Pantry Design

We completed extensive renovations on our farmhouse about 3 years ago, redoing and expanding the second floor, adding on a wrap-around porch and pantry/workroom and connecting the basement with the crawlspace.  All of the rooms have been painted, furnished, decorated and filled with all sorts of things - this was easy to do because each of the spaces had a specific use - I knew what to do with them...except for the workroom off of the kitchen.  

This small room has become the main entrance into the house, as it is right off of the back porch and guests seem to take the porch steps into the house - they are wide, well lit and much safer than the front stone steps - which lead into the conservatory anyway since we don't use the original farmhouse door.  

(P.S. For the last 20 minutes I have been looking for photos of our front doors and porch but everything is so disorganized that I can't find a thing to post.  I will have to make another appointment with the Apple store to help me sort this our and organize my photos.) 

The photo in this post is the design for the workroom that I found on Pinterest and it's perfect!  This room needs to serve as a garden workroom, pantry, entertainment area to hold bar and buffet spreads and an entry mudroom for coats, boots, etc.  So, you can see why I have had so much trouble with the design.  I also didn't want the room to look like a kitchen - every designer I worked with ended up showing me a room that looked like a kitchen.  We will be adding a farm sink and an Sub-Zero glass-front refrigerator to the room.  

My contractor makes a second visit this evening, to begin planning and scheduling everything that needs to be done.  I am very excited and relieved to finally have a design and plan!  

Ciao, bella!

xxoo

http://pinterest.com/pin/83035186849560343/

Dinner for a Friend

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



Dresser Bar on the Back Porch for Summertime Entertaining

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

The Beautiful Dominican Republic

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!

 

The October Conservatory

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!!

Vermont Vacation

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!

Harvest Moon at Frog Hollow Farm

Last night was such a beautiful night to sit out on the porch at Frog Hollow Farm with a glass of wine and some delicious appetizers.  The air temperature was just right and the most beautiful waning harvest moon was peeking over the treetops at the back of the south field.  Even with the brightness of that moon it was pretty dark outside and our little porch, lit with a few small candles and lanterns, seemed like it's own little world, safe and sound from any harm. 

FHFB had been wallpapering our dining room for most of the day and it was time to kick back and relax.  We've chosen the Herndon Straw pattern from Thibaut's Chelsea collection.  The image from the Thibaut website is a little blurry but I have to tell you that the paper looks just beautiful on the walls!

(Have I ever told you that FHFB is the most expert wallpaperer in the world?)

Our Appetizers

Roasted pancetta and goat cheese drizzled with honey

Picholine olives, which are a French green olive, salt-brine cured, with subtle, lightly salty flavor

sicilian style olives, A medium green color olive, crisp and salty.

Dinner

Pan-roasted Frog Hollow Farm stuffed green peppers

Fresh, whole wheat linguini

Frog Hollow Farm marinara sauce

Arugula and red-leaf lettuce salad with a light vinaigrette

Dessert

Raspberry pies in a jar (Yvonne's recipe at Stone Gable)

I'm still studying for my NCED exam in early November but found time to have lunch at our local Brew Pub last week with Bunny, a fabulously talented woman and owner of The Paris House Designs. 

It was such a pleasure to meet her and chat for awhile, and she brought me the most gorgeous gift of several MOR beauty products -  MOR is proudly Australian and recognized globally for its range of innovative, luxurious pampering body care and lifestyle products. 

Please take a moment to stop by Bunny's absolutely beautiful Paris House Designs website and blog - it will take your breath away and leave you with a ton of new ideas for your home as well as ideas to pamper and take care of yourself! 

Ciao, bella!

Making Tomato Puree at Frog Hollow Farm

I'm so happy to be back blogging - things are just way too busy for me around here between painting the big room, traveling and getting back to work on a consulting basis. Yes, I know, it'as all good and it's exactly what I want to be doing, but sometimes too many new things at once catch me off guard, and my routines become lost in the shuffle.  

 Blogging has unfortunately gone by the wayside, and I've been missing you all terribly.  

Today I thought I'd post about my morning project - making tomato puree from the delicious tomatoes in  FHFB's vegetable garden. 

This is a photo of his garden in the late spring - that's the side of our house in the background.

September has always been the time of year when I've been back at school either teaching or bogged down in the administrative tasks of getting a new school year off to a great start.  Now, with retirement, I'm working on taking in a deep breath and reminding myself that I have the time to do the things that need to be done, as well as the fun things that I love doing, like decorating, cooking, shopping, entertaining, designing etc. 

So this morning I thought I'd continue tackling the tomatoes by cooking them down, milling out the skins and seeds, and simmering the whole thing down to a thick delicious puree that I could freeze for the winter. 

