A Provençal Table

If you could drop everything and travel anywhere you wanted right now, where would you go?  Call me crazy, but I've been thinking I'd love to go to the Swiss Alps.  That's right, not a Caribbean cruise or an island getaway.  I'd like to go someplace where the air is fresh and clean (and cool); where all the houses have beautiful flower boxes and you can hear the cowbells ringing across the meadows.  In other words, what I like to call "Heidi Country."

But I'm not going to Switzerland tonight.  I thought I'd go to France instead -- Provence to be exact.  It will probably be every bit as hot and dry as it is in North Carolina right now, but I bet it would be colorful and exciting, never the less.  Cuisine Kathleen, who hosts Let's Dish every Wednesday evening, has given us a challenge to create a travel destination table.  I'm making my table a Provencal table because I have "stuff" from Provence, and I don't have anything from Switzerland or the French Alps. :)

My mother-in-law brought me this tablecloth from one of their trips to France several years ago, and this is the first time I've ever used it.  Our kitchen colors were all too busy before, and the tablecloth wouldn't have looked right.  I'm so glad I can use it now.  She also brought me the blue napkins from France.  I've used them in a few of my previous tablescapes.

I found the yellow salad plates and the serving bowl at Home Goods.  They're "Primagera," made in Portugal.  Flatware is Argent "Sophia" from Le Targét.   ;)

The sunflowers came from our local Whole Foods Market, and the pottery pitcher is actually made by Williamsburg Potteries.  The tumblers are "Picardie," and they're made in France.  They came from Williams-Sonoma many years ago.  The wine stems are part of our wedding crystal -- Gorham "French Cathedral."

I've had the baker's rack that you see in the background for many years, and I do love it. The doors in the bottom have chicken wire, and I think the whole piece has a bit of a French Country look.

Have you read "A Year in Provence," by Peter Mayle?  If you haven't, I highly recommend it.  It's a quick read, and it's laugh-out-loud funny.  

I love these cheerful sunflowers!  Now for the birds-eye view...

And the candlelight shots...

I can't wait to show you our new kitchen, but I don't want to do a full reveal until I choose curtains, and get some things back on the walls.  But here's a tease -- our new chandelier.  I'm loving it! 

My French Country Engagement Calendar stays on the baker's rack.  Ironically, the picture for this week is a former dovecote, which is now part of a hotel in the village of Le Paradou -- in Provence.

For dinner, we're having, what else...quiche.  We love Quiche Lorraine with salad and French bread.  I'll share the recipe for that on Foodie Friday at Rattlebridge Farm.

I also chose France as my getaway destination because Mr. Forest Manor and I are watching the Tour De France on television, like we do every summer.

 I've learned enough about cycling to mostly understand what's going on -- yes folks, amidst all the doping charges, there's actually some cycling going on there too.  But the real reason I watch is for the scenery...and the flags.  You can just call me the flag geek.  :)  I love seeing all the colorful national and regional flags that are flown, carried, and waved every year in the tour.

Thanks for reading my blog; your visits and comments always make my day.  I'm so glad to be joining all the tablescaping folks at Let's Dish, hosted by Cuisine Kathleen and Tablescape Thursday, hosted by Susan at Between Naps on the Porch.

Also linking to Seasonal Sundays, hosted by the Tablescaper.  Thanks to these lovely ladies for hosting each week!

Au Revoir,

Denise   

July Note Card Party, Historic Old Salem

Hello everyone; I'm ready to participate in another one of Vee's fun Note Card Parties at A Haven For Vee.  If you've never visited Vee's blog, you should make plans to visit this evening, and maybe you'll be inspired to create some note cards with your own photos.  You needn't have a particular theme, but you do have to use pictures that have already appeared in your previous posts.  And you can only choose four photos.

For the July Note Card Party, I chose to make note cards of Old Salem, a historic community about twelve miles from where I live.  I love to photograph and write about Old Salem, and consequently, I had a really hard time choosing just four photos.  :)   **I edited this post after publishing to identify what the buildings in the photo are. 

