A Country Farmhouse

A Contributing Editor

2013-04-29T09:51:00.000-07:00

Last Fall, while discussing the details over the feature on our guest house, I was asked to join Country Living magazine as a contributing editor.

This was of course a complete surprise, and I was sure I was being mistaken for someone else.

When I told Mike this news, he responded with lots of congratulations, and then asked, "what does a contributing editor do?"

I said that I didn't know exactly, but it sounded very important!

Needless to say, I was quite honored to be asked as I've been a passionate Country Living reader for many years.

So far, I've been helping to develop story ideas and to find beautiful homes to feature on the pages of the magazine. It has been a great experience. I am continually reminded of the passion and spirit that so many people invest to make their homes and livelihoods truly beautiful and special, and also how their lives are enriched by the beauty that they create.

There are so many wonderful details that fashion those warm and loving spaces. And that's ultimately what its all about isn't it -

to endear those spaces so that we and our loved ones feel embraced by the homes that hold us?

I look forward to sharing my experiences through this new endeavor!

The Lovely Peony

2013-04-25T10:30:00.001-07:00

The peonies are coming up in the garden.

I imagine that in the next week or so, we'll see some blossoms.

To celebrate their arrival, I pulled a few blossom photos from the archives.

Have a wonderful day!

A Love of Hydrangeas

2013-04-12T05:20:00.002-07:00

I brought home a bouquet of cut hydrangeas the other day.

It's made me think of all the hydrangeas I've planted in the garden.

I've planted twelve varieties over the past several years.

I just love them.

There's the Limelight and Mini Limelights that surround our dining patio.

We also planted a hedge of Limelights along the old sauna building.

My favorite varieties are those that express this wonderful lavender-blue hue.

Nikko Blue, Endless Summer, Penny Pac...are all dependable for this coloring in their blossoms.

This bed of Little Lamb hydrangea are under the windows at the east end of the dining room.

Here they are in late summer. They blossom cream and fade (brighten) to a wonderful pink when the nights turn cool at the end of summer.

Hydrangeas (hydro) are named for their love and need of lots of water. If your cut bouquets start to fade, give them a nice cool bath and they will brighten up. It's wonderful to watch.

Endless Summer.

This variety blooms all summer long. A few more examples of their blossoms follow below.

Endless Summer.

This hydrangea bed has mostly Endless Summer, with a mix of pinks and blues.

They were so small (one gallon pots and smaller) when we planted them.

It's amazing to see them so big now.

You can see a large Nikko Blue blossom in the back corner.

Classic Nikko Blue.

They are all so brilliant in color.

The north facing hydrangea bed has a wonderful view of the valley.

This Pee Gee hydrangea is in the front bed which receives a lot of sun throughout the day. Pee Gee is a sun tolerant variety so I planted several of them.

I also planted some Pee Gee's in front of the dining room windows (on left). As you can see, they look a lot like the Little Lamb hydrangeas underneath the east facing dining room windows (on right).

Here they are again from the porch.

Hydrangeas have been a wonderful addition to our gardens. They have thrived in our Pacific Northwest environment (we are in Zone 5).

Also, the deer have never bothered them and unlike the roses, we've never had to treat them for anything (fungus, pests, etc.).

They are amazingly low maintenance.

They just need water.

I hope to plant some of these favorite hydrangeas at our new home. I'll have to wait and see what zone we end up in!

The Wine Cellar

2013-04-09T08:37:00.001-07:00

Long ago when I was a young college student, I used to visit a little gourmet food shop. They sold slices of fresh baked cake, cheese, fresh vegetables, local eggs...and wine.

She displayed the wine on antique shoe racks and I thought that was such a great repurposing of something old and classic.

I liked the idea so much that when we first saw the old root cellar in this house, I thought it would also be great for storing wine.

The horizontal rack is the antique shoe rack. The vertical green rack is actually an antique bread baking cooling rack.

They are both great for storage use.

The recent project for our wine cellar was to paint the door white and replace its screen.

Mike did this in the wee hours so unfortunately I don't have a photo of what the door looked like before.

Sauna in Disrepair Turned Fitness Studio - Final Look

2013-04-08T07:35:00.000-07:00

This little outbuilding used to be an old sauna. It was not functional when we bought the property. Rumor had it that it had almost burnt down several years back, and the makeshift stove, water heater and plumbing could only by described as 'a little scary' to borrow a sentiment from our home inspector.

