Black Eyed Susan's Kitchen

THE TEA BEFORE THE STORM

              On this last day of November, before the calendar turns its page to the very busy, already penciled in days of December, I thought a soul warming cup of tea would be a just the ticket. A little reflection on the month to come led me to some tea time memories. The teapot in the picture above was a gift from my husband more than thirty years ago. It wasn't the beginning of a lifelong love of teapots, but it did start a collection. Over the years, the collection has grown to include teapots from as far away as Saudi Arabia and Hungary. The blue rose finial on the Herend teapot has been my favorite since the day my husband brought it home with him when he returned from a business trip in Sweden. The hand painted middle eastern set was also a gift after a long business trip. What is the attraction that so many of us seem to have to the teapots? Is it the family memories or the artistic values that we see in them. The Peter Rabbit teapot was a gift from my sister in law and is a treasured part of my collection along with the stack of tea tiles that it is resting upon. The English Sadler pot was a yard sale find...doubly exciting because of the pansy motif on it. The hand thrown pottery teapot with the crowned frog prince sitting on a lily pad finial came from Middlebury Vermont. It was found at a fine arts center called Frog Hollow. This was a place that we thought would be around forever, but along with many other changes in the world the center is now gone. From as far away as Finland (the pink ringed and blue ringed pots) or as close as Dedham Massachusetts (the bunny motif teapot), the one thing that remains constant is a worldwide love of tea. The time it takes to sit down with someone and have a quiet moment whether it be in China or India, or closer to home, it is a very human, civilized ritual. The attraction to collecting these vessels that evoke both grace and humor also seems to be  universal. While I sip my cup of tea, poured from this memory of a teapot, and think about the upcoming social events and chores, I hope that everyone reading this will have a little time to quietly enjoy a spot of tea and reflection.

This post is being linked to Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday and The Colorado Lady for Vintage Thingie Thursday.

♥, Susan

   

  

 

EVERGREEN INSPIRATION

            Walking through town on "Small business Saturday", I was a little dazzled by how many different Christmas trees the shops had decorated.
On the left is a tree in the window of Quick Silver all decked out in silver jewelry. The tree in the center is in Ten Thousand Villages...I love the capiz shell angel on top. The tree to the right is from a store called Fragile Earth Stuffed Animals. They have stuffies that are fair trade endorsed. I love a tree that is bedecked with little toys and the ornaments on their tree also happen to be hand puppets.

          The streets were packed with shoppers and the weather could not have been more cooperative. Some of the stores featured gingerbread houses baked, built and sponsored by other local restaurants and bake shops.   I found this one in a store called Carter and Cavero Old World Olive Oil Company. Stepping into their store must be a lot like visiting Tuscany. 

There was temptation everywhere! I will be going back into town to do some serious shopping in the next few weeks.
The snake charmer basket in the picture above definitely has my name on it. I'm not sure where I will put it, but hopefully it will still be there when I go back.
We walked up and down all of the streets, stopping to admire the tree in front of the Dublin House, an old Victorian mansion turned into a lovely Irish pub. This is where everyone in town gets together for the big night of tree lighting and musical entertainment. A local kick off to the holiday season. Across the street from the pub is one of my favorite stores, The Monmouth Street Emporium. This is where I got my start in the antiques business so many years ago. The vintage red cape and dress in the window along with the red glass and crystal are so eye catching!
If you are looking for adorable ornaments that will double as finger puppets, or if you are looking to go blue this Christmas,
I would like to suggest that you spend a little time wandering around your local town to see what the merchants have. You are bound to find inspiration galore...and if you don't have a cute little town to wander through then by all means come and check out mine. It is in Red Bank, New Jersey, right at the top of the Jersey Shore.

This post is being linked to Little Red House for Mosaic Monday, Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday, Smiling Sally for Blue Monday and Work of the Poet for Ruby Tuesday.

♥, Susan 

A VERY COLORFUL HOLIDAY SEASON APPROACHES

                  There is a mesmerizing season of eye candy on its way, and for me, it all started this week.

It began with a little Thanksgiving decorating because we only have this tiny window to put out our Pilgrims and turkeys. The cat in our window, the one holding the turkey in its paws was made by my Mother in law and Father in law. They also made the Pilgrims and gifted them to me years ago. From the shop in their barn to my Mother in laws work table for painting, it all means so much more now that they are getting up in years. It would not be a happy holiday without these little bits of family history.

           By the end of this week though, things around here will change dramatically. We experienced a taste of the holiday season to come at the SWEA (Swedish Women's Education Association)  in Montclair, NJ today. This wonderful little Christmas festival is an annual event for us, even though we no longer bring the children.
What draws us in every year? It could be the smorgasbord of Scandinavian delights that they set out. The little open face sandwiches made of shrimp or salmon, the tiny Swedish meatballs on top of a beet salad, the delicious sweets, or maybe it is the really good cup of coffee.