Scenes From Old Salem, North Carolina

First photo is now a private residence, but I think it may once have been the gunsmith's shop.  Can you see the musket mounted by the door on the right?

Krispy Kreme Has A 75th Birthday

Stop the presses, everyone!  I just realized late today that Krispy Kreme is celebrating its 75th birthday in its hometown of Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

 Vernon Rudolph bought a secret yeast-raised doughnut recipe from a New Orleans pastry chef, and in July 1937, he rented a building in what is now historic Old Salem.  You can read more about Old Salem Here and Here.  He started by selling his creations to local grocery stores, but passersby were attracted by the aroma of the baking doughnuts.  So Rudolph cut a hole in the side of the building and sold his hot glazed doughnuts to customers right on the sidewalk.

 source

When I realized today was the big birthday party, I thought it might make an interesting post; so we grabbed the camera, and off we went to Krispy Kreme.  My husband's car knows the way all by itself; he stops there every Friday morning on his way to work and buys two boxes of doughnuts for his co-workers at the office.  He started this tradition over ten years ago, and if he's going to be on vacation on Friday, he has to take doughnuts on Thursday.  :)  If he's on vacation for a week, one of his co-workers does doughnut duty.  He jokes and says that if you eat the doughnuts while they're hot, they don't have any calories.  "Just three bites and a pleasant memory."

If he happens to be running a few minutes late for work, everyone's waiting at the door like this...

source

While we waited in line to place our order, we snapped some pics of the doughnuts on the assembly line.

These guys just rolled through a "sheet" of glaze.

Now we're at the glass cases,

and here are some of the selections...

And of course, it would have been unthinkable to leave the birthday celebration without doughnuts.

I can assure you, folks, that I needed a doughnut like the proverbial hole in the head.  But believe it or not, it's the first time I've had a Krispy Kreme in a long time; they're great when they're hot, but they're just a bit too sweety-sweet for me.  Then again...I wouldn't want to be accused of being a party pooper.  ;)

Do you have a Krispy Kreme shop in your town?  If so, you might want to have a celebratory doughnut.  I'm joining the crowd at Seasonal Sundays, hosted by The Tablescaper, Sunny Simple Sundays, hosted by Elaine at Sunny Simple Life, and Mosaic Mondays, hosted by Mary at Little Red House.

As always, thank you for visiting me at my humble little blog.  I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Denise 

Summer Celebrations and a Pasta Salad Recipe

Even though it was over a week ago, I hope you all had a great Fourth of July holiday.  Mr. Forest Manor was home Wednesday through Sunday, and I just couldn't seem to get any blogging done, so I'm sharing some of our celebration pictures a little late.

We went to my in-laws' house on the Fourth for an evening cookout.

While we celebrated our nation's birthday, we also celebrated the birthdays of three family members.  Three generations of birthdays were represented by three sets of candles (on a homemade cake with caramel icing) -- ages 65, 72 and 82.

Even though it was boiling hot, we still had a good time.  We enjoyed hamburgers and hot dogs cooked on the grill, baked beans, coleslaw, pasta salad, fresh cantaloupe, and cake and homemade ice cream.

I love this picture of our son; he really enjoyed talking to my mother-in-law's cousin, who just turned 82 years young.

My mother-in law.

My father-in-law and my husband's younger brother.

On Sunday, July 8th, we went to my parents' house for another cookout to celebrate my dad's birthday, which was July 3rd.

 We had more good hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill, oriental coleslaw, and baked beans.  For dessert --  peach ice cream and chocolate ice cream, both homemade.  My mom was the chief ice cream maker.  :)

My sister and my cute niece.

Gracie, the yellow lab.

I love my parents' screened porch.  What's that you ask?  Where are all the people?  They're inside where it's cooler.  The temperature reached 100 degrees in our town that day.

I made a pasta salad for the Fourth of July celebration.  I've been making it for years, and it's always a hit when I take it to summer cookouts.  Here's the recipe if you'd like to try it.  It's so easy, and it looks pretty and tastes good.

