Frog Hollow Farm Girl

Spring Cleaning in January

2012-01-31T09:34:00.000-05:00

I've been on a mission here at Frog Hollow Farm - attacking closets, drawers, shelves, corners - anyplace that has been collecting 'stuff', the kind of 'stuff' that makes me feel a bit closed in. Even though our winter has been very mild, that closed in feeling is starting to get to me.

Some of the things I re-discovered during my cleaning, clearing and straightening were:

***My Communion dress ***

My daughter Katie wore this dress for her Communion as well.

It's looking pretty sad.

It's calling out for a good, gentle washing and may even be asking to hang safely somewhere to be admired - it's a sweet little dress

close up of the lace and trim

Another cute little handy thing that I rediscovered, although it was only misplaced for a few weeks, was a little book of recipe bookmarks that my daughter gave me for Christmas

I think she found it at Anthropologie.

You place the card on the page you want to save and it has a little cut out that clips onto the page.

It works just like a bookmark, I'm making it sound like it's a fantastic new invention. It's not, but it's pretty, much prettier than the post-its that I was using to mark recipe pages.

When you close the book the top of the recipe bookmark shows on the top of the book.

By the way, this Irish Pub cookbook was given to us by our wonderful foodie friends Stephanie and Forrest - I made so many recipes from it for our last year's St. Patrick's Day celebration - and it was all delicious and the recipes I made could be made ahead of time too.

Here's the link to last year's St. Patrick's Day post.
http://froghollowfarmgirl.blogspot.com/2011/03/st-patricks-day-menu-from-irish-pub.html

Today's weather calls for temperatures in the 50s this afternoon - I am still waiting for that big, big snow storm!!!
I think it's time to do my snow dance!!
Ciao, bella!
xxoo

2012-01-25T15:27:00.000-05:00

I'm just not feeling winter this year - maybe for a few days when we had snow on the ground. The way things look right now I'm expecting to see the forsythia begin to bloom. The sun is shining but I need that cold, blustery weather to get into the winter mood. I'm confused, should I be thinking about making comfort foods or begin making salads? I'm buying tulips every time I go to the grocery store, but I tend to do that anyway.

So, I've been cleaning out lots of our closets and drawers, which always makes me feel good. I feel better when the things I see on shelves and in closets are all things that we use - our old farmhouse doesn't have a ton of storage so we need to maximize the space that we have and fill it with things that are functional and of course pretty and meaningful.

Even though I love clearing closets and drawers, I actually have to stop myself from buying new things to fill the spaces I've just cleared!

Tonight we are trying a new recipe at Frog Hollow Farm, from the February 2012 issue of La Cucina Italiana that I picked up at our Whole Foods last week. I guess I'm going with comfort foods and not salads, at least for tonight.

The recipe is called Scalloppine di Maiale all'arancia - that's Pork Scaloppine with Orange and Lentils for all of the non Italian speaking bloggers out there :).

This is the photo from the La Cucina Italiana website.

Here's the link - http://lacucinaitalianamagazine.com/recipe/pork-scaloppine--with-orange-and-lentils

If you highlight the link you should be able to link right over to it.

I already had all of the ingredients and am even trying to clear out some of my pantry and freezer items, this seemed like a healthy way to go.

For last week's Giant's game I made a new appetizer recipe from skinnytaste.com called

Bacon Wrapped Chicken Bites

I ate them all....they had me at BACON.

I'm reading and hearing a lot about people switching over from Blogger to Word Press - I'm not sure if it's something that I need to do but began reading about it today. I've been wanting to develop my blog into a business of sorts and have some ideas - Word Press may be the more dependable source.

What are your feelings on switching?

Ciao, bella!

Hello Everyone!

2012-01-23T17:40:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone, I am so happy to finally be sitting down at my computer and sharing with all of my wonderful blogger friends! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas - Thanksgiving Day was celebrated here and Christmas was with Frog Hollow Farm Boy's family. Both days were full of fun, family, food and our signature cocktails.

So, I'm just posting a few photos to get you up to date with some things.

Our Thanksgiving Table

Some Christmas Decorations

Our cat Olive sitting on a warm woodstove!

One more photo from our July trip to Ireland, just needed to share that blue water with you all!

Wedding dress in window in Florence, Italy

This is a magnificent photo of our brave boy Connor.

Connor is my niece Jennifer's little boy. He was diagnosed with a form of leukemia in late October and is being treated vigorously with different chemotherapy medications - the treatment protocol involves two years of treatment.

This photo was take by a photographer with a company called Flashes of Hope at the hospital right when Connor was diagnosed. Since then Connor has lost his hair.

His prognosis is very good - we pray for him every day.

That's all for now friends. I will be visiting as many of you as I can - that's the fun part of blogging!

Ciao, bella!

Getting Back to Blogging and Ready for Hurricane Irene

2011-08-27T03:57:00.000-04:00

Wow, what a week here on the East Coast. First an earthquake and now, Hurricane Irene.

We've been busy taking things inside and getting ready for this storm, worried most about the flooding that will occur throughout New Jersey after all of the rain we've had this summer.

Hoping that everyone is taking the necessary precautions and that everyone will be safe.

Yesterday I cut as many sunflowers as I could before they were knocked down by the winds and rains tonight and tomorrow.

Wishing you all lived close enough to stop by for your own sunny bouquet!

And if you do live close by, please do stop by - there are many sunflowers waiting for a safe home before the storm! ;)

May God give you...
For every storm, a rainbow,
For every tear, a smile,
For every care, a promise,
And a blessing in each trial.
For every problem life sends,
A faithful friend to share,
For every sigh, a sweet song,
And an answer for each prayer.

Ciao, bella!

xxoo

Day 4 - Westport and Connemara

2011-07-31T11:16:00.000-04:00

The fourth day on our tour of Ireland began with another way-too-large Irish breakfast at the Mill Park Hotel in Donegal Town. We drove along the scenic shores of Donegal Bay - so gorgeous...

Donegal Bay

...then into the county of Sligo and a quick visit to where W. B. Yeats is buried.

Yeats was born and educated in Dublin but spent his childhood in County Sligo.

Yeats is one of Ireland's most influential poets.

W.B. Yeats

A Cradle Song by William Butler Yeats

The angels are stooping
Above your bed;
They weary of trooping
With the whimpering dead.

God's laughing in Heaven
To see you so good;
The Sailing Seven
Are gay with His mood.

I sigh that kiss you,
For I must own
That I shall miss you
When you have grown.

Our next few hours brought us through the town of Connemara and the sweeping views of boglands and misty mountains. All along these desolate roads and mountain passes lie monuments to the Irish people who died during the great Irish Famine. Here is one of my most favorite photos.

Monument along the Famine Road.

We ended our day in Galway, at the Radisson Blu Hotel which was a little outside of the city. To tell you the truth, I didn't have a great impression of Galway - we ate dinner at a large pub called the Au Pucan (not so great) in the middle of many other pubs and the streets were full, I mean full, of 21 year old kids drinking and partying.

I would need to return to Galway during the day to spend some time and really be able to learn more about it.

Our next day brought us to the fascinating Aran Islands.

More to come...

I'm linked over to Seasonal Sundays at The Tablescaper!!

Ciao, bella!

xxoo

Day 3 - Donegal Town

2011-07-29T11:24:00.000-04:00

Donegal, with it's windswept hills where only sheep can thrive, is renowned for it's wool production. After our day at Lough Derg, we drove to Donegal and had dinner in the Mill Park Hotel before heading into town to listen to some authenic Irish music and of course, drink more Guinness.

Musicians at the little pub in Donegal Town.

The young girl in the middle sang a ballad acappella and it was just breathtaking. These musicians seemed like they were the main group at the pub, but different musicians came in through the night, played a few songs and then left for a different musician to join the group. They would then go to another pub to play with a different group. It was fabulous and if anything, this is what I would go back to Ireland for, to listen to more of these musicians play their traditional music.

Killybegs Harbor

During our visit we stopped at the little town of Killybegs (love that name, don't you?) and then on to Teelin to view the Slieve League sea cliffs - just breathtaking. The highest point reaches 1,972 feet, making them the highest in Europe. The cliffs drop straight down to the wild Atlantic waves below and we saw such gorgeous views from our vantage point, which wasn't even the top! (More about that later.)

We continued driving through the Glengesh Pass to the town of Ardara and visited a little woolen shop called Triona Design.

This is a family run whop where we saw some demonstrations of weaving their famous Donegal tweeds - and they also served us Irish coffee (maybe so we'd get a little tipsy and buy more woolens, who knows, but I just couldn't drink an Irish coffee in the middle of the day and stay awake).

I purchased a couple of beautiful woolen scarves at this store and I'm saving them for Christmas gifts.

The star of our visit to Donegal however were the cliffs at Slieve League that I mentioned earlier in my post.

All I can do is show you - it's just so spectacular!

See that little beach tucked into the corner?

Here's a better picture of the beach at the bottom of the cliffs. There are sheep that graze all over these hills - they don't need any water provided to them as the water that they get from eating the grasses is enough.

This group seemed to be penned up for the day, but all the other sheep we saw were free to roam the cliffs freely.

More Slieve League...

Donegal County Photos

Sheep on the road! Can you see the blue marks on their sides? These are placed to help the farmers identify them.

Thanks for joining me on Day 3 of my trip to Ireland.

Day 4 will include visits to Connemara and Westport as we head towards Galway City.

Ciao, bella!

xxoo

Day Two - Ireland

2011-07-28T11:49:00.000-04:00

Our second day in Ireland found us waking up in the beautiful Kilronan Castle Hotel. Breakfast was an abundant Irish breakfast buffet - with delicious hot coffee and tea. The service was impeccable!

Our tour director was an unbelievably charming man named Tommy O'Toole - yes, that is is real name. He lives in County Tipperary with his wife and has been a tour director with CIE Tours since the early 1980's.

Tommy has a master's degree in Irish history and was so informative and interesting throughout our drives through this beautiful country that he loves so well.

Now, I have to admit that the main site that we visited on our second day was kind of a wash-out, in two ways. First of all it was raining, and we were taking a ferry boat ride over to St. Patrick's Purgatory in Lough Derg. Pilgrims have been travelling to this sacred site for centuries on spiritual quests or a journeys seeking something deeper; getting closer to their authentic selves, continuing a ritualistic tradition of their ancestors.

While Lough Derg has been renowned as a place of pilgrimage for thousands of years, and is more commonly associated with penance and purgatory, pilgrims are more conscious these days of the spiritual atmosphere of the Island. In today's noisy and hectic world, people appreciate a haven of peace.

This was not something that really interested FHFB or me, but we were willing to remain open to the experience. Spirituality is something that's very personal to me, and although I certainly respect the personal practices of many others, public demonstrations of penance or meditation are just not something I'm interested in or comfortable with.

The tradition of the historical three-day pilgrimage has been preserved but additional services have been offered in recent years. The introduction of these new services - One Day Retreats, Youth Retreats and Special Group Retreats - allow people the opportunity to experience this sacred place when age or disability might otherwise prevent them from participating in the traditional pilgrimage.

We weren't able to go onto the island because there was a pilgrimage in process.

The picture above is one of the very small islands in the lake.

After our tour of the lake and a cup of tea and delicious warm scones at the visitors center with a video that I could have definitely skipped ;) - we were on our way to Donegal Town, where we checked into the Mill Park Hotel for two nights.

