Summer in a Nutshell!

Published on September 2, 2014 by In The Vintage Kitchen10 Comments

Hello, hello dear readers and happy September! Can you believe that Autumn is already nosing its way around the landscape? Ms. Jeannie hopes you all had a wonderful summer and that you are now as excited about the change of seasons as she is.

It has been quite busy around the Ology house these past two months. The summer garden proved to be one of the most bountiful producers of fruits and vegetables Ms. Jeannie has seen in years…

Clockwise from top left: cosmos flowers, okra, heirloom tomatoes, scuppernongs,zinnias, hot pepper trio, cantaloupe melons, pumpkin, beets.

…and kept her quite busy in the kitchen trying new recipes, making sauces, freezing and canning, cutting and chopping. In the next few days she will begin planting of the fall garden which will yield another batch of beets and pumpkins, brussels sprouts and beans by the end of October (fingers crossed!).

The book club of course kept her very busy, busy, BUSY, and introduced her to several new favorite authors including these three…

The poetry of Robert W. Service (1874-1958) — Poet Robert W. Service (1874-1958)

The children's stories of Miyoko Matsutani (born 1926) — Children’s book author Miyoko Matsutani (born 1926)

The nature writing of William J. Long (1866-1952) — Naturalist William J. Long (1866-1952)

And reminded her that censorship was alive in just as many home libraries as public libraries during the 1950’s and 1960’s…

More news from the book club included the hiring of its first volunteer… as you can see he worked just as hard all summer as Ms. Jeannie…

Boyo took his book responsibilities very seriously:)

And when he wasn’t busy in the “stacks,” he spent the rest of his time content to dream of Robinson Crusoe worthy adventures…

If nothing else at least he’s well-read:)

When Ms. Jeannie wasn’t busy in the book club, she spent some time outdoors marveling at dreamy summer sunsets…

and at little creatures who camouflaged themselves into big surroundings…

and big birds who fought for an entire week over a little tree limb real estate…

There was a very quick trip to Arizona…

and friends that came to visit and left footprints behind…

But in the midst of all these moments came the biggest and one of the best highlights of the season… a new addition to Ms. Jeannie’s family…one that she has been wanting and waiting and hoping for for close to two years now…

A new pup! Named Indie for her independent spirit, she came to Ms. Jeannie via the same hobo highway as Boyo. One day she just showed up in the yard, all wiggly and excited, heart in hand, ready to move-in. After calling all over everywhere to vets and animal shelters, sheriff offices and police departments, newspapers and humane societies for an entire month, even taking her to be scanned for a micro-chip, Indie said… No way, Ms. Jeannie – you’ll never solve this mystery. I’ve come for you. I’m here to stay and that is that.

And so she was. Here to stay. That is that.

And this, dear readers, was Ms. Jeannie’s summer in one very brief, very busy and very beautiful nutshell. What were some of your best moments of the summer?

Saturday in the Kitchen: Chive Pesto

Published on June 14, 2014January 14, 2018 by In The Vintage Kitchen4 Comments

Ms. Jeannie’s chive plant reseeded itself from last year (good little plant!) and this summer has decided to go at growing with passion. When the stalks reached 2 feet, it was time for a hair cut.

Not wanting to waste any bit of these little delicates Ms. Jeannie searched high and low for a recipe that would incorporate cupfuls of chives instead of just bits of sprinkles here and there. And surprisingly, it was harder to find than you might think – until she stumbled upon the Garden for A House blog and Kevin’s unique spin on classic pesto. Instead of traditional basil as the main green, he used chives! Perfect!

Ms. Jeannie got to work grinding nuts…

next came the garlic, olive oil, Parmesan cheese, and four big cups of freshly chopped chives…

She whirled all that together in her little food chopper until it formed a nice consistency – chunky but spreadable. And voila! Dinner was on its way to being done. You could use this pesto lots of different ways – Kevin recommended fish, toasty baguette slices or pasta.

