It’s unusual for things to stick around New York City. In a place that’s constantly moving, constantly changing, constantly striving to be the best and the boldest, it is understandable that the pressure is great. The city, at most, is a complicated love affair offering you treasures in the form of new favorites…restaurants, boutiques, coffee houses, galleries, apartments, friends, jobs… you lose your heart, you fall in love, you grow to need them and then one day they are gone. It’s life lived bittersweet, but in an environment that constantly strives to out do itself, it’s to be expected. To Ms. Jeannie, that’s what makes the city wonderful. It’s addictive and adventurous and mysterious. It’s here one minute and gone the next. But every once in awhile you get lucky, the city gods smile upon you, and one of your favorites winds up sticking around for many, many years and many more beyond that.
Such is the case with the whimsical vintage china and kitchen shop, Fishs Eddy, located at Broadway and 19th street. First opened in the mid-1980’s by Julie and her husband, Dave, Ms. Jeannie first discovered it thanks to her brother, who had purchased a vintage Howard Johnson’s creamer there, and then went about telling all of New York how wonderful of a place it was. Like her brother, Ms. Jeannie was smitten right away. Having just moved back to the city, from Seattle, it reminded her a bit of the market stalls in Pike Place, where everything was a feast for your eyes in that simple, unearthed presentation way that spoke a straightforward this-is-what-I-offer language. It also reminded her a bit of the one day sample sales, she had just started frequenting with her girlfriends. These were sort of “secret” sample sales where you had to be on “the list” and show up to a hush-hush location where designers opened trunks of clothes in near empty buildings and let you rummage through one of a kind fashions that were just retired from the runway or design studio. Of course these were deeply discounted clothes in waif sizes but you couldn’t help but feel like an adventurer among all those fabrics and that you being offered something rare and unusual.
So how does one such store manage to make it in one of the toughest cities in the world for more than 25 years? Clearly it’s good business practices, but also there’s more to it then just operating the nuts and bolts of every day. Ms. Jeannie caught up with Julie to discuss all aspects of selling china in New York City. Here’s what she had to say…
Julie: After college I moved in on west 15th street. Dave was working at his cousin’s shop called the Wooden Indian. It was this quirky little store at the end of the block, they sold restaurant glassware and some dishes, along with a lot of peculiar stuff. It was a fixture in the West Village and a lot of cool artists and locals shopped there. Dave was working behind the counter, and well, the rest is history. I had graduated from Syracuse University and knew a little about Syracuse China-a major American manufacture of restaurant ware located near the campus. Dave knew a lot about restaurant dishes and glasses. He also knew how to run a shop. So he left his job and we opened our own store. The more we went out searching for dishes and glasses, the more we learned about these incredible factories and the manufacturing process and the wonderful people behind it.
MJ: How did the Fishs Eddy concept come about to begin with? If I understand correctly, Fishs Eddy started with your barn discovery of old restaurant ware back in the 1980’s. Did you know that you were specifically looking for dishes that day or did it just happen to work out that way? If you had stumbled upon a barn full of old lamps do you think you would have then been in the vintage lamp/lighting business?!
MJ: When you opened up shop in 1986, did you find that people got the mix and match concept right away or did you have to educate them about all the whimsical possibilities?
MJ: I was first introduced to Fishs Eddy through my brother who had bought a vintage Howard Johnson’s creamer from you guys. That was was 20 years ago and I still think about that creamer! Is there one item like that from the early days that brings back a sense of nostalgia for you?
J: Hmmmm that’s a hard question because there are so many. The one pattern that I get very nostalgic for are these fantastic little cups made for the La Fonda Del Sol restaurant in the city. They were designed by Alexander Girard and had a fabulous design that was so 50’s and strikingly modern. The best part is that we’re working with the Girard family and bringing those dishes back! I still can’t get over that we’re producing a pattern that we found sitting in a basement 25 years ago, and who knows how long they were sitting there before we rescued them!
MJ: One of the most fun things about visiting Fishs Eddy is your store displays – with the old crates and big bins of bits and pieces, it makes everything feel like a constant discovery. Like we’ve unearthed a treasure that you might not even know you had. That’s great design! How do you come up with your display concepts?
J: I tell our visual people that if it looks as though they spent any time at all thinking and strategizing about how a display looks, then the display is going in the wrong direction. We aren’t decorative and we aren’t “fluffy.” Every fixture in the store has a purpose, opposed to other stores that put random and useless props out to set a mood. Our dishes and glasses are what sets the mood and I think that kind of straight forward merchandising gives customers a lot of credit. People are very creative if you give them a chance.
MJ: Design-wise, who or what inspires you?
J; Without a doubt, Todd Oldham! We approached Todd a few years ago thinking this guy is never going to call us back…but he did! Todd is truly a talented and brilliant designer, watching him in action is awe-inspiring. We’ll be talking about how to lay out a graphic or something like that, and Todd will just see something that is totally unexpected, but it’s always right!