It might be the fun crafts or the bright colored textiles that they sell...
or the adorable little tomtes. I am pretty sure though that we have made this an annual event because of the atmosphere set up by these warm hearted volunteers...
who put the time and effort in to make sure that the holiday season gets off to a good start. One of the things I enjoy most is getting to see the same faces every year. The lovely lady in the upper right hand corner is my friend Lola. She lives near us, so I bump into her every now and then. She was the advertising rep for a local magazine, who came into my store one day. We hit it off from the start and when she told me about this festival, so many years ago, we had to check it out. My husband being Swedish and Danish and all, I thought it was a good opportunity to introduce our children to a little old world heritage. They also loved the festival and look back on it as the start of the holiday season as well.

             This year we bought two adorable Tomte's to add to our collection, one a little boy holding a Dala horse and the other a little girl on a sled holding a Yul Boch. One larger Tomte that is slated to be a gift for someone special, and the candles that count down the days till Christmas eve. I also bought the cookbook they published and will try some of the recipes in the near future. It was a day of tradition, fun and good feelings all around.

             I am looking forward to a season of activity filled with good food, lots of cheer and most importantly, family and friends. Happy Thanksgiving to my blog friends ...I hope your holiday leaves you with some great photos to share.  

             This post is being linked to Little Red House for Mosaic Monday, Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday, Smiling Sally for Blue Monday, Work of the Poet for Ruby Tuesday, and Thats my World for My World Tuesday.

♥, Susan

BEFORE THE THANKSGIVING RUSH

            Before things get to hectic and my mind becomes scattered, before the turkey is defrosting in the fridge and the cranberries are waiting to be made into sauce, I wanted to appreciate the lull in activity. Next week will be a frenzy of family, fun and excitement but this week, when not much of anything is going on, I like to take the opportunity to think about the previous year. It is a week of gratitude, appreciation and calm.

             While I was cleaning out the linen closet this week...something I haven't tackled for a very long time, (can you say giant dust bunnies?) I came across this quilt, long forgotten and smooshed into the back of the closet.

I bought this many years ago at an estate sale. I believe the owner of the house was a quilter...she was moving and needed to lighten her load. This quilt inspired an artistic table setting, using vintage and modern touches.

Instead of traditional placemats I used hand hammered, artisan made, aluminum trays all made by Arthur Armour around the late 30's and early 40's. They are all the same size and each one has a different motif...fun if you are making a dinner and want to personalize each setting. I have here snow flakes for the ski buff, a Rose of Sharon for the gardener, Sea Horses for the scuba diver and a world map for the world traveler.

To the center of the table I added a candelabra made in the 1950's by De Ponceau of Chattaqua New York.

Even the flatware has a hammered pattern to it.

The two serving pieces are also vintage aluminum and the glasses are hand blown from Italy.

The end result for this tablescape is hopefully artful and bohemian as I thought the inspiration quilt to be. It definitely perks up a chicken pot pie dinner.

            Quilt as tablecloth: Estate Sale

            Placemats: Arthur Armour marked trays...vintage

            Candelabra: DePonceau of NY...vintage

            Serving Bowl: Wendell August Forge, Apple Blossom pattern...vintage

            Glass serving bowl set: Canterbury Arts...vintage

            Napkin Holders: Ten Thousand Villages

            Drinking glasses: Marshall's... Marked Italy

            Napkins: Yard sale

            Soup bowls: Williams Sonoma...found at a yard sale

            White oval underplates: Marshall's Home Goods

I hope you take a few minutes to relax and breathe before the whirlwind of the holidays begins. The leaves are still falling from the trees here...
and it is so pretty, but I am sure that it will look less so this weekend when we tackle the project of cleaning up the yard.

Hoping to be back next week with the Thanksgiving table setting.

This post is being linked to Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday and Colorado Lady for Vintage Thingie Thursday.

♥, Susan

RED WHITE AND BLUE

             One of the good things about not having my own store any more (and I really do miss it) is being able to take my time with the transition from season to season and holiday to holiday.
Having the luxury of time to say adios to the bright blue skies of summer and the fun of the warm weather fairs
and make my way to winter in my own time. The stores have Christmas decorations up, although I can still think about Thanksgiving and the family that will fill our house for that holiday.