Ms. Jeannie went the pasta route…

and tossed it all together in the vintage bowl that she has for sale in her etsy shop. This bowl gets lots of attention but no one has claimed it for a treasure yet. Ms. Jeannie thought it might help if she incorporated some “action” shots and indeed those little yellow flowers do look pretty against all that bright green!

After tossing, she let the pasta/pesto mixture sit for about 20 minutes to cool down to room temperature and let the pasta soak up the sauce. Needless to say this was all in all an effortless dinner – with just under 15 minutes from prep to finish. And Ms. Jeannie accomplished two feats in one – substantially cutting back the onion patch and making dinner. Oh the ease of the summer lifestyle.

Chive Pesto

(makes about 1.5 cups)

4 cups freshly chopped chives

2 oz. nuts (Ms. Jeannie used peanuts. Kevin used sliced almonds. But really you can use any kind you want)

1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

1 garlic clove

1/4 cup olive oil

Chop your nuts first in a food processor or blender and then add the rest of the ingredients and mix until combined. You may need to add more olive oil for a looser pesto, depending on the type of consistency you like or how you plan to serve it. And you may want to add salt or pepper at the end – although Ms. Jeannie added neither – the cheese made it savory enough and the garlic added quite a bit of spicy flavor.

A great BIG thank you to fellow blogger Kevin for his ingenious recipe and for helping Ms. Jeannie not waste one little bit of her summer garden harvest. Stop by and read Kevin’s blog here.

And if that serving bowl caught your eye, you can find it here in Ms. Jeannie’s shop!

The next herb to tackle is the oregano. If anybody has any great recipes for oregano enmasse please comment below! In the meantime, happy garden cooking!

Lady Nature and the Summer Magic

Published on June 11, 2014June 12, 2014 by In The Vintage Kitchen4 Comments

Dear readers! This morning Ms. Jeannie went grocery shopping in her backyard for the very first time! In just two months, with the help of her greenhouse and a certain sensational lady, Ms. Jeannie’s garden project went from this…

to this…

Isn’t lady nature just marvelous?! With time being so scarce for Ms. Jeannie these past few months, lady nature truly proved to be the greatest of friends. “Don’t worry about your garden Ms. Jeannie – I’ll take care of it!”

And take care, she did! Boy that lady – there’s no stopping her abilities!

Today, the garden was offering a sale on cucumbers…

Ms. Jeannie picked six today, and as you can see there are what seems like a million in all stages still growing growing, growing. Ms. Jeannie could actually hear the cucumber plant say thank you as she plucked the ripe ones. Baby cucumbers moved right into the empty spots. Productive little creatures:)

The cantaloupe melons are in a race with the cucumbers. Who can outgrow their metal frames first?

Everyone is hedging their bets in the garden. The beets are betting on the melons.

The okra is betting on the cucumbers.

And the peas…

well, they are just betting on themselves and their ability to outwit the mammoth sunflowers. They’ve already outgrown their trellis and moved on to the sunflower stalks – so really at this point – the sky is the limit for them! Take that, cucumber melon competition!

Do you remember Ms. Jeannie’s grand plan for her re-purposed gift from the ground? A home for zinnias, ha! Four weeks into that growing project … they looked like gawky teenagers in ill-fitting clothing…

They immediately were sent to summer camp in the herb garden where they could spread out and be as wild and wooly as they wanted…

This suits them just fine!

Speaking of herbs, Ms. Jeannie just recently gave her chives a major haircut for a simple new recipe, which solved two problems at once – what to make for dinner and how to keep these fast growing onions from taking over! She’ll share that culinary feat in her next post – so stay tuned.

In the meantime, Boyo sends his best from the porch…

As you can see he is working just as hard as the ladies:)

Half Day Shop Sale – Today!

Published on May 19, 2014 by In The Vintage KitchenLeave a comment

There’s a half day shop sale going on today in Ms. Jeannie’s Etsy shop! Come take a look…

Half days are always fun – especially on a Monday! Prices are reduced upon checkout. Sale runs ’til midnight tonight!

