painted furniture

this nightstand was part of a blond set from the early 1950's purchased new by my parents.  many
family members have used this piece (and painted it!)

when we were setting up the guest room in barby and sean's apartment (which i use four or five days per week), barby thought it would be great to paint it a prominent color of a beautiful quilt displayed on the bed, which had been made by a dear friend of sean's mother for little katie kelly.

i sanded the piece down and then used behr premium plus ultra.  i sprayed a clear finish to give it an "enamel" look.  then i had a piece of glass cut to measure.  i purchased the antique doily at antique marketplace in lemoyne.  (the white corners are safety corners for the baby!)

tina painted dining room chairs a gorgeous silver.  barby had purchased the black italian chairs at a tag
sale in spring lake ~ she is now getting material for the seats and i can't wait to see the finished product!

we are getting the apartment ready for me to move into and i am scouting around for furniture we don't use any more and thinking up colors and finishes so i can revive them.

there is an old dresser that i am thinking of painting silver....tina did such a great job on the chairs, i think
the dresser would look really nifty silver also!

this will be my next project, after thanksgiving!

baby sister's blanket

i just finished baby sister's blanket and i love, love, love this pattern!  it was so easy (so easy i made
quite a few mistakes and had to rip out and re-do!

i got this pattern off the internet under Rare Purls Original Pattern, Blake's Baby Blanket, Copyright 2008 - Kay Mather:

materials:  (3) 100 grams (3.5 oz.) balls Cascade 220 superwash
needle: #8 US
finished blocked measurement: 27" x 30"
gauge - 4- 1/2 stitches = 1 inch, 6 rows = 1 inch


double moss pattern stitch
loosely cast on 120 stitches
row 1 - (K2, P2) repeat these 2 stitches across
row 2 - repeat row 1
row 3 - (P2, K2) repeat these 2 stitches across
row 4 - repeat row 3

work in double moss stitch pattern for approximately 3 inches, ending on row 4
begin broken rib pattern stitch with double moss stitch border

body of blanket (broken rib pattern stitch with double moss stitch border)
set up row - (K2, P2) across 14 stitches, place marker, knit next 92 stitches, place marker,  (P2, K2)
across 14 stitches, ending with P2
the set up row will be your first row 1 of broken rib pattern stitch with double moss stitch border

broken rib pattern stitch with double moss pattern stitch border
row 1 - K2, *(P2, K2) work from *across to marker, slip marker, K  across to marker, slip marker
*(P2, K2) work from *across, ending with P2
row 2 - repeat row 1
row 3 - (P2, K2) across, slipping markers
row 4 - repeat row 3

work broken rib pattern stitch with border for 27 inches, ending on row 4.

for final border, again begin with row 1 of double moss pattern stitch and work in border pattern for approximately 3 inches, ending on row 4.

bind off loosely, continuing P2, K2 stitch pattern across during bind off process.

(i made the blanket a bit larger than the pattern called for; i also used #10 needles and ambiente linea pura
by lana grossa of italy, 85% recycled cotton and 15% recycled cashmere)

Carlyle Hotel ~ it doesn't get any better!

today we had tea at the carlyle hotel in new york city.....madeline's tea, actually.....the walls are
hand painted by ludwig bemelmans, creator of the madeline books.  attending were katie kelly, her
mother and both grandmothers!.....what a divine time!.....the foods, presentation and service were
5 stars,  hands down!....and tina deVaron at the piano was truly amazing.....she played, sang, chatted,
and engaged the children beautifully!
When barby and sean married in 2009 at st. ignatius on park avenue, we all stayed at the carlyle ~
and had a magical experience then as well.  it just doesn't get any better than at the Carlyle!

fried green tomatoes

our daughter tina and her gary were coming to dinner to celebrate their anniversary
so i thought i would make one of her favorites, fried green tomatoes......i had never
made them before so i turned to simply recipes and here is what i found (and the
tomatoes were great!):

3 medium, firm green tomatoes
salt
1 c. all purpose flour
1/2 c. buttermilk
1 egg
1/3 c. cornmeal
1/2 c. fine dry bread crumbs
1/4 c. peanut or vegetable oil

cut unpeeled tomatoes into 1/2 " slices and sprinkle with salt.  let tomato slices stand
for 5 minutes.  meanwhile, organize the separate bowls for the flour, the buttermilk and
egg, and the breadcrumbs with cornmeal.

heat the oil in skillet on medium.  beat the egg and buttermilk together.  dip tomato slices
in the flour, hen the buttermilk/egg mixture, and the cornmeal/breadcrumb mixture.  in the
skillet, fry the tomato slices 3-5 minutes on each side or until a lovely golden brown.  set
the cooked slices on paper towel to absorb the oil and sprinkle lightly with coarse salt.

