November 28th, 2010
I could have lingered here all day. My pilgrimage to the Smithsonian American History Museum in Washington to see Julia Child’s Kitchen was one of the highlights of my trip. Gazing at the homey kitchen made me think of how much kitchens have changed over the last twenty years. Now we are all about granite and stainless steel. Julia’s kitchen is all about the woman herself. The aqua blue cabinets were raised two inches to 38″ tall by her husband Paul to accomodate her 6’2″ height. The dining table was purchased in Norway when Paul was stationed there after leaving France. Julia kept the table covered with a bright yellow oil cloth. The ceramic fruit bowl was purchased in Mousiers when they lived in France.
Every pot in Julia’s kitchen had it’s place. Paul outlined each pot on the pegboards so that she would know exactly where to return them. I love her turquoise cannisters.
Julia’s 6 burner Garland commercial range was purchased in 1956 for $429.00. Some of Julia’s later television shows were filmed in her kitchen. The table and chairs were removed and an island with a cooktop were installed for filming. But her wall ovens with the squeaky doors remained.
Julia’s communication corner with phone and pad of paper is so typical of everyone’s kitchen. Notice her Mr. Coffee coffeepot. No stainless steel state of the art cappuccino machine here.
I wanted to hold Julia’s cookbooks and look for the pages with stains on them. Imagine owning her copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking.
Other than the fact that this is a horrible picture of me, I was really happy to be this close to Julia Child’s kitchen.
Kristen, Rachel and Michael on the Mall on Black Friday. I enjoyed this Mall better than a shopping mall.
We are on Chincoteague Island right now. This is the view from our room.
We are leaving for Ocracoke this morning and I will not have internet access for awhile but I am looking forward to telling you about the fabulous 7 course dinner that Kristen’s brother David served us at his restaurant, Urbana.
It was one of the best meals I have ever eaten.
November 25th, 2010
The family has just finished with the traditional Thanksgiving meal. The house is very quiet. Everyone is scattering to places to rest, but being the faithful blogger that I am, I have settled with my computer to give you a recipe. We are staying with our DIL Kristen’s family near DC. Everyone is having a great time and Darla, her Mom, has been cooking some fabulous meals. This morning we had steel cut oats with brown sugar and apples that were cooked overnight in the crockpot. This sustained us on our Turkey Trot 5K run and 2K walk for charity.
Yesterday we had this scumptious blueberry French toast for breakfast. It is easy to assemble and great drizzled with maple syrup or blueberry syrup. She served it with sausage on the side. This is a perfect company breakfast casserole.
BLUEBERRY FRENCH TOAST
1 loaf Pepperidge Farms Cinnamon Bread cubed
1 cup blueberries
6 eggs
3 cups half & half
1 tsp. vanilla
Combine bread and blueberries in a 9 x 12 casserole dish that has been sprayed with Pam. Whisk together the eggs, half & half and vanilla and pour over bread. Bake uncovered in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes to one hour.
Tomorrow we are going to spend the day at the Smithsonian and the Capitol. Kristen’s brother is a Sous Chef at a popular DC restaurant and we will be treated to a special dinner tomorrow night. I plan to take picture. Stay tuned for that and Julia Child’s kitchen!
November 23rd, 2010
Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I am thankful for all of my friends in the blogging community and I hope that all of you have a very special Thanksgiving with your friends and family. We are traveling to Washington DC, Chincoteague Island, Ocracoke, and Charleston before returning home next week. I hope to share some of the images of our travels with you along the way. Be safe and enjoy your Turkey!
November 20th, 2010
Salads at Thanksgiving are sometimes overlooked. A tossed green salad seems like an afterthought when you are serving such hearty dishes as mashed potatoes, dressing, green bean casserole, and turkey and gravy. But this salad is a little different. It is substantial with ebony colored wild rice and is full of fruit like bright navel oranges, pale green grapes, dried red cranberries or dates.
The light dressing of olive oil, raspberry vinegar and orange juice adds just the right refreshing tang. But the main reason to love this salad is that it goes so well with the other components of the Thanksgiving table. Wild rice has always been associated with game, game hens and turkey. It is an earthy and unexpected addition to the usual line-up of dishes.