The Post-Derby Post: A Minty Affair

Published on May 4, 2014October 28, 2016 by In The Vintage KitchenLeave a comment

The mint julep is always the star of the show at the Kentucky Derby in the drinks department. But when Ms. Jeannie’s own party plans got significantly waylaid this year, she decided instead of going all the traditional routes she was going to mix things up a bit. Instead of the mint julep, she created the Minty Donberry…

Which was a glass of chardonnay with a spring of mint and a slice of strawberry. Like a mini sangria, it was light and refreshing and looked pretty from the side…

Instead of traditional red roses, she went white and peach and purple in the flower department…

with bouquets of lilacs, snowballs, flowering dogwood and clematis.

And instead of a formal sit-down dinner following the race she went with a smattering of appetizers for a more informal cocktail party-like atmosphere. The favorite of the appetizers was a sausage and mint brown rice meatball accompanied by a cucumber mint raita sauce. It was a nice match with the Minty Donberry, easy to prepare ahead of time and made a lot. So even though there was no julep – mint was still a main attraction!

Here’s the recipe…

Sausage and Mint Brown Rice Meatballs with Minty Cucumber Raita Sauce…

For the Meatballs

1 lb. ground grass-fed organic sausage

1 cup cooked brown rice

1 cup fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped

1 egg, lightly beaten (preferably free range organic!)

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/4 teaspoon allspice

Prepare brown rice ahead of time and let cool. Add all ingredients together in a bowl and mix until well-combined. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour (up to one day – if you want to prepare ahead). All ingredients should look evenly dispersed throughout the mixture, like this…

Roll into 18 golf-ball sized meatballs or smaller if you want to make a miniature version. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes. Turn each meatball once and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes until the meatballs turn golden brown. This may require a little more or a little less cooking time depending on the size of your meatballs. Also, Ms. Jeannie broiled hers for the last couple of minutes to get a nice dark brown crust on each.

For the Minty Cucumber Raita…

1/2 large cucumber – peeled, seeds removed and then grated

1 cup sour cream

1/8 cup chopped fresh mint

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/8 teaspoon cayenne

1 teaspoon honey mustard ( Ms. Jeannie used Inglehoffer’s which is a German mustard)

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Place grated cucumbers in a paper towel and squeeze out all the extra liquid. Then combine all ingredients in a bowl until thoroughly mixed. Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour before serving. Makes 2 cups of raita.

Arrange the meatballs on a platter alongside the raita. Ms. Jeannie served her sauce in her grandmother’s 1930’s teacup – which looked pretty! If you want to garnish the plate you can use (you guessed it) fresh mint or dill. But the meatballs don’t last long once out among the party crowd so you may not want to even bother!

Ms. Jeannie was rooting for longshot Wildcat Red…

and even though he didn’t win – it was still a great race! Now it is on to the Preakness to see if California Chrome will become a Triple Crown winner. Ms. Jeannie’s two best friends couldn’t make last night’s party so they’ve all decided to get together for round two on May 17th to watch the Preakness. It might just be a California themed event!

Seedlings and Snakes: Let the Season Begin!

Published on April 13, 2014 by In The Vintage KitchenLeave a comment

It was exactly two weeks ago today that Ms. Jeannie got going on her spring garden with the official planting of the seeds. And now here we are just 14 days later with sprouts that look like dancers…

The cucumbers and the snow peas are winning the race towards bloom day…

And the okra is not far behind…

Even the lone zinnia in the rescued and re-purposed pitcher has come to surface. Not doubt happy to have such an exotic home!

It is always fun to watch how each kind of seed unfurls…

The dill is dainty…

…while wax beans look downright pre-historic…

And then there was the sighting of an actual pre-historic…

“Just a baby,” said Mr. Jeannie Ology. This “baby” indeed, was three feet long, which was plenty long for the likes of Ms. Jeannie. Hopefully this little one will be gracious enough to stay out of the greenhouse!

