ARCHITECTURAL PRINTS

When I travel I love to pickup artwork whether it be small watercolors by local artists camped out in tourist areas or finding some interesting print in a secondhand bookstore.

The above is what kicked off my love of architectural prints. My sister, Tammy, and I were in a tiny little village, Puddletown (I'm not making this up) in Dorset County, England. We walked in (carefully since the entrance was directly on the main road, no sidewalk, no buffer between the door and the road!) to a miniscule used bookstore and I found this print of an obelisk that sits high upon one of the Cambridge colleges. It was 10 pounds which at the time was around $14. That was 1995.

Since then I have a collected a few more. I found the trio above in London at a junk shop on Portobello Road on my 40th birthday, December 31st. These three beautiful prints were in a french architectural book dated in the late 1700's and cost 20 pounds each--around $30 at the time.

I found this old print last summer in New York for $15. Isn't it pretty? I was touring the Kips Bay Designer Show House and this was in the gift shop, ripped out of a book from the 1800's.

Digging around in a shop in Rome I came across this water-stained print and loved the lines despite the brown, crinkly paper. It was also super cheap, just can't remember anymore. But I do remember the shop owner arguing with her husband in rapid-fire Italian.

And these three were found on separate trips. The top is of a fountain on a bridge over the Tiber River in Rome. The second, I found for $5 in York, it is an intricate drawing of a gate. And the last I found in Oxford--a drawing of a ceiling. Wouldn't you love to be looking up at that ceiling?

Some of these prints are fragile and don't travel well so I now carry a mailing tube with me which protects the art.

All of these pieces are some of the reasons I love traveling. To walk in to some tiny little dusty store, dig around in boxes and come up with a little gem while chatting with the shop owner enriches my experience. And to bring it home to display visually reminds me of a great trip.

THE SWEETNESS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PIE - Book Review

This is a fun read told from the perspective of a smart-as-a-whip 11 year old girl living in England during the 1950's. Of course, pretty much anything written from the point of view of someone living in England attracts me. And don't you just love the book cover?

Flavia de Luce is the star of the show. She is the youngest of three girls living at Buckshaw (grand old English country home) with her melancholy Father, Mrs. Mullet (cook), and Dogger the all-around helper. Seeking revenge on her two sisters while practicing her art as a chemist (focusing on poisons) and playing detective, she is very busy.

Although exceedingly mature for an 11-year old she does occasionally show her age, especially in dealing with her older sisters. Her lists of chemical pay-backs are laugh-out-loud funny. But it's her detective work and courage that gets a big hooray from me.

The author, Alan Bradley, is in his 70's and won the Debut Dagger Award of the (British) Crimewriter’s Association. Interesting that he chose an 11-year old girl as his protagonist in what is to be the first book in a series. I'm hooked.

Thanks to A Garden Carried in the Pocket for a review that prompted me to order this book at once!

APPLE CRANBERRY CRISP - Bon Appetit

Pretty much all fruit cobblers, crisps, crumbles, buckles, crunches, are at the top of my favorite desserts (yes, more than one) list. Warm fruit and a crunchy topping, heart warming.

The cranberries make it tart and again it is that sweet and tart combination that makes my taste buds sing.

Super easy is another great thing about fruit cobblers. Preparing the fruit takes longer than putting the whole thing togehter.


Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds tart green apples
-- peeled, 3/4" pieces
3 cups cranberries
2/3 cup sugar
4 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

3/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
3 tablespoons butter -- chopped

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375. Toss apples, cranberries, 2/3 C sugar, 2T flour, cinnamon and nutmeg to blend in large bowl. Transfer to 8x8" glass baking dish. Let stand 15 mins.

Combine oats, brown sugar and remaining 2T flour in medium bowl. Add butter and stir til moist clumps form. Sprinkle over filling. Bake til topping is golden brown and filling is bubbly, about 1 hour. Cool slightly.

MARCH GARDENING UPDATE

Gorgeous grapefruit! Our first year of delicious, sweet, edible Oro Blanco grapefruit. No sugar needed. A bowl of hot oatmeal finished with an Oro Blanco is my favorite winter-spring breakfast. That sweet-tart taste sharpens the taste buds. If you can, pick them as you eat them. Ripening ceases as soon as you pull it from its branch. However, once ripe, grapefruits store well and I've had them in my refrigerator bin for as long as four weeks without any spoiling.

Have you ever eaten a Sun Gold tomato? Sweet, juicy, little golden globes the size of small marbles. If your kids usually won't eat tomatoes they will eat a Sun Gold. However, if you buy them at the market they are pricey--$5 for a small basket. So, growing them is a much better idea. I just transplanted the little jewels on Saturday, just in time for the glorious rain.