Below are the before photos of the interior after an initial clean.

Classic varnished wood paneling.

Concrete floor.

Hollow core veneer door.

The back room had a nice tall vaulted ceiling.

It also had a big concrete block with an old oil barrel turned wood stove in it, and the aforementioned plumbing, all of which Mike removed.

We transformed the interior in a few phases over the years, but first we painted the pine paneling with Simply White by Benjamin Moore. We had some left over flooring from the wraparound porch that we used to install fir floors, which we recently painted platinum grey by Benjamin Moore.

The blinds were also a recent addition.

Mike used the old steam room benches to make shelves in the front room.

He also insulated the ceiling in the vaulted room and added bead board over it.

It's not pictured here, but the light in this room was rewired to go overhead with a small schoolhouse fixture.

Our one and only TV, on which we play DVDs.

The new Simpson door adds a lot of charm to the building.

It goes nicely with the original six pane casement window.

You can see my previous posts on the old sauna here and here.

This post shows our last update last year.

Easter Light

2013-04-01T08:38:00.000-07:00

It was such a glorious day yesterday. We spent the last few hours of the day running around in the warm, late afternoon sun, and taking a few pictures of our familiar scenes.

These trees by the guest house are where we hang the hammock. The ground beneath is carpeted with a wonderful clover ground cover - it's just an oasis of soft delicate sprouts under your feet.

Which reminds me...I still need to do a post on the guest house exterior.

Mt. Adams in Washington state.

The mountains on the horizon are also in Washington state.

Our beloved fence.

I commented to Mike that sometimes the mountain reminds me of a renaissance portrait, whose eyes are with you wherever you are in the room. According to Native American legend, Pahto (Mt. Adams) and Wy'east (Mt. Hood) were sons of the Great Spirit. They competed for the love of the beautiful La-wa-la-clough (Mt. St. Helens). As the legend goes, Pahto became very sad when La-wa-la-clough went away. So maybe my sense of the Mountain's eyes are Pahto watching out for the return of his lovely maiden.

Dusk.

The mountain is always the last to see the light at the end of the day.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Easter.

Thank You

2013-03-27T09:27:00.000-07:00

Click photo for video.

(Video by Michael Peterson)

Your sentiments, well wishes and kindness have been so incredibly heartwarming. As we embark on our new journey, it is a great comfort to leave a place that was well loved and appreciated by people beyond our own family and friends.

Looking through the photographs, I am reminded of how much of ourselves that we put into restoring this property. Every blooming flower, every picket on our fence, and every wall on our house has been touched by our dreams for a home to embrace us. But more than that, this house will always be the beginning of our family and for that alone it will always hold a special place in our hearts.

The like-minded souls that I’ve connected with through the blog have been such a wonderful source of support and inspiration. I originally started the blog for therapeutic reasons, to force myself to focus on the positive in life. But in the end, aside from the motivation and reinforcement it has provided to keep an eye on the beautiful and the detail, it has pushed me to acknowledge my deepest interests, and has resulted in a collection of images that I would not have committed the time to capture otherwise. And for that, and more importantly for all of the positivity that your friendship has provided, I am extraordinarily grateful.

Many of you have asked whether I’ll continue to write the blog. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if I would or not. But now, I can’t imagine finding a new home, fidgeting with it to make it our own, and not sharing the experience with all of you. Your extension of support, inspiration and love of all things home is a comforting and generous companion along the way.

As you can imagine, recently we have been finishing lots of details and small projects that we never quite got to. So I have a number of posts to come soon.

With a full heart, I thank you again for your friendship and the unending kindness you’ve shown me, my family and our home.

A New Chapter

2013-03-26T09:03:00.000-07:00

We have some news to share.

The time has come for us to say goodbye to our cherished home, there is a move on our horizon.

With a great opportunity for Mike, and the chance to be closer to our families, we'll begin a new chapter, in a new place, with the dreams of a new home.

With gratitude and the fondest of memories, we've begun to pack up a house that has held us for the last seven years.

A house that we hope will offer a new family as much as it has offered us.

Our Bedroom and Bath

2013-03-18T09:09:00.000-07:00

We've made some subtle changes to our bedroom recently. The biggest change has been to set up the four poster bed again.

We kept the pelmet box which offers a whole different look when combined with the four poster bed. The alabaster lamps,which I stole from the guest house, are another small update.