Earthbound: Stories From Underground

Published on April 5, 2014April 5, 2014 by In The Vintage Kitchen8 Comments

Last summer when Ms. Jeannie posted about the giant hercules beetle larvae poking their way out of the ground she mentioned that on first glance she mistook them for old doorknobs. Sometimes that actually happens. One of the joys of digging around in the dirt in Georgia is unearthing unexpected treasures.

A few weeks ago, Ms. Jeannie was visiting a fiend and helping with some garden projects. When digging up some dirt for potting soil in a far corner of her friend’s yard, she unearthed the above items, all within just a 20 minute time span.

There was old farm equipment in the form of a hefty tractor gear, and some nuts and bolts and pins…

Old farm equipment parts. — The gear looks like the sun, doesn’t it?

There were old pottery pieces…

Ms. Jeannie loves to find these most. She has a collection of hundreds of pieces which one day she will do something crafty with. The pottery usually swims to the surface after a heavy rain and you can find it almost everywhere around historic places – usually in the sandy parts of pathways or the bald spots of grassy areas like lawns and gardens.

She likes these pieces best because they are delicate and pretty and they tell fascinating little stories about the area they were found in. The pieces with the red flowers are from a turn of the 20th century shaving mug. There is also a china plate (the blue pieces), ironstone pottery (the cream colored pieces) and earthenware pottery – double-glazed on each side which means it was used for some sort of food or water storage.

On that same dig Ms. Jeannie also found an old medicine bottle (perfectly intact!), the top spout of another bottle and the top of an old canning crock from the early 1900’s… (notice the date of 1892!)

This is what the entire crock would have originally looked like…

A complete, fully intact version a Weir Jar from Swan Creek Vintage (click for more info) — An antique Weir Jar from
Swan Creek Cottage (click for more info)

These crocks were used for pickle storage, and then became reuseable for other things like, honey, jam, butter, etc. Because Ms. Jeannie found these in the dirt next to the medicine bottle she most likely uncovered a bit of an old garbage pile. Back in the day before trash pick-up and garbage trucks, people would designate one area of their property as the trash heap and they would either collect in a mound and burn it, or dig a big hole in the ground, toss in their unwanteds (empty bottles used jars, clothing, shoes, broken dishes, equipment, etc.) and let nature takes it course of breaking it down. Obviously the heavy duty items never break down but once dirt and leaves and other natural debris cover up the pile it was an out of sight/out of mind situation.

The final thing Ms. Jeannie found was this aluminum pitcher dating to about the 1960’s…

It was fully intact but a little squashed,…

But because it has this fun aqua-teal ish color to it…

Ms. Jeannie thought it would make a very fun, very rustic flower container! Mr. Jeannie Ology hammered it back out into shape, scrubbed it down and voila…

Taking center stage in the greenhouse, it’s a new home for soon to be zinnias! Ms. Jeannie planted red zinnia seeds in the pitcher so when they bloom it will be a pretty contrast against the aqua and rust. If all goes according to plan it will be an interesting conversation piece. From trash to treasure, a love story. You just never know, dear readers, what gifts the earth will give back to you:)

The Surprise of the Season!

Published on March 30, 2014 by In The Vintage Kitchen2 Comments

The last time Ms. Jeannie posted on the blog it was snowing. And now it’s Spring!

april2 — Vintage Metal Marquee Sign – The Month of April

Goodness gracious where do the days go?! All throughout February and March Ms. Jeannie has been navigating the book club and her organizational systems for it.

80 February book club packages ready for the post office!

It has taken her away from blogging and all you lovely readers which she hates, but it has also introduced her to an assortment of wonderful authors and stories from new subscribers which she loves, so it’s been an exciting journey from concept to creation.

