you were wondering...and are in the process of  cleaning out the big house. As she put it, she went to look through a drawer she "would have sworn was empty" and found some papers in which she thought we might be interested. And, indeed, we were...as it seems to be an original deed to the house with Lemuel Haynes' signature. At first I was of the opinion that it was the deed which transferred possession of the house to Haynes, but the date is 1825 and we're pretty sure he moved in here in 1803. It's going to take some more detective work, but it is a deed and it notes that "in consideration of the receipt of one thousand four hundred and twenty-five dollars" title was transferred to Lemuel Haynes."

Haynes' signature is visible, faintly, in the bottom fourth of the document, in the top of the blank space on the right hand side of the page, to the left of what look like what might have been a seal. The document is framed so that both sides of the document are visible...on the reverse is another notation about Lemuel Haynes and, interestingly, and puzzlingly, a reference to "Rutland, Vermont". 

The document is handwritten and in that 19th century hand that is difficult to read (and with all the use of typing and keyboards anymore, will probably become completely undecipherable to future generations!) It is not easy to read the text, so I am still trying to determine exactly what it means. But it is Haynes' signature. 

On a different subject, in the past two weeks, a vacuum, the lawn mower, the house water pump have all broken in addition to the toilet seal in the upstairs bath and the garbage disposal both leaking. Oh, and Bill's car has about $1,000 in repairs that are needed.

Wishing that deed had our name on it at this point!

A Little Tuscan Night in Washington County

The heat is on the wane and last night we celebrated Jody Somers' 40th birthday in his huge barn. No picture could do justice to the vista from this unfinished structure at Dancing Ewe Farm...the barn itself must be 60' by 150' with nothing less than a 50' peaked ceiling.The sweep of the mountains surrounding the sheep pastures at sunset wasn't diminished in the slightest even by the beatdown the sun was giving us. When it did go down around 7:30, the dome of the starry sky opened up and all you could hear as you walked in the meadow was the music of the bells around the sheeps' necks.

Tables were set up and the grills were fired and friends gathered to eat fresh two tomato bruschetta and white bean bruschetta to say nothing of a sampling of the cheeses made just on the other side of the far wall...delicious cacciotas (some flavored with truffles), pecorinos and ricottas. Stan Getz serenaded for a time but we finally persuaded Jody to give a little accordian recital (much persuasion and a few beers were required.) Breezes blew in across the meadow and cooled everyone off.

Roast pork, chicken kabobs, corn on the cob and potato salad was only made all the better by the good company and old friends gathered to celebrate Jody's 40th birthday.

In other news...the purple beans are in...

Picking Up The Pace

I feel like we've had a steady stream of houseguests since Memorial Day...mostly because it pretty much has been a steady stream of houseguests since Memorial Day.

Or maybe I'm just getting old and tired.

Toby and Kip were up two weeks ago, visiting from Texas. They had been at Easton Mountain and dropped by for lunch on Monday. Then Ron and Jiyoung and Bodin and Reese came up with Rudy (seen demonstrating the finer points of slingshot usage in the photo at the left.)

And before you know it, First Friday is upon us again and this batch of artists was...how do I put this?...stressful. At least that was the excuse they gave me every time they reneged or backed out or didn't bother to show up when they said they would. They were stressed and just couldn't....[fill in the blank]. They were the most unprofessional group of artists I have yet to work with and I would never work with any of them again.

So I was most relieved when Bill told me it was OK with him if I didn't get up Saturday morning and drive down to Connecticut with him to spend the Fourth with all our loving friends there. I just couldn't. And of course that made it possible for Bill to take off early, after work on Friday, which gave him extra time with everyone. And it made it all the easier for me to sit back and realize that I was coming down with a cold and sleep most of Saturday away.

Starve a fever, feed a cold...and I got a taste for a good old-fashioned burger. Stuffed it with cheese and grilled it like any good Fourth of July. It was a gorgeous Saturday night, even if I was feeling under the weather. It was sunny and warm, but not too warm nor too muggy (that may change with the thunderstorms that rumbled through last night.)

The garden is happy...got a little warmth this week, more rain. Some tomatoes are making a go of it. And the fennel and sorrel are taking root. Even got some marina di chioggia's to sprout. Maybe this year we'll actually eat them!

Lunch with Toby and Kip

Toby Johnson and Kip Dollar were in the area, visiting from Texas, so it was a nice opportunity to have them to lunch.

Our "go to" recipe for special guests...tourte Milanese from Baking with Julia. A showstopper to be sure.

Tourte Milanese (with a deep bow to Julia and Michel Richard)

1 pound puff pastry
1 T olive oil
1 T butter
1 pound fresh spinach (blanched, chopped, and drained very well)
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ t freshly grated nutmeg
salt and ground black pepper, to taste
2 large roasted red bell peppers
10 extra large eggs
2 t chopped chives
2 t chopped flat leaf parsley
1 t chopped fresh tarragon
salt, to taste
2 T butter
½ pound thinly sliced Swiss cheese
½ pound thinly sliced ham
soft butter to grease pan
1 beaten egg for egg wash

1. Generously grease an 8-inch spring form pan with soft butter. Roll out ¾ of the puff pastry ¼ inch thick and line bottom and sides of pan leaving a 1-inch overhang. Roll out the remaining pastry into ¼ inch thick and cut out 8-inch circle. Transfer into a plate. Keep both pastries refrigerated while preparing the filling.
2. To roast peppers: If you have a gas stove, turn one burner on low to medium and place pepper directly on the flame to char the outside skin and soften the pepper. Keep turning the pepper until all sides are charred. Put the peppers in a paper or plastic bag to steam then peel the charred skin from the pepper and remove the stem and seeds.
3. The peppers can be roasted the same way on an outdoor gas or charcoal grill or in an electric oven set to broil.
4. Heat oil and butter in a large skillet. Add spinach and garlic and saute for 2 minutes. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Remove from heat, set aside. I like to add either 1/4 C of cream or creme fraiche to make this layer more delicious.
5. To make the eggs, whisk four eggs in a bowl then add herbs and salt to taste. Melt 1 T of butter in an 8-inch skillet over medium heat, coating the bottom of skillet evenly. Pour the egg mixture and stir briefly. As eggs start to set, lift edges so liquid can run under. When eggs are completely set but still moist, transfer omelet onto a plate. .
6. Remove the lined pan from the refrigerator. Layer ingredients in this order: half the eggs, half the spinach, half the cheese, half the ham, all of the red bell peppers. Repeat layering in reverse order using the remaining ingredients.
7. Remove the 8-inch pastry round from refrigerator and place over omelet. Brush the edges of the folded over pastry lining the pan with egg wash and lay the round over that, pressing it to seal it and evening out the top. With tip of knife, draw desired number of slices directly on the pastry. Make a small hole in the center of the pastry. Brush all over with beaten egg. Refrigerate again for 30 minutes.
8. Position rack in lower third of oven, preheat to 350˚.
9. Brush pastry one more time with beaten egg. Place pan on a baking sheet and bake until golden brown, about 1 hour and ten minutes to 1 hour 15 minutes.

10.  Cool for 30 minutes, release from pan. Slice and serve warm or room temp with simple green salad.

A New Member of the Household

Sir Francis Bacon. A gift from Dave.