We also finally added curtains awhile ago. The painted wood curtain hardware is from Home Depot, from the same line as the curtain hardware we used in the guest house (although those were stained, not painted). The curtains are from IKEA. I found these after trying about a half dozen other options, but couldn't find just the right the shade, sheen or price.

I also finally found a use for my Great Grandparents oriental rug. I've had it tucked away in a closet for safekeeping, but this low traffic area in front of the dresser will be a good place for it.

My Eastlake nightstand with the marble top which used to be in the bedroom was used for the guest house bedroom. So in its place, I'm using another Eastlake table that belonged to my Great Grandparents.

Our happy fern.

Lastly, I realized that I've posted a lot on our bathroom but have never shot it from the opposite angle, which shows the custom cabinet we had made.

Due to the slanted ceiling of the half story, we wanted to position the sink on the left. A local cabinet maker made this one for us and it's been great.

The drawer under the sink is non-operational but the three drawers on the right and the cabinet beneath the sink offer great storage.

We used reproduction glass hardware on cabinet and drawers, while the faucet comes from Pottery Barn. The mirror above sink is in antique walnut frame, which fit perfectly in that unique spot.

Spring Flowers

2013-02-25T09:02:00.000-08:00

Lately, it had felt as if winter had left us for the year.

Some of the bulbs have sprouted from the earth.

A few leaves have begun their sleepy stretch.

The feel of spring was so strong, I brought tulips and rananuculas home from the market the other day.

I told the babies that it was time.

It was time to think of spring.

Time to dream of a warmer sunshine.

Flowers.

Bare feet.

Time to giggle over the sound crickets make at the end of a long summer day.

Time to dream of fireflies dancing in the night.

Officially, it is still winter, and this morning we woke to sleet and very cold rain.

But our hearts are singing spring.

And even little soft tweets of summer.

A Feathery Fern

2013-02-19T16:59:00.000-08:00

I love my feathery fern and so far, it loves me back. I have had other plants in its place over the past two years, but unfortunately, they didn't work out.

That is the most polite way of saying that I did them in.

Too much watering.

Too little.

There was the spider plant.

And the Boston fern.

And of course, lots of fresh cut flowers like:

Daffodils

Tulips

Snowball Bush

Flowering Quince

Between the fresh cut flowers that always needed replacing, and the house plants that just didn't last long, it's nice to have a constant friend who asks so little, but offers such a wonderful and whimsical presence.

I don't know the botanical name of this fern, but it has happily grown three times its size since living with us.

And we're happy to have her.

A Crisp Morning View

2013-02-18T03:01:00.000-08:00

I stopped for a minute to capture the view from our house this morning. The morning unfolded into a lovely spring-like day - a wonderful way to begin the week.

Guest House: After Photos

2013-01-29T01:02:00.003-08:00

Honestly, I feel as if I've talked your ears off on this little guest house renovation of ours so I'll keep my comments brief!

The electric fireplace makes the kitchen feel like a whole new space.

The heat is wonderful of course, but the coziness of sitting in front of a fireplace... there's something about a mantle and a hearth that just feels good.

The pedestal table was an Amazon purchase. Of course, I wanted to find an antique table, but the criteria for the qualities that this antique table would have to possess made the task quite impossible... a pedestal, warm wood color, 42" diameter, affordable... This table was actually unfinished so we played around with several stain/seal products on the underside until we found the right hue.

The IKEA arm chairs came from our house. They actually don't make them anymore, which is something I discovered when Country Living asked me to source them.

As always, there's art in the kitchen. It's such a treat. These oil paintings are by artists Cathleen Rehfeld and Eric Jacobsen.

The oak butcher block counters are from IKEA. The pulls and cabinet hinges transformed the original 1960s cabinet into the style of a yet older cabinet, from the 1930s.

The logs and light show up much better in person that in this sun lit image. It's obvious that it's not a real fire, but still offers a coziness that's a wink and a nod to the real thing.

The Louis Phillipe-style mirror is one I bought for $35. I have so many mirrors, (and I'm quoting my husband there) it's hard to believe that I can still find ones to buy. But this just seemed like the perfect mirror for over the mantle.

Here is a close-up of the inside of the fireplace.

Covered with an antique fireplace screen, it looks a bit more realistic.

I still need to buy a rug for the bedroom. The rug that was featured in the Country Living shoot was borrowed from Crate and Barrel.

