A New Member of the Family

My newest orchid. It followed me home last weekend. It's flowers are perfectly formed yet so tiny. It's a mass of small white blooms.

I've "collected" orchids for several years and before we had the breakfast room, they resided on a table in the dining room with a south exposure. They were happy there. The success in orchid growing is not the ability to keep them alive but the ability to get them to rebloom.

Phalaenopsis is the most common variety and are often found at big box stores. Most of my orchids are Phalaenopsis and they are easy to grow and also fairly easy to get to rebloom. They come in many colors and their blooms are long lasting.

I have another variety, although I can't remember the name, which is the most beautiful shade of orange and I have gotten that one to rebloom.

The newcomer, the new little guy, is full of blooms. It's a smallish plant. But the best part is that it was on sale for half price! A great orchid at a great price.

It's blooms are brightening the breakfast room. And one of my Phalaenopsis is blooming and another is budding. It's a great time for the orchids at Linderhof.

A comfy sofa

I never thought I wanted a leather sofa for it didn't fit with Linderhof's decor. A well worn leather chair, yes, but not a sofa. Especially a new sofa. But husband Jim insisted and home it came.

I love it -- it's a great place for an afternoon nap (if I can beat husband Jim to it) and I must admit that it is easy care. I hate to admit it, but Husband Jim was right. The leather sofa is perfect for Linderhof.

Versatile Pesto

Garden basil is preserved in summer and fall by making pesto and storing in jars in the freezer. I always think of it as summer in a jar as we serve it over pasta or put a spoonful in vegetable soup. I love pesto so much that I could even eat it straight from the jar!
But another great way to serve it, is an an appetizer. A simple appetizer. A block of cream cheese, pesto spooned over and a sprinkling of pine nuts. With some great crackers, it's an easy appetizer to start a dinner party.

A Blue and White Dinner Party

I'm happy to be able to participate in Tablescape Thursday again -- it's such a fun thing to do and we so appreciate Susan at Between Naps on the Porch which hosts this event.

Saturday night we decided to have a dinner party for my favorite number -- six. It's a small enough table that all of the guests can paricipate in all of the conversation but yet, with a diversity of guests it makes for interesting conversation.

With white roses found for the centerpiece, I decided that it would be a blue and white tablescape.

Instead of a tablecloth, we decided to use our wicker charges which we bought "eons" ago at Nell Hills. The plates for dinner were my Spode Blue Room. With my four blue vases holding the white roses, white napkisn seemed to fit the blue and white theme. The napkins, of course, in some of my collection of silver napkin rings.
Whenever we entertain, we always make a menu for the evening. We take a picture of the set table and that picture is at the top of the menu. A souvenier of an evening at Linderhof.

Saturday night dinner was a combination of old favorites and new recipes. We started with my famous Linderhof sherried mushroom soup, followed by a salad of baby spinach, blueberries, bleu cheese and toasted pecans with vinaigrette, a pork loin with a lemon cream sauce and roasted vegetables -- a mix of leeks, fennel, new potatoes, asparagus and green beans sprinkled with Parmesan cheese after roasting and put back into the oven so that the cheese can melt. Dessert -- a great lemon mousse from the latest Barefoot Contessa cookbook.

With the table ready, the food prepped, a fire in the fireplace and candles lit . . . we await our company.

Husband's New Toy

Is a Japanese siphon 5 cup coffee maker. A hard won prize at our Annual Chamber of Commerce Annual Dinner Silent Auction.

Today was our play day -- the fondue pot made it's maiden voyage for a cheesy luncheon fondue. Afterwards, we made coffee with our new prize.

It's easy to do -- you put water in the bottom, add heat, put the second piece on top with the coffee in it. And wait . . .

For a watched pot truly does not boil -- at least not very quickly . . . and as we waited . . .
The water went UP into the top container and then back down into the bottom one. A stir or two of the coffee in the upper pot to release the flavor of the grounds is all that is required.
A set of tiny espresso cups -- just two -- just for us -- was the perfect vessel for our new coffee. It was a good cup of coffee. We drank the first one black and then added cream to the second for we really are cream people.

