Tales From the Summer Kitchen

Christmas Dinner 2011 (or "Dutch Goose", Hog Maw, or whatever else you want to call it but it's still Pig Stomach)

2012-02-08T15:36:00.000-08:00

We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas day together. Started off at church and then home to do some cooking.

Here is the James making a Grilled Crostini with Brie, Prosciutto, Arugula and Figs.

We made the bread earlier - an italian bread called pugliese. We started Christmas eve making the biga and finished it in the morning before church. Very good.

He made a few with a pesto brie (that I had gotten at Jungle Jim's) and the rest with regular brie, and truthfully I didn't like the pesto brie, so I won't be trying any more fancy bries - give me plain and I will dress it up myself or eat it by itself.

I made soup, a spinach tortellini soup. I made the tortellini Christmas eve, so it was pretty easy to throw together. The broth was just a boxed broth labeled tuscany broth, but it was very good and then I just tossed in the tortellini and topped with parsley. Delicious.

Janelle made a "dutch goose" or hog maw or whatever you want to call it. Straight up it is stuffed pig stomach. We have been talking about having pig stomach for Christmas dinner for a number of years so strange as it may seem, it was with great excitement that it was served up this year. It was good and served with a gravy and garnished with parsley, cranberries, and orange slices. Tasty.

We had gotten it pre-stuffed, and decided sometime we will have to stuff it ourselves. This stuffing had sausage, potatoes, onions and bread stuffing, which I think I would prefer it without the bread, so some day we will try it ourselves and I think I will try it with cabbage too.

Mom fixed a rhubarb raspberry roly-poly and english custard sauce. Fabulous.

Dad meticulously made red velvet cake, which he cut into 4 layers and frosted with a delicious buttercream frosting. Decadent.

The first course of soup and grilled crostini.

Second course of stuffed pig stomach.

Third course of Red Velvet Cake and roly-poly with custard sauce.

And for something different a little chai bubble tea.

Note: This post was written by Kristin and copied here. It was a good time with family and some wonderful food, that's for sure.

Christmas Eve 2010

2011-01-18T06:01:00.000-08:00

We joined together to make our annual Christmas dinner this year on Christmas Eve day. Again it was fun and a learning experience to spend time in the kitchen together and then savor the results of our efforts.

James preparing the Beef Wellington

Beef Wellington -delicious

Roast Duck with Currant Glaze

Welsh Rarebit. Kristin served this over Rye Toast topped with asparagus spears and shitake mushrooms. It was awesome.

Flaming the dried cherries and figs for the Figgy Pudding

The fare was tasty and delicious and we enjoyed savoring the flavors of food and family togetherness.

Menu: Beef Wellington, Roast Duck with Currant Glaze, Welsh Rarebit served over rye toast with asparagus spears and shitake mushrooms, Gem Salad, and Figgy Pudding.

Christmas 2009

2010-03-15T18:48:00.000-07:00

Christmas eve at the Whitehouse found us dining on elegant fare prepared in the traditional manner for our "Christmas dinner". First course, Cream Soup in Acorn Squash prepared by James.

Tuna sushi prepared by Evelyn (definitely not an expert).

Spatchcocked turkey with Chili-rub prepared by Janelle

Aunt Fannie's sugar cookies baked by Jim. Antique cookie cutter used to cut out rabbit cookie.

Kristin torching the Baked Alaska dessert. It was a delicious ending to a sumptious meal.

The August Kitchen

2008-08-23T14:40:00.000-07:00

Almost 32 years to the day from when we moved into the house, we moved into our new great room. (8/7/76 and 8/8/08)

A few views of the kitchen

Back toward the hallway

Basement Patio

2008-08-23T14:36:00.000-07:00

A few more fews of the finished patio down underneath the deck.

The stone bench to the left of the double doors

To the right of the double doors

A view of the back of the house as well as the deck and the lower patio. The two staircases open up to where the concrete patio used to be.

Inside Changes

2008-07-20T20:55:00.000-07:00

Inside things are shaping up as well!

The brick front for the fireplace going up...

All finished! Just needs the mantel yet.

Getting the trim finished up

Installing the cabinets

With a close up of the wood

Everything put together, ready for the appliances and for the tiling to begin

The new kitchen table has been picked out but has not arrived yet, so here is a photo of the demo table. It is in the mission style, same as the windows. (The previous one has been in use since Jim's single days more than 35 years ago and is now being relegated to the new basement.)

And last, but not least, Jim getting comfy in his new favorite spot.

Outside Changes

2008-07-20T20:44:00.000-07:00

Things are going along relatively swimmingly at the summer kitchen, and the end of all the construction is beginning to feel like a near possibility. Here's a glimpse of things on the outside...

You can see the deck up above and the start of the retaining wall down below

The stones for the retaining walls are from the foundation of the part of the house that was torn down.

Bringing the stones over....

closer...