 First off I needed to give them a good washing - at this time of year many of the tomatoes have fallen on the ground and have some dirt on them - and they just get dusty hanging out there on the tomato plants.

You can also see that they start growing a bit funny at this time of the year - earlier in the summer we don't get these types of markings on the tomatoes.

After I've washed the tomatoes I cut them up into quarters or smaller pieces and cut off any spots that wouldn't normally be eaten.  All of the tomato pieces are then put into a large stockpot, without any water, on a very low flame, with the lid on, until they cook down a bit.  You don't need to cook them down too much this time, just enough to be able to have them pass through the food mill easily.

This is a picture of the food mill that we use for tomato puree.  It clamps onto our counter and separates the puree from the seeds and skin.  This food mill is made out of aluminum and stainless steel.  A bowl to catch the puree is set up as well as a smaller bowl to catch the skin and seeds. 

After the puree is separated from the pulp and seeds, it's cooked down for quite a while, so that most of the water cooks out - this will allow for a richer puree when its made into a sauce later on.  I only add a small branch of fresh basil to the puree while it's cooking down - no salt or other seasonings until it's begin used for sauce later on.  You can remove the basil before freezing the puree, but you don't have to. 

I'm using these mason jars to freeze the puree this time.

Yes, all those tomatoes cooked down to only about 6 cups of puree. 

According to several on-line sources you can freeze the puree in mason jars with no problems (I always prefer glass to plastic) as long as you leave about a third of the jar empty, to allow for expansion.  We'll see how this works - I put them into the freezer up in the kitchen without lids on to see what happens - someone online recommended freezing without the lids and then putting the lids on afterwards - I don't know if that really makes a difference or not. 

Here they are on the top shelf of the freezer - without the lids.  Later tonight I'll put the lids on the jars and move them downstairs to the other freezer.

I hope that all is well with you and a big, big thank you so much for stopping by and not forgetting about me!  I have so many things to blog about in the next few days - our visit to Vermont, the decorating and new design in the big room upstairs and my new fall table setting in the conservatory. 

I'm participating in Metamorphosis Monday - I used to participate in that meme quite a bit and I'm happy to be involved again - there are so many creative ideas there - please take a moment to stop by.

Ciao, bella!

Labor Day 2010

Labor Day at Frog Hollow Farm was celebrated in glorious weather on the back porch and in the gardens. 

As always, my specialty cocktail was the hit of the party. 

This particular delicious Sparkling Sangria cocktail, pictured above, is from Michael Chiarello's recipe collection at Food Network.com. 

Our menu was pretty basic - with all that's going on around here lately we didn't have time to try any new recipes, and sometimes going back to basics works best for a barbeque. 

Here's our menu:

Aperitivo

Grilled Shrimp with Rosemary, Lemon and Garlic

Grilled Fontina and Mozzarella Sandwiches

Italian olives, local fresh cheese, and spicy salami

Tomato bruschetta

Spicy wings from Stella G's - a local restaurant

Roasted Red peppers - Rao's recipe

Dinner

Oven Baked Baby Back Ribs

Oven Fried Chicken (Barefoot Contessa Family Style)

Hot Dogs with relish, sauerkraut (my dad's request)

Hamburger sliders

Fresh corn-on-the-cob from a local farmer

Red potato salad (from my sister Colleen)

Caprese Salad (from sister-in-law Jan)

Green Salad with mustard vinaigrette (from sister-in-law Jan)

Delicious cheese and herb quiche (from sister Laurie)

Dessert

Colleen's Famous homemade apple pie with vanilla ice cream

Ricotta-Orange pound cake with strawberries

Fruit Strudel (from sister Laurie)

Chocolate Chip Cookies (from nephew Luke) 

Beverages

Ice cold beers:  Stella Artois, Beck's and Corona

Sparkling Sangria

An assortment of soda and sparkling waters

We're heading up to Vermont shortly - I'm hearing that I'll need to pack my sweaters along with summer outfits.  Packing for this trip is getting a bit overwhelming but we're stopping at the Woodbury Commons Outlets on the way up (FHFB wants to check out the Tommy Bahama store) and I'll probably pick something up at the Eileen Fisher store. 

Ciao, bella! 

Festive Autumn Door Wreath

I found myself all caught up with everything I needed to do for our Labor Day barbeque tomorrow - how did that happen?? 

Anyway, a few weeks ago I was inspired by one of Yvonne's posts at StoneGable - she posted a tutorial for putting a wreath together.  I found a couple of wreaths at Home Goods that I thought would be just right for my experimenting, and popped over to Michael's to pick up a few silks to decorate with. 