The IKEA bed was the result of a panic that I had late one night (a few days before the shoot) when I realized that things weren't coming together quite as hoped (I intended on using an old wood bed, but the hue was too dark). I had shopped for upholstered beds at Ballard's months earlier but ended up passing on them because they were beyond our budget. The IKEA bed was a good compromise.

This night stand is one I found last summer for $30. I liked it because of the warm wood tone, and knew that I was going to try to use pieces with a similar feel throughout the space.

I didn't have two matching alabaster lamps, but I used two that are pretty similar in height. I married them with matching linen lamp shades, using appropriate hoops and spacers to make them the same height.

The Chippendale reproduction mirror came from my mirror collection. I must have paid about twenty dollars for this one.

Here's a sneak peak inside the linen shelf closet.

And here's the hanging closet.

I found this plant stand for $20. It's the perfect size for the tiny little bathroom.

We tiled the bathroom floors and created this enclosed shower years ago. I wish I had taken a picture of the original bathroom. It was horrible. When we lived in the guest house during our first several months on the property (as we completed the first wave of renovation to the main house), I wouldn't shower without wearing flip flops. It was that bad.

For those who inquired into that gorgeous couch that was shown in the Country Living feature - it's not here anymore. It was brought in on loan from Rejuvenation as my Grandmother's antique federal couch that I intended to use wasn't going to be ready in time. In fact, it's still in storage in our barn as I haven't been able to shop for or decide on a fabric to reupholster it with.

Technically, I have one more post to do - the exterior. But I'll take a break from this project of ours (for your sake) and perhaps take some exterior photos when the snow melts in a few weeks.

In case you missed them, here are links to the behind the scenes details:

Kitchen and Fireplace

Ceiling and Floors

Windows

Guest House: Kitchen & Fireplace

2013-01-25T11:51:00.003-08:00

The old kitchen cabinet was a rectangular wood cabinet topped with peeling yellow Formica. To save money and resources, we decided to adapt the cabinet to a new farmhouse sink, install a wood counter, and add an under-counter refrigerator.

This farmhouse sink is actually the second one we bought. The first one was too small and modern. So we opted to use one from the same company that had we used in our main house.

You can see how the cabinet is slowly being adapted to the new sink.

You can also see that I originally intended to use an antique French dish rack (which I LOVE) over the counter, but in the end it just didn't work. Due to the slope of the ceiling, the dish rack came out too far and interfered with the use of the refrigerator and counter.

I am the kind of renovator that cannot move forward confidently without a lot of visual mock ups. Here, Mike created a fake counter so that I could get an idea of how the kitchen would look with a new ell. Also, he cut out a piece of fiberboard to mimic the size of the table we were thinking of using.

The mock up also allowed us to determine where the new pendant light would go. This new light would replace the light over the sink which was removed when the new window was installed.

Here, the new Ikea counters are in and the cabinet for the refrigerator has been built. We had to find just the right size of refrigerator (width, height and depth) to be able to run the cabinet surround evenly across from above the adjacent drawer. We wanted the refrigerator to look as built-in as possible, so this detail was important to us.

Once the cabinet was painted, it all started coming together. Here, the cabinet drawers and doors were removed so that we could fill old holes, paint and adhere new nickel-plated hinges.

The last project on the 'to do' list was to build the electric fireplace. The depth and width was dictated by the size of the electric log heater, while not having the fireplace protrude into the room too much. Mike then built from there.

He used our fireplace in the main house to determine a lot of the detail, although we decided to make it a much more simple design.

When we were at Home Depot getting some supplies, I came across these shower tiles. They came in square packs and looked like small bricks. I thought it would be a good way to simulate a hearth. I suggested just throwing them down (I'm not the handy one in this house) but Mike gave me a look that said, "it might be a bit more involved than that." He gives me that look a lot.

He did take a few short cuts just due to the nature of the installation (glued the tiles directly to the floor for instance) which did make it less involved than a proper tile installation.

We bought a large sheet of faux brick paneling at Lowe's (it was a classic 60's-style red) that Mike cut down to fit in the firebox. After he spray painted it black, he came to me and said, "this is too black, don't you think?"

I had to laugh because that was something usually I would say. I agreed of course, and so he repainted it in a grey black (you can see the difference between the two colors above).

The opening has been cut out at this point, with the trim pieces installed. The hearth is nearly complete, with just the faux-brick installation remaining.

I'll post after photos next! I thought I'd share the renovation phase first for those who are interested in the process of it all.

Country Living AFTER photos.