Putting it in place

the almost finished wall to the left of the basement doors

the start of the wall to the right of the basement doors

The deck is also finished enough to be a comfortable place to rest and relax. Here is what Evelyn had to say about it...

This morning we again enjoyed the relaxation of coffee on the deck. It isamazing that after living here for 30 years we can enjoy "our Corner" of theworld from a different vantage point.sitting there we can watch the sun riseand hear the birds singing in the trees from a slightly different angle.

Remember the mountain laurel...

2008-06-23T20:34:00.001-07:00

that was getting ready for it's first bloom? Here it is in all its glory.

A couple of other grounds shots to share the flowers...

the green dragons

the roses climbing up the trellis along the side of the house

A little more from the inside

2008-06-23T20:25:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of the new hallway where it opens into the new great room/kitchen area. The picture is standing as if walking into the old kitchen from the laundry room and is facing the door to the sewing room.

The new fireplace is in now. Next stage is to put up the brickwork and the mantel....

Siding and start of the deck

2008-06-23T20:12:00.000-07:00

Views of siding and the beginnings of the deck. We were really pleased with the siding job . They did a great job, and the man that did all the finish work around the windows and corners was Aden Miller. The boss was Jeriah Troyer- a really nice guy. The siding guys spotted a 4 ft. black snake crawling out from the locust bark.... I really do hope that was the last!

Drywalling

2008-06-23T20:08:00.000-07:00

Drywalling...the actual process and the finished job. Bet they had stiff necks at the end of the day.

Gardens

2008-05-27T08:36:00.000-07:00

Being so far away, many of you can't stop in to see the flowers that are blooming around the place this spring. With the slightly cooler weather many have been around much longer than they often are. Here's a little glimpse of a few corners of Evelyn's gardens.

the clematis and johnny-jump ups-- glory at the foot of the locust tree

the bleeding hearts

the late-blooming rhododendron

the ferns

even the pine trees are blooming

the japanese barberry

salvia and purple irises

perennial asters

the berries on the holly bush by the front side porch

In amidst all of the flowers, several of our plants have special memories of friends and family

The hostas in their new home. The one in the center is Grandma White's August Lily. Other fun names are the Robert Frost hosta to the left and the Francis Williams hosta to the right.

Grandma White's peony usually blooms for memorial day. We didn't think it would this year, but voila

The mountain laurel shrub purchased at Espenshade's last year is getting ready for its first bloom

Cuttings/starters from a boxwood..trying out Aunt Nora's technique of growing cuttings. Hopefully it will work as well for us.

Lucy's purple and white irises.

the Dwarf Alberta spruce surrounded by pachysandra

Jim's other projects...

2008-05-27T08:25:00.000-07:00

Along with planning the new addition, he's had several other projects going. One of these projects has been to take down several of the trees around the place that had seen better days.

The buckeye tree out front came down in three parts last fall

All the wood then needed to be chopped...

The only potential casualty appears to be recovering nicely

Next up for chopping? the locust tree that used to stand where the new addition stands

Another project has been to convert the first part of the barn into a workshop. Notice the new concrete flooring ....

After learning how to lay concrete from a pro, he used his new knowledge to make himself a set of ramps in another section of the barn

Next project? Worm all those sheep that lost their winter coats yesterday....

Memorial Day Cookout

2008-05-26T18:13:00.001-07:00

Evelyn and Kristin made quite a feast for us today! (Even if it was a bit of a longer walk from our garage kitchen to the patio area) So much good food .....

Getting the barbecue ready for grilling...

While we waited we had a few appetizers. For starters we had a spinach salad with strawberries and mandarin oranges. This was tossed with a home-made red currant vinaigrette. (To make the vinaigrette - take 1/4 cup of red currant jam and heat it with 3 tablespoons of red wine vinegar to make a red syrup.)

Here's James enjoying the potato salad

Once the grill, was hot we got down to the business of grilling -
First we toasted Italian bread to spread with an eggplant dip (made of roasted eggplant, roasted green peppers, and olive oil) then sprinkled with a bit of feta cheese

After that the many veggies- asparagus; mushrooms; wooden skewers of potatoes, peppers, eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash, and shallots

And the bbq ribs.... Kristin had cooked the ribs (baby back, western style, and spareribs) in the oven, slathered in barbecue sauce, for 9 hours at 190 degrees. They were then grilled for 10-20 minutes. Incredibly tender. The barbecue sauce was a homemade top- secret recipe which included jalopeno peppers. MMMmmmmm.

And for dessert... lemonade cake and grilled pineapple.

The recipe for the lemonade cake can be found at abcnews.go.com/GMA/Recipes/Story?id=4869594&page=2
(scroll down and look for the pink lemonade layer cake)

Putting on the roof

2008-05-26T18:12:00.000-07:00

Basement Floor

2008-05-26T10:22:00.000-07:00

Pouring the concrete for the basement floor

smooth finish

Building a Chimney

2008-05-26T10:21:00.001-07:00

Putting the scaffolding in place

Building the base

All finished!