But what inspires me even more is that Todd is most unpretentious, giving and wonderful person ever! His partner Tony is the same way. Todd overseas the Charley Harper estate and could have given that design to anyone for dishware. God knows a lot of people would have killed for it. But he trusted this small business to do the best quality. He doesn’t make decisions based on how much money he could make. I‘m inspired by Todd as a designer, and just as much for the person that he is. How many people can you say that about?
MJ: What is the most exciting item you ever discovered on your buying sprees and where was it from?
Side note: To see a fun quick little video of all the “hidden” doors, vaults and prohibition- era trickery inside the 21 Club click here.
MJ: After 25 years in the business, do you think you have seen it all when it comes to china patterns? Is there a holy grail of patterns that you are anticipating?
J: One of my favorite stories is when a customer took a photograph of the Fishs Eddy sign on the highway on route 17. They sent the photo to us and said “did you know they name a town after your store?” That town was founded about three hundred years before we were!
MJ: I absolutely love antique ironstone pottery and get so excited when I come across a piece. The older, more aged and imperfect looking the better – if it has a crack or a chip it is absolutely perfect! What sort of pieces or brands get you so excited like this?
J: I love any dishes that have the original guideline markings under the glaze. There was this guy named Ray who worked forever at Shenango China factory and he signed off on all the sample plates. So we have lots of these plates with Ray’s signature. He even doodled on some of them!
MJ: What is your most favorite piece, or collection, in the shop right now?
MJ: Is it ever nerve-wracking to be around so many fragile things?
J: We’ve broken some pieces of our collection that, after the damage, I just have to go and hide under a rock for a few hours -but at the end of the day, they are dishes.
J: We do get a lot of celebrities. The one person I might have frozen in star “struckenness” is Bill Clinton, who came in a few months ago while I was out to lunch, of course.
MJ: If you could sit down to luncheon with anyone famous, alive or dead, who would you chose? And what would your place settings look like?
J: Gloria Steinem is one person. I sat a few rows behind her once when I went to Carnegie Hall with my father. I only watched her for the entire concert. Anyone who speaks up for gender equality is someone I want to have lunch with. And then there’s Hank Williams because I love county music. I know, I’m a big walking conflict of interest because it’s not like county music preaches gender equality.
J: Marcus Samelsons Red Rooster, Joseph Leonard, Perla, Prune, Maialino, La Bernadine….too many to name!
MJ: If one of our readers was visiting NYC for the first time and you were their tour guide, what five places would you take them and why?
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Wineward Bound: Travel South to Chateau Elan Winery
Ms. Jeannie’s friend was visiting from the West Coast a few weeks ago, and over dinner one night he was remarking on a wonderful trip, he and his fiancee had taken to Napa Valley. Of course they stopped at a bevy of wineries to learn and sample and the whole experience really opened him up to the wide world of wine palates. So Ms. Jeannie thought it would be fun, now that he was a wine connoisseur of sorts, to take him on a little southern road trip to Braselton, Georgia, the location of the state’s most noteable vineyard, Chateau Elan.
Wine in Georgia, you say? How could that be, Ms. Jeannie? Well, my dears, Georgia has actually been growing two unique types of grapes since the 1500’s – the scuppernong and the muscadine grape. It is not uncommon to see little vineyards of two or three rows in people’s yards all over the south. Ms. Jeannie, herself has two rows of 35 foot vines herself. Here’s some pictures…
Larger then your traditional grape, muscadines (red) and scuppernongs (golden) are just slightly smaller then the size of a golf ball. You can see in this picture some some sizing perspective…
Both muscadines and scuppernongs have a thick, tart outer skin and a sweet, juicy center that is similar to a plum, yet with a touch more tang. Most people bite and then suck out the sweet interior pulp – but Ms. Jeannie likes to eat the whole thing or cut them up in little segments like a sweet tart.
First discovered growing wild in North Carolina by Italian explorer, Giovanni de Verranzano in 1524, these two varieties of grapes grow naturally only in the Southern United States where they thrive on a short cold season and lots of humidity.
When Giovanni discovered them growing in the Cape Fear River Valley, he wrote in his trip’s log book that the “grapes were of such greatness, yet wild, as France, Spain, nor Italy hath no greater.” At the time, Giovanni was on a coastal exploration trip on behalf of the French King, Francis I. Ms. Jeannie wonders what this french King must have thought of the their-bigger-than-yours statement when Giovanni went to report his trip findings!
On a side note, unfortunately, in the end things didn’t fair so well for Giovanni, who on his third trip to the coastal US, was killed (and some sources say eaten) by local natives in 1528. Goodness gracious – it is not a very sweet ending to the story of a man who discovered such a sweet fruit.
Anyway, back to the grapes…the wine produced from muscadine/scuppernong grapes is very, very sweet, (think sweeter then a riesling) and light in body, which makes it nice (in small doses!) on those hot summer evenings, when it seems too stifling to eat anything but air. Often times, as in the case of Chateau Elan’s varieties, these local grape wines are enhanced with other local fruits like peaches, strawberries or blueberries which give it a unique flavor. This enhancement also makes for interesting culinary delights like fruit syrups drizzled over ice cream, simple soaked white cakes or jams and jellies, so scuppernongs and muscadine, as you can see, s are quite versatile when it comes to cooking as well.