Jewish Apple Cake

it wouldn't be fall without baking with apples!  jewish apple cake is one of the best

ways to use tart apples, such as mcintosh.  this is a very easy recipe that is modified

from one a catering client gave me many years ago:

6 mcintosh apples

1 T. cinnamon

5 T. sugar

2 -3/4 c. flour, sifted

1 T. baking powder

1 t. salt

1 c. vegetable oil

2 c. sugar

1/4 c. orange juice

2-1/2 t. pure vanilla

4 eggs

1 c. walnuts, chopped (optional)

preheat oven to 350*.   grease a bundt pan.  peel, core and chop apples into chunks.

toss with the cinnamon and sugar and set aside.

stir together the flour, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl.  in a separate bowl,

whisk together the oil, orange juice, sugar and vanilla and then add the eggs, one at a time.

slowly incorporate the dry ingredients, mixing well.

pour half the mixture into the prepared pan and then spread half the apples over.  pour the

remaining batter over the apples and distribute the remaining apples on top.  bake for one hour

30 minutes or til tester comes out clean.

serve with 10-x sugar sprinkled over top or with whipped cream on side.

eggplants!

eggplants are everywhere at the farmers' market!.....now is the season!.....you can buy
3 for $1.00 right now!  (and in the grocery store they are selling them for $1.99/lb.---
don't know where they even come from!)

since i absolutely adore eggplants, and especially eggplant parmesan, i am frying up
discs of eggplant now to freeze and then enjoy whenever i get the urge for some
wonderful, cheesey, gooey eggplant parmesan this winter!

i always peel the eggplant.....that's just my personal liking.....into rounds, not lengthwise (another
personal likeness)...with so many eggplants, i just load up the peeled sliced discs on a paper
towel lined baking sheet.  then i dip each slice of eggplant into beaten egg and then lightly
coat with italian breadcrumbs.  these i layer on parchment lined baking sheets.  at this point,
if you don't have the time, just saran the baking sheets and get back to them later in the day
to fry them.

i usually don't salt and weight down the eggplant.  i don't find eggplant bitter and love the seeds!

so i don't have a mess in my kitchen with splattered oil, i usually fry up the eggplant in a large
pot filled with about 3 inches of vegetable oil.  once the oil is hot, i put as many slices of eggplant
as will fit and let them cook to a golden brown and then flip each one of the slices over.  (they tend
to really cook up fast)  i lay the cooked slices out on paper towel to drain the excess oil.

this is where i have to control myself ~ hot, crisp eggplant out of the pot is my downfall and i can
easily sample way too many slices!

i layer the cooked, cooled eggplant slices in freezer bags between sheets of parchment and freeze
the bags.

when i am in the mood for eggplant parmesan, i just take out as many slices as i want and then
proceed with the sauce and mozzarella and i am good to go! (with very little fuss or work!)

genetically altered foods

i am back in riverdale!....katie kelly is now two years old and is so very smart and active!
she will be in a little pre-nursery next door at riverdale presbyterian for three mornings
a week....i will still be driving up early monday mornings and returning to harrisburg
on thursday afternoons........

i am becoming quite concerned regarding our food supply.  it's one thing to stop eating all
the processed foods and return to well prepared, seasonal foods, but if our basic flour has been
altered, our chicken breasts enhanced to be so large, food dyes in even our salad dressings......
all of which, we, in good faith, purchase at the food stores.....where is our control and what
can we do?

i was chatting with my daughter, tina (who has been doing extensive research on this subject!),
and she informed me that nutrition is not being taught in the schools.  children of today
are not being taught why the calcium is necessary for them and what it does to their bodies.
apparently home economics is long-gone!.....there is minor course study in health class but
nothing to be significant.

i applaud jamie oliver in his quest to get all school cafeterias to serve our children nutritious,
freshly made, seasonal foods rather than frozen "bake-off's".

but we need to go further......just because it is cheaper and/or more convenient for the major
food companies to have a flour, that is so enhanced as to cause health problems for the public
down the road.....how can that be a good thing?

with food costs rising constantly, we must take action and make the foods we purchase what we want and as healthy for us as can be.....

i was just going to put some paul newman's lite italian dressing on my salad and read the label.....the ingredients are water, red wine vinegar, olive oil, vegetable oil, extra virgin olive oil, salt, onion, spices, distilled vinegar, garlic, lemon juice concentrate, xanthan gum, natural flavor and termeric for color.

i can easily live with all these ingredients.....i like that termeric is there for the color!....indeed this is
natural and i can live with the xanthan gum as well!

i then checked the cupboard and there was another italian dressing - fat free by garden goodness.....
the ingredients were:  water, distilled vinegar, high fructose corn syrup, salt, dried garlic, vegetable oil,
garlic, xanthan gum, dried onion, modified food starch, dried red bell peppers, spice, potassium
sorbate, calcium disodium edta as preservatives, vitamin e acetate, yellow #5 and yellow #6......

gee, which dressing would you choose?

it seems we should all be reading the labels ( i know, it takes a lot of time!) so we are very
informed as to what we are buying and ingesting.....perhaps if we are more aware, we can
make better choices and make changes if necessary.