I began placing flowers on the wreath according to Yvonne's directions - and then took a photo before dismantling it and glueing it back together.  (You can see my daughter's copy of Rolling Stone magazine in the background - we are both in love with Jon Hamm from Mad Men.)

The hydrangeas are real - they dry so well for me in the house I thought I'd give them a try on the wreath.  The other berries, etc were all purchased at Michael's. 

Here's a close up of the wreath on the front door to the conservatory.

I really liked the way the colors of the flowers and berries all worked so well together.

Oops - you can see me in the reflection...yikes!

I love having the time to be creative and to make something that can help make Frog Hollow Farm feel festive and naturally seasonal in a simple way, without going too overboard.

Ciao, bella!

A Graceful Visitor

Sadly, I have not been paying enough attention to my blog, nor have I taken the time to visit many of your recent posts.  We're in the middle of getting ready to paint our living room and dining room, and also working with a couple of wonderful ladies from Design Works (Susan and Pam) here in Northwest New Jersey to add a couple of new pieces of furniture that will give the rooms a makeover with a little sparkle. 

The space is the original farmhouse room, quite large, with a walk-in fireplace and stone walls that have been plastered and then covered  with a wide beadboard  in the 1940's- which was painted an off-white color.  This room also has five doors, which has made it a challenge with regard to the placement of furniture, etc.  One corner of the room has been dedicated to the dining room, the other larger part a sitting area - considered our living room. 

Here's where we are right now, Monday morning:

I covered one corner wall of the room with sheetrock, which will be wallpapered in a Thibaut wallpaper called 'Straw'. 

You can see the swatch if you look really closely to the left of the window (or click on the link). 

Benjamin Moore paints will be used on the rest of the walls, all wood.  We've chosen another yellow as the main color, also named 'Straw' - 'Filtered Sunlight' for an accent wall going up the stairs and also for some built-in cabinetry to the left of the walk-in fireplace, and 'Vanilla Ice Cream' for all of the moulding,doors and the inside of the two deep-set windows.  Our wonderful contractor Brian is helping us put with the sheetrocking and some other things, and our good friend Steve, who is a phenomenal painter, is doing all of our painting for us - right after his get-away trip with his wife Liz to Newport, Rhode Island. 

I'll post some photos when we're all done. 

In the meantime, I have been spending lots of time outside in this gorgeous weather we've been having here in New Jersey.  Yesterday we had another visit from what I think is a white egret, although I'm not certain. 

Hope you're having a great week.  Besides getting ready for our painter, we're hosting my family, the Irish clan, here at Frog Hollow Farm for a Labor Day barbeque.  It will be simple but fun - my family loves to sit and chat and eat (and drink) for hours so we'll be cooking up a storm. 

The next day we're leaving for South Hero Island in Vermont for a few days, our friend Dave has a wonderful old summer home right on Lake Champlain.  

We changed our plans of staying at The Willard Street Inn - maybe next time!

Ciao, bella!

Voila!

What better way to spend a day than creating delicious dishes with vegetables from our garden, and with some additions from the pantry, fridge or freezer - very yummy creations are usually the result. 

FHFB's vegetable garden is in full swing right now, most especially with tomatoes.  These little yellow gems have the most exquisite flavor, and they don't seem to split as much on the vine as the smaller cherry tomatoes. 

The Vegetable Garden at Frog Hollow Farm

Some of my blogger friends have asked to see photos of our vegetable garden. This is really FHFB's garden, he puts all of the blood, sweat and tears into it and I just pick the goodies, find delicious recipes for them and get to take photos of the beautiful harvest. 
This might be a little boring if you're not into vegetables and flowers. 

Let's take a walk!

Zinnias

Sunflowers - lots of different colors

Asparagus, resting and going to seed

Tomatoes - but they're turning red now!

Butternut Squash - first time we've grown it!

Cinderella Pumpkins - I just love these pumpkins!

Blackberries ripening - they take a while.

Rediculous zucchini - I mean totally rediculous!  I'm finding fantastic zucchini recipes in my Pasta Fresca cookbook.  There's also a grilled potato salad that includes grilled zucchini, radicchio (and goat cheese if you want to add it) with a mustard vinaigrette from and old issue of Bon Appetit that's absolutely delicious.

I can send you the recipe if you like! 

Red Onions - for FHFB's favorite tomato salad.

Basil and Green Peppers

FHFB dries a lot of basil and also makes fresh, delicious pesto for the freezer.

Italian Flat Green Beans - the best tasting green bean around!

Cucumbers and Beets 

Herbs - parsley, sage, oregano, thyme, dill and pineapple mint.

Thanks for touring with me - I hope you enjoyed our walk through the garden.

Ciao, bella!