Chateau Elan offers four local varieties of muscadine/scuppernong wine as well as a variety of wines imported from their California vineyard, Diablo Grande in Patterson, CA.
Ms. Jeannie went on the wine tour and tasting at Chateau Elan so that she could try both the sister wines from California as well as the local Georgia wines.
The vineyard at Chateau Elan was established in 1981 and sits on 3,500 acres. It’s about a 45 minute drive east from Atlanta in the tiny, rural town of Braselton, GA. Braselton has a little Hollywood color to it. The actress Kim Basinger, bought the entire town for $20 million in the late 1980’s with the idea of turning it into a Hollywood film set/production studio. Unfortunately, that idea never materialized. Kim ran out of money and wound up selling Braselton to a developer in the mid-1990’s. Now it is mostly known for it’s antique shopping, area golf courses and of course, the Chateau Elan Resort which in addition to a winery includes a small luxury hotel, several golf courses and a spa.
Before we look at the wines, Ms. Jeannie wanted to point out a few pretty things she noticed about the Chateau itself…
Since it was early Spring when Ms. Jeannie visited – the gardens and vineyards were just waking up – but to add a bit of color to the landscape, the flower beds surrounding the Chateau all contained a bright yellow/blue combination of pansies and guess what… flowering broccoli! Very pretty and quite an unexpected pairing! Ms. Jeannie will have to remember this for her early season gardening.
At the entrance of the Chateau is this wonderful bronze statue of a woman stomping the grapes set inside a large fountain. It’s a really pretty figure!
When Ms. Jeannie was taking pictures, crows were hanging out on the roof-line – maybe they were getting together for cocktail hour themselves!
The winery tour starts inside the Chateau in the large gift shop area. On the tour, Ms. Jeannie learned about the production side of wine-making which included, of course, how it was stored, and bottled. It was a pretty industrial process and a long way away from stomping of the grapes that the statue represented – but it was interesting none the less.
The barrels were beautiful all lined up in rows. The wine is aged in both French and American barrels…
Once the tour was over it was on to the wine tasting. During the tasting, Ms. Jeannie sampled five wines, three from the California property and two from Georgia.
The first wine Ms. Jeannie tasted was the Chardonnay Reserve 2010, which she liked very much. In addition to the actual tasting part, she also learned how to sniff, swirl and suck in her breath to really appreciate the advanced flavors of the wine. This does make a big difference – to taste your wine this way. It’s nice to take some time to appreciate what you are drinking and to identify the subtle mix of flavors and aromas.
Next was the Pinot Noir. This one was lighter in color than Ms. Jeannie expected!
The next was Ms. Jeannie’s favorite of all the samples, the Scarlett 211. It was full-bodied and smelled a bit like incense. The Scarlett is a blend of Syrah and Sangiovese grapes which gives it a darker, richer color than the Pinot Noir.
The last two Ms. Jeannie tasted were the Georgia wines. The first was Summer Wine which was muscadine infused with peaches…
The second was Spring Blossom which was muscadine infused with raspberry…
Both were very sweet with residual sugar levels of 6%, ( to give you some perspective, the California wines had sugar levels of .5%). Ms. Jeannie, herself doesn’t care for such sweet wine, so she preferred the California varieties better – but she could see how these two could definitely be incorporated into a flavorful dessert.
In addition to wine, scuppernongs and muscadines also make fantastic jams. Ms. Jeannie wants to send a giant box to her sister this summer so she can experiment with some special jam recipes! She’ll keep you posted on how it all turns out.
After the wine tasting, Ms. Jeannie and her friend headed to Paddy’s Ale House, just one of the 9 dining experiences on the Chateau property.
The pub was built in Ireland, then deconstructed, brought to Georgia and reassembled. It has wonderful character and has retained a true Irish spirit. So if you are not exactly a wine lover – but a beer lover instead – than this is a grand spot to while away the afternoon. They serve all the traditions – warm Guinness, Irish whiskies and their own take on traditional fare like Fish & Chips, Shepard’s Pie and Boxty. Ms. Jeannie had the Shepard’s Pie which was comprised of braised spare ribs, mixed with vegetables and baked under a layer of mashed potatoes. Delicious!
If you have visited the Chateau, Ms. Jeannie would love to hear about your experience so please comment below. If not, are there any local wineries in your neck of the woods that you enjoy? If so, please share them with us!
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In the Garden: How To Make Seed Starting Pots Out of Old Newspapers
Happy April everyone! Now that gardening season is upon us all, Ms. Jeannie wanted to share a little garden project with you that she has deemed most helpful.
In the past Ms. Jeannie has always started her seedlings off in composted cardboard pots like this, which are supposed to be able to break down in the soil, pot and all, once you plant your seedlings in the garden…
They are great at providing good vessels for growing seedlings but Ms. Jeannie always finds that once she plants them in the ground – they never fully disintegrate. She’s either left with a top ring to the pot or a chunk of side wall that inhibits the roots of the plant from growing out in one direction or another.
So this year, she’s trying a new seed starting option…the newspaper pot!