Guest House: Ceiling & Floors

2013-01-22T11:40:00.001-08:00

In this post, I'm going to provide a little bit of the detail behind the changes to the ceiling and floors.

Here are the ceiling and floors before we started last spring. When we bought the property six years ago, the floors were covered with burnt orange carpet, and the walls were varnished pine planks. We had previously picked up the carpet and painted the walls and ceiling back in 2006.

Here is Mike is holding up a 2 x 4 so that I can get an idea of what my idea would look like!

This is Mike talking out the details of the ceiling with the contractor we hired to help with the carpentry. We used 4 x 8 panels of wainscot paneling and at every eight foot seam, put a 2 x 4 to simulate an exposed rafter. We added an additional 2 x4 between so that the simulated rafters are every four feet.

I believe my brother was to arrive in less than two weeks when this photo was taken.

I couldn't figure out why this photo looked so strange but then realized that Mike took it, so it's from a TALL perspective. It made me wonder how different everything looks to him.

Mike took this as well. You can see that we started the beams at the wall and then went every four feet from there, to the other wall.

Here's the end run of the beams, which ends at the wall.

I have to say that when I walked in at this point, I had a little panic attack. It felt very busy and claustrophobic, and I started to question my entire plan! This was also three days before my brother and his family were to arrive for their July vacation.

But the white paint made everything blend and the finished project much less busy, adding just the right architectural detail to the white palette.

A little later in the summer, Mike rented a floor sander and sanded down the floors before painting them. He's very thorough in his projects and although I argued that just a light sanding would be fine, he disagreed. And he was right. It took a little longer but the paint adhered as it should and will last a long time.

Mr. Handy

AFTER photos from the Country Living shoot.

I will post more after photos soon.

Guest House: Windows

2013-01-20T19:02:00.002-08:00

Here is a closeup of one of the old windows in the guest house. Metal frame windows from the 1960s or 1970s, you could hardly see out of them. They had both an interior and storm sash in the same casement, making them nearly impossible to clean. They also didn't open very easily and nor were energy efficient. Oh, and they were very ugly, although I suppose I don't need to mention that.

The window on the right in this photo is that same window, which is located on the east side of the room. The picture window to the left faces north, towards the house.

Here is the west side of the room, with the west-facing window to the left and the same north-facing picture window to the right. The east and west sides of the room are duplicates of one another.

Here is the south end of the room, which includes the kitchen area. The bathroom is the door closest to the front door, on the right. The two doors in the foreground on left and right are both closets.

As we did in the main house, we taped out many window patterns to try to determine the best design and size for the new windows. At first, we considered two-over-two double-hung windows, but in the end we thought that six-over-six would match the house the best (we used six-over-one double-hung in the house), and provide the most dramatic improvement.

Here is the taping for the west-facing window. We wanted all of the windows (besides the kitchen) to be the same size and design for consistency. We also wanted to keep within standard sizes as custom dimensions are much more expensive. As you can see, we opted to lengthen the window openings.

Here is the new east side window, after installation.

Here is the west side window, which is the exact same window as the east side.

We also used three of the very same windows to replace the north-facing picture window.

The kitchen window is different in style and size. Due to space restrictions, a double-hung would not fit in this space, so we opted for a picture window with similarly-sized panes to match the new double-hungs in the rest of the room.

Here is the west side of the room with the new windows installed, and with new paint on the floors, walls, and ceiling.

Here is the east side.

The north-facing picture window is now a series of three six-over-six double-hung windows (the same size and style as the two side windows). Although they are three separate windows, they were delivered as one unit. This made installation a lot easier and less costly.

Lastly, here is the kitchen window. This window was scooted to the left a bit so that we could replace the old window with something larger.

Buying new windows for your house is a lot of work.

We worked with two window dealers but neither of them really took the time to verify that the windows would all match in style, or that the window panes would come out rectangular (cottage style) rather than square (more bungalow style).

Classic Sash and Door in Portland was the only window dealership that we encountered who paid attention to these types of details. We are out of their delivery range so we couldn't order our windows from them. Even so, they helped us tremendously. This is the second time that they've helped us as we came to them when deliberating on the windows for the main house as well.

They are fabulous!

The windows we used for the guest house are from Marvin's Integrity line.

Their new Integrity line is almost half the cost of their regular line, without sacrificing quality.

We used Marvin windows in the main house as well.

HERE are the after photos from Country Living.