'O' is for an Outstanding Start to our Ireland Trip

2011-07-27T18:07:00.000-04:00

Our recent tour of Ireland was designed by two women very familiar with Ireland and all it has to offer, Bridget and Maggie. These women have traveled to Ireland many times with their families, so this trip was intended to include all of the beautiful, out of the way, non-touristy parts of the country. The itinerary was phenomenal, developed with help from CIE Tours International located in Morristown, NJ,and included some of the places that FHFB and I definitely wanted to visit.

Our first day in Ireland brought us to the village of Ballbriggan for a full Irish breakfast at an original Dublin pub called the "Man o'War Public House'. 'Ball' or 'Bally' means 'town' in Gaelic. This pub has been recorded in deeds dating back to 1595 - it was just adorable.

The fireplace right across from our breakfast table at the Man O' War Public House.

In Gaelic, Man O' War means 'In the Middle of the Road'.

This is a traditional Irish breakfast, and I ate way too many of them.

My thighs are still complaining! LOL - back to the gym!

Irish bacon

Sausages

Broiled Tomatoes

Cheese

Hard Boiled Egg

Cucumbers are not normally included

After having a delicious meal and getting to know some of the people in our travel group, we headed to the bus to make the drive to Ballyfarnon to the Kilronan Castle Hotel for our first night's stay. This hotel has a wonderful spa where my cousin Sinead works as an esthetician - and she was able to get me in for a massage - it was wonderful!

On our way out we stopped at this ancient grotto at the gates to the castle's entrance.

The Kilronan Castle Hotel is about 10 away from where my mom grew up in

Kilmactranny, County Sligo.

My next post will be about our trek up to Donegal, days 2 and 3 of the tour.

I hope you enjoyed reading about our 'Outstanding' beginning to our trip!

Ciao, bella!

xxoo

I'm linking over to Jenny Matlock's Alphabet Thursday!

Finding My Roots and Weekly Menu

2011-07-24T17:20:00.001-04:00

This summer has certainly been a busy traveling season for us, with our last trip being a visit with family and friends to Ireland. My mother Lilly was born in a small farmhouse in the tiny village of Knockmore, Ireland. The first part of our vacation was dedicated to visiting with first cousins and exploring the farm and school where my mom grew up.

Knockmore is a tiny portion of the Kilmactranny village in County Sligo, right on the border of County Roscommon and about 7 miles from the city of Boyle.

FHFB and I met my cousin Gerald in the townsquare of Boyle - I didn't see him at first but he recognized me (probably because we stuck out like major tourists while we took pictures of the town!).

After that, we drove a few miles to his home that he shares with his wife Tish and their two daughters, Sinead and Rebecca. They made us feel so very welcome, with a delicious Irish lunch
(which FHFB ate, even though we had just had lunch!)

They live in a lovely home with horses and brand new black

and white kittens.

As an added wonderful surprise my cousin Angela and her daugher Sarah were also visiting for the weekend - she reminds me so very much of my Aunt Nancy.

When I told her this she laughed and said that I reminded her of our Aunt Nancy!

Here's the Irish side of the family - without the Sicilian prince :) FHFB - he took the photo.

Our trip out to my mother's farmhouse was full of very mixed feelings. Actually, I think I learned more about her throughout my travels through Ireland than I did from the visiting her home. That may sound funny but what I realized throughout our trip is that I was hearing my mother's voice and expressions while listening to the Irish people speak, and I came to understand a little more of where she came from and why she approached the world in the way that she did. Mom didn't talk about growing up in Ireland too much, I think it was a pretty hard life.

This is the driveway that leads up to the farmhouse. During the years that my mom was growing up, this cottage was covered with a thatched roof and did not have running water or electricity.
A small kitchen has been added to the back of the house.

This is the wonderful stone barn that stands to the left of the house.

Next to the barn is a lower attached building that was used to house the pigs and the piglets.

The back building was used as a stall area for horses and cows.

Can you see that beautiful view in the top left corner of the photo from the back of the larger barn?

This is just a small snapshot of our trip to Ireland, I will be sure to post more photos and let you all learn about and see the wonderful sights in this small island across the Atlantic.

Something new that I discovered when I returned home is the new Blogger format. I'm not sure if I like it better and I'm pretty confused about how to use it. I needed to revert back to the original dashboard in order to edit this post and publish it - it seems that many people have received an error message like mine: bX-g04pxr and the recommendations in the Blogger chat room is to log in with the old dashboard. Yikes, I'm not even sure what that means but I logged out and logged back in and there I was!

I'm happy to be at home for the next month and will be busy cutting flowers from our gardens and entertaining on our back porch.

Here's our menu for the next few days, using lots of vegetables from our garden of course. If you want any of the recipes let me know and I'll send you the link. It's a little hard to read due to the small size of the print but I'm not sure how to fix that - I just scanned this document so that I could include it in the post - is there a way to increase the size of the menu so that it's easier to read??

I'm linking in to Seasonal Sundays, On the Menu Monday at Stone Gable
and Menu Plan Monday! at I'm An Organizing Junkie!

Dinner for a Friend

2011-06-26T21:31:00.000-04:00

FHFB and I have been to visit our friend Dave many times at Lindenmere in South Hero, Vermont. Dave is originally from New Jersey, and makes a trip back down here once or twice a year.

The last time Dave was in New Jersey we hosted a small dinner party for him - and it was warm enough to eat out on the back porch.

Here's what was on the menu:

If you have the time please check out some older blog posts about our trip to Lindenmere, Vermont. It's truly a magical place that we love to visit.

http://froghollowfarmgirl.blogspot.com/2010/10/flatrocks-at-lindenmere.html

http://froghollowfarmgirl.blogspot.com/2010/10/vermont-vacation.html

(this blog post has another menu for you to check out!)

I'm linking in to Yvonne's first On the Menu Monday party at Stone Gable!

Ciao, bella!

xxoo

A Street Food Stroll in Rome with Eleonora

2011-06-26T18:12:00.000-04:00

At the end of our recent trip to Italy, FHFB and I spent a couple of days in Rome. When we first visited Rome many years ago we found it to be very much like any large city - large, busy, noisy and unfamiliar. Since then we have figured out that in order to understand Rome, like any large city, we needed to learn about and understand the different areas of the city. For example, the area around the Pantheon or the area around the Piazza Navona. I'm sure that each of these city sections have their own name.

A new part of Rome (for us) was introduced to us by Eleonora from aglio, olio e peperoncino. She also writes a blog called Roma Every Day. I've become a follower of aglio, olio e peperoncino and blogging friends with Eleonora since last year.

Eleonora and Frog Hollow Farm Girl eating chocolate!!!

Check out Eleonora's blog - it is chock full of delicious Italian recipes, and all things Italian. I

t's always a delight for me to read and it makes me long for Italy!

Farmer's Market at Campo di Fiori.

(This link tells you about many of the piazza's in Rome)

Our afternoon with Eleonora consisted of a Street Food Stroll. Now, if you have been a follower of Frog Hollow Farm Girl for a while, you know that FHFB and I love to cook and to eat - and especially in Italy!

Eleonora describes the Street Food Stroll as follows:

Street Food Stroll

If your idea of delving into a culture is to tune into the city's most cherished food traditions, this is the walk for you. Our leisurely stroll and sample tastings include tavola calda fare, portable goodies, ancient chocolatier confections, fried treats, pizza sold by weight, plus artisan pastries, gelato and grattachecca.

We had a wonderful time. Here are some pictures from the afternoon as we strolled through Rome. There aren't many pictures because we were too busy talking and eating!!! LOL

Shopping in Campo di Fiori with Eleonora.

Here I am learning how to drink out of a Roman water fountain.

When you press and stop the water that you see running from the spout at the bottom of the picture, the water spurts up from the top. I believe that this water comes from the original aquaducts but I'm not absolutely sure.

The chocolate shop!

We have a delightful afternoon and learned about a new section of Rome called the Jewish Ghetto, not far from the Campo di Fiori. This is a very historical and solemn portion of the city - you can check out this link to learn more. Of course there was food connected with the Jewish Ghetto, and the most famous dish to try to get is the deep fried artichoke. Now, we never did get back to the restaurant for that artichoke, and I'm disappointed that I didn't push myself a little more and get back when the restaurant opened, it wasn't far from our hotel.
Next time, DEFINITELY!!!!

Eleonora was a wonderful guide - we so enjoyed our time with her and would recommend trying one of her culinary tours if you happen to have a few hours in Rome.

Thanks for stopping by. I'll be linking in to Seasonal Sundays at The Tablescaper!

Ciao, bella!

xxoo

Dresser Bar on the Back Porch for Summertime Entertaining

2011-06-19T12:49:00.005-04:00

We entertain all summer long at Frog Hollow Farm, and with the addition on our wrap-around porch three years ago, entertaining has become so much easier.

One thing that I have always done both in and out of our house is move things around - I am constantly moving furniture looking for just the right combination of sitting areas and places for food and a bar.

The good news is that I think the porch is finally finished as far as figuring all of that out. We have a large farm table with 6 red ladderback chairs as the main sitting area, and several sitting areas all around the porch, including both small couches and chairs as well as large beautiful rocking chairs loaded with comfy pillows.

My focus for this post is the bar area I just set up for the summer. I found an old dresser in our garage that I thought would work just perfectly - I loved the color of the wood and the contrast with the rest of the porch furniture - and using an antique wooden piece of furniture in an outside sitting area seemed like a novel idea. Having a covered porch allows for protection from the elements - we'll have to take it inside over the winter.

You can see the entire piece centered under the kitchen window. An old basket held the all-purpose wine glasses that we use for most everything - they are stock items from Crate and Barrel - I usually end up buying 24 of them each year around the holidays - they are inexpensive so when they chip or break throughout the year I don't feel so bad. After awhile the finish on these everyday glasses tends to dull, so new sparkly glasses are a must!

The large glass jar with the spout is from Pottery Barn, and worked beautifully for our White Wine Sangria. I filled it up right before our guests arrived, having to of course sample the sangria before serving it ;). The wine bottle to the left of the glass jar is an old bottle from FHFB's family - I love the look and it's a colorful accent on the bar.

This old copper bucket worked so well holding the chilled white wine and proseco. We found this recently at an antique shop on Route 9 in Cape May, New Jersey. It was raised up off of the floor on a small plant stand for easier access. I love buying antiques that are simple, functional and beautiful.

Since there isn't a ton of space on the top of the dresser, I decided to use the two small drawers on the top to hold some specific items, like a corkscrew, bitters, shaker, a towel and small bottles of juice and alchohol (we had one person who loves gin martinis, so I needed to have the ingredients easily available). We always like to serve our guests their first cocktail or glass of wine, but having the bar area set up and easily accessible allows everyone to serve themselves cocktails, soda or water throughout the evening.

Beer glasses and plastic cups for the kids were placed in the second small drawer, lined with a vintage checked placemat.

This bar will stay in place throughout the summer. When not in use it still looks like a significant part of the porch with the addition of a colorful coleus plant. We keep the large glass jar and the round basket out all of the time - just rinsing them off carefully before using them each time.

Thanks for stopping by - I'm linked in to Seasonal Sundays over at The Tablescaper

Foodie Friday over at Designs by Gollum

Tablescape Thursday at Between Naps on the Porch!
Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home
Friday Foods at Momtrends

Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch!

