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! 

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!

Appetizer Menu for the Weathermen's Barbeque on the Porch at Frog Hollow Farm

On Saturday FHFB and I hosted a barbeque for FHFB's office staff - 9 meteorologists and their families.  Everything turned out wonderfully, however, it was absolutely pouring that morning - a real deluge - FHFB promised me that it would clear up by the afternoon and he was right - there wasn't a drop of rain the entire afternoon and evening.