Husband Jim did good at the auction -- it's a fun coffee maker.

My New Toy

Growing up in the 60's everyone, it seemed had a fondue pot. It was the "sophisticated" thing to do!

Resurrected by another generation in the 80's, fondue parties replaced the spaghetti and jug wine dinners that we thought were oh, so sophisticated.

Then along came the new century and fondues were resurrected once again!

In our early married years,  fondue parties were fun and at a group event, several brought their pots and we had cheese, meat and chocolate fondues. Washed down with glasses of wine.    That cheap jug wine that went with our spaghetti dinners.  

When the fondue craze waned, I'm sure I decided that my colorful metal fondue part was taking up too much valuable kitchen cabinet real estate and went off to garage sale land.  

And now, in the throes of the latest fondue popularity, I succumbed and ordered a new fondue pot -- but not an ordinary pot, an Emile Henry one. Made from Burgundian clay. The fondue can be made on top of the gas range and then pot and all can be put on the stand over the fire.

I think it's handsome. It's got a nice weight to it. I can't wait to make my first fondue in my new pot  -- cheese, of course!
Six special forks came with the pot -- which of course, narrows down my guest list for the maiden voyage of the fondue pot to two couples.

It wasn't inexpensive, but then nothing from Emile Henry is. I think it is worth it. I can't wait until I take it for it's "test drive".

Beef Bourguignon

After a summer of grilled meats and vegetable salads, we can't wait for the first cool day of fall so that we can enjoy the heartier stews and roasts of fall and winter. A favorite for many years is beef bourguignon.

My first recipe came from Julia Child and I made her version for many years until I found Ina Garten's. From her Barefoot in Paris book. It's every bit as good as Julia's but a lot simpler.

A pot will make not only a great dinner but several lunches as well. Easy lunches especially where there is a baguette to sop up the juices.
There is only one pot to make beef bourguignon in -- and that's a Le Creuset pot. It doesn't taste the same in any other pot!

This is Ina's recipe and it's a keeper. My only change is that we like the baby carrots and so that is what I use. Like Ina, I love the frozen onions.

And, like Ina, I find that the soup goes very well with the toasted bread in the bottom of the bowl. MUCH better than potatoes or noodles.

As the weather warms, we'll retire the Le Creuset Dutch oven until the weather turns cool again.

Beef Bourguignon
Adapted from Barefoot in Paris

1 T. olive oil
8 oz. bacon, diced
2 1/2 pounds beef chuck, cut into 1" cubes
kosher salt
freshly ground pepper
1 pound baby carrots
2 yellow onions, sliced
2 cloves chopped garlic
1/2 cup Cognac
750 ml bottle good dry red wine, such as Burgundy
2 - 2 1/2 cups canned beef broth
1 T. tomato paste
1 t. fresh thyme
4 T. butter, at room temperature, divided
3 T. flour
1 pound frozen small whole onions
1 pound mushrooms, stems discarded, caps thickly sliced.

For serving:
Country bread, toasted or grilled
2 garlic clove, cut in half
1/2 cup chopped fresh flat leaf parsley.

Preheat the oven to 250

In a large Dutch oven, heat the olive oil and add the bacon. Cook on medium for 8 to 10 minutes or until bacon is lightly browned. Remove bacon, leaving drippins in pan, and place on a large plate or platter.

Using a paper towel, dry off the cubes of beef and season with salt and pepper. Brown in the hot pan in a single layer to sear. When brown on all sides, remove and place on the palte with the bacon. Set plate aside.

