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

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!

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!

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!

Steamed Clams and Corn

Just had to post this very delicious dish from Martha Stewart's Living magazine August 2010 issue.

I made it for FHFB last night and he ate the entire bowl (with some help from me).  We also had a crusty loaf of semolina bread to help scoop up some of the delicious wine and garlic juices at the bottom of the bowl.  Along with a fresh tomato salad and a bottle of crisp white wine,  this dinner was easy and just perfect for a summer evening.

The Back Porch and Transformation Thursday

Our back porch is just a couple of years old.  We demolished an old deck and built a wrap around porch that connected our back door to an old side door on the conservatory.   For the past couple of years we've been working with various peices of furniture, trying to find the best way to use the space on the porch.  This past spring we moved our hammock and hammock stand to the corner of the porch. Although the hammock stand is way to big for the porch, we like having it here because the porch roof protects the hammock fabric from the rain and wind, making the hammock usable virtually all of the time. 

Yes, these are my size 9 feet stretched out on the canvas hammock.  I love laying here during the afternoon.  Right now I can only slow down for about 20 minutes, but I'm working on making it up to an hour on that hammock!

Here are the furnishings and set-up before my re-arranging on Monday afternoon.  I liked how the bench looked in front of the window, but the sitting area didn't seem to work when friends were over.  There was no place to put a drink or appetizer plate.  We were just too spread out over the porch for any type of coziness.  You can see a small round table with a checkered green tablecloth to the left - this table was placed against the porch railing, overlooking the pond. Two people could sit comfortably with this arrangement.  I wanted to create a space for four people to sit comfortably.

Here is the same window, with the small round table moved away from the porch railing and nearer to the window, allowing for four chairs to fit comfortably around it. 

Here's a view of the 'before' arrangement from the other side.  You can see more clearly where the table was set up. 

Here's the seating area now, set away from the table area, but still cozy enough for conversation and places to put down a glass or small plate of food, but separate from the small table area. 

Here are a few other additions I made to the porch:

A sign that FHFB painted for our fresh picked raspberries.

Phlox from the front garden.

Sunflowers and Zinnias from FHFB's gardens.

It's not a major transformation, but significant enough for me to feel happy and settled now whenever I walk outside onto the porch.  For me, the porch is more functional and also more clearly delineated, without being too structured. 

FHFB hasn't embraced this change - I'm hoping it will grow on him, like many of my furniture re-arrangement projects :). 

Thanks for visiting - I'm linked on to Transformation Thursday.  If you have a minute or two, stop by to see all of the wonderful blogger transformation postings!!

Ciao, bella!

Dinner and Dessert Menu for the Weathermen on the Porch at Frog Hollow Farm

It's raining outside - and I'm supposed to be on my way to my yoga class but I've decided that I don't want to get wet, so I'm here posting Part 2 of the Weathermen's Barbeque menu.  Don't get me wrong, I love yoga and feel great whenever I practice either in a class or on my own, but today is just not a yoga class day for me. 

Okay, now for the dinner menu from our gathering on Saturday here at Frog Hollow Farm!!  Several of these recipes are from Ina Garten's collection.  I just love her style and everything about her!