Country Living Magazine

2013-01-13T18:41:00.001-08:00

The February issue of Country Living is out, which includes the feature on our guest house renovation (click 'Country Living' above to see the story). The feature shows before and after pictures of the interior, and tells some of the story behind the renovation.

I'll take more pictures of the guest house this week, and provide some more details to describe what we did in the kitchen, the process of deciding on windows, and of course, the electric fireplace that Mike built, etc.

There's also the exterior...lots to talk about!

Heather Bullard's post on the photo shoot!

My Sweet Savannah

2013-01-12T08:47:00.002-08:00

Melaine at My Sweet Savannah has encountered a hiccup with blogger. This has resulted in losing access to her beautiful blog - six years in the making.

To be sure to receive future posts from Melaine, you will have to refollow her.

This is her new blog address:

http://mysweetsavannahblog.blogspot.com

Have a wonderful weekend!

The Pomegranate

2013-01-07T02:35:00.001-08:00

One evening over the holiday, I dressed up our pumpkin pie with some juicy pomegranate seeds. I forgot to include this picture in my Christmas post, but perhaps my omission was serendipitous because the next day my pomegranate de-seeder arrived! Yes, there is such a thing, and it is quite the facilitator of pomegranate consumption. I thought I'd share a quick review.

It's a three-piece device. The strainer sits in the bowl, while the rubber cover fits over the pomegranate (faced down). A few enthusiastic whacks with the back of a large spoon on the rubber cover dislodges the seeds from the rind so that they fall into the bowl.

Ever since pomegranates appeared in the grocery store, I have been eating them daily. This tool has definitely made eating them a lot easier, as there is no mess involved.

And as you can see, the tool also works great in removing the precious seeds from the rind.

Some of the seeds get a bit pulverized with this method and there's a lot more juice as a result, but that may be a good thing.

The summary of my pomegranate de-seeder review? I recommend it if you are a pomegranate lover like me. It really does help extract the seeds as quickly as possible without a lot mess. It's also quite nice to work on the countertop, and not in the depths of the farmhouse sink as I did last pomegranate season in order to contain the splatter (sorry Martha).

Pomegranate seeds are wonderful on pancakes and french toast, or on plain old morning oatmeal - makes oatmeal sparkle like it is studded with rubies!

Of course, they are also just great all on their own.

Happy Pomegranate Season to Everyone!

Happy New Year!

2013-01-03T19:35:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

Our New Year's Day tradition is to eat black-eyed peas to bring good tidings for the coming year. It's a tradition that we've adopted from the South as it just seems like a wholesome and nutritious way to begin a bright new year.

We've used a different recipe every year but I think this time, we've found a keeper. It's a simple herb-based recipe with a decadent walnut sauce - it is so good!

As per the recipe, Mike soaked and cooked the beans - and then I took over from there. This made him very nervous as he knows how hard it is for me to stick to a recipe.

This is what sets Mike and I apart in the kitchen. He sees recipes as road maps to a wonderful destination. I do as well but I seem to take a few detours along the way. I'm not proud of it, especially when things don't turn out. Baked goods are most vulnerable. But I managed to follow the recipe this time, and the dish was delicious!

The black-eyed peas and walnut sauce recipes come from Madhur Jeffrey's World Vegetarian, a book we've enjoyed for years. The black-eyed peas recipe is available online here.

The walnut sauce recipe, which is so worth making as an accompaniment, is:

1/2 cup shelled walnuts

5 Tbs. olive oil
3 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp. salt, or to taste
1/4 cup vegetable stock or cooking liquid from black-eyed peas

For sauce, bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Put in the walnuts and let them boil rapidly for 3 minutes; drain. Combine the olive oil, lemon juice, salt and stock in a blender. Crumble the walnuts and add them as well. Blend, pushing down with a rubber spatula when needed, until you have a smooth paste. Pour the sauce over black-eyed peas and serve.

This sauce would be great on anything - stir fry, steamed vegetables, beans, etc. It has a wonderful flavor. If you don't like things too lemony, I'd reduce the lemon just a tad.

Bon Appetite and Happy New Year!

A White Christmas

2012-12-28T10:44:00.000-08:00

Between gifts from family and friends and of course, Santa Claus, we had quite the bundle to be thankful for this Christmas.

My favorite Christmas present from Mike was his thoughtfulness. He stayed up late Christmas Eve and unbeknownst to me (as I was fast asleep), he tidied the house and baked all sorts of things while waiting up for Santa.