- 16 oz. box of Mueller's tri-color Rotini (or other tri-color spiral pasta)

- 8 oz. bottle of Kraft Zesty Italian dressing

- Peeled and chopped fresh garden tomato (I used one large German Johnson tomato)

- Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

After you boil and drain the pasta, you should chill it for a few hours or overnight before adding the dressing; that way the dressing will blend better with the pasta.  Then add tomatoes and cheese and that's it.  This pasta salad is an easy dish to prepare during the hot days of summer and will keep well in your refrigerator for several days.

 

What are your plans for the coming weekend?  Thank you so much for visiting my blog and for taking time to leave a comment.  I'm joining the folks at Foodie Fridays at Rattlebridge Farm, The Tablescaper for Seasonal Sundays, and Sunny Simple Sundays, hosted by Elaine.  Hope to see you there!

Denise  

Dog Love

I first started a blog a year and a half ago in order to join in the fun tablescape parties that I saw in blogland.  I loved the creativity of planning new tablescapes and sharing the pics with other dish lovers out there.  But in the back of my mind, I always knew I'd want to include other topics in my blog, like travel, decorating, family, books, and...pets.

Back in the spring, I spotted this magazine when Hubby and I were in Barnes and Noble, and after looking through it, I decided to purchase it.

It has some really interesting information about how the dogs we know and love as house pets and companions, working farm dogs, and service dogs came to be just that.  Because you see, the dogs we know today, in their varied shapes and sizes, all descended originally from wolves.

"... did we set out to turn wolves soft, or did dogs tame us?  No doubt there was some growling and biting on both sides.  But lately scientists favor this scenario:  The expert four-legged hunters took the initiative, scavenging -- skittish at first, then bolder -- on the scraps of human settlements.  The most fearless survived the longest, and natural selection did the rest.  In the process, dog skulls, snouts, and teeth got smaller as handouts replaced the hunt.  According to a researcher at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, 'Domestication was a natural speciation event, not a human accomplishment like harnessing the power of fire'."  (Source:  "Dogs, Forever at Our Side," by Jennifer S. Holland, National Geographic Special Edition Spring Issue)

It would seem that our beloved dogs, evolved over thousands of years from camp-following wolves.  But they are not descended from the big, furry wolves that we see in zoos (and in movies).  Those wolves are typically from the frozen north -- the Russian, Scandinavian, and Canadian timber wolves.  These beasts are huge and thick-coated, and adapted to the coldest area of the original wolf range.  Dogs are believed to have developed from the smaller, less stocky and not so heavily furred Asiatic or Middle Eastern wolf, which was common in warmer parts of the range of the species.  (Source:  "Dogwatching," by Desmond Morris)

"Dogwatching" is a book we've had for many years, and it also contains some fascinating information about the evolution of dogs, and why they do the things they do.  It also explains the reason early man bonded with wolves and not, for example, monkeys or bears.  "It is clear that it was the great similarity between the social life of wolves and early men that led to the tight bond of attachment that grew up between them.  Both species lived in "packs" in a defended group territory."  ("Dogwatching," Desmond Morris) 

I don't mean to bore you with too much scientific research, but I find it fascinating to learn how the bond between humans and dogs came about.  I realize that dogs are not people and as such, they do not fulfill the same needs and roles in our lives as people do.  But I firmly believe that God made them the way they are to inhabit a different (and special) place in our lives.  We would never put our dog's welfare above that of our son or any other member of our family, even though he is a part of our family.

There are so many things I could write about the ways that dogs interact with, and assist, humans in many parts of the world.  They are valuable in the K-9 units of police and sheriff's departments; as search and rescue dogs; they save so many soldiers' lives on the battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan; they provide therapy to residents of nursing homes.  And they provide faithful companionship to ordinary people like me.

I had intended to do this post back in the spring when I bought the National Geographic magazine, but I kept getting busy with other things.  And the reason I'm writing it today, is that our beloved MacDuff is sick, and I'm very concerned about him.  He behaved this way once before when he lost a tooth about a year ago.  But he seems different this time; and deep inside, I'm afraid, because he's 12 years old.  He's the third Scottie I've had during my lifetime, and he's lived longer than any of them.

