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!
Half Day Shop Sale – Today!
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The Post-Derby Post: A Minty Affair
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!
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Seedlings and Snakes: Let the Season Begin!
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!
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Earthbound: Stories From Underground
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…
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…
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:)
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The Surprise of the Season!
The last time Ms. Jeannie posted on the blog it was snowing. And now it’s Spring!
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.
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…
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!
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Winter Wonderland: Part Two and a Mystery Solved!
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…
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…
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…
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)…
and the very handsome Brewer’s Duck…
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!
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Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas dear readers! Ms. Jeannie hopes that you are all having a wonderful holiday. She and Mr. Jeannie are visiting with friends for a few days where the Christmas cactus is in full bloom, the farm table offers a constant bevy of homebaked marvels and laughter fills the air from morning til night. Hope your last few days of 2013 are just as delightful.
Cheers to happy holidays!
Love Ms. Jeannie
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Holiday Affair: A New Vintage Discovery
Always during the holidays, Ms. Jeannie returns again and again to her favorite Christmas movies… Little Women, It’s A Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, Christmas Vacation, A Christmas Story…all the traditionals! But this year – she has one new favorite to add to her list…
She watched this one for the first time this past summer – one of those errant Sunday mornings when she should have busy working on a project, but 10 minutes into the movie she was hooked, so project aside, she fell into the story! If you haven’t seen it – this is the general gist in short – without giving too much away…
It’s Christmas season in New York City, and single mother Connie Ennis (played by Janet Leigh) works as a secret comparative shopper for a major department store. While secret shopping in the toy department at a competitor’s store she meets employee, Steve Mason (played by Robert Mitchum) and inadvertently winds up getting him fired over the refund of a toy train set. Connie of course feels awful. Steve is a free-spirit, a dreamer and a romantic with big plans to earn enough money to get himself to California where he can build sailboats with his friend. Through a series of chivalrous escapades on Steve’s part, he winds up falling in love with Connie which complicates matters when steady and secure, but somewhat dull Carl, Connie’s friend, proposes to her. Connie has to decide what to do… marry practical Carl, remain single or start a relationship with dreamy Steve who will be moving away soon.
Here’s the trailer…
Holiday Affair came out in 1949, when Robert Mitchum was mostly known for his film noir type movies and Janet Leigh was 11 years away from her most famous role in Psycho. A completely adorable addition to the cast was little Timmy, played by Gordon Gebert who was an actor up until the 1960’s before he leaving the industry altogether to pursue a career in architecture.
Some critics say that Gordon stole the whole show, which is a lovely compliment for someone who had just been in a couple of small productions before this film! But really all the actors were wonderful, the writing is clever, the tone sweet without being sappy and all of the set decorations and costumes were marvelous, especially little Timmy’s wardrobe. Connie Ennis is on a budget so nothing was too glamorous or splashy, which made it fun to see how you could decorate a small 1940s era city apartment for the holidays on a single woman’s salary.
The movie was released on Christmas Eve Day and did really poorly at the box-office – losing $300,000 during its run. This seems surprising to Ms. Jeannie because it is such a great movie – but maybe, like any antique, it just needed time to age for everyone to see its real value:)
If you haven’t seen Holiday Affair – not to worry! Turner Classic Movies is running it several times this month including both the day before Christmas and the day after, so you’ll be able to catch it. Check here for showtimes.
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Culinary Traditions Old & New
Oh what a flurry of activity! Happy post-Thanksgiving Day dear readers! Ms. Jeannie hopes that your holiday was marvelous and delicious!
One of the things, Ms. Jeannie was most excited about this Thanksgiving was serving dinner on her grandmother’s 1930’s wedding china, which recently arrived via mail a few weeks ago from Ms. Jeannie’s mom. The dishes contain the prettiest color combination: gold, cream, yellow, spring green, pale pink magenta, grey and coral. And to Ms. Jeannie’s surprise, naturally picked up all the colors in her Thanksgiving dinner!
This is what was on the menu at Ms. Jeannie’s:
- Smoked Turkey
- Sauted Brussel Sprouts with Chestnuts and Bacon
- Orange Glazed Carrot Ribbons
- Sweet Potato Souffle
- Cornbread Casserole (which was a lovely gift from a friend)
- Breadcrumb Stuffing (a traditional family recipe)
- Homemade Sweet Rolls (thank you Betty Crocker 1953 cookbook!)
- Gravy
- Cranberry Sauce
- Pumpkin Pie
Because it was such a busy month, Ms. Jeannie declined some holiday invitations and swept away notions of holiday house guests, instead just opting for a romantic holiday week for two. It was delightful! One low-key day fed in another. The feeling of “holiday” was present around every corner.