He even took the time to write all the dishes down on the kitchen chalkboard.

How cute is that?

The dishes with the (v) are vegan dishes as we are striving to be more and more vegan each day.

He baked Sweet Potato muffins (vegan).

They were amazing! He found the recipe here.

Take 1:

This is the face I get when I ask Mike to pose for a picture.

Take 2:

This is him contemplating my request to smile like he means it.

Here he is with his pumpkin pie made with the last of our garden pumpkins.

He used this pie crust recipe but substituted spelt flour for the white flour.

Delicious!

Anyone have a fabulous vegan pumpkin pie recipe to share?

I spied a little still life as I wandered through his bustling kitchen and asked, "Is this wine?"

He had poured the wine to eliminate the sediment from the older bottle, and to let it breathe a little.

Was he surprised that I took a picture of his breathing wine? Probably not.

This Golden Lentil Stew is a new favorite. I think the special ingredient is the chopped dates, along with the combination of the sweeter spices and more pungent herbs.

This dish is so good over roasted herb potatoes.

Here is the recipe, although we opted to not add the pasta.

Outside, the snow fell and covered each and every branch and limb that the eye could see.

The stillness of that first snow fall is always quite magical.

I hope that the holiday season is warming hearth and soul.

Peace

for

Everyone.

Happy New Year.

Merry Christmas

2012-12-25T09:03:00.002-08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Gift Wrapping

2012-12-21T00:05:00.000-08:00

Now don't you think that jingle bells just make a present all the more fun?

A gift that jingles is a gift that smiles.

I also love a gift adorned with fresh cedar clippings.

The aroma of the wintry woods is always memorable.

More cedar clippings and jingle bells...

And one of my favorite ways to honor antique lace is to use it to wrap a special gift.

You can find such beautiful remnants of it here and there. If the lace is longer than needed, I usually wrap it around twice so that I don't have to cut it.

My Grandmother believed that the package in which a gift is wrapped is just as important as the gift that's in it.

I will never forget the time when I was a little girl and wrapped my Grandmother's Christmas present with aluminum foil. I had grabbed a Christmas pin (a kitten in a red stocking) from my drawer (that's childhood Christmas shopping for you) and then proceeded to the kitchen to find my wrapping paper.

I tore a piece of foil off the roll, put the Christmas pin in the middle and then just scrunched it up real tight, squeezing it for good measure.

When I gave my gift to my Grandmother that night, she looked at me with such affection in her eyes and said, "Darling, did you wrap this?"

I nodded proudly as she proceeded to very delicately unwrap my wad of foil. She loved the pin but I think she loved the wrapping more.

She wore the pin each and every Christmas thereafter and every time I saw it, it reminded me of how happy it made her.

Aluminum foil and all.

Grieving

2012-12-16T10:32:00.001-08:00

I am overwhelmed with sadness.

My heart is heavy with unbearable grief for the precious lives lost at Sandy Hook Elementary.

The teachers.

The staff.

The children.

The beautiful children.

The families who will grieve for them for the rest of their lives.

It's just too much for the heart to bear.

'Tis the Season

2012-12-11T23:30:00.001-08:00

The house is filled with flowers, cedar clippings, and a Christmas tree not yet decorated.

I draped cedar clippings around the chandelier. I love the contrast between the organic and the crystal.

I just love this time of year.

White poinsettias are always a favorite of mine. I could fill the entire house with them but I only put them up high and out of reach of little arms.

These are clippings from a broken plant that toppled over. The cuttings last wonderfully long.

I always start out with more elaborate plans for the mantle, but in the end left it sparse as usual. I just love the simplicity of evergreens all on their own.

I made the little wreaths using some floral wire. I saw this in a magazine years ago and I'm just getting around to doing it this Christmas.

I didn't get a chance to force paper whites or amaryllis this year. Perhaps for the New Year? They go on sale soon after Christmas, so perhaps I'll indulge then.

The little cedar wreaths make the familiar so much more festive.

The tree is standing with lots of lights (and hopefully freshly watered...why do I always think of checking the water late at night?), but not yet decorated.

We'll see if we get to that before Christmas!

We are finding enough time to eat lots of festive foods however. Mike made a pumpkin pie from the garden pumpkins and then there's those Christmas cookies... I just bought some fresh organic apple cider with some mulling spices, and hope that a warm cup of that is going to replace all desire for Christmas sweets.

I'll let you know how that goes.

Happy holiday season to you and yours.