Inside view of the future fireplace in the living room

Inside view of where the wood-burning stove will be in the basement

5-16-2008

2008-05-26T10:03:00.000-07:00

Update for the day...

The windows have finally arrived. You can see the mission style window we have chosen here:

Getting the upper casements ready for the new windows:

Taking Shape

2008-05-11T07:47:00.000-07:00

I'm having a little bit of a hard time accepting or believing that this is what is being built; it is just much larger than I had imagined. (jim)

If you look closely, you can see a part of the addition through the trees.

A look from the inside

2008-05-11T07:42:00.000-07:00

A preview of what we'll see out the window . Hard to believe there is building right there!

a look back toward the old part of the house. You can see the mud insulation in between the beams. and the small door up at the peak used to open into the crawl space above the old kitchen.

Matilda and her family

2008-05-11T07:26:00.000-07:00

A black snake (or one of her descendants) has lived under the back patio for a long, long time. Mostly she has kept to herself .......

With all the contstruction going on, Matilda decided it was time to move last weekend. In through the washer vent and out into the laundry room.

As no one was ready for another housemate, Jim relocated her out to the grasses near the neighbor's corn crib. She seemed happy enough, and everything was quiet until...

5-9-08

Matilda’s partner appeared on the scene today. The workmen kept seeing it peer over the wall and finally the long black snake crawled out into the open and caused the carpenter to feel rather creepy when it began to crawl onto his ladder….about 10:30 am I heard a knock on the laundry door and the Amish workman asked “may I kill the snake?” I said yes, please do. He attacked it with a digging iron as it slithered along the foundation and then buried it right there along the foundation of the new addition. My sincere hope is that will end the appearances of black snakes. I still haven’t made a trip to the basement, somewhat fearful that I may find another of their kind….

Watching the walls go up

2008-05-11T07:17:00.000-07:00

It is interesting to live on the construction site and watch the happenings every day. I am always amazed at the coordination & balance demonstrated by the workmen as they walk along walls & beams rather high off the ground with such ease, tool bags dangling from their belts, and performing their tasks with such precision.

Placing the I-Beam

2008-05-11T07:08:00.000-07:00

hauling away

2008-05-11T06:26:00.000-07:00

Everything is moving along so quickly.

the old house in the dumpster (being loaded onto the truck for transport)

The basement/foundation walls are in, and the outside walls have been tarred for water-proofing

A Few Photos....

2008-04-30T20:07:00.000-07:00

They’re not working here today, or only for about ½ hour at 6:30 this morning and than left.

It was down in the low 30 F last night and the house and garage were a little chilly this morning.

out the windows above the garage

out the patio door

looking back toward the house

And look!!! They stayed late Friday night to fix our septic line...

4-25-2008

2008-04-25T12:06:00.002-07:00

The east wing of the house is now silent and relieved of any responsibility as it lies in a crumpled heap in the dumpster. Yesterday its life lines of wires & pipes dangled from the jaws of the (?) back hoe as it was disassembled piece by piece, rib by rib, & beam by beam. We have a pile of large beams & huge sandstone lying on the edge of the lawn and now the ground from the digging. Everything went well yesterday. Today they started digging and severed the septic line. I had not counted on being the one to use the Porta John! They say they will resolve things by the end of the day for the weekend. Let’s hope so!

4-24-08

2008-04-25T12:06:00.001-07:00

The structure is down & they are working on removing the large sandstone from the foundation; some of the stone are really humongous! We set aside some of the large beams (about 8” square and quite long) and are saving the stone. Some of the stone will be used for the retaining wall along one side at the back. Hopefully, we can save part of a beam for the fireplace mantel. I also had them save the porch posts and hope to use them as garden sculpture somewhere in my flower beds…

4-23-08

2008-04-25T12:05:00.000-07:00

The "outdoor facility" in its Puerto Rican toilet blue was delivered this morning at 7 am. I expect the dumpster to be delivered and a plumber to come by to cap the water line that once went to the kitchen. Yesterday they terminated all the electric lines that had serviced the family room & kitchen.
My agenda today includes transplanting the remaining hostas & bulbs from the area that will probably be infringed on with equipment, workers, and ground from the digging. I'm also trying to envision where all the foundation sandstone will be deposited..... Tomorrow at 7 the action starts for real.

Summer Kitchen

2008-04-21T04:07:00.000-07:00

As of last week we made the move to our "summer kitchen" in the garagewhere we will live while the renovation is in process. Actually it is nottoo bad; the main inconvenience is not having an easily accessible watersource. We need to trek to the laundry to do dishes, etc. The crockpot & electric skillet will be my trusty tools for easy one dish meals most of thetime.

This next photo was taken Friday after the workmen began to diassemble the family room & kitchen.

They stacked the slate taken from the roof & took out the windows. Jim & James also removed the paneling (Jim is planning torecycle that to the barn.) Demolition is scheduled for Thursday this week.