Because most newspapers are now printed with soy based inks, you can plant these cups directly in the ground once your seedlings are ready to be planted. They are fun, easy and inexpensive to make. Plus you are doing your part to recycle and also adding some compost to your garden!
Each pot takes about 4 minutes to make, so you can have a collection in under an hour and be well on your way to starting your spring garden.
Here is what you will need:
2 four page sections of newspaper
A 40z straight body juice glass (this is important to have a straight body juice glass as opposed to using a tapered or flared glass)
Step 1.
Unfold your newspaper to full length. Place both sections on top of each other.
Step 2:
Fold newspaper in half length wise making sure to line up the edges.
Step 3:
Next, take your glass (open end of glass pointing down) and place the bottom half of it on the edge of the newspaper and begin to roll the newspaper around the glass, making sure to keep the glass straight as you roll. This is where using a tapered glass is tricky, because the taper makes the glass roll in non-linear directions.
Continue rolling the glass all the way down the length of the newspaper. Once you reach the end, tuck the newspaper into the open end of the glass
So that it should like this…
Step 4:
Next pull the glass out of the newspaper, this might take a minute if you rolled your glass really tight – you might have to sort of wiggle the glass out of the paper.
Once you remove the glass, you will wind up with a newspaper tube that looks like this…
Step 5:
Take your glass in your right hand, and place your paper cup on the table (in above manner). Insert the bottom of the glass into the paper opening and crush down the crinkled up paper in the bottom of the pot, which forms a floor for the container.
Pull your glass back out and the bottom of the pot should look something like this…
If you flip your pot over the bottom will look like this…
Flip your pot back around and you will be ready to fill it with gardening soil and seeds!
Ms. Jeannie placed her seed pots on a mesh screen frame so that air could get to it from all sides, but you can use any old tray if you like. By using two sections of newspaper you can now water your seedlings without your paper pot falling apart. If you just used one section of newspaper the pot would be too flimsy.
As soon as your seedlings get a few inches tall you can plant the whole paper package in the ground! Ms. Jeannie has planted spinach seeds in her pots which she will then transfer to terracotta container planters when they are ready.
By mid-May, she should be knee deep in fresh spinach!
She’ll keep you posted on the progress!
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Mad Men Season 6: What the New Poster Might Tell Us!
It’s just a few short weeks until Mad Men returns (Sunday, April 7th!) and Ms. Jeannie cannot wait! The new season 6 poster was released just last week. In case you missed it, here it is…
Ms. Jeannie always anticipates these posters! It’s a little sneak-peak about what’s ahead in the coming months! The new season 6 poster is quite different stylistically then the previous year’s posters…
As you can see from the Season 6 poster, along with the new season brings a whole new style and a break from the clean, crisp, clear, ultra mod photography that was Mad Men as we knew it. Ms. Jeannie can only guess, based on the new poster, that this season will be edgier, more chaotic and less orderly than previous episodes. Oh the anticipation!
The artist behind this season’s poster is Brian Sanders, a UK illustrator that was specifically commissioned for this project due to work he did over 40 years ago. That’s a pretty powerful portfolio!
In the 1960’s Brian was working on projects like this…
That one looks sort of familiar, doesn’t it? You can definitely see the similarities of that image and the Season 6 poster right down to the police, the stop sign and the airplane in back. Even the colors are close.
This style of illustration was coined bubble and streak, which was mastered through the use of acrylic paints layered with opaque washes. Ulimately, this combination achieved this sort of agitated textured look that boasts of energy and movement. Mad men’s creator, Matthew Weiner remembered this style of work the 60’s and wanted to imitate his style in the new season poster. The marketing department for the show couldn’t quite capture what Weiner had in mind, so the creative team called in the expert. Who better to imitate the style then the actual artist?! And so Sanders was hired!
And we are left to speculate!
Mad Men Season 5 ends with the scene of Joan and Don in the bar. The year is 1967 and lots of questions go unanswered as the final scene plays out. Ms. Jeannie has her hunches. 1968 brings a turbulent time in American history. Martin Luther King and Senator Robert Kennedy are assassinated, birth control is banned by the Pope, Jackie Kennedy marries Aristotle Onassis, moon exploration booms with the launch of Apollo 7 and the orbit of Apollo 8, fear of the nuclear bomb plants itself in American mindsets. Times are shifting in ways that no one is prepared for and the nostalgic sense of traditional Americana begins to dim as political events heat up.
If we return to the poster with those circumstances in mind – the Ology household has come up with these possibilities for Season 6…
Mr. Jeannie Ology thinks that the police in the poster…
are there for Don in the form of an IRS scandal with his Dick Whitman persona. Ms. Jeannie thinks that the police might involve some sort of DUI stop with Don or one of the other partners. Breathalyzers were just installed in all NY state trooper cars in 1968 , and we all know that the Mad Men gang were used to enjoying their libations and then getting in the car – so this might be an example of the changing times that the show is so good at subtly portraying (remember that garbage incident when Don and Betty and kids picnicked in the park?).