Ciao, bella!

xxoo

Panicale

2011-06-11T15:49:00.005-04:00

During our April trip to Italy, we did three things that we had never done before. The first thing was that we took a cooking class with Sharon Oddson - my last few blogs describe all of the recipes and have some yummy looking photos to go along with them. The second thing that we did was taking the train from Florence to visit FHFB's cousin Mario and wife Pam at their wonderful little farm right outside of the wonderful little town of Panicale, Umbria, about 90 minutes outside of the city of Florence. I think that I'm overusing the word 'wonderful', sorry!

Isn't this just heaven???

Here's a photo of my son, Pam, Mario and FHFB on the brick patio, where we sat and ate a delicious meal and drank local wine most of the afternoon.

I think I'll just post the photos with short explanations - the photos just bring me back to that very wondeful day!

When we arrived (Mario picked us up at the train station) Pam had a wonderful table full of delicious Italian specialties for us to try. You can see the one bottle of local red wine labeled 'B'.

Mario built his own outside pizza oven and stone grill - don't these little chops look delicious and so rustic?

Believe it or not, we do other things besides eating! After we sat and ate for a few hours, Mario took FHFB and my son to his neighbor's home to fill up on their homemade wine. Pam and I stayed behind and had some time to get to know each other - it was the first time I had met her and she is a fascinating and intelligent lady. I loved hearing about her life.

The next three pictures show the process of getting the wine from the large oak wine barrel into what looks like a white plastic bucket.

Here's the next step, pouring the wine from the white bucket into Mario's large glass wine container using the biggest funnel I have ever seen.

And here's the wonderful container that Mario has for the trip home in the back seat of his car...

So, after the wine delivery, Mario took us on a walk through his property. The most amazing thing that I saw (and there were many amazing things to see!) were the artichokes growing in his garden. When we were in Florence artichokes were all over the vegetable markets - they were in season and just delicious and beautiful to see in huge piles. Have you ever seen them grow?

Aren't they they gorgeous??

You know, as I'm putting this blog post together I'm missing Panicale so much. It was such a lovely day. Here are some more photos just to enjoy and dream with:

Walking through the woods, Mario showed us where the wild boar forrage for acorns.

Wild cyclamen also grow in the underbrush.

An olive grove on one side of Mario and Pam's property. I think the olive trees closer to the bottom of the photo belong to Mario and Pam.

A view of the front of the farmhouse and the patio where we sat and enjoyed a delicous meal with wonderful people.

My son and I enjoying the wine - this was bottle 'A'!

It was hard to leave this very tranquil and lovely home.

Mario and Pam are wonderful hosts and very lucky people.

They love their home and property so much and it shows in every nook and cranny.

Thank you both so much for making such a wonderful memory for all of us!

My next post will be about the third new experience we had during our trip - a street stroll in Rome with Eleonora from aglio, alio e peperoncino.

I'll be linking to Seasonal Sundays at The Tablescaper and Foodie Friday and Alphabet Thursday!!

Ciao, bella!

xxoo

Finally...the Dessert Recipe from La Cucina Del Garga!

2011-06-02T18:42:00.000-04:00

Crema di Ricotta

con Salsa Caramello all'Arancia e Mandorle Tostate

(Ricotta Cream with Orange Caramel Sauce and Toasted Almonds)

Serves 6

For the ricotta cream:

1 pound fresh ricotta

2/3 cup confectioners sugar - sifted

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 tablespoon grated orange zest

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Place the ricotta in a bowl and cream with a wooden spoon until smooth.
Add the sugar and cinnamon and mix thoroughly
Add the cream in small amounts, mixing until well combined
Add the zest and vanilla and mix again
Chill, covered with plastic wrap for at least an hour

For the sauce:

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup fresh orange juice

2 tablespoons amber rum

Cook sugar in a dry 1-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, undisturbed, until it begins to melt. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally with a fork (no liquids!!!!), until the sugar is melted into a deep golden caramel. This really does happen!
Remove from the heat and carefully pour in orange juice, then rum (caramel will harden and steam vigorously!!). Cook over moderately low heat, stirring, until caramel is dissolved. Cool sauce to warm.

Note: caramel sauce can be made 3 days ahead and chilled, covered. Reheat before serving.

Garnish: 1/2 cup blanched slivered almonds - slightly toasted

To Assemble:

In individual serving dishes place a quenelle shaped portion of the ricotta cream. What's a 'quenelle' you ask???? Here's a You Tube video to help you see how Chef Patrick Fahey from Chicago forms an ice cream quenelle. Looks like a lot of work to me. If I were you I would just carefully mound the ricotta cream onto the plates.
Drizzle with the sauce and sprinkle with the almonds.

Here we are with Sharon at the beginning of our meal. Of course, after drinking wine for four hours needless to say that I did not take any photos of the finished dessert - and I'm so sorry about that because it was just such a simple presentation and an absolutley fabulous dessert. Here's one idea that I found through a Google search. Since this dessert is so rich, serving it in the individual serving peices from Pier One for example might be a good idea!!

I'm linked into Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum!

Ciao, bella!! xxoo

A Frog Hollow Farm Windowscape!

2011-06-02T07:31:00.001-04:00

Hello everyone. I know that I promised to post the final recipe from our cooking class in Florence,

Crema di Ricotta con Salsa Caramello all'Arancia e Mandorle Tostada

(Ricotta Cream with Orange Caramel Sauce and Toasted Almonds)

but if you don't mind, I wanted to share a little windowscape that I created with flowers from our gardens and fields.

I placed them in a row of 6 mismatched antique milk bottles

on the windowsill over my sink looking out over the porch and fields.

From left to right are 2 bottles of little white field daisies, a bunch of spearmint, a stem of tiny red field flowers (you can't really see the flowers though, sorry), some yellow yarrow, a pretty salmon poppy from FHFB's garden and a spring of sage flowers.

What do you think? I love these little milk bottles!

Linking in to Tablescape Thursday!

Recipe for the delicious dessert will be posted later today, I promise!!!!!

Scaloppine ai Carciofi

2011-05-23T16:06:00.000-04:00

Veal Cutlets with Artichokes - yummy!!

Okay, we're still in La Cucina del Garga (at least in my mind) and I want to share the Secondi Piatti, or second part of the main meal that FHFB and I made with Sharon: Scaloppine ai Carciofi, or veal cutlets with artichokes.

Now, the really special part of this dish, and the reason I'm sure that Sharon included a recipe with artichokes, is that Easter is one of the two prime seasons for artichokes in Italy.

Fava beans were also in season and absolutely delcious if you haven't tried them fresh - pureed or whole!

Artichokes were all over the vegetable markets in piles like this - sorry for the fuzzy quality of the photo.

Here's the recipe for Scaloppine ai Carciofi. The hardest part of preparing this recipe was having to peel away most of the leaves surrounding each artichoke heart. Sharon said that most people have a problem doing this because we usually eat most of the leaves in our recipes - dipped in hot melted butter of course! Despite this - and getting over the fact that 2/3 of the artichoke ended up in the garbage - you really need to strip off all of the tough outer leaves in order to have the very tender leaves that surround the heart of the artichoke.

Definitely scarpetta worthy!! (Thank you Eleonora, we've always practiced scarpetta here at Frog Hollow Farm but didn't know that it had a name!!! LOL)

When I came home today I found a beautiful hybiscus in full bloom on my porch. I picked up two of these little potted plants last fall - absolutely free from a nursery on my way home from working - they were giving away a truckload.

Isn't she the prettiest????

Artichokes growing on Cousin Mario's farm in Panicale, Umbria.

Fields of olive trees.

I hope that you are enjoying these yummy recipes from la cucina del Garga. Our next post will include the recipe for the easiest and most delicious dessert I think I ever tasted:

Crema de Ricotta Salsa Caramello all'Arancia e Madorle Tostate!!!!!!

Ciao, bella!!

I'll be hooking up at Foodie Friday!!

Magnificent Taglierini del Magnifico from La Cucina Del Garga

2011-05-20T08:19:00.000-04:00

This dish was created by Guiliano Gargani for his restaurant, Garga, in Florence Italy. In one of my recent blogs about our trip to Italy I mentioned Sharon Gargani's cookbook called Once Upon a Tuscan Table.

She writes the following about this recipe in her book:

The inspiration for this pasta came from a simple citrus cake eaten during Carneval - the season between Epiphany and Ash Wednesday. During the Renaissance, citrus fruits were a status symbol in Florence: the climate being too cold to grow oranges and lemons outdoors in winter, a greenhouse or limonaia (an orangerie in France) was required. Naturally, only the wealthy had such accommodations. We named the pasta 'Magnifico' after Lorenzo il Magnifico.

Lorenzo il Magnifico

Here's the delicious pasta recipe that FHFB and I made during our class.

As you can see, my abilities to manipulate scans is yet to be developed.

Please forgive all of the extra space under the recipe.

If you have trouble reading this just email me and I'll send you a clearer copy!

Below, you can see that I am beginning to make the pasta dough. This is a basic recipe for homemade pasta dough - it's included in the first part of the Taglierini del Magnifico recipe.

I've made pasta dough like this before, after watching FHFB's mother and sisters make in on their kitchen table in New Brunswick, NJ. Watching them begin to make the pasta with a well of luscious light yellow semolina flour with eggs cracked into the middle (one egg per person) was always one of those mysterious Italian skills that I never thought I'd be able to do.

Sharon showed us how to beat the eggs with a fork while gathering in the flour along the sides of the well, until all of it was incorporated.

You can see the stainless pasta machine clamped to the side of the work table above. This is a very basic and easy pasta machine to work with, and it has different settings for flattening the pasta dough and then cutting it into the desired size (such as spaghetti, linguine, fettucine or taglierini).

After we flattened the dough and rolled it through the pasta machine, this is what it looked like.

Isn't this a cool looking pasta dryer??

I think that I was just sitting there(and drinking that delicious white wine it appears!) admiring all of our hard work. Sharon looks busy in the background, doesn't she??

The sauce was made separately in a large pan on the stove by FHFB.

Sharon has a mirror placed directly behind the stovetop. She uses this to show specific techniques to larger groups of clients

I don't know about you, but I would never be able to keep this mirror as clean as Sharon does!

This citrus sauce is really so delicious. The ingredients are pretty basic, but I believe it's the quality of the citrus that will make or break the sauce. Sharon recommends using only organic citrus - and of course the sweet Sicilian oranges in her kitchen were just so delicious!

After we zested the oranges Sharon pulled out a small citrus juicer and made some fresh orange juice. It was so delicious (there's that word again) that I purchased a small citrus juicer from Black and Decker when I got home. This little juicer is just right for us (we have one that attaches to our food processor but it's used for when we are juicing tons of lemons for our Rao's Lemon Chicken recipe!) This little juicer is so easy to use - we use 2 oranges for each glass of juice. I would normally eat an orange for the benefits of all that fiber but I have to admit that the juice is just so refreshing.

I do hope that you try this very delicious recipe.

We served it here at Frog Hollow Farm with Grilled Salmon and Roasted Asparagus.

I'm hooking up with Seasonal Sundays at The Tablescaper.

Ciao, bella!

Katie and FHFB in front of the Duomo in Florence.

Ciao, bella!!

xxoo

Recipes from La Cucina Del Garga

2011-05-17T09:00:00.003-04:00

Okay, I promised the recipes from the cooking class that FHFB and I took in Florence in my last posting. I even figured out how to scan them from the little cooking booklet that Sharon gave us at our class.
Woo Hoo!!! Big Time!!! Really - I'm still struggling with getting photos from my camera to Picassa. Some days I am extremely fluent in it and some days it's like I never did it before. Does that ever happen to you with technology??