The festivities began on Monday with a trip to the market for all the necessary Thanksgiving ingredients. On Tuesday, it was cold and rainy – luckily that was the day Ms. Jeannie was slated to be a guest blogger on the Vintage Etsy Society blog where she was tasked with writing about a vintage recipe. She chose Cheese Souffle from her 1961 YWCA Cookbook which was compiled and printed in Bangkok and is written half in English and half in Thai.
On Wednesday, the Jeannie’s braved the 32 degree weather and 30 mph winds to hang Christmas lights outside. It reminded Ms. Jeannie a lot of wintertimes spent in New York when the winds pass through you and make your skin all prickly like ice underneath your clothes. Brrr…
Wreaths went up on all the windows, white lights went on five bushes in front of the house and a giant 6’x 6′ wreath decorated the pump house. That part turned out to be Ms. Jeannie’s favorite!
Then they headed indoors to warm up and cook some holiday hors d’oeuvres before settling in to begin a new marathon, which is a Wednesday-before-Thanksgiving tradition. Last year, it was Gilmore Girls – which took them all the way through Thanksgiving into January. This year it is Parenthood – starting with season one.
The hor d ‘oeuvres menu was all new this year…
- Lemony Chickpea Bruschetta
- Focaccia with Carmelized Onions, Pears & Blue Cheese
- Antipasto plate with Hard Salami, Olives, Gruyere Cheese, Brie and Pistachios
Fun and delicious! The hors d’ouvres take the place of both lunch and dinner which makes for light snacking throughout the afternoon and evening without having to eat anything too heavy before the big turkey day.
On Thursday, Mr. Jeannie was up early tending to the turkey which was in the smoker for a total of 8 hours. And Ms. Jeannie was in the kitchen cooking by 9:00am to finish by 5:00pm. What a spectacle! It was a full day of cooking that topped off a full week of cooking, that was packed full of experiments, flavors and old favorites. And now there is a weekend full of leftovers. Life really is delicious isn’t it?!
If you are looking for culinary themed gifts for the holidays, Ms. Jeannie has a bunch of newly listed lovelies in her shop. Here’s a peek – click on any and all that interest you to find out more information…
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Swarm’s a Brewin’: A Prediction Has Been Made!
On Wednesday, Ms. Jeannie walked out her door right into a storm cloud. Not the fluffy white ones you see in the sky but an air combat show performed by hundreds of lady bugs. Goodness gracious – what could all this be about?
The screened porch was a bed of activity…
As were the doors and windows on this one particular side of the house…
At first Ms. Jeannie thought that all these lady bugs might have something to with the 14ft. holly bush on the side of the house. But then she looked up to at the hornet’s nest and saw that so many were gathering up in that area…
There were so many lady bugs flying through the air that it was difficult to take pictures. They’d land on the camera lens, on Ms. Jeannie’s hands and in her hair – they really were everywhere!
Even the baldfaced hornet’s were a little wary of these surprise invaders. you can see one hornet peaking out behind the wood trim here just as the little ladies were moving up the gutter…
Were they trying to take over the nest?
After doing a little bit of research, Ms. Jeannie discovered that lady bugs were swarming all over Northeast Georgia on Wednesday. It was nice to know that she wasn’t alone in this matter!
Apparently, the lady bugs chose a balmy 75 degree day to move in. Not to the hornet’s nest though – they wanted to move in with Ms. Jeannie! According to nature folklore, lady bugs are little weather predictors for the coming season. And when they arrive by the hundreds that is your warning to batten down the hatches because it is going to be a cold winter. The lady bugs in ms. Jeannie’s neighborhood were out real estate shopping for a warm and cozy winter home!
All this makes sense, but it is curious as to why they chose Wednesday for their invasion, and even more curious as to why it was only a one day affair, particularly since the weather has been warm all week. On Thursday there was no sign of them anywhere – not even a few stragglers. And since everything is sealed up on that side of the house, (hopefully!) Ms. Jeannie wonders where they all went. Perhaps they did move in with the hornets. Ms. Jeannie will keep her eye out and keep you posted.
In the meantime, she hopes everyone had a great Halloween. She was late wishing you a happy holiday yesterday, but luckily she got her pumpkin carved in time for trick or treaters last night. This year she went with an owl theme. It was also the first time she tried her hand at a relief style carving. Hope you had a spook-tacular day!
In the Vintage Kitchen: Where History Comes To Eat 