With a total of 88 subscribers as of this post, the book club is a constant bustle of activity. To date, which is now at the 7th month mark, Ms. Jeannie has wrapped 307 books, written 307 author’s bios and 307 book bios, been kicked out of the post office once (too many packages please come back tomorrow), gone through 15 packages of tape, finished 8 rolls of twine, folded 356 pieces of tissue paper, cut 560 lengths of ribbon and been reprimanded by the post master twice (only 10 packages at a time in line please!). Needless to say it’s been a spectacular adventure!

And while Ms. Jeannie’s days are now full of books, and research, and writing, and schedules , she managed to carve in a little gardening time over the weekend thanks to one of the most wonderful surprises ever…

Ms. Jeannie’s neighbor has lent her the use of her greenhouse for the rest of the year! How exciting – a whole greenhouse all her own! It’s located just down at the end of the drive, so it’s a quick walk from the house, and ideally set with plenty of sun water spigots, and old rickety potting tables. After a quick yet thorough snake check by Mr. Jeannie (none thank goodness!) Ms. Jeannie got to work right away planting seeds…

So far, in just a day she managed to prepare and pot almost her entire vegetable garden…

Cantaloupe, Brussels sprouts and spinach! — Dill, cucumbers, spinach, hot peppers, and tomatoes.

It was the first sunny, dry and 70 degree weather in days and Ms. Jeannie was so glad to be enjoying it in her new horticulture house. She even collected sand from the creek bed for her spinach seedlings – these are going to be some pampered plants this year.

Next week Ms. Jeannie will get to work on the flower seed aspect of the garden so stay tuned for some regular garden updates all season.

With each passing month, the book club gets better and better situated, so Ms. Jeannie looks forward to sharing a bevy of spring and summer blog posts.

Until next time, happy April and happy Spring!

Winter Wonderland: Part Two and a Mystery Solved!

Published on February 13, 2014February 13, 2014 by In The Vintage Kitchen2 Comments

Two snowfalls within two weeks! Could Ms. Jeannie be any luckier?

These past few days brought four inches of snow and about an inch of ice which was much more than last time. Again, Ms. Jeannie marveled at the icy landscape surrounding her house.

And again the birds proved to be one of the most enchanting elements of the whole production.

Recently, Ms. Jeannie watched a documentary called Birders, which followed a batch of bird watchers for one year in Central Park.

It was beautifully filmed and full of interesting information regarding birds and migration but the one thing that Ms. Jeannie really took away from it was to look and really observe the types of birds that are flying in and out of her own surroundings everyday. There all types of interesting characters who are there for all different reasons.

So armed with this new sense of insight Ms. Jeannie was sure to take an extra close look at the birds buzzing about in the snow. With the white landscape it was much easier to see and identify the different types that had come calling to the great fill-up station in the sky (aka the bird feeder).

So over the course of one snow day this is what she saw…

The House Finch originally from the American Southwest was introduced to the East Coast as a caged bird in the 1940's. Now they are a common sight all across the United States, Canada and Mexico. — The House Finch originally from the American Southwest was introduced to the East Coast as a caged bird in the 1940’s. Now they are a common sight all across the United States, Canada and Mexico. This one is a boy because of his red coloring – the females are just brown and white with speckles.

Mourning Dove. These are Ms. Jeannie's favorites in the yard because they mate for life. — Mourning Dove. These are Ms. Jeannie’s favorites in the yard because of the cooing sound that they make.

For the past few weeks Ms. Jeannie was a little worried about her dove pair because she just kept seeing one – but alas in the snow both showed up together.

Speaking of pairs – Ms. Jeannie’s yard is full of cardinal couples…

Male cardinal. The brighter the red the more attractive he is to the ladies:)

Female Cardinal. In the wild cardinals can live up to 15 years, and they are the official "state Bird" of seven states - the only species to carry such an honor. — Female Cardinal. In the wild cardinals can live up to 15 years, and they are the official “state bird” of seven states – the only species to carry such an honor.