               It is fun though to stop in and see the stores all decked out...dressed up for the next month. I took a few pictures when I was at Shutters (one of my favorite shops to get a little decorating inspiration).
Although there is lots of red, white and green around for Christmas I fell for the three items in the photo above. The lamp with a base that is a basket full of kittens, the driftwood Angel, and the seashore themed wreath.
Then of course it gets a little more difficult to keep my eye on all of the neutral decor when little pops of red start showing up. Do you see that round wire wreath on the mirror in the picture above? The one between the two lamps? I hope it will still be there when I stop in this week. How great will that be filled in with Christmas cards or family photos?
Like I said though, the red keeps pulling me in. At any time of year I like a pop of red in a room...it makes me smile.
Especially the red painted furniture! This is why I find so much inspiration here. The light blue walls, the red furnishings and all of that neutral in the accessories. Not a combination I would think of on my own but leave it to a brilliant decorator like Christine and you wind up with a gorgeous winter wonderland.

             Want to get more inspiration? You can find Shutters Cottage Style home decor here. This post is being linked to Little Red House for Mosaic Monday, Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday, Smiling Sally for Blue Monday and My Cherry World for Rednesday.

♥, Susan

FINALLY FALL AND THE SHOCKING TRUTH

               Better late than never, but it is finally here at the Jersey Shore..
I have been waiting for this to happen...for the leaves to magically turn into the colors of a crayon box...
and for this brief little time of the year to bask in the glory of Autumn.
Even if it is only for a week or two, I love this moment when my sights are set on Thanksgiving. The ceramic turkeys come out along with the fall dishware.

             In the November issue of Martha Stewart living magazine, the front cover is a picture of a pumpkin meringue pie. I am thinking of trying this recipe, seems that instead of whipped cream the meringue might go very nicely on a pumpkin pie. Just as I was preparing to give this pie a try though, I saw this on TV...  From the Flying Monkey Bakery in the Reading Terminal in Philadelphia, this is a Pumpple cake. Now, as you may know, I pretty much grew up in the bakery business. My Dad and my Grandfather both owned bakeries, and I am no stranger to shock value as we have 3 college age kids in our house, so there is very little at this point that you can show me that would create the shock and awe I felt at seeing this cake. What a crazy, gutsy idea...wish I had thought of it!! The bottom half is a chocolate cake with an entire pumpkin pie baked into the cake and the top half is an apple pie baked into a yellow cake. The two cakes are then assembled into one cake frosted and filled with buttercream. The shocking truth is that I feel the need to try this...at least try one pie baked into one cake. So now that you know this I am asking...what are your thoughts on this subject?? 

This post is being linked to Designs by Gollum for Foodie Friday.

♥, Susan

SOMETHINGS THAT ARE OLD, SOMETHINGS THAT ARE BLUE

              Look up...in the sky...
While I was at the community garden this week, on the clearest of days, I remembered to look up and this is what I saw above my head. A rather large hawk was swooping up there like he owned all of the air in the sky...beautiful!

             Being a shorty, I always remember to look down...seeing what is near my feet is easy because it is closer. At the yard sales this past weekend while walking through someones garage, right there on the floor I saw this...
It is a set of 4 original prints. Vegetable in theme, they are marked, Three Color Vegetable Landscape, Four Color Vegetable Landscape, Five Color Vegetable Landscape and Six Color Vegetable Landscape. All Signed by the artist Tammy Renfroe. They are also all double matted and professionally framed.
and I couldn't believe my eyes either. The four of them for $10.00...no haggling here...I know a gift from the yard sale spirits when I see it.
So, I have a question about the frames...and I know so many of you are good at restoration. The frames are a little dinged up and although perfection is not so very important, I would like to clean them up a bit, preferably with out taking the prints out of the frames as they are sealed in the back. Do you think that if I use some fine steel wool and one of those wood color markers that might work? I don't want to make it worse. 

            It was also my day to find jars and cookbooks. The jars are used in the kitchen because I am the kind of person who needs to see what is in the pantry...   I tend to forget that things are there if they are not in view. I believe that is called a visual learner and visual thinking in the special education field....wish I knew that when I was in school.  I also found a gorgeous crystal cloche...a nice big one! You can see how the jars work in the kitchen 
making dinner is just a glance away. So, I found some older jars and a brand new never used jar. In addition to all of this yard sale gold I found this book...
that I have been wanting to read for a while now. It makes getting up very early on a Saturday morning soooo worth it. A new best seller for a buck...seriously...how great is that?

This post is being linked to Little Red House for Mosaic Monday, Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday, and Smiling Sally for Blue Monday.