I'll be posting the appetizer recipe today - yesterday's posting was a little too long and I don't want to just list one recipe after another.

And I think each one of them deserves their own post.

Our first course was a delicious bruschetta, made with small, fresh, insanely ripe organic Sicilian tomatoes.

Sharon and I halved the tomatoes and spread them right onto a cookie sheet. She was so delightful to work with, always smiling and giving great advice and sharing little tidbits of information about the food we were working with along with interesting facts about Tuscan cooking.

So, so yummy!!

The red pepper flakes used in this recipe are from tiny little dried peppers that are just crushed and added to the tomatoes - not from a jar of crushed red pepper flakes. FHFB and I purchased a little bag of these peppers last year (mainly because I thought they were so cute) and put them into a small Mason jar once the cellophane bad was opened - you can see that I saved the label and taped it to the outside of the jar.

We ate this appetizer while we prepared the rest of the dishes and drank the white wine - Pomino Bianco from the Frescobaldi vineyards. I have more information about ithe wine and a picture of the bottle in my last post.

So, if you can find some ripe Sicilian tomatoes give this simple rustic appetizer a try. If Sicilian tomatoes aren't available at your farmer's market or grocers try some large organic grape tomatoes - we roast them all of the time here at Frog Hollow Farm and serve them on top of goat cheese on a crostini or on top of fresh ricotta cheese. Here are two links to recipes from my collection that include roasted tomatoes:

Goat Cheese and Roasted Tomato Crostini
http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/goat-cheese-roasted-tomato-crostini-10000002013001/

Ricotta and Roasted Tomato Crostini
http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/ricotta-and-roasted-tomato-crostini-00000000048772/index.html
This particular feature in Real Simple featured 10 different ideas for crostini - all yummy.

See you next time with the recipe and photos for the Pasta Magnifico recipe!