There is Don giving a passing glance to his old self, and the tight grasp of a female handhold…
which Ms. Jeannie thinks reconfirms his assurance in his new life with Megan. He no longer wants to rely on his old ways with all of his womanizing and manic episodes of not knowing who he truly is. In season 6, Ms. Jeannie thinks Don has finally figured himself out.
Ms. Jeannie also thinks that Joan will become a partner in company name also – a change from last year’s Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce to Sterling Cooper Draper Harris, now that Lane is no longer (sad, because Ms. Jeannie really liked his character!). Mr. Jeannie Ology speculates that Roger Sterling is going to die of a heart attack, since his health has always been a simmering undercurrent in the storyline. And Ms. Jeannie thinks that Peggy will come back to the firm.
Whatever happens, Ms. Jeannie knows that it is going to be an interesting season! Do you have any speculations about the new season? What do you think about the new poster? Please post your comments below – it will be fun to hear everyone weigh in!!!
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Happy First Day Of Spring!
Happy First Day of Spring, dear readers! After what seemed like an especially long, gray winter, Ms. Jeannie couldn’t be more thrilled to brighten up with some pastel colors and warm sunshine.
To mark the occasion, Ms. Jeannie is taking you on a little photo tour of all things blooming here in her yard.
Sixteen Bradford Pear trees line the driveway, 8 on each side. They look spectacular in the Spring. In a few more weeks they will start dropping their petals, which look like a flurry of snow when the wind blows. Ms. Jeannie has to get her snow-fix anyway she can:)
If she were a bird, Ms. Jeannie would definitely follow suit of this brown thrasher and make a nest here in the tulip tree. He’s quite proud of this new abode and stays pretty close to home. Ms. Jeannie can totally understand why. If you lived in a tulip tree would you go wandering as much?
Ms. Jeannie was surprised to find the rosemary bush blooming also. For some reason, the idea that rosemary even blooms always surprises her, maybe because it is a year round evergreen in the South. Since it grows big quickly it is used in a lot of landscaping as a filler plant. When Ms. Jeannie lived up North, she never imagined that rosemary could get so big. But this particular bush is 4 feet wide and 3 feet tall!
The bright yellow forsythia bushes are like balls of sunshine popping up all over the yard! This particular batch sits next to the now famous fig bushes that you all have read about in past posts.
And of course there are the clusters of daffodils here and there. One day Ms. Jeannie is going to have a giant patch of all different varieties of daffodils. They are one of her most favorite flowers and really perk up the garden in early spring.
The Austrian poet and writer, Rainer Maria Rilke once said ” Spring is blooming so recklessly, if it were voices instead of colors, there would be an unbelievable shrieking in the night.” Ms. Jeannie couldn’t agree more, although she likes to imagine there would be singing in the night instead of shrieking! Maybe Vivaldi felt the same when he composed the Four Seasons concerto!
This is the text of the Spring Sonnet, which is as lovely to read as it is to listen to!
- Spring has come and joyfully the birds greet it with happy song, and the brooks, while the streams flow along with gentle murmur as the zephyrs blow. There come, shrouding the air with a black cloak, lighting and thunder chosen to herald [the storm]; then, when these are silent, the little birds return to their melodious incantations.
- And now, in the pleasant, flowery meadow, to the soft murmur of leaves and plants, the goatherd sleeps with his faithful dog at his side.
- To the festive sound of a pastoral bagpipe, nymphs and shepherds dance under their beloved roof, greeting the glittering arrival of the spring.
If you’d like to share any pictures of spring arriving in your neck of the woods, Ms. Jeannie would love to post them on the blog as a spring around the world campaign. Just comment below and she’ll get it all arranged!
In the meantime,
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An Icon (and an Artist) Identified!
Last week was a big week for the Catholic church with the announcement of new pope, Francis…
Likewise – it was also a big week in the Ology household on a somewhat similar front. For close to a year now, Ms. Jeannie has been trying to identify the saint in her vintage Italian Catholic icon, that sits above her writing desk…
It was tricky business, because there a lot of saints of course, and their simple appearance and plain portrayals don’t allow for ease of searching. Just try doing a search for “saint in white and brown robes” and you’ll see what Ms. Jeannie means!
But luck or divine inspiration,as it might be, intervened earlier in the week which led one thing to another. Ms. Jeannie will explain…
It started with this collection of favorite items Ms. Jeannie curated on Etsy…
This is how Ms. Jeannie was introduced to Tracy from Portraits of Saints, who drew the beautiful Mary portrait…
Since her shop is called Portraits of Saints, Ms. Jeannie thought she might know who the saint was pictured in her icon. So Ms. Jeannie sent Tracy a message and wouldn’t you believe it, in about 10 minutes Tracy came back with an answer! (It really does help to ask the experts!)
Ms. Jeannie’s icon is a portrait of St. Clare, a detail from the Five Saints frescoe painted by one of Italy’s greatest 14th century painters, Simone Martini (1285-1344).
St. Clare was born in Assisi in 1194 and was one of the first followers of St. Francis of Assisi, who our new Pope chose as his Saint’s name. She ran away from home, cut off her hair, lived in a poorhouse, wore no shoes and ate no meat. She founded the Order of the Poor Ladies (eventually to be called the Order of the Poor Clares) along with a group of women and lived in poverty throughout her life. She was canonized on August 15th, 1255, two years after her death.