In the background of the pic above, you can see that Tammy's Sweet Peas and various bulbs are out of the ground and reaching upwards. Should be blooming and bountiful in a few more weeks.

Last fall I bought a pretty little herb called Pennyroyal. Not knowing anything about it other than it had tiny leaves with a strong, minty fragrance, I planted one small bunch. Well, forget it. It spreads its little tentacles and before you know it it is everywhere (see photo above, at the base of the cilantro). Oh, and it's toxic. So I pulled it and hopefully got it all. But, if you are looking for a pretty, fragrant, slightly toxic ground cover, this is the plant for you.

YANKEE POT ROAST - Cooking Light

Don't you think a pot roast on Sunday is lovely? It is so old-fashioned and comforting. This recipe comes from Cooking Light magazine and my family loved it.

This is one of those recipes I decided to make when I woke up on a Sunday morning so I used what I had on hand. Instead of fresh plum tomatoes, I used canned diced. And I added flat leaf parsley and garlic.

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 (4-pound) boneless chuck roast, trimmed

1 tablespoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon cracked black pepper

2 cups coarsely chopped onion

2 cups less-sodium beef broth

¼ cup ketchup

2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 cup chopped plum tomato

1 ¼ pounds small red potatoes

1 pound carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Cooking instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 300°.

2. Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Sprinkle roast with salt and pepper. Add roast to pan, browning on all sides (about 8 minutes). Remove from pan. Add onion to pan; sauté 8 minutes or until browned. Return roast to pan. Combine broth, ketchup, and Worcestershire; pour over roast. Add tomato; bring to a simmer.

3. Cover and bake at 300° for 2 1/2 hours or until tender. Add potatoes and carrots; cover and bake 30 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Stir in lemon juice.

Serving: 10

FEBRUARY GARDENING UPDATE - Apple Trees

Here is one of our two pretty, Anna apple trees. Lovely, shaping up quite nicely. Heroically survived our hideous summer, facing west no less.

Here is our not so lovely Anna apple tree after removing all of the leaves. Dr. Jill, from Sweet Life Garden, instructed (actually ordered) me to remove the leaves so that energy can pour into the new growth. Yikes that hurt! But hopefully next year we will be munching away on tart green apples.

BUTTERSCOTCH BLONDIES - Smitten Kitchen

Super easy, one pan, yum.

Blondies
Adapted by Smitten Kitchen from How to Cook Everything

8 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla or 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
Pinch salt
1 cup all-purpose flour

1.Butter an 8×8 pan

2.Mix melted butter with brown sugar – beat until smooth. Beat in egg and then vanilla.

3.Add salt, stir in flour. Mix in any additions (below). I added 1/2 cup butterscotch chips and 1/2 cup chopped pecans.

4.Pour into prepared pan. Bake at 350°F 20-25 minutes, or until set in the middle. Cool on rack before cutting them.

Further additions, use one or a combination of:

•1/2 to 1 cup chopped nuts, toasting them first for even better flavor
•1/2 to 1 cup chocolate chips
•1/2 teaspoon mint extract in addition to or in place of the vanilla
•1/2 cup mashed bananas
•1/4 cup bourbon, scotch or other whiskey; increase the flour by one tablespoon
•2 tablespoons of espresso powder with the vanilla
•Stir 1/2 cup dried fruit, especially dried cherries, into the prepared batter
•Top with a vanilla butter cream or chocolate peanut butter cream frosting

LEEK AND POTATO SOUP - JAMIE OLIVER

Most leek and potato soup recipes have cream added. This does not. It is a Jamie Oliver recipe adapted by Cooking Light magazine and is delicious.

I made this soup on one of those unusually cold days in the Phoenix area and we gobbled it up for lunches and dinners. As is usually the case, the soup was even better the second and third day.

This recipe is dedicated to my friend Leslie. When we were in London several years we ate at Jamie Oliver's restaurant, Fifteen. And miracle of miracles he hopped out of a black Range Rover and popped in to the restaurant dressed in black tie, minus the tie, looking quite darling. We were told that he does not come to the restaurant on Saturday nights so we lucked out.

Leslie is a big fan of Oliver's so our server took her to meet him and to have her photo taken with him. He was very gracious (otherwise I wouldn't have posted his recipe!).

SERVES 8 , 8 1 1/4 c servings

2 leeks (about 1 lb)

6 cups fat-free chicken broth (or veggie broth)

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 cups onions, chopped (about 1 lb)

1 cup celery, chopped

1 cup carrot, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 cups potatoes, peeled and cubed (Yukon Gold recommended)

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1. Remove roots, outer leaves, and tops from leeks. Cut each in half lengthwise, then crosswise into 1/2" slices. Immerse in cold water; swirl. Drain.


