Finding My Roots and Weekly Menu

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!

A Street Food Stroll in Rome with Eleonora

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

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

Magnificent Taglierini del Magnifico from La Cucina Del Garga

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

Mini Counter-Scape

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

Valentine's Day at Frog Hollow Farm

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!

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!!