I've known for a while now that he probably won't be with us too much longer.  But that knowledge is not an easy thing to deal with.  Our vet can't see him until later this afternoon, so I won't know anything for a bit.  I really hope it's just a loose tooth, but I'm trying to prepare myself in case it's something worse.  Please forgive me for running on so much longer than I intended; somehow, it's helped me to pass the hours of waiting to write about dogs.  Someday soon, I'll write about MacDuff, but first I'll have to see what's in store for us today.

Denise 

Happy Fourth of July America

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY AMERICA!  Have a wonderful day!

Denise 

 

The Fresh Tastes of Summer -- Corn and Peaches

Hi everyone!  Are all of you getting prepared for Fourth of July celebrations tomorrow?  Are you looking forward to sharing good food with friends and family?

In my previous post, I wrote about our trip to the Farmer's Market on Saturday and showed you some of the goodies we brought home.  One thing I didn't show you was the Silver King corn, as it was already shucked and in the refrigerator.  Our whole family loves Silver Queen corn, but I had never had Silver King corn before.  I looked for the Queen at the Farmer's Market that day, but she was not to be found.  So we got Silver King instead.  Now we have a new favorite; it was yummy!

So it got me thinking -- what is your favorite kind of corn?  Do you prefer white corn or yellow?  Or maybe the bi-color variety, which is a combination of yellow and white kernels?  I think it's all good, but I really do prefer the white corn.  How do you like to prepare your corn?  Do you like it boiled on the cob, or roasted on the grill?  Those are good, too.  But at our house, our favorite is to cut the corn off the cob and cook it on the stove top.

It's such a simple way to prepare corn, but it really brings out the fresh flavor of good, local summer corn.  The prep is the most time consuming part, and it's a bit messy.  I put a clean bowl in the sink, get a sharp knife, and cut the corn off into the bowl.  I hold the ear of corn upright and slice down the cob.  After I've got most of the kernels off the cob, I use the dull side of the knife to scrape the "milk" or juices out of the cob (the messy part).  This has a lot of flavor and helps the corn to thicken when you cook it.

Once I've got all my corn ready, I dump the kernels and juices into a skillet and add some butter or margarine, whichever you prefer.  I then add about 1/4 teas. of sugar, some fresh ground pepper, and enough water to keep the corn from sticking once it begins to cook.

Sometimes I have to add more water as it cooks.  You don't want to add salt while you're cooking the corn because the salt will make your stewed corn tough instead of tender.  Believe me, I've learned this the hard way.  I often wait until I'm ready to serve it to add salt.  The cooking process only takes about 15 minutes, and that's it.  Easy peasy.  The first corn of the season is usually tender, with smaller kernels, so you don't want to overcook it.

This is such a simple dish, but we really love it at our house.  And when you have some fresh, juicy  sliced tomatoes with a bit of fresh ground pepper to go with the corn -- Yum.  :)

For dessert, I made one of The Pioneer Woman's recipes that I've wanted to try for a while. The recipe's called Yogurt Cream and Berries, and you can find it on the Pioneer Woman's blog.  My husband and I have voted it a definite keeper.  I used some of the fresh peaches we got on Saturday instead of berries, and oh what a great combination.  Sweet, juicy peaches and creamy, custard-like yogurt sauce.

I highly recommend this recipe if you want a quick, easy way to add a special touch to summer fruit and berries.  It would make a pretty July 4th dish using blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, and even blackberries.  Besides the fruit, this recipe only has three ingredients -- yogurt (I used "Cabot" Greek lowfat yogurt), whipping cream, and brown sugar.  You can click on the link above the picture for instructions.  I'll definitely have to try some more of Ree Drummond's recipes.

I hope you all enjoy good food and fellowship tomorrow, while celebrating the birth of our nation.  Thanks for stopping by; I love your visits and comments!

Denise