2. Bring broth to a boil in a large saucepan over medium high heat.


3. Heat oil in a large dutch oven over medium high heat. Add leek, onion, celery, carrot, and garlic. Partially cover, and cook 20 minutes. Stir occasionally.


4. Add hot broth and potato; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer until potato is tender. Stir in pepper and salt.


5. Serve chunky, or puree with an immersion blender.
   

Note: I, Kim, added 5 garlic cloves and did not puree the soup.

CITRUS SMOOTHIE - Joy the Baker

When I saw this posted on Joy the Baker I knew it would be delicious. Really, anything citrus is divine. This is creamy (frozen bananas) and tart (all that lovely citrus). And it is healthy so drink up!

A juicer

A blender

2 Tablespoons Meyer lemon juice (I used our local lemons)

the juice of 1/2 a grapefruit

1/2 cup fresh orange or tangerine juice

2 tablespoons honey

heaping 1/2 cup Greek yogurt

1 frozen banana (they blend better when frozen)

1/2 cup ice cubes

In a blender, combine juices, yogurt, and honey. Blend for a few seconds. Add the ice cubes and blend until smooth. This makes two regular sized smoothies. Heaven.

MOCK FRIED ICE CREAM

This is a great dessert for kids and adults. It mimics the deep-fried ice cream found on most Mexican restaurants dessert menus. But there is no frying! Yea!

I love the combination of the cold, vanilla ice cream with the crunch of the rice krispies and nuts, with the strawberries and whipped cream--really, what's not to love?

Whether you are having a party or a family dinner it helps to make at least one item the day before. This can be made and then stashed in the freezer until needed.

You could also drizzle a little honey on top for one more layer of flavor.



INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup melted butter

2 1/2 cup Rice Krispies

1 cup chopped pecans

1 1/2 cups coconut

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 gallon vanilla ice cream (rectangular carton works best)

Toppings include: strawberries, whipped cream, honey



Combine all ingredients except ice cream. Press 1/2 of mixture into 9 x 13 inch pan. Put vanilla ice cream on top. Cut into 1/2 inch slices if from square carton, scoop if from round carton. Press rest of crumb mixture on top. Cover and freeze for 12 hours. Top with strawberries or other berries.



Recipe from My Favorite Things by Elizabeth Banks

"MISS HARGREAVES" - Book Review

I can't decide if this is a horror story, fantasy fiction, or a comedy with a dark undercurrent. But it is a well-written, original idea of a story.

Written by Frank Baker in 1940, Miss Hargreaves, tells the story of Norman Huntley and his ability to create on the spur of the moment (something his father had warned him about). I don't mean a piece of art, but a fully-formed, adult human being in the form of 80-something year old Connie Hargreaves.

Norman and his friend, Henry, make up a wild story on a rainy night while visiting a small town in Ireland. Wandering through an old Church they begin to make-up the history of an elderly woman who is the friend of a former Vicar. It's all bunk and they continue the joke elaborately describing her personality, the fact that she has a cockatoo, dog, harp, and a hip-bath that she carries with her as she travels. Leaving the church they decide to write a letter to their new, made-up friend, envisioning her to stay at the local hotel, inviting her to visit. A few days later, Norman receives a telegram from Miss Connie Hargreaves accepting his invitation.

Stunned, Norman doesn't know quite what to do or how this happening. So he and Henry go to the train station and soon see an elderly woman with a dog, cockatoo, harp, and scads of luggage descend on to the platform. I won't go any further but I was entertained as I read along wondering where this was all going to end up.

Thanks to Simon at Stuck In a Book for including it in his top 50 favorite reads.

CHEDDAR APPLE QUESADILLA - Ellie Krieger

Last November, I attended the Arizona Kidney Foundation's Authors Luncheon and met Ellie Krieger from the Food Network. She is darling and her skin is gorgeous--probably from all of that healthy eating!

It's not some earth-shattering idea to combine apples and cheese but I hadn't thought about it for a quesadilla. This recipe comes from Krieger's latest cookbook, So Easy, it was great but it would also be a good choice for a quick lunch. I think kids would like this, as well. Of course you can use whatever apples and cheese you have on hand, but there is something about a tart apple with sharp cheddar cheese.

1 Granny Smith apple, cored and thinly sliced

4 whole-wheat flour tortillas (9 inches in diameter)

1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese (4 ounces)

Preheat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.

Fan out apple slices over the bottom half of each tortilla and top with the cheddar cheese. Fold the tortillas in half. Working in batches, place the quesadillas in the skillet and weigh them down with a smaller, heavy skillet or a ovenproof plate topped with a heavy can.

Cook until the cheese is melted and the tortillas are golden brown, about 1 1/2 minutes per side. Cut each quesadilla in half and eat warm.

Serves 4.