Ciao, bella!

~~~A produce stand at the Mercato Centrale in Florence~~~

Joining Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum!

Cooking in Florence

2011-05-16T17:07:00.000-04:00

A I prepare my simple dinner of lemon chicken this evening, I am reminded of the wonderful markets in Florence and how much I wish my lifestyle included shopping for dinner in a local market or visiting a local butcher or fishmonger for something fresh and delicious. This is something I've just got to figure out how to fit into my daily life, (my good friend Stephanie and I talk about this all of the time) even if it's a limited shopping - but fresh, organic ingredients are so important for a healthy diet and delicious food. With summer coming the markets will be more plentiful, and FHFB's garden will be providing us with delicious vegetables as well. Cooking with seasonal ingredients is also a basic part of the Italian diet - with fish and beef and fruits and vegetables growing very close to the city of Florence and having very little transport time to the markets and restaurants. Limiting our carbon footprints and buying local is something we all need to become more aware of - but it's not easy to do!!!

As you already know, FHFB and I recently spent 15 days in Italy, 13 of them in Florence and 2 in Rome.

Today's post will focus on a cooking class that we took with Sharon Oddson,

co-owner of the Garga restaurant on Via del Moro in Florence.

Sharon explains that

the cooking school began in August 1998 in a 14th century palazzo across the street from the restaurant. Today, she teaches from the kitchen in her apartment - with tremendous passion - the simplicity of recreating Tuscan culinary traditions into a grand culinary feast. The school offers intimate one-day courses where all guests are encouraged to participate in preparing and enjoying a superb for course lunch served in a renaissance atmosphere.

This is Sharon's simple kitchen in her wonderful Florence apartment.

Sharon has written a great book called Once Upon a Tuscan Table: Tales and Recipes from Trattoria Garga about moving to Florence from Canada, marrying and living with her husband Giuliano and of course about the Garga restaurant. This wonderful memoir and cookbook is full of absolutely hilarious and heartwarming stories as well as delicious recipes. Some of the chapters have very interesting names: The Girl from the Frozen North, How Giuliano Saved Our Marriage, Arm Wrestling and Going Underground.

Sharon created a wonderful menu for us to cook during our 4 hour cooking class on our recent visit to Florence. We received a lovely little booklet that described why and how herbs are used in Garga's kitchen, an explanation of the different types of Tuscan 'liquid gold' - otherwise known as olive oil - an indispensable part of Garga's kitchen. The kitchen equipment need for the recipes was also listed in this little booklet - with a focus on using very little kitchen equipment in order to keep the true flavors of the food that is being cooked.

The booklet from our cooking class - stains and all!

The menu also included the two wines we would be drinking that day, one white and one red. The white wine was called Pomino Bianco, a Tuscan wine from the Marchesi De Frescolbaldi. This delicious wine has an appearance called 'straw transparent', almost white, with paly grey reflexes. The nose is elegant, fruity and flowery and the taste is fine, clean, well balanced with a lingering aftertaste - it was just lovely. We had this white wine with our bruschetta.

The red wine served during the main course part of our class was called Nipozzano Riserva.

This wine is a Chianti Rufina DOCG Riserva, also from Frescobaldi. The color was an incredibly concentrated bright ruby red with a bouquet that offered an enticing array of ripe fruit frangrances such as cherries and prunes, layered with nuances of currants and hints of spices.

The delicious menu follows:

(recipe to follow in my next post)

Bruschetta con Pomodori Freschi al Forno

Bruschetta with Fresh Roasted Tomatoes

(these tomatoes were small plum shaped tomatoes straight from Sicily and so soooo sweet)

Taglierini del "Magnifico"

Thin Fettuccine with Citrus Sauce

Scallopine ai Carciofi

Veal Cutlets with Artichokes

Crema de Ricotta con Salsa Caramello all'Arancia e Madorle Tostate

Ricotta Cream with Orange Caramel Sauce and Toasted Almonds

In my next post I'll include each of the recipes for you to try. Till then, buon appetito!!

Ciao, bella!

Spring

2011-05-09T16:31:00.000-04:00

FHFB and I have been away visiting our 2 children in Florence, Italy. Florence is just a spectacular place to be - full of history and beauty and of course, very delicious food. Our son spent 5 weeks there sketching and drawing (some life, right?) and our daughter went to visit and generously share the cost of the apartment for 10 days.
The first day we arrived our daughter put together a yummy little aperitivo for us - she loves to entertain as much as I do.

We had fresh, delicious mozzarella cheese with sweet ripe Sicilian tomatoes along with prosciutto wrapped around sweet cantalope melon. She also had a wonderful bottle of local red wine ready for us! And of course, this feast was just the prelude to dinner and the beginning of a night full of delicious food.

I'll be sharing some of our adventures in Italy over the next few posts.

We were able to take a fantastic and delicious cooking class with Sharon Oddson Gargano from the very delicious restaurant called Trattoria Garga.

We were also able to meet a fellow blogger, Eleonora from aglio, olio e peperoncino and took a wonderful street food stroll with her while we were in Rome during the last two days of our trip.

FHFB, being the authentic Sicilian that he is, of course has cousins that we were lucky enough to visit on their farm in Panicala, a small village in Umbria. What a fantastic experience!! Here we are eating (of course) fresh pasta and drinking delicious local wine!

More of these experiences to come in the next week!

I've missed you all and look forward to blogging, visiting and commenting!

Ciao, bella!!

xxoo

Mini Counter-Scape

2011-04-07T11:39:00.002-04:00

Even though it's April Frog Hollow Farm has been burning wood in the wood stove to keep things comfy and cozy.

This little corner of my kitchen counter has some jars filled with cookies and granola bars and nuts along with a little covered cake stand filled with Anytime Oatmeal Cookies. There's some really cute clip art that you can use to cover a small oatmeal carton with to house the cookies. I just couldn't get it to print true to size. The large platter standing in the corner is an Italian ceramic and that little Farberware coffee pot is just right for FHFB and I. When we have a crowd over for dinner we need to use our much larger coffee pot.

These photos make it look like wintertime more than spring - but that's the kind of weather we've been having.

Looking forward to sunnier skies and warm breezes.

Our tiny little daffodils have bloomed down in FHFB's vegetable garden.

Aren't they adorable?

Ciao, bella!!!!

I'm joining the following wonderful memes:

Tablescape Thursday

Foodie Friday

Seasonal Sundays

Brunch at Frog Hollow Farm

2011-03-31T06:09:00.001-04:00

A few weekends ago FHFB and I served our first brunch - can you believe it? We're not big breakfast eaters here - something simple - maybe a poached egg with whole grain toast and coffee or a simple bowl of oatmeal - and we're good to go.

Although we set the table in the dining room for the main part of the meal...

it was a gloomy day...

We actually started out in the kitchen with the banana muffins, Irish Soda bread and hot coffee....

then we moved into the dining room.

Here's the menu with the recipes:

March Brunch Menu

Lilly’s Irish Soda Bread

Banana Muffins (Ina Garten)

Mini BLT’s (Breakfast at Nine, Tea at Four)

Potato Galette with Smoked Salmon (Martha Stewart.com)

Canadian Bacon Strata (Martha Stewart.com)

Fresh Organic Strawberries and Blueberries

Chocolate Flourless Torte (Ina Garten via Judy Marino)

Bellinis

Mimosas

Coffee/Tea

I'll be over at Tablescape Thursdays and Foodie Friday!

Ciao, bella!!!
xxoo

Gifts in the Mail

2011-03-29T08:31:00.000-04:00

Sitting on our back porch today was a box from San Luis Obispo, California. It brought along bright sunny skies, but unfortunately left the warm California temperatures, flowers and green grass behind.

But, the most important things that came along with the box were some wonderful gifts from a blogger friend ~ my very first! Do you know Kary at My Farmhouse Kitchen blog? She has a delightful and delicious blog - along with sweet Teddy. Please stop by and see her wonderful blog!

The other day Kary posted about knitting dish rags in her kitchen. I just loved their simplicity and functionality and asked her if she was selling them. Kary wrote back and said that she wanted to give them to me as a gift - it was the sweetest offer!

Kary included a sweet little note on Becky Kelly stationary in her package to let me know that one of the dish rags had a mistake right in the middle because her dog Teddy had grabbed it - she had mentioned in her posting that Teddy loves to grab her ball of yarn and run with it while she's knitting - Teddy sounds like he's a bundle of energy - but so adorable - you can see a picture of Teddy on Kary's blog. The mistake is barely visible, but I think of Teddy every time I look at that particular rag!

I'm using these adorable little dish rags as large coasters under several things in my kitchen - my electric kettle, and two large antique pottery fruit bowls. These sweet little knitted squares slide easily when we slide the bowls or kettle over the counters - preventing any scratching. They are too pretty for me to use as rags - but that's me - LOL!

To make things even more wonderful, Kary included several delicious items in her package - perfect for an afternoon tea here at Frog Hollow Farm.

Since we're expecting rain and gusty winds this week, I think I'll be making the Strawberry Scones and Sweet and Spicy Good Earth tea one of these afternoons. The scones will be delicious with the wonderful Avila Valley Barn strawberry and raspberry fruit spread - yummy!! The only thing missing is some clotted cream, but I think I must find some!

So, thank you so much Kary for your generous gift - it was such a sweet gesture!

Ciao, bella!!

The Philadelphia Flower Show and Other Things

2011-03-23T09:12:00.005-04:00

FHFB and I drove down to the Philadelphia Flower Show a couple of weeks ago.

Our weekend started with a night at the Borgata Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City with dinner at Bobby Flay's Steak restaurant - I know that I've mentioned before how much I love the Chopped Salad with Lobster - just delicious!

The next day we drove over to Philadelphia and met our friends Forrest and Stephanie for the weekend - visiting the flower show and hanging out at the Reading Terminal Market - a new favorite place of mine!!

On Saturday we drove over to Bethlehem, PA for a couple of antique shows that were a bit disappointing but we made everything better by stopping by the Apollo Grill in Bethlehem for their delicious small bites menu - they serve all of the appetizers at the bar - we love to sit and try a few different dishes each time we visit, and we always meet someone interesting!

This last photo is of one of the displays at the flower show. It is such a beautiful room - I especially love the walls and how the panels are used to decorate and create structure. Isn't is gorgeous?? You can see all of the awards that this design won right there in the front, sitting on the floor.

How can I get this look in one of the downstairs bedrooms?

FHFB just shook his head when I mentioned this - but I think it's doable on some level, don't you??

Here are a few more photos from the flower show - they are keeping me happy while I watch the snow pile up outside the windows of the great room at my dad's house. I'm hanging out with him for the day.

Thinking about flower gardens and spring entertaining on our back porch!!

I'm joining Seasonal Sundays at The Tablescaper!!

Ciao, bella!

Lilly

2011-03-22T12:46:00.000-04:00

I planned on posting a photo of my mom for St. Patrick's day, but had been having difficulty with our scanner.

Thanks to our wonderful, patient and brilliant techie Oliver, things are up and running once more!

Lilly's Irish Soda Bread recipe was posted here for St. Patrick's Day. She was born in Ireland in a small village called Killmactrany in County Sligo - FHFB and I will be visiting there this summer.

We'll be meeting up with cousins that I haven't seen in years - even some that I've never met! My cousins Angela and Caroline, living in Dublin and Boyle respectively, have been emailing me and I can't wait to see them!

Mom was the ultimate entertainer, and my love of cooking and entertaining definitely came from her. In the 70's she had these fantastic fondue parties in our 'rec' room. My dad would set up this long wooden table and Mom would set up about 6 different fondue pots down the center of the table. Friends and family would gather for hours of eating, drinking wine and laughing - those were fantastic parties.

Lilly loved a party and would always bring along something to help the hostess - some of her famous potato pancakes or one of her many casseroles. She knew I didn't like onions and would always try to sneak them into her dishes, thinking that I wouldn't notice - but I always did!

I'm not sure where this photo was taken, but don't you just love that little frill on the top of her white glove? I think she's holding the second glove in her left hand. Maybe she's not even wearing gloves, but I can't think of what else could be around he wrist.

And that waist - I don't know if I ever had a waist like that!

I'm sure that I'll be posting lots of photos now that our scanner is working!!

Ciao, bella!

Seasonal Recipe and Menu Binders

2011-03-21T09:18:00.000-04:00

Okay, I know I'm a little obsessive with organizing things. Being organized energizes me on several levels. First and foremost I hate reinventing the wheel. What I mean by that is if I've found a great recipe or put together a fantastic menu, I want to be able to locate that information easily in the future.

I know that it's not always easy to re-create a mood or feeling - and sometimes dinner parties and casual get-togethers take on a personality of their own - duplicating a particular menu or cocktail at another time may create an entirely whole new experience.

Nevertheless, I like to be able to easily find specific menus and recipes - I really hate spending time looking for things like that - the time spent searching always distracts me and I find myself engrossed in looking through new recipes and cookbooks and before I know it an hour or so has gone by!!

This is my "Winter Binder" from Vera Bradley - a little blurry, sorry.

So, several months ago I started putting together a Winter binder of easy entertaining menus along with the recipes. Vera Bradley designs have never been a favorite of mine but I do love her colorful binders. Color motivates me and can also add to the whole feeling of creating and looking at something special.

The idea of creating this binder was the result of wanting to have simple delicious entertaining menus at my fingertips. FHFB and I love to cook, but sometimes we are so exhausted after having a dinner party that I had to begin simplifying things, but still keeping our menus special, delicious and fun. I think that as foodies ourselves we just want to have lots of things to taste and of course, a table full of delicious homemade dishes is always so wonderful to see - we eat first with our eyes

(my eyes should be 10x their size if that's true!)

This week I purchased a second Vera Bradley binder for Spring entertaining!

