Summer Picnic! — Cure for Winter Blues & and Blahs

I’m definitely tired of shovelling stuff that isn’t even snow, but some evil compound designed to pack 18 inches of snow into about 9 inches of Arctic Concrete, although I’m still fine with seeing snow and wearing sweaters.   But some of the rest of us here at Pergola House have the Winter Blues & Blahs.  So we had a Summer Picnic this week-end! Here is the invitation:

Love the kids stuffing their faces with fruit and bread!

In deference to aging knees I put the picnic table-cloth on the table rather than the floor.  I thought about using paper plates and cups, but decided to pretend we have a butler and use the Belleek, the Waterford, and the Edgeworth silver.

picnic cloth, flowers, china, silver

The starter was shrimp and corn chowder, riffing of a recipe by Clayton Bernard Jr.  Now I hate to disagree with Clayton, but honestly, if you use the food processor correctly, it’s just as smooth as using a blender.  The trick is to thoroughly puree the cooked corn (and couple of braised onion slices) in the processor without the liquid — the milk it was simmered in — before adding the liquid.  I also put a half-cup or so of corn kernels in along with the shrimp for sautéing  The other thing is that it reheats (in the microwave) perfectly well, and next time I’d do it all the day before.

The salad was a riff of  Jacques Pepin’s cabbage salad — made in smaller amounts in individual bowls.  It was pretty and crunchy, with anchovy goodness.

too pretty to eat?

The main course was a half a New York strip steak and Oven-Fried Chicken (corral and coop?), chicken being the oven-fried version of Frank McClelland’s fried chicken which starts with a fantastic buttermilk/citrus zest marinade, overnight.  I just don’t do Fried Chicken in all that oil. My amazing broiled potatoes and simple asparagus for veg.  Dessert was, well, fab.   Sections of blood orange drizzled with homemade ginger syrup, served in my grandmother’s antique sherbet glasses.  I had figured one orange per person, but could have easily eaten two all by myself.

unplanned, but I love how the dessert matches the flowers!

We turned the heat up enough to wear polo shirts and t-shirts and dresses and sandals, and the evening was a genuine mini-vacation.

 

Starting to Make Christmas

Now that the Trunk Show scarves are behind me and last minute special requests dealt with, I can concentrate on Making Christmas here in The Artist’s House.

LaLa did a great job with the display!

The Vacuumer and Silver Polisher has been hard at work; I am dusting, clearing, cleaning bathrooms, and starting to decorate.  Cooking and present wrapping are coming up.  I know you’d really rather see a picture of me cleaning the bathroom, but instead I’m going to show you a picture of my Red Swedish Horses which are part of The Artist’s House’s traditional holiday decor.

Swedish Horses at Christmas

 

Finally, again…

Apparently it’s against the universe’s rules to focus on one thing at a time.  Instead of being able to just roll onward and an upward with studio organisation, I’ve also had to do other things, some of which involved working in the studio.

For instance, some pesky chairs.  I have three patio chairs that are several years old.  They’re pretty comfortable, and structurally sound, but the fabric is shot:

The old chair...

detail of wear

Now these chairs aren’t worth spending much time or money on, but I thought I could do a down-and-dirty easy-on-easy-off slipcover that would extend their lives another couple of years and encourage people to sit in them without thinking, “hmmm, grungy….”

I found the perfect fabric — for $140 per yard.  Um, No.  I found some acceptable fabric that worked out to $20 per chair.

So after an afternoon of sewing we have “new” chairs.

Just a quickie...

 

Rock & Roll Party In The Artist’s House

Last November HBO aired the incredible 25th Anniversary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame show.

http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/tvblog/hbo_releases_rock_and_roll_hall_D2et8W5TPOq2e9FqMQChgJ is the best listing for it that I could find quickly.  I hope HBO releases a CD for it.

We saw some of it and knew we had to “tape” it (or DVR it, or whatever; the Gentleman Caller is in charge of that stuff and I am iggerant).  It’s the kind of show that you rewind segments of to see again.  It has great clips of the lads (fewer lassies) back in the day and manages to convey the incredible excitement they generated.  So we recorded it and after talking to a few friends who had missed it — and are great music hounds — we decided to have a party.  Between the holidays and work-schedules it took us til March to get a date that worked for everyone.  This past Thursday we hosted a fabulous, loud, boisterous Rock & Roll party.

We set the mood with books and album covers, and even a recent New York Times page about upcoming tributes, back lists, and so forth recognising the 40th (!) anniversary of Jimi Hendrix’s death: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/28/arts/music/28hendrix.html?scp=2&sq=jimi%20hendrix&st=cse taped under the TV.

worship at the altar...