Ms. Jeannie is so thrilled to be able to put a name to a face now! Welcome home St. Clare!
Thank you thank you thank you to Tracy for the introduction. And now you know if you have any saint identification needs, she’s your gal!
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Vanity and the Fig Tree: A Clipping Update
Just as Ms. Jeannie said the other day “it’s amazing what a month can do” … well, it is equally amazing just to see what a a week can do when it comes to the wonderful workings of Mother Nature.
This was a picture of our fig tree cutting 11 days ago, having been snuggled into a moist grocery circular and tucked in a plastic Ziploc bag for just under a month…
Do you see the little the root sprout jutting out there near the base?! A good sign that our fig clipping was getting a new start! Ms. Jeannie was so proud of little fig. She thought it might be best to wrap him back up into the Ziploc for another week or two to see if he could grow some more shoots. After that he was going to be transplanted to a plastic cup filled with vermiculite, as recommended by the NewEnglandGardener.
Well, wouldn’t you know dear readers, as Ms. Jeannie was showing off her new gardening feat to a friend – she somehow managed to break off the new sprout. That’s right – completely broke it off – right at the base. Ms. Jeannie thought this was a reminder about vanity. Had she not been showing off – she would have had a strong and sturdy sprout!
Oh well. Back to the Ziploc the clipping went. If Fig could grow one sprout – surely he grow another!
For 10 days, Ms. Jeannie left it untouched. Yesterday, on Day 11, she (carefully this time!) unwrapped her clipping to see what , if anything was going on with it. This is what she saw…
Sprouts! Not just one but FOUR!
How exciting! The fig tree is on its way!
So the next step, according to the NewEnglandGardener, was to transplant the clipping to a plastic drinking cup filled with vermiculite. Ms. Jeannie allocated a plastic cup, Mr. Jeannie melted a few drainage holes in it, and Ms. Jeannie prepared for the transplant. Only there was one slight problem.
Ms. Jeannie didn’t have any vermiculite on hand. No problem, said the NewEnglandGardener. Thanks to his video, he also mentioned that you could use perlite. But, drat, again. Ms. Jeannie didn’t have any of that either.
So she she went online and found a potting soil/peanut shell alternative. She had both of those! She shelled about 10 peanuts, and mixed those shells with a handful of potting soil and made a new home for her clipping…
The NewEnglandGardener recommended using a clear plastic cup so that you can see the roots as they start to grow long and wrap around the inside of the cup.
Hope you like your new house, Fig! Now it is back to the shelf, where you’ll sit (out of the direct sun, of course!) for quite a bit of time while you grow roots and eventually leaves.
“I never saw a discontented tree. They grip the ground as though they liked it, and though fast rooted they travel about as far as we do. They go wandering forth in all directions with every wind, going and coming like ourselves, traveling with us around the sun two million miles a day, and through space heaven knows how fast and far!” ~John Muir
Happy Growing!
To follow the fig tree clipping journey from the beginning, start here.
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And The Winner Is….
Two weeks ago Ms. Jeannie held a little photo story contest on her blog with the chance to win this vintage photo…
Well, we didn’t have any entrants, dear readers. Not one! But that is okay by Ms. Jeannie. This gives her another opportunity to exercise her imagination! She had been looking at this photograph for quite awhile now, trying to imagine all the scenarios and possibilities these two ladies could have gotten themselves into. For days and days she looked and thought, but she couldn’t get beyond a sentence or two. Not even with the handwritten prompt on back that read Grace and me. I have on Grace’s hat and she has mine on.
To help the story develop, Ms. Jeannie threw two other photographs into the mix…
and then the story just opened up a like a sunny spring flower!
Here’s the situation, Ms. Jeannie came up with, based on the three pictures…
Rudyard Noble just drove onto Main Street and already the telephone lines were hot with gossip. Word had it that Rudyard was here on a visit specifically to see Grace Dalton, who at the present moment was on a ladder in the rafters of her parents garage shed. There had been speculation of letters exchanged between Grace and Rudyard over an entire year, but this matter was not discussed publicly. Speculation of the Mayor’s family had to be handled delicately, and as first daughter of Wayfaire, the politics and private matters concerning Grace’s love life, although enticing, had to be considered off public record, for the betterment of the community at large. No one wanted to get on the bad side of the Mayor with that temper of his flaring up like wildfire in the July heat.
That being said, this was a horse racing community, and quiet bets were being hedged in every household. Everyone knew that Sam of Sam’s Machine Repair was doing his best to court Grace all the way to the alter.
But now it seems there was to be some sort of competition for Grace’s heart and it was going to be tough. Rudyard was a self-made man with a booming business back in New York, with the looks of a movie star and the language of a literary lover. Sam on the other hand, came from more humble roots. He worked with his hands, studied engineering and fiddled around with the science of botony enough to surprise Grace with a hybrid of wildflower wonders in his backyard garden. The linchpin was that new car of Rudyard’s.