So far I have two vegetarian menus filed away.

Our son is coming home for a few days at the end of March before heading over to Florence, Italy for the month of April, so I wanted to be ready with some simple but delicious vegetarian meals.

Menu #1

*upside down mushroom tartlets

*yellow squash with hazelnuts and pecorino

*warm peanut and sesame noodles

Menu #2

*vegetarian lentil soup

*white bean and tomato casserole with broccoli rabe

*whole grain penne pasta with shaved

If you would like any of these recipes please let me know and I'd be happy to send them to you!

Here are a some links to a few of the recipes:

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/upside-down-mushroom-tartlets

It's snowing here this morning - spring is a little confused.

I'm participating in Metamorphosis Monday over at Between Naps on the Porch.

Ciao, bella!

St. Patrick's Day Menu from The Irish Pub Cookbook

2011-03-16T17:56:00.000-04:00

I've been meaning to post this menu for over a week! A friend of mine, Stephanie, who loves to cook as much as I do, gave me a wonderful cookbook a few weeks ago called The Irish Pub Cookbook written by Margaret M. Johnson and published by Chronicle Books.

It's called the culinary celebration of Irish Pub grub!

I found so many new and delicious recipes for our St. Patrick's Day celebration here at Frog Hollow Farm on Saturday.

Here's what we're serving from the cookbook to 26 adults:

Esther Dunne's Bacon-Potato Cakes

Guinness Beef Stew

Chicken and Ham Pie

Cider Braised Chicken and Cabbage

Some things that our guests will see on the table when they arrive that I ordered from a little local restaurant called Stella G's:

Lobster Salad Tartlets

Salmon Crepes

Several other appetizers that my sisters are bringing.

And of course we couldn't have a St. Patrick's Day party without the following:

Lilly's Irish Soda Bread

Corned Beef (from my sister Laurie)

If you're having a St. Patrick's Day party this weekend like we are and would like one of these recipes please email me, I'll do my best to send them to you!

Still figuring out the dessert menu!!

Ciao, bella!

Lilly's Irish Soda Bread Recipe

2011-03-04T07:28:00.005-05:00

Hi everyone, as promised, here's the recipe for

Lilly's Irish Soda Bread.

Lilly's Irish Soda Bread

Mix these together these 4 ingredients together:3 1/2 cups of flour

2/3 cup of sugar

1 1/2 cup of raisins

1 T. caraway seeds

1 t. salt

1 t. baking soda

1 T. baking powder

Mix together 2 eggs 1 1/2 cups of buttermilk and 2 Tablespoons of melted butter.

Add to dry ingredients and stir to combine throroughly.

Bake at 350 for 1 hour.
You can bake it in a loaf pan greased with butter or just form it into a mound, score a large X on the top, and bake it on a cookie pan lined with parchment paper.

I'm over at Seasonal Sundays at The Tablescaper
and Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum- come take a look!

The Beautiful Dominican Republic

2011-03-01T16:30:00.000-05:00

The resort we were staying at in early February has beautifully maintained grounds, full of many different types of flowers and palm trees. Here are some of the flowers and trees that were on the pathways to the pools or beach. I'm not sure if these are natural to the environment.

These salmon flowers were all over the place. They grew on spikes about 12-24 inches high, and looked like they spread pretty easily in the flower beds.

Do you see the large pods hanging from the right side of this palm tree?

Okay, I usually hate, hate, hate photos of me, but here's a photo of FHFB (always handsome) on our last day at one of the private pools with hammocks and all kinds of creature comforts (I'm the one on the right). We were ready to catch the transport to the airport. Two of our beautiful friends were on either side of us but I don't have their permission to put them in my blog so I cropped them out.

(Hmmmm, afterthought, did I crop them out because they are so gorgeous??)

To tell you the truth, I'm usually pretty ready to go home by this point, and that's after most every vacation. We love getting away and visiting different countries - but the place we love best is our home. That may sound a little corny, but I can't imagine what it's like not to have a place to come home to.

It's always a great feeling walking into our house after a long flight.

I feel that I'm living a pretty charmed life.

Ciao, bella!

Vacation in the Dominican Republic

2011-02-28T17:45:00.000-05:00

Early this February FHFB and I flew to the Dominican Republic with a group of friends that we always travel with in the winter - well, at least for the last 3 years! This group owns a time share with Palace Resorts and FHFB and I have been tagging along. This particular resort is in Punta Cana and was just purchased by the Hard Rock Cafe.

Here are some photos to warm you all up!

Thirteen pools, all beautifully pristine and stocked with comfortable lounge chairs and many swim up bars!

FHFB got up early and shot a few photos of the sunrise. Didn't he do a great job?

Palm trees are all over the place, providing much needed shade when sitting on the beach, along with the many palapas. Drinks and food were served all day on the beach. Woohoo!

I took this picture because the cocktail matched my friend's purse so well.

Sorry, I don't know what kind of drink it is, but it looks like it would be pretty sweet.

We didn't get too many photos of the beautiful Bavaro Beach at Punta Cana.

It's wide and flat and goes on forever.

Tomorrow I'll post some photos of the beautiful flowers growing on the grounds of the resort.

Ciao, bella!

Peek-A-Boo

2011-02-27T15:31:00.001-05:00

I guess that I'm also saying peek-a-boo!

I can't believe it's been a month since I've posted - wait, I knew I was slacking off but I just couldn't for the life of me get myself to begin a new post. It was like I was a little frozen, just like this little pussy willow!

But here I am - and feeling more like myself each second.

There's lots to catch up on - I am looking forward to getting back into the swing of things.

Come visit me at Metamorphosis Monday!!

Ciao, bella!

Valentine's Day at Frog Hollow Farm

2011-01-27T15:55:00.001-05:00

Frog Hollow Farm Boy and I will be traveling in a few days, and I wanted to be sure to think ahead and have a delicious Valentine's Day dinner planned for him when we get home.
I'm not usually this organized, and I'm not sure that this will work for us. We usually like to eat what we feel like eating on any given day, so planning too far ahead may put us in a position of not wanting fish for dinner.
Does that make sense ?
I know he'll love the pasta and the chocolate profiterole, but I also know he loves halibut and I wanted to try this very delicious recipe from one of the last few Williams-Sonoma catalogs.

Don't their recipe photos always look so delicious?

So, I'm doing some of the grocery shopping this week and freezing the halibut since we can't always find it in the grocery stores around here and I don't want to be running far and wide the day we get home.

Valentine’s Dinner at Frog Hollow Farm

Appetizers

Goat Cheese and Roasted Tomato Crostini

Dinner

Alaskan Halibut Cioppino

Rigatoni Peperonata

Green Salad

Crusty Italian Bread

Dessert

Double Chocolate Profiteroles

We're continuing to enjoy the beautiful snowfall here in New Jersey and have plans for snowshoeing with our friends Steve and Liz this weekend (hopefully!)

XXXOOO

I'm participating in the The Tablescaper's Seasonal Sundays! Come check out the wonderful blogger who participate in this fun meme!

A Lovely Birthday Brunch at the Russian Tea Room

2011-01-26T12:28:00.001-05:00

Last Saturday FHFB and I drove into the city to meet our daughter Katie to begin celebrating her 28th birthday. She had always wanted to go to the Russian Tea Room, so we reserved a table for brunch at 11:30am. Parking is very easy, there's a lot right next door - and Carnegie Hall is right around the corner!

The inside of the Russian Tea Room is just spectacular - with my favorite colors of red and green accented with gold. They state on their website that they have Christmas decorations up year-round - I think that they must be referring to the red Christmas decorations adorning the retro light fixtures.

Katie and FHFB ordered coffee, and it was served in a beautiful silver coffee pitcher along with this pretty set of creamer and sugar bowls.

Of course I ordered their bellini, which was fresh tasting and so delicious.

Here are some pics of the meals - the menu is pretty diverse for brunch and everything was delicous.

Truffle Quiche

Bacon, leeks, black truffle, potato and Gruyère.

Boeuf à la Stroganoff

Red wine braised beef short ribs with house-made buckwheat noodles, wild mushrooms and porcini cream

RTR Sliders - Tasting of three mini “pojarski” burgers with herb fries

Salmon, avocado, tomato and cucumber with rémoulade and pickled onions.

Veal with Comté cheese, wild mushrooms and melted onions.

Kobe beef with black truffle, Gruyère cheese, caramelized onions and foie gras.

Here's a picture of the main dining room when you first walk into the restaurant.

Other rooms that we didn't get to see on Saturday are the Bear Lounge, the Bear Ballroom and the Hearth Room. I think I'd like to sit in the Hearth Room the next time we go.

And here's the Birthday Girl~~

I hope that if it's snowing by you, like it is here, that you are able to stay indoors and enjoy it or maybe head outside for some winter fun as well! FHFB and I need to do some snowshoeing soon!

I'm watching the cardinals, woodpeckers, blue jays and other tiny birds enjoying our suet cakes and feeders set outside my office windows.

I'm taking part in Seasonal Sundays at The Tablescaper! Please stop by - she's just posted about that wonderful store in Manhattan - Eataly!!

Ciao, bella!

XXXOOO

2011-01-21T10:38:00.000-05:00

I've been meaning to blog about my little purchase from Lara Harris through her Etsy store at http://www.studiolara316.etsy.com/.

Lara is donating the money she makes from her paintings to a family member for medical treatment.

Lara was really so easy and wonderful to work with - she tweaked the colors of this little nest painting to include some of the green that is in the rest of the room.

I placed it in our upstairs bathroom, on top of an old medicine cabinet. For some reason I've established a bird motif in this room so this adorable nest fit perfectly, and it was so nice to know that the purchase was helping someone in need.

You can see the painting on top of the medicine cabinet on the left.

Some good news, my dad is back at home and doing well. He's on 11 meds each morning and will be seeing his cardiologist more often now. We're so lucky to have my brother and his wife living with dad.

Here's another picture of Miss Olive making herself comfortable in our daughter's bed.

January 2011 at Frog Hollow Farm

2011-01-18T10:53:00.001-05:00

Things have been so very busy and stressful here at Frog Hollow Farm for the past few weeks. My dad has been ill, and seems to be in the hospital every other day. We were all so very shocked to hear that he had a silent heart attack sometime in the last few weeks. Last Monday night he had difficulty breathing and couldn't lay down all night. My brother Bob and his wife Jan live with Dad but he didn't want to bother them so he just dealt with it all night. What is it with 85 year old people - I just don't get it!

On Tuesday morning I dropped by his house with a pasta and meatball dinner for them all (they are in the middle of renovating the kitchen) and when I walked in the door I could see how distressed my dad was, he could hardly breathe. We got him to the Emergency Room and found out, after several tests, that he had experienced a heart attack and had 5-10% of his heart functioning, and his lungs were full of fluids due to the lack of heart strength. I'm probably getting a bit too graphic for everyone and I'm sorry if I'm making you queasy.

An ambulance brought Dad to the Gagnon Cardiovascular unit at Morristown Hospital where they worked non stop to take care of the problem. He was able to come home on Saturday but ended up back in the hospital on Sunday - it appeared that he had a stroke but it wasn't, thank God. His blood pressure had gone so low due to an infection that he just about passed out. The rescue squad came and brought him over to Hunterdon Medical Center, where he is right now, waiting for the roads to clear from today's snow and ice so that we can bring him home once again.

And, I forgot to mention that he had been in the hospital the week before the heart problem, having 2 gall stones removed. The poor guy! But my real question is how could he undergo a procedure like that and have no one notice that two of his major arteries were clogged and that his heart was not working at it's fullest - he's never had a heart issue before.

Here's a photo of Dad (aka Andy, Tompy) at his 85th birthday party last year...

We're in our kitchen with Dad's family all around him. Our neice Chelsea is sitting to his left, my brother Bob is standing in the background in the white shirt, and our little grand-neice Miss Riley is being held my her mom Loretta. FHFB's silhouette is in the door frame (he's wearing a white linen button down shirt).

So, please keep my dad in your prayers - he's almost 86 but he's a stubborn and determined 86. His cardiac nurse said that he is the most stubborn man she'd ever met and that he'd probably live to be 103!

I'll end with a bit of whimsy and show you what our cat Olive does during the day. You'd think she'd be more comfortable in front of the wood stove, right?

Miss Olive

Ciao, bella!!

Christmas at Frog Hollow Farm

2010-12-30T13:52:00.007-05:00

My goodness, it has been a busy few weeks here at Frog Hollow Farm - but definitely in a good way!

FHFB and I have hosted several Christmas parties over the last few weeks; FHFB's office staff for a holiday cocktail party - 26 people in all, our annual Christmas House Dinner and Christmas Eve.

Let me tell you, a room full of meteorologists is definitely very interesting and also a ton of fun! Most of these guys are young - under 30 - and they are adorable to watch with their wives and girlfriends. Every so often a different couple was snuggled up in our cuddle chair with a glass of wine or one of our delicious specialty cocktails of the night, the Blizzard (if you like bourbon)!

I decided to cater this party from a local little restaurant called Stella G's. This was definitely the way to go! FHFB wanted something a little more elegant - and the appetizer selection from Stella G's was just perfect.

Lobster salad in puff pastry cups...

I did some research and found that if a cocktail party is replacing a meal (like ours did), each guest would need 2-3 appetizer pieces, from 8-10 selections. We also had to consider our vegetarian guest and a guest who is allergic to shellfish.

Sesame Ahi Tuna on Wonton Crisps
Parma Prosciutto with Asparagus...

In all, the menu included 5 cold appetizers and 7 hot appetizers.

Cold

Sesame Ahi Tuna on Wonton Crisps

Parma Prosciutto with Asparagus

Hummus Selection with Herbed Pita

Lobster Salad Tartlets

Vegetable Crudites

Hot

Crab Cakes with Jicama

Baby Rack of Lamb Lollipops

Individual Mushroom Quiche

Sesame Chicken Skewers with Teriyaki

Mini Beef Wellington

Coconut Shrimp

Filet Mignon with Horseradish Chutney

The cold selections were available when the guests first arrived, placed on silver serving pieces on our breadboard dining room table, the pine server and small round drop leaf table covered with a soft moss green jacquard tablecloth. The hot appetizers were served to the guests on small antique silver platters throughout the evening.

Our invitation listed the hours from 6pm-9pm, just so people could drop by at any time and not worry about any formal time frame. As it was, everyone arrived around 6pm and the last guests didn't leave until 11:30pm!!! LOL - I was exhausted but so happy to see that everyone was having a great time.