Toss the carrots and onions with 1 T. salt and 2 t. pepper. Cook in the Dutch oven with the drippings until the onions are lightly browned (1o to 12 min), stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Pour in the Cognac and carefully ignite. When alcohol is burned off, return meat, bacon and any drippings to the Dutch oven. Pour in the wine and enough broth to nearly cover the meat. Stir in the tomato paste and thyme. Bring to a boil and cover with a tight fitting lid. Place in the oven and bake for about an hour and 15 minutes or until contents are very tender. Remove from the oven and place on cooktop burner.

Mix 2 T. of soft butter with the flour and stir into the Dutch oven. Saute the mushrooms in the rest of the butter (about 10 minutes) and add to the Dutch oven. Bring the stew to a boil and reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered for 15 to 20 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings. Rub one side of each slice of bread with the garlic.

To serve: spoon the stew over bread and sprinkle with chopped parsley.

Dinner Party

We love having company for dinner. And the first thing we do are drinks and appetizers. Sometimes we have a martini, othertimes a bar so that our guests can choose their potion, and then othertimes we start with wine.

Our dinner parties are a moveable feast. Appetizers and drinks of choice are taken in one place, dinner in another.

In summer, we sometimes start on the front porch with drinks and appetizers and end up dining in the breakfast room overlooking the garden (or if weather permitting in the garden itself.)

In fall and spring, we often start in the breakfast room and eat dinner in the dining room.

In winter, we take our drinks before the fire in the living room and dine in the dining room.
Saturday we had a dinner party and we started in the living room with wine. A selection of reds all poured into our balloon glasses -- made especially for red.

The appetizer was roasted asparagus. Which went extremely well with the wine.

A fun way to start a fun dinner party.

Drunken Tomatoes or Bloody Marys on a Stick

At least one Friday per month, and sometimes more frequently, we, on the prairie attend what is known as a "Courtland". It's an afterwork cocktail party where everyone brings what they want to drink and something to put on the communal appetizer table.

It's easy for the host: the house to clean, napkins, ice and plates to purchase and set out, and also an appetizer for the communal table.

The only common denominator between the attendees is that we all reside in this little town on the prairie and are invited by someone who already attends. We, husband Jim and I, are "charter members" of the group.

There are millionaires conversing with those existing only on social security. Singles and marrieds. "Foreigners" (those not raised here) and those who lived here all their lives.

It's a great way to end the work week or start the weekend. The party starts at 5:30 and lasts until 7 to 7:30 when we scatter either to go home (full from appetizers) or smaller groups will get together for dinner.

Some of the group always brings the same thing and we do look forward to Judy's artichoke dip and John and Cindy's cheese dip, or Darlene's deviled eggs. But I am always bringing something different -- sometimes a new recipe and sometimes an old friend.

Last Friday was a Courtland -- my offering for the communal appetizer table -- the dish known as Drunken Tomatoes or Bloody Marys on a Stick.

It's an easy appetizer. A container of cherry or grape tomatoes, pricked with a fork, submerged for several hours in vodka (plain, lemon or pepper). Eaters spear a tomato and then dip them in either salt, pepper or both!
I chose to serve them with my rosemary salt (made last summer, layers of rosemary and sea salt -- so good on anything that you would put rosemary on) and celery pepper (celery salt and freshly ground black pepper mixed together).

The tomatoes, as usual, were all gone when the party ended.

Lavender Pound cake

When one thinks of lavender they think of either bath or linen. But lavender is a great herb to use in sweets. Pound cakes or sugar or shortbread type cookies. The lavender flavor is hard to describe but it does make a great pound cake.

My contribution to Design by Gollum's potluck is a lavender pound cake. Freshly baked, it is a true "pound" cake with a pound of butter, a pound of eggs. . .

I do gild the lily by drizzling with a thin frosting made from powdered sugar and lavender syrup. A sprinkle of lavender flowers add just the perfect touch.

It's not that hard to make but it does make a large cake. All the better for a week of afternoon teas for he cake keeps well.