The recipe is adapted from Ina Garten’s new cookbook, How Easy Is That? It is similar to one that I have been making for years. The main difference is the use of raspberry vinegar. It is worth using in this salad and you will have it to dress any salad in which you incorporate fruit.
WILD RICE SALAD
1 box of long-grain wild rice (6 ounces)
3 cups water
1/2 tsp salt
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons raspberry vinegar
2 tablespoons orange juice
2 naval oranges, peeled and sliced into segments
1/2 cup seedless green grapes, cut in half
1/2 cup toasted pecan pieces
1/4 cup dried cranberries
2 tablespoons green onion, chopped
Bring the 3 cups of water, the salt, and the butter to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add the wild rice and stir to combine. Reduce the head to medium-low and simmer covered until the rice is tender (about 50 to 60 minutes). Drain off the excess water. Return the rice to the saucepan and cover. Let sit for about 10 minutes. Transfer the rice to a mixing bowl. Combine the dressing ingredients and pour over the rice. Mix well. Add the remainder of the ingredients and toss to combine. Transfer mixture to a serving dish and serve at room temperature.
I have been enjoying cooking up all of these Thanksgiving dishes because we will not be home for Thanksgiving this year and I will not be cooking. We are going to the Washington DC area to spend time with family. I will be going on a pilgrimage while there. Since the last time I was in DC the Smithsonian has added a new exhibit that I want to see.
I am going to see Julia Child’s kitchen. I am so excited. I promise not to sneak in a stick of butter, but I will report back with pictures of my own.
Speaking of kitchens, I would still like more of you to participate in my Kitchen Reveal on December 1st. Just leave a comment on my previous post and let me know that you are interested in posting pictures of your kitchen on that date.
Printable recipe
November 16th, 2010
Peek into my kitchen. Do you want to see more? I know I do when I look at all of your blogs. When I walk around the neighborhood here in Florida in the evenings, I am always gazing in windows to see what I can see. If someone stood on our lanai, this is what they would see; heaven forbid that anyone would get this close, but I have been known to try this at other peoples’ houses. Please forgive me strangers. I was once caught at a new house under construction that was done by the
luxury home builders Sydney on Lake Lure gazing into the windows, totally ignoring the NO TRESPASSING signs. The owner who lived next door and could see what I was doing yelled at me and the only defense I could give him was “I’m a decorator and I just couldn’t help myself.” That has become my standing defense for everything. “I’m a decorator”. But I am also a cook and kitchens fascinate me.
Last year I did the First Annual Kitchen Reveal and I couldn’t have been happier to see all of your kitchens. To see the wonderful bloggers who participated go
here. My thanks to all of you. Kitchens are very personal spaces and they range from small and charming to large and imposing. It amazes me how easy it is to turn out wonderful meals in even the most humble of spaces. One of my favorite kitchens is the one in our rental apartment which is behind our Lake Lure cottage. I cooked here for two years while we were working on the renovations to the cottage.
It was hard to cook on the left side of the stove because I had no splatter proof surfaces to protect the walls from grease. But at least it was cozy and I had tall ceilings to make the small space seem larger.
Another view of the kitchen from the living and dining area. At one point I told David that I would be completely happy to live here forever and he grumbled that he wished he had known that before we started to add 1200 Sq. feet to the lakefront cottage. Sometimes it is better to keep your mouth shut.
So here is the deal. I would love to see the spaces where all of you turn out your wonderful meals. I have declared Wednesday December 1st as the 2nd Annual Kitchen Reveal Day to blog about your kitchen. It can be as detailed as you want it to be or just a picture or two. It could be just the space in your kitchen where all of the pictures are taken for your blog or the view from your kitchen window. All you have to do to be a part of the Kitchen Reveal is leave a comment on this post to let me know that you will blog about your kitchen on December 1st and on that day I will link to all of your blogs here so that everyone can view the community of kitchens participating in the reveal. I look forward to seeing your kitchens. I am such an unrepentant voyeur. But I have a feeling all of you are too. Let’s share.