Blue jay! They also mate for life and there is no color difference between boy and girl varieties.

Female House Finches — Chipping Sparrows – these are one of the most common birds with an estimated population of close to one billion.

The Red-Bellied Woodpecker - a fast flyer, Ms. Jeannie had to be quick with her camera. — A female Red-Bellied Woodpecker

She was a fast flyer and liked to hang upside down from the feeder. Ms. Jeannie usually saw her like this…

And last but not least is the mystery solved of these black birds that have been flocking in the neighborhood for months now. Usually Ms. Jeannie will see hundreds descend on the lawn at once but each time she’d go get her camera they’d fly up to the tree tops. Exactly one month ago today – she took these pictures…

In such large numbers as they were they made these very loud noises – like a huge stadium full of choral singers all singing at different times. Of course once the birds flew up high they were two far away to identify. But every time there was any threat of rain (or snow!) in the forecast here they’d come by the hundreds.

With the help of the snow and their swarm landing at the feeder, Ms. Jeannie was able to get an up close view of the bunch for an accurate indentification…

Brewer's Blackbirds! — Ta dah – Brewer’s Blackbirds!

In different light throughout the day the blackbirds tended to change colors from all black to dark dark brown with blue green heads…

They weren’t shy when it came to sharing seed – that’s for sure. When they took over the feeder – they really took it over – kicking all the other birds out of the area. These birds were named after Massachusetts naturalist and author Thomas Mayo Brewer who was friends with fellow bird lover John James Audubon.

In addition to having a bird named after him Brewer also left behind other creature legacies that carry his name such as the hairy tailed mole (aka Brewer’s mole)…

Hairy Tailed Mole. Illustration courtesy of mnh.si.edu

and the very handsome Brewer’s Duck…

Brewer's Duck photograph courtesy of ofo.ca — Brewer’s Duck photograph courtesy of ofo.ca

Sounds like one lucky guy! If you could have an animal named after you, which would you choose? Ms. Jeannie would most probably pick a bird as well and if not an animal then a flower. If she were as lucky as Mr. Brewer then perhaps it could be both!

Now that the great thaw is occurring today we are warming up once more here in the South and all the snow is melting away. Oh well. It was fun while it lasted. Now we have the spring daffodils to look forward to. These little beauties were not intimidated by this last blast of winter weather in the least. Looks like a season change is on its way!

Winter Wonderland!

Published on January 29, 2014January 29, 2014 by In The Vintage Kitchen6 Comments

Oh dear readers, it finally came! Snow. Right here in the South.

And nobody was more excited yesterday about this magical event then Ms. Jeannie. Well except for the birds – they seemed positively thrilled with this wintertime treat too:) The bird feeder was aflutter with activity all day long.

As the snow snow started to accumulate and the sky grew darker – the cardinals came for a visit and decorated one of the crepe myrtles just like it was a christmas trees and they were the ornaments.

Nothing brings out of every detail in the yard like a little bit of snow…

The total accumulation was one inch, which is pretty paltry compared to our northern neighbors, but when it only snows once every 3 or 4 years here that seems like a blizzard 🙂

Ms. Jeannie believes that this was BoyO’s first introduction to snow.

Frankly – he didn’t quite seem to care for it so much – preferring, instead, to dream about the snow here…

As you can see he has flawlessly worked his way from being a summer stray (okay stay but outdoor only, please!) to being an indoor kitty that now occasionally visits the great outdoors. How clever of him! At least he has wonderful house manners:)

Ms. Jeannie hopes that everyone is having a wonderful start to the New Year. It’s been quiet on the blog all month as Ms. Jeannie has been especially busy this month working on her vintage book of the month club which now has close to 80 members. Goodness gracious. It’s fun to know so many new readers:)

In the next post – you’ll see that another of Ms. Jeannie’s wishes (in addition to a good snowfall!) came true this past Christmas thanks to the lovely and talented Mr. Jeannie. Stay tuned…