You see, Grace had a curious head for business. Not for the political glad-handing of her father’s world, but for the basics of profit and loss. She and Daisy, her very best girlfriend since grade school, had started a little hat business, which is what brought Grace into the storage shed on this very day.
Their business at first was just simple repairs…loose threads, ill-attached decorations, flopping flowers, etc. These quick fixes garnered the girls enough money to go to the cinema once a week, where they delighted in the costumes of Joan Crawford and Greta Garbo. Inspired, the girls began to feel the excitement in creating and then selling their own designs, based on popular movies of the day. Grace didn’t fancy herself as talented a milliner as Daisy, but she did have a special calming knack for dealing with customers and keeping the books figured correctly and organizing ads in the local newspaper. They became quite a little team.
That’s where Rudyard came in. Daisy had dreams of taking their business as far as Kentucky…to Lexington, the creative epi-center of the hat wearing kingdom. But Grace, although more timid in personality, had bolder ideas. She wanted to get to New York, to London, to Paris with their business. She wanted to walk in the footsteps of Coco Chanel and decorate the heads of movie stars and royalty.
Rudyard had left Wayfaire exactly four years ago this summer, and he was already such a tycoon in the New York business scene, he afforded his own fully furnished 5th Avenue apartment, a country Hudson River house upstate and now, his very own automobile. In their year of correspondence, Rudyard had become Grace’s university on big city enterprise, offering her step by step practicalities of what it would take to make it in Manhattan.
While this correspondence was building between Grace and Rudyard, Daisy was building something of her own as well – a love affair with Harry, Sam’s brother.
In addition now to hats, Daisy also dreamed of wedding dresses and babies and a house of her own. There was still lots of room for business in that head of hers, but Daisy was a prioritzer and Harry was arduant, so more often then not, Grace would catch Daisy sketching farmhouses instead of feathers, baby clothes instead of berets.
All this wedding talk on his brother’s behalf, got Sam thinking about his own future. He sat back all summer long and listened to Grace’s lyrical way with the language of hats and he wondered where he fit in to her whole new enterprise. Grace might be shy when it came to words of love but ask her about a certain style of brim or the cleaning and care of a certain type of fabric and she could talk for hours. He loved the idea of her determination but he also loved the idea of having a wife. And in all of the word’s spoken from Grace’s pale pink lips, she never once mentioned the word marriage to Sam. He noticed this. He was listening hard for some prompt or sign to keep encouraging him down the road of matrimony. He had grown quite used to Grace and he could picture her face settled into the same farm lifestyle that he wanted with her arms full of chickens and freshly baked bread and summer evenings on a porch in Wayfaire.
But now Rudyard is here, shiny and sophisticated and equally fond of Grace and her ways with language. Daisy’s gone to get Grace down from the rafters in the shed. She’ll have to pull the cobwebs from her hair and exchange her hat for Grace’s hat since Daisy’s style looks better with Grace’s dress.
Sam does his own rearranging. He puts on a tie – his one and only tie. If today is the day he is going to propose, he at least wants to do it properly. Harry says it is a rash decision. Hang back and see how Rudyard plays out – those are the words of advice Harry offers as they walk the back road shortcut to Grace’s house.
{to be continued} Look for more on this saga in coming blog posts!
Meanwhile, the trio of photographs is now available for sale in Ms. Jeannie’s shop here.
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Thursday in the Kitchen: Creamy Potato Soup – A Recipe from Ireland
Spring is waking up slowly here in the South. The nights are still cold but the afternoons reach into the early ’60’s on most days now. This afternoon warming makes for delicious stolen moments around the 4:00pm hour when Ms. Jeannie likes to take a cup of coffee outside with her and dream about all the potential and possibility for her garden plan this coming season.
In anticipation of all this gardening, Ms. Jeannie has been going through some of her favorite recipes so that she can figure out what she needs to grow so that she’ll have the freshest ingredients possible. One of her most favorite things to make is soup, so you’ll be sure there will be a variety of vegetables popping up!
In anticipation of such gardening delights and in anticipation of the upcoming Irish holiday, Ms. Jeannie cooked up one of her most favorite soups…potato!
This recipe came from her Irish Isles cookbook, which was a birthday gift this past summer from her dad.
Not only was it a gift of recipes – but it also came with a cd of classical Irish music, which made for a well-rounded cooking experience!
This was a very sentimental gift for Ms. Jeannie. Many years ago, she took a father daughter trip to Ireland and together, they explored the Southern countryside for 10 days. They stayed at 3 different hotels and visited about half a dozen cities and towns. There were sheep (so many!), crazy drivers, the perilous N7 , endless Frank Sinatra on the radio, fabulous museums, trips to the lace-makers, dinners in castles, driving tours of coastal fishing villages, a wet and wild tour of the Cliffs of Moher, lunches in pubs and a million miles of laughter in-between. It was a fantastic trip – one of Ms. Jeannie’s most favorite of all her travel adventures.
This cookbook is a compilation of recipes from the country hotels and manor houses all over Ireland. There are even some recipes from the places where Ms. Jeannie and her dad stayed!
The Leek and Potato Soup Recipe that Ms. Jeannie just made comes from Newport House in County Mayo.