There is, of course, the iconic Lava Lamp: 

I wish I’d had my piece Grace Masquerading as Betula to put out.  It’s a piece I did using a solvent transfer onto fabric of part of the album cover for Jefferson Airplane’s White Rabbit stitched with river birch bark…

Grace Masquerading as Betula

And because we are now old, we wanted food beyond hash brownies.  We wanted food that would do well on trays, that could be free-grazed and not have to be kept warm.  Menu (with recipes below):  Chips and guacamole for starters.  Platters of thinly sliced cold steak and cucumber with horseradish dipping sauce, and grilled shrimps in the shell and snow peas, and barely cooked asparagus with lemon wedges; also good breads,  white and grainy.

Because it was so special a party we even provided… wristbands as proof of admission:

yes, the real deal

We ate, we danced, we drank, we played air-guitar, we checked facts in books.  We certainly marvelled over how these artists could possibly have gotten so old — 63?  67?  into their 70s?  And then marvelled even more at their energy, committment and joy.  Almost all of them were re-inventing the work, not just re-iterating it.  May the rest of us do as well.

Recipes

Horseradish sauce:  equal parts mayonnaise and plain yogurt whisked together with plain horseradish stirred in to taste. Garnish with plenty of capers.

Steak — you know how to grill steak.

Shrimps and snow peas: thaw frozen shell-on shrimps, and frozen snow peas.  Toss in vinaigrette of your choosing. Spread in one layer in broiling pan and slide on top rack under broiler.  Broil until pea pods are browning and shrimp have turned colour.  Don’t let shrimp dry out.

 

Second Feast of the Season

The Elder and her Young Man drove back north to drop off the Younger on the way to Illinois, on the 27th of December.  First they were going to stay only a few minutes, and watch the Younger open her stocking.  (just for grins I put another item in the Elder’s stocking…”

Then they stayed and chatted with us and the Gentleman Caller’s kids.  Then they had some coffee and leftover dinner bits.  Then they played some pool.  Then we played a giant game of Scrabble and the finally left about 11:30.

Another xmas stocking

Which was good, because the next day we were hosting another holiday party, for my birthday and general hillariment.  There were 12 of us at the beginning, for the snacks and the pool-playing and so forth.  Three had to leave, so we were nine for dinner at the big table with the Christmas tree at the end.

For snacks we had nuts, homemade olive tapenade, crackers, and Dubliner Cheese.  For dinner I served grilled butterflied leg of lamb, grilled polenta, multi-rice, salad, and Christmas cookies for afters.

There were more presents, more music, and more pool.  And more talk.  Finally things wound down for the evening, as they eventually will for the holiday season.

 

The First Feast of the Season

The Elder and her Young Man came down from Chicago for xmas eve lunch
and presents. I had bought for the first time in aeons!!! because it’s
the first time I had seen them for <$/lb than full leg. I cooked them
in the slow-cooker using a classic Shank of the Lamb Cooked With Mint
and Tomatoes recipe yesterday (see recipe below).  About 11am I put them in a slow oven (in a covered casserole) to simmer some more and also cooked bacon to top the country potato soup I had to make myself stop eating all of. After all that was done I took them out and cooked rice, and heated the potato soup.

I did the traditional stocking thing — stuffing the stockings with
small items; must always include socks, or it isn’t a proper xmas. The
amazing thing was that I had been in the local Macy’s [yawn] yesterday
in the late afternoon to buy socks for her Young Man. Ahem. AT THE
SAME TIME, in Chicago, *they* had been in *that* Macy’s (formerly
Marshall Fields)… Looking at socks for him. Brown socks. In fact
had considered exactly what I picked out, but decided to wait til after
xmas sales.

One xmas stocking made about 18 years ago

So we did stockings, and presents, and feasted, and talked. I brought
out the box with cut-away demo fuzes, and attendant diagrams, dating
from the VietNam era (from my father’s work at the DOD) to show the
Young Man. A couple of people  suddenly worried about whether they would *go off*…

The Young Man and the GC discussed history books and biographies. The
lad reads. Well, both lads read. Sadly, The Elder and her Young Man eventually had to leave to head down to I’polis for xmas eve at Grandad’s, with no time to play Scrabble.

I read a book to restore myself (GC went to work) and am now
martha-methoding my way through the clean up.

RECIPE for Lamb Shanks with Mint and Tomato

Heat olive/canola oil in heavy pan til shimmering.  Dust (4) lamb shanks with flour.  Brown lamb shanks thoroughly.

Slice at least 2 onions and put them in the bottom of slow cooker.  Pile shanks on top.  In pan gently saute 3-5 garlic minced garlic cloves, a fistful of crumbled dried  mint leaves, 2-3 bay leaves, one T of ground cumin.  Deglaze pan with two cans of diced tomatoes.  Pour over shanks in slow cooker and cook on low for 8-10 hours.  Refrigerate overnight.

A couple of hours before serving remove shanks and solids to oven-proof covered casserole or dutch oven.  Turn oven to ~250F.   Use the reserved juices to make a roux (standard proportions –  1 T butter or oil, 1 T flour, 1 cup liquid; adjust butter/oil and flour to volume of juices) and pour over shanks.  Cook in 250F oven for two or three hours, stir in a little red wine if desired, salt and pepper to taste.