♥, Susan

FINDING PINK IN THE SEASON OF ORANGE

           Walking through a greenhouse the other day, I was looking for pinks to photograph. I saw lots of red ...as in Christmas displays. I saw lots of orange ...as in Halloween on sale. It took an eagles eye to find the pinks.
However, a little perseverance and here is the pink that I found. Mostly in the succulents and the cactus...loved the little sign that says WATCH OUT! We Bite!
I especially fell for this adorable little cottage all painted in pink. These "pinks" were found while I was waiting to have my new cookbook signed by none other than Lidia Bastianich. If you would like to read about the book signing, click here to get to my previous post. If you would like to read more about Pink Saturday, click over to How Sweet the Sound. Thanks to Beverly for being the lovely Pink Hostess.

♥, Susan

COOKBOOK SIGNING WITH LIDIA BASTIANICH

            Last night my husband graciously accompanied me to a cookbook signing at Dearborn Market in Holmdel NJ. This event was amazingly well organized and planned out. Bracelets were given out in the afternoon and the signing was in the evening. There was easily a thousand people there and yet it seemed to go fairly smoothly.
There was a lot of waiting as people got on line in groups of 50 and we were in the third group. It wasn't boring though...the people who work for Dearborn could not have been nicer. In the mosaic above, the woman in the upper left hand corner is Arlene...she had the task of corralling all of the people. She did her job courteously and with a good nature and sense of humor. Since we had time, we walked around, were treated to some Thanksgiving fare...turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes and creamed cauliflower. We looked at the beautiful greenery and unusual plants as well as the garden decor and Christmas decorations.
We also sampled Lidia's new line of pasta and sauces. Trays of cheese samples were also passed around...if only there had been some wine...
Then it was our turn to have a very quick audience with Lidia. It wasn't particularly important to have my name inscribed in the cookbook since it will be in our somewhat massive collection and I am hoping that someday one of my children will want to keep the cookbooks, so I asked her to write what she always says at the end of her shows. Tutti a Tavolo a mangiare...which I believe means to the table to eat...I just love the sentiment.
Lidia seems to have a genuine fondness for children and the little girl in the picture above is also named Lydia. Her father had her waiting with him for hours and she was remarkably well behaved and a nice diversion while we waited our turn. Lidia's publicist (I think) sat beside her and was very pleasant. One of the workers there was happy to take our camera and snap a few shots for us.
The cookbook Lidia's Italy in America is actually a terrific book and would be a wonderful gift for anyone who enjoys going out for Italian food. The American restaurant menu's are what many of us have grown up with so these dishes are easily related to and just what we might consider comfort food. When my husband and I first met almost 35 years ago we both worked in the financial area of downtown NY. We would take the Path trains to Hoboken and on occasion stop at The Clam Broth House before heading home. One of my all time favorite dishes there was lobster fra diavlo...a recipe in the book. About 30 years ago we had tickets to a show in NY and decided to try a fairly new restaurant at the time, Felidia. The meal was so good and so different from anything we had before that it was just that memorable (but I do tend to remember events by the food that was enjoyed). All in all, I am not sure that I would stand in line for such a long time to wait to have a book signed, but I might...once my feet stop hurting.

This post is being linked to Designs by Gollum for Foodie Friday.

♥, Susan

AUTUMNAL INSPIRATION

               There is something so homey inspirational about the fall...it is darker outside for longer periods of time but the bright golds, reds and oranges of the leaves and pumpkins make up for it. There is also something magically energizing about the cooler, crisper air...it feels and smells healthier.

                 While I was clicking away (via camera) at my friends store, I found these teeny tiny little yellow ware bowls.
Possibly meant to hold berries and be hung from the branches of a Christmas tree, my mind did not go there. My first thought was how sweet they would be on the Thanksgiving table to hold individual salts. When I brought them home though, I came up with so many other ideas.
A tablescape was arranged around these little bowls in the spirit of the Autumn Harvest. This brings me to my first link which is to Jenny Matlock for Alphabe Thursday, starting today with the letter A for Autumn. 
This table is set with all things rustic and relaxed. The handmade Bennington pottery and the vintage tablecloth that has such a short season to be used.
I like the vintage depression glasses with this table setting. It all sets off that golden glow.
Truth be told, for holidays I set the dining room table and when the weather allows, I will set the table on the screened porch, but my favorite place for a week night meal is in the kitchen.
The cozy area with the antique Hoosier and the black and white checked floor. The space where I can view my wall of cookbooks.
This is the spot that our young adult children and their friends hang out, the place where I come up with so many ideas to write about and the place where I get to try out new recipes on anyone who happens to be in the house at the time. It is my favorite spot in our home.

Linking this post to The Colorado Lady for Vintage Thingy Thursday and Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday. Also a shout out to Shutters in Fair Haven ...don't forget that they are having their open house and sale tomorrow.

♥, Susan