Built in the 1700’s, the country estate is now part of the Relais & Chateaux distinguished hotel group. It is a small, luxury country inn known most for its location overlooking the Newport River and its salmon and sea trout fishing, both in the river and in nearby waterways. The current owners, who were originally guests at the hotel, so fell in love with their accommodations they bought the hotel in the mid-1980’s to ensure that they would always have a fishing retreat to “come home to.” Imagine that! Going on vacation and purchasing your vacation destination because you loved it that much! Ms. Jeannie can totally understand – Ireland is magical like that:)
Here are some interior photos. The owners have decorated the hotel in a variety of antiques including Regency style mirrors. It looks like it has a lot of character!
It’s no wonder that soup is on the menu at Newport House. After a cool day of fishing on the water, Ms. Jeannie bets that a cup of hot potato soup is just what you’d want to have! She was delighted to see that it is still on the menu in the hotel’s dining room!
Ms. Jeannie modified the recipe just a tad to incorporate items she already had on hand, which included a few bunches of fresh spinach tossed in at the very end.
Here’s the recipe, with Ms. Jeannie’s substitutions in parentheses…
Leek and Potato Soup – Serves 4
4 tablespoons butter (Ms. Jeannie used 2 tablespoons olive oil and 2 tablespoons butter)
1 1/4 lbs. leeks, cleaned and sliced
1 cup onion, chopped
3/4 cup celery, chopped
4 cups homemade chicken broth
8 to 10 oz. potatoes, peeled and chopped (Ms. Jeannie used 2 large russet baking potatoes)
1 spring fresh thyme, leaves pulled
1 fresh sage leaf, whole
Salt & pepper to taste
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream (Ms. Jeannie used 1/2 cup of 2% milk)
2 large handful bunches of fresh spinach
1. In a large saucepan melt butter (and oil, if using Ms. Jeannie’s version) over medium low heat. Add leeks, onion and celery and saute until onions are translucent but not browned (about 5-7 minutes).
2. Add the chicken broth, potatoes, thyme and sage. Simmer for 20 minutes until potatoes are tender.
3. Transfer to a blender and puree. Return soup to original cooking pot, add cream (or milk) and salt and pepper. Fold in spinach and cook over low heat for 5 more minutes before serving.
Ms. Jeannie served her soup with a multi-grain baguette which was good for dipping! And, despite having only a 1/2 cup of cream (or milk in Ms. Jeannie’s case) this is an incredibly creamy soup once it is pureed. And it is quick to make with few ingredients! Thank you Ireland for making dinner simple and delicious!!!
Over the next couple of weeks, leading up to St. Patrick’s Day (Mr. Jeannie Ology’s heritage day!), Ms. Jeannie will be trying the recipes in the cookbook from the hotels and country houses she and her dad stayed in on their vacation. These are sneak peeks of three of them…
Until next time…Slainte, dear readers! Which means cheers in Irish:)
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Fig Clipping Update! What a Month Can Do!
Here’s an update from the January blog post: Figs for All: How to Grow a Fig Tree In Your Garden
After carefully cutting, wrapping, storing and dating (January 31st, 2013) her fig cutting as the NewEnglandGardener instructed, Ms. Jeannie was a little disappointed when she checked the clipping a week ago, only to see that nothing happened.
For three weeks the clipping had been tucked inside it’s plastic Ziploc, stored in a warm spot (on a shelf in the stairwell) and left unbothered to grow, grow, grow. But as of last week, the twig still looked exactly the same as when she started. No sprouts, no new green, no shoots. In the NewEngland Gardeners video, he already had sprouts after three weeks, so Ms. Jeannie worried that, perhaps, she had done something wrong and that she may have led her readers down a rocky garden path.
In speaking with a friend of hers about this matter, Ms. Jeannie learned another way that you could grow a fig clipping.
In water! So Ms. Jeannie went out, cut another twig and placed that one in a jar of water and set it on her sill away from the sun.
This morning, she checked the status of both the Ziploc bag and the jar. This would now now be week 4 for the Ziploc bag and week 2 for the jar.
She was delighted to find this in her bag:
Look closely and you’ll see a sprout at the very base of the twig…
Yey! Ms. Jeannie must have been a little impatient last week. This is a good reminder that you can’t rush Mother Nature. She is ready, when she’s ready!
The grocery circular that Ms. Jeannie wrapped the twig in is still moist, even though she has never added any more water since the start, and it is a little spotted with mold…
The Ziploc bag also contains condensation…
…so essentially, Ms. Jeannie created her own little greenhouse!
Nothing’s happening with the twig in the jar of water yet, but now Ms. Jeannie knows just to give it time!
So what’s next for the sprouted twig? Well, Ms. Jeannie is going to keep it in the Ziploc for one more week to see if any new shoots will form and then transfer it to a shoe-box size plastic container with potting soil as the NorthernGardener suggested. In the meantime, she’ll keep her eye on the water twig to see what happens.
Until next time, dear readers, grow fearless!
And don’t forget! You have until midnight tonight to enter to win this photograph (click on the ladies for contest information)…
In the Vintage Kitchen: Where History Comes To Eat 