FHFB is so lucky to have such a wonderful staff - he's worked hard at putting together a great group of people.

Here are a few more pics of the food and tables...

We also hosted our annual Christmas House party for a small group of friends that we often travel with.

Our menu included:

Christmas Blessing cocktail
Clementine Cosmos
(Double the amount of clementines, reduce the sugar by half, and use citron vodka instead of vanilla vodka.)

Roasted Shrimp Cocktail
Parmesan-Thyme Crackers
Tellegio Cheese with Frog Hollow Farm Marmalade on Flatbread
Buttered Nuts

Lasagna Bolognese
Frog Hollow Farm Stuffed Artichokes
Arugula, Cranberry and Roasted Pecan Salad

Desserts were provided by our guests - there was a delicious cheesecake, a wonderful pecan layer cake, a yummy pumpkin pie and fantastic platter of Italian pastries!!

Here are a few photos of the table:

The tablecloth was purchased recently at a little store called La Petite Provence in Bethlehem, PA.

The chargers are from Home Goods.

The white dinner plate is rimmed with gold and was purchased in Macy's years ago, along with the gold flatware.

The salad plate is from a pattern called 'Winter Greetings' from Lenox and was purchased at Macy's this year.

The napkins are from April Cornell.

The napkin rings were made from a soft white gold rimmed wire ribbon, with gold leaves tucked into the tied ribbon.

The water glasses were purchased at Williams-Sonoma years ago.

The two-tiered cake stand in the middle of the table was a recent purchase from Pottery Barn.

Our two spectacular helpers for the night:

Sara...

and our daughter Katie below.

Thank you so very much for taking the time to stop by Frog Hollow Farm to see what's been happening lately.

I'm taking part in Tablescape Thursday at Between Naps on the Porch - please stop by to see all of the wonderful ideas for your seasonal table!

Ciao, bella!
Happy New Year!!

Google Image

Home of the Month

2010-12-28T08:53:00.002-05:00

Hello everyone! Today's post is short but so much fun for us to share with you! As you all know, FHFB and I have been working with two wonderful designers, Susan and Pam, through their business, Design Works, for the past couple of years.

They've helped us in so many ways -

reorganizing our conservatory with all of our own things to make it look cozy and comfy
guiding us with the bedroom and bathroom choices of wall and floor colors (we painted the wood floors upstairs), curtains and bedding
helping our dining and living rooms 'grow up' with elegant functionality, yet keeping many of our own antique and furniture pieces!

I've posted the changes for all of the rooms in various blog posts since March, but now you can see even more of our farmhouse by linking over to the Design Works website.

Here's the link to their website

(still under construction in many parts).

Our home comes up immediately as their first Home of the Month!

Happy New Year to everyone!

Ciao, bella!

Frog Hollow Farm Has a Winner!

2010-12-06T05:59:00.000-05:00

After a full day of decorating the outside of our little farmhouse FHFB finally came inside to sit in front of our fire with a glass of wine. He never used to drink wine (can you imagine, an Italian who doesn't drink wine) but has started enjoying a glass with me every once is a while - I'm sure I drink enough wine for both of us anyway - LOL!

Everything outside

looks so nice - FHFB does such a great job and loves to use fresh cut greens from our property to decorate the flower boxes and porch railings! We were so tired yesterday that I didn't get a photo (I was inside decorating our tree and designing the tablescape for next weekend's cocktail party for all of the weathermen and their wives/girlfriends. Yes, FHFB is a meteorologist!

After pouring two glasses of a delicious Sicilian white wine (Grillo) that we discovered in Burlington Vermont, we both relaxed in front of our Christmas tree and as promised, FHFB chose the winning name of the Christmas dish give-away....Lynn over at Happier Than a Pig in Mud! So, Lynn, I hope this little win does make you happier than a pig in mud today! Lynn has the cutest little blog and is always posting something interesting and fun - and she has a great sense of humor!

Thanks to all of you who participated in my very first give-away! I loved reading your recipes and ideas for filling up that cute little dish!

PS - Lynn, please email me your address so that I can get this cute little dish out in the mail for you!

Ciao, bella!

100 Followers, a Give-Away and a Recipe!

2010-12-02T06:50:00.001-05:00

This morning I woke up to find my 100th follower listed on my dashboard!

I can't believe that so many people have found this little blog out there in blogland, and in honor of all of you I'd like to have my very first give-away!

This lovely little dish is perfect to use on your own holiday table for cookies or candy - or you could fill it with some of your own home-baked cookies for a holiday hostess gift.

It measures 6 1/2" square.

To win this sweet little plate please leave a comment on this post telling me what kind of homemade treat you would fill it with.

If you leave a link to a favorite cookie or candy recipe, or include your recipe in a second comment, you double your chances to win!

The winner will be chosen by FHFB on Sunday evening, December 5th and posted on Monday.

Here's a recipe for a favorite cookie of ours here at Frog Hollow Farm. My mother-in-law Maria made these often, not only during the holidays. Maria was a phenomenal cook and introduced me to so many traditional Italian foods!

These cookies are FHFB's favorite cookie, he calls them "Rolled Cookies"and once you take your first bite you will understand why he loves them.

Maria's Rolled Cookies

2 cups sifted flour

1 cup butter

3/4 cup sour cream

1 egg yolk - slightly beaten

Mix flour and butter until crumbly, then add sour cream and egg yolk, mix well with your hands. Divide the dough into 3 balls and refrigerate over night.

Roll out each ball of dough like a pizza. Use a little flour on the counter to keep the dough from sticking and cut each circle into 16 pieces. Brush the top of each circle with the remaining beaten egg white then sprinkle the filling (below) over the entire circle. Roll each triangle into a crescent shape, starting with the widest end, and bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes.

Use parchment paper for an easy clean-up.

Filling

1 cup of ground walnuts (or pecans, hazelnuts)

3/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

If you get to try this recipe I'd love to know about it!

Ciao, bella!

I'm participating in Seasonal Sundays at The Tablescaper!

My Irish Christmas Tree at Frog Hollow Farm

2010-11-28T11:40:00.002-05:00

I call this little tree my Irish Christmas tree. It was originally copied from the front cover of one of Martha Stewart's December Living issues - I think! Her tree was all gold, as was mine when it started out. The first Christmas after my mom died I decided to add green to the ornament collection on this tree, in memory of her. She grew up in Ireland and trained as a midwife in Belfast before immigrating to the United States in the early 1950's.

Many of the ornaments first came from a little shop here in northwest New Jersey, called Harley's Garden or Rocking Horse Antiques - it went by both names and was owned and run by two wonderful guys, Harley and Joe. They had the most wonderful Christmas open house parties at their store every December, it was truly a magical little store that held something beautiful in every nook and cranny. Sadly, Joe and Harley decided they would close the shop, but they are still around and I see them at antique shows once in a while. They are delightful; however, I truly miss seeing them and visiting their store. This little tree reminds me of them as well as of my mom!!

The sprays of white pearls was also an idea that I saw on one of the many decorated trees in Harley and Joe's Christmas Barn. They have long wire stems and can just be placed inside the branches of the tree - they rest on the branches and soften the whole look.

Every ornament reflects light either by small pieces of mirrored glass or the overall finish on the outside of the ornament. At night is when this tree looks most magical!

This red bow compliments the green and gold in the tree, but also hides the extension cord plug that sits on the table behind the pottery piece that holds the little tree.

We love this tree so much that we've decided to get another one to decorate in our family room. That will make four decorated trees at Frog Hollow Farm this Christmas! They just make every room look so special!

I'm linked over at Seasonal Sunday at The Tablescaper. Please drop by to check out all of the delightful seasonal ideas that are linked to this party!

Ciao, bella!

The Day After

2010-11-26T11:07:00.000-05:00

I've decided to sit down and take a short break from cleaning and re-organizing after our delicious Thanksgiving dinner spent with family.

It was snowing here during the morning - and raining for most of the remainder of the day.

My Aunt Sheila brought us this pretty turkey flower centerpiece - it's so cute and is feeling pretty special right now sitting on our pumpkin pine table in the kitchen with a tray of fresh fruit and a cake plate full of leftover (not for long) homemade cookies.

Okay, back to work, and then a nap!

Ciao, bella!

Preparing for Thanksgiving

2010-11-24T15:26:00.001-05:00

Like all of you, I'm in the midst of preparing for Thanksgiving, but I needed an excuse to sit down for a few minutes, so I thought I'd show you what I've been doing all day.

You need to know that there are two very large closeups of a photo of some cookies that I just can't remove from this post. I don't know how they got there and hope you'll just ignore them. And I see that some text is mixed up. Yikes, I am really sorry but Blogger is just not cooperating with me and I don't have the time to start over.

Preparing some appetizers.

These are Parmesan Cheese Sticks from the Barefoot Contessa's recipes. I started cutting the dough up in small squares because I was losing so much cheese when I was twisting the long strips of dough.

These are the ingredients for the Stilton Tart with the Cranberry Chutney. The tart was easy to make and turned out so delicious looking, but my cat Olive jumped up on the counter while it was cooling and while I was out of the kitchen and began eating it. I am really bummed about that.

Some temporary storage in our unfinished pantry.

A vintage dishtowel found in Lambertville, NJ last Sunday.

And some photos of the Thanksgiving table, lit up with all of the candles I love to use in the dining room. No food yet though! I'm taking photos today because I know I'll forget as soon as I have my first glass of wine tomorrow.

I'm using some vintage dishes that I picked up in Vermont a few years ago.

Here's another close up of the vintage china. I'm using an orange pottery charger from Positano, Italy as a contrasting color, picking up the orange of the flowers on the plate. I also have green pottery chargers, also from Positano Italy, that are used alternately on the table. The large white plates were in the clearance aisle in TJ Maxx.

Our green turkey from William Sonoma - he'll be filled with homemade cranberry sauce!

Wishing all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving! Thank you all for stopping by and taking a look - I know how busy you all are today!

I also snuck in late at Tablescape Thursday - there are so many, many wonderful table setting ideas - and I was number 100!

Ciao, bella!

Frog Hollow Farm's Dining Room Makeover

2010-11-22T08:42:00.022-05:00

The Frog Hollow Farm dining room and living room have always been challenging for me to furnish and decorate in so many ways.

First of all there ar 5 doors/doorways in the room - the original double Dutch door which now leads to the outside front wine garden, another Dutch door leading to the family room, the doorway to the kitchen, the door to the conservatory and the door to the basement. With all of these doors, pathways need to remain open in order to be able to move around without banging into things. Also, we have a large walk-in fireplace with an old Vermont castings stove that throws off a lot of delightful but strong heat - so furniture can't be too close to that area in the fall, winter and early spring - the times when we are most likely burning wood in the woodstove.

This large room is really the original stone farmhouse - so it is truly the centerpiece of our home.

Over the years I must have moved furniture over 100 times, really, over 100 times. I was driven. Ask any of our friends, it was always something that they would comment on because every time they came over something was different - and it became sort of a joke with our friends - in a good way :) !

One time FHFB was away on business for a few days and arrived home late at night. The furniture had all been changed and he almost walked right into the couch and end table. Yikes!

Over the years, with each of my attempts to work with the room, I was content for awhile, but always felt that something was missing - we really never bought too much new furniture - so I worked with interesting pieces found at garage sales and antiques shows and stores.

I was going for a more primitive setting because of the walk-in fireplace.

But recently I felt that the room needed a major renovation with a new color scheme and more elegance!

Today I'll share our dining room makeover, and next time I'll put up more dining room close-ups as well as some photos of the living room.

**************************************************

We started by covering the two corner dining room walls with sheetrock so we could use wallpaper to delineate one space from another. This is what it looked like in the midst of that process:

Here's a photo taken of the dining room in February 2010, set up for a dinner party with our friends Liz and Steve. You can see how harsh everything looked, and it was exactly that harshness seen in these photos and many others that made me want to redo the room and bring in some softness. The interesting thing was that the room never looked stark - everyone always commented on how cozy the room was.

Our son's unframed painting is hanging on the back wall.

FHFB and I have been working on this room since mid August - deciding on colors, fabrics, design and determined to have it all done for the holidays. We were so very lucky to work with two talented ladies from Design Works, a local design company. Susan and Pam have become fast friends, and we just loved working with them as they helped organize the project.

Here's a photo of the renovated dining room corner from the living room:

Really, it's the same room! The old glass paned door to the conservatory in on the right.

I don't have photos of the process of putting this all together. FHFB did all of the wallpapering - he does a fantastic job - and he's very patient!

The framed painting of the front of the Frog Hollow Farm House on the wall was seen in the earlier photo and was painted by our son Frank while he was in college. I had it framed locally and think the colors work well with the new room colors.

Susan and Pam worked with most of the furniture and rugs that we already had - so we were able to work within a more manageable budget. The rug under the dining room table was in one of our bedrooms - we just traded rugs. And the hutch hanging on the wall was the top part of a step back cupboard we purchased in Burlington Vermont several years ago. Susan and Pam suggested that we use the bottom portion of the hutch as a sideboard and hang the top part on the wall. I've filled the space underneath with an old bench and a set-up of after dinner drinks and liqueurs - I'll include closeups in my next post.

We chose 'Straw' wallpaper from Thibault and paint from Benjamin Moore in 'Straw' and 'Filtered Sunlight' for the walls and 'Vanilla Cream' for the trim.

Here are some other views of the dining room:

The chandelier is electric with five holders to include real candles. I wasn't sure about adding electricity and will still use candles for entertaining. The electricity comes in handy when I'm working on a project and need a large workspace - the dining room table is a great place to work. We have always eaten by candlelight in the dining room using two antique forged iron chandleliers found on a vacation to Cape Cod, as well as many table candles. You can see the forged pieces hanging over the table in one of the earlier photos of the table set for dinner with our friends. These two iron chandeliers are favorites of FHFB and we're planning on relocating them over a farm sink in the new pantry area right off the kitchen, a more primitive and functional space. But that's a whole other post!

You can see the top part of the hutch hanging on the wall - filled with my mom's Wedgewood china and Waterford Crystal. I'll take more close-up photos on my next post.

This post is longer than I planned but there really is a lot going on in the room. Thank you for stopping by and please check in next time for some close-ups of the dining room fabrics, wallpaper, etc.

I'm linked in to Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch. Please stop by to see all of the very interesting posts.

Decisions! Decisions!

2010-11-11T07:13:00.000-05:00

Last night I had dinner with two wonderful friends, both teachers from Tewksbury and both very special in their own rights. Carol and Becky, that was a delicious bottle of wine, wasn't it? :) Here's to many more!

I've been looking through all of my cookbooks and my back issues of the Thanksgiving themed Bon Appetit, Martha Stewart Living and Gourmet magazines to find appetizers for our holiday parties. My most favorite issue is a 1979 copy of Bon Appetit - the subscription was a gift from my mom and the recipes were used for the very first Thanksgiving dinner that FHFB and I hosted in our first home in Rockway Township, lovingly called "Little House on the Highway". We still make the cornbread stuffing and Italian Roasted Turkey recipes from this issue!

You can see that it's definitely been used! The cover is detached and the edges are frayed.

More magazines saved from prior Thanksgivings...

My collection of Thanksgiving recipes and decorating ideas also includes several little pamphlets from Whole Foods and Williams-Sonoma.

So far I've come up with my first draft of appetizer recipes for Thanksgiving. I know, why am I serving so many appetizers in addition to the traditional turkey dinner? Well, my family has a tradition, at every gathering, to sit and chat for a 2-3 hours before the meal while eating delicious appetizers and drinking whatever special cocktail we have prepared for the day. For Thanksgiving we're thinking of serving a light but delicious white sangria, with slices of apples and pears.

Can I call this list of appetizers a transformation of sorts, from an empty piece of paper to a list of 9 appetizers, most of them making it to the final cut?

Here's what we have so far:

Alton's Salty Sweet Pecans
Cheese Straws
Parmesan and Thyme Crackers
Cheese Tray with Many Varieties of Olives
Veggie Tray

Crostini with Sun Dried Tomato Jam
Olive-Garlic Soft Cheese Spread served with Whole Grain Baguette
Prosciutto Cups With White Beans
Stilton Toast and Cranberry Chutney

I haven't linked to each of the recipes because many of them are from a fantastic link I found on Epicurious.com called Cocktail Party Menus - it's just full of delicious cocktail party menus with all of the recipes linked in as well - a very easy site to work your way through.
I'm linked in to Transformation Thursday with Gina at Shabby Chic Cottage- stop by to see all of the ideas and links!

(from Google Images)

Ciao, bella!

No Pictures Today

2010-11-09T08:09:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone! I'm so happy to be back on my blog - the last few weeks had been invaded by hours of studying and meeting with a study group in preparation for an exam. With a passing grade, this exam provides credentials documenting expertise in special education assessment, along with many other benefits. I'm glad that I prepared for the exam and have it completed, but am also extremely happy and relieved that it's off my radar - I much prefer decorating, cooking, shopping, entertaining, reading, enjoying the seasonal changes, planning parties and dinners and relaxing to studying these days.

My list of things to do this week include:

create menus for the remainder of the week - I'm trying out the South Beach diet and have been pretty happy with the results so far
order a turkey from Ashley Farms here in Northwest New Jersey
plan Thanksgiving menu and recipes - we're providing the appetizers, turkey, stuffing, gravy here at Frog Hollow Farm - my sisters are bringing the side dishes and desserts - how lucky am I?
plan menu for the Frog Hollow Farm Christmas party
design a menu for Christmas Eve - celebrated for so many years with our long time dear friends the MacPeeks (hope you can make it Liz!)
create a menu for Christmas morning breakfast
figure out which take-along dish we're bringing to Christmas dinner in New Brunswick - FHFB's brother and wife always host this very festive and wonderful day

I'd rather organize and plan for dinner parties and create a cozy and comfortable home than study any day!

On Friday some new furniture will be arriving here at the Frog Hollow Farmhouse so I'll be able to show you the results of our dining room and living room makeover that we've been working on since the end of the summer - just in time for the holidays.

Ciao, bella!

Sunday Afternoon at Eataly

2010-10-30T17:29:00.000-04:00

Eataly - Flatiron District - NYC

Last Sunday afternoon FHFB and I took a drive over to the city to visit Eataly in Manhattan. Our daughter Katie was home from Brooklyn and was able to join us - she had already been to Eataly twice so she was a great guide.

Eataly opened its first North American branch in conjunction with Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich. The multi-floor, multi-restaurant culinary behemoth includes separate mini-restaurants devoted to meat, fish, vegetables, pasta and pizza, panini, espresso, gelato, salumi, cheeses — plus a rooftop brewpub.

This post is really a photo diary of the trip, without too many words. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did - it was a great afternoon. Some advice, pick up a shopping cart as soon as you get in the store. We found ours at the produce entrance. Here's a small map of the inside of the store from Google:

Granted, it's not too easy to see. And after I posted the rest of the photos I realized that the quality of my Blackberry phone is not so great. So, please forgive the very blurry photos - believe me, the store is just fabulous. I also had some great photos of the fresh mozzarella section and some other areas that were sideways, and I just couldn't get them to post right-side-up for some reason.

Okay, let's begin the visit!

The Bread !

The Butcher!

Cheese!

The Bakery !

FHFB's Macchiato!

Pasta! Eataly also has a huge fresh pasta section with delicious looking ravioli, linguini, fettucine, you name it!

Olive Oil!

Salami!

Pre-Made Sandwiches and Foccacia!

No picture of the pizza, but Katie loved it! We ate it while we walked around shopping!

Frito Misto Lunch!

We had a delicious bottle of proseco with our lunch. Everything was delicious, but be prepared for crowds. We were in the store for about 3 hours, shopping, eating, shopping and eating.

Oh, and there is also a wine store that is accessed from the outside.

What more could you ask for?

I'm so disappointed at the quality of the photos - I need to remember my camera from now on - LOL!

Ciao, bella!

A Gift

2010-10-18T14:00:00.021-04:00

Today when I walked into my office I was surprised to find a lovely surprise waiting for me from my friend Lena. Lena has worked as our cleaning lady for more than 10 years now. Originally from Lithuania, Lena came here and lived with her cousin Marina, a local talented seamstress, which is where I met Lena for the first time those many years ago. I have recommended her to many of my friends - our favorite contractor Brian even hired her after watching her work every week while he was here working on our new addition!

Lena is always surprising FHFB and me with little gifts, usually things she's found or something that someone has given away. There have been many other wonderful little surprises from Lena over the years. Recently, Lena has given us a tapestry picture which is hanging in our upstairs bedroom suite, some interesting painted wooden moulding that FHFB will use in the chicken coop, a large bottle of vodka that she gave us because she saw (from our recycling bag) that we like to drink vodka (yikes!), and a bottle of Lithuanian liqueur brought back from her last visit home. She is really a hoot.

Last Thursday she told me that she had something for me, and with her very strong Lituanian accent it's always hard to understand what she's trying to communicate in English. So, here's what I found in my office today.

It's a lovely old sewing box.

Here's what it looks like inside. The little tray comes out and there's space underneath. Someone even left some sweet old spools of threads and vintage packages of straight pins and sewing needles.

So, what should I do with this adorable little sewing chest? I kind of like the color, it's a washed out green, but I'd love your feedback on how I could use it. Lena would love to see me find the perfect place for it at Frog Hollow Farm.

Ciao, bella!

The October Conservatory

2010-10-17T06:45:00.001-04:00

We are so busy here at Frog Hollow Farm! Bringing geraniums and hibiscus into the house before the frost, getting the gardens ready for winter, putting the finishing touches on our dining room and living room and also thinking about the holidays and the delicious menus we'll be serving.

Our conservatory is right off of our dining room, and has become a year-round room. Besides using it for housing herbs...

and entertaining, we love sitting out there in the winter, reading, and watching the snow fall outside while sipping hot chocolate with home-made Frog Hollow Farm marshmallows or drinking a delicious cocktail.

For October we have our pumpkin pine table set with some seasonal pieces of mixed vintage china picked up in a couple of antique shops on our trip to Vermont several years ago.

The napkins are from April Cornell and the tablecloth is from Marshalls. I love the colors in these vintage pieces.

Two little bears sit in their adorable Halloween costumes, waiting for someone to take them Trick-or-Treating. We don't get Trick-or-Treaters at our house - we sit down a long tree-lined lane and there are only a few homes on our street.

Somewhere in my reading and browsing I came across an interesting way to prepare brussel sprouts, if you're a fan that is.

Sliced and Sauteed Brussel Sprouts

Clean the sprouts and slice off the end of each one.

Place in a food processor with the slicing disc and slice the brussel sprouts .

Heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a pan with thinly sliced garlic. We like garlic so I used 3 cloves, but you can use as much or little as you like. I suppose you could also use shallots or leeks instead.

Saute the brussel sprouts with the olive oil and garlic until soft - about 15 minutes or so. While they are cooking, sprinkle on some kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.

We are driving into the city today to check out the new 'Eataly' - Mario Batali's new gourmet Italian grocery store and restaurants (yes, there are several restaurants in this place). My daughter has been there twice and has warned us that it's a zoo, but definitely a fantastic place for Italian foodies.

I'm linked in to Seasonal Sundays at The Tablescaper! Please stop by to check out the wonderful blogs and seasonal ideas.

Ciao, bella!!

The Flatrocks at Lindenmere

2010-10-02T12:03:00.006-04:00

As promised I'm posting some photos from the flatrocks on Lake Champlain. Everyday around 4:45 when we're visiting Lindenmere we all pack a couple of picnic baskets full of delicious Vermont cheddar, whole grain crackers, olives, various spicy Italian salamis, fruit and of course - lots of wine!

After we're all packed up we take as short walk down a narrow path through the beautiful cedar trees down to the flatrocks, which are these huge flat rocks that hug the perimeter of Lake Champlain on the west side of South Hero Island. And when we arrive here's what we see:

This flatrock area is the perfect place to set up several Adirondack chairs and sit back to watch the sunset with friends and loved ones.

It's such a gorgeous day here in north western New Jersey. We're looking forward to a wonderful weekend with friends on the back porch!

Ciao, bella!

Vermont Vacation

2010-10-01T14:15:00.000-04:00

I'm finally sitting down to share our wonderful trip up to Vermont in early September.

Thirty years ago was the first time FHFB and I took the long drive up to South Hero Island in a very large old Cadillac with a 6 month old baby. Truth be told I was a little nervous, I didn't know our host (he was another weather friend of FHFB's) and I wasn't sure how baby-friendly the house would be.

We all fell in love with Lindenmere the minute we drove down the narrow tree lined lane to the magical little house overlooking Lake Champlain.

I can't believe I don't have any photos of the house - it's a summer house built in the 1920s with cedar shingle siding and wooden windows painted with a simple white trim.

Cedar trees surround the house and lean precariously over the rocks into the lake. The house is up pretty high so there's no danger of any flooding.

Our host plants the loveliest garden every year, full of colorful annuals and geraniums that he saves year after year in their clay pots. He really has a green thumb.

Tomorrow I'll post some photos of the lake and flatrocks.

Our Vermont host is visiting Frog Hollow Farm this weekend and we're planning to have a wonderful dinner on the porch. Hopefully the rain and wind will be out of here and we can all sit snuggled in some sweaters and talk the night away.

Here's our menu chock full of Italian comfort food:

Frog Hollow Farm Sausage and Peppers

(all the peppers are from FHFB's garden!)

Baked Rigatoni with Bechamel Sauce

Crusty warm semolina bread

Arugula salad with toasted walnuts

Ina Garten's Apple Crisp

(I use less of the citrus zest when I make this absolutely delicious recipe)

The first time I ever made this recipe was about 10 years ago. We were expecting a phenomenal meteor shower that year, I think it was in November, but I'm not sure. Anyway, we had some friends coming over at 3:00am (yes, I know, a bit crazy) to sit and watch the show with us. And I say 'show' because I've never seen anything like it. The meteors were so numerous and so very bright, they were lighting up the whole field. It was one of the most magical nights that FHFB and I have shared together - and we had our dearest friends with us as well! Afterwards everyone came into the kitchen and the aroma of the baking apple crisp was still in the air. With a steaming cup of coffee the apple crisp just hit the spot - we still talk about that meteor shower and when we do our friends always mention the apple crisp. It was truly a memorable evening!

(He just came into our office told me it was the Leonids meteor shower in November.)

I hope your evening is memorable as well - there are so many memories to make!

Ciao, bella!