Lavender Pound Cake

2 cups butter
3 1/2 cups flour
2 t. baking powder
12 large eggs, separated
2 1/2 cups sugar
2 T. sweet sherry
1 T. dried lavender flowers

Preheat oven to 325.

In a large bowl, cream the butter until it is light and fluffy. Combine flou and baking powder and gradually add to the butter, beating until the mixture is a smooth paste.

In a separate bowl, combine the egg yolks and sugar; beat until thick and light. Add the sherry
and lavender, then graduatlly beat in the butter and flour mixture.

In a separate bowl with clean beaters, beat egg whites until they form stiff peaks but are not dry.
Quickly and gently fold the whites into the flour mixture. Turn the batter into a well-greased and floured 10" tube pan.

Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a straw inserted in the center comes out clean.

NOTE: I mixed about 1/2 cup of powdered sugar with lavender syrup until it was of spreading consistency. Then I drizzled over the top of the cake and then sprinkled the frosting with lavender flowers.

Coffee Anyone?

The coffee service is an important part of any dinner party or luncheon. I often set it up on the sideboard -- a sterling coffee pot, sugar and creamer. A "scoop" of demitasse spoons -- some English, some American, some plate, some sterling and three precious Russian ones -- prerevolution.
The other parts of the silver service -- the tea pot, the spirit pot and the covered sugar bowl are put away. The cups are old, heritage unknown, bought at a garage sale in the city ages ago. I collect white china with gold rims. The cups are dainty almost eggshell thin. Each cup has the same set of initials on it in gold.

Coffee, it seems always tastes better when poured from a silver pot!

Thanks again to Susan, from Between Naps on the Porch, for sponsoring Tabletop Thursday.

Roasted Asparagus

In February we yearn for spring and what dish says spring better than fresh asparagus. We like it done simply -- roasted with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of kosher salt and pepper. Served warm.

You can gild the lily by serving it with a hollandaise.

It's a time saver if you have a big crowd for you can make it in advance and serve it at room temperature with a lemon vinaigrette poured over and shreds of lemon to decorate.
But mostly we like it plain and hot. To bring a bit of elegance to the February table, we serve it in a silver dish. And for a bit of fun, we eat it using our individual silver asparagus tongs.

We never look at asparagus as an expensive vegetable but rather our favorite vegetable.

Goat Cheese Tarts

We love all cheese and we especially love goat cheeses. A simple appetizer is goat cheese smeared on a toasted baguette slice and when we have a good goat cheese, it is our appetizer of choice.

But it is also fun to cook with and a goat cheese tart makes a wonderful luncheon or dinner entree.
And individual ones are especially fun! Served with roasted grape tomatoes sprinkled with a chiffonade of fresh basil. THAT is heaven in winter!
The tarts are easy, whether you make one big one or several individuals. The individuals work better for us since there are just the two of us. The rest can be frozen and make a quick winter lunch or dinner. But the individual tarts also make a spectacular presentation for a luncheon or a first course for dinner.

This recipe is a favorite, from a favorite author, Anna Pump. It's in her first cookbook, The Loaves and Fishes Cookbook.

GOAT CHEESE TART

Crust:

1 1/2 cups flour
6 T. butter
6 T. margarine
2 1/2 to 3 T. cold water

Filling:

1 T. butter
3/4 cup peeled and chopped shallots
9 ounces goat cheese
1 cup heavy cream
3 eggs
1/4 cup chopped dill
pinch of ground white pepper

Preheat the oven to 350

To make the crust, place the flour, butter and margarine in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Pulse until the mixture is the size of small peas. With the motor running, add the water all at once. Turn it off as soon as the dough begins to stick together. Do no overprocess. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and work quickly into a ball. Chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

To make the filling, melt the butter. Add the shallots and saute until transparent, about 5 minutes. Set aside. Place the goat cheese in the bowl of the food processor with the metal blade in place and process until smooth, about 15 seconds. Add the cream and eggs and mix until well blended. Add the dill and pepper and blend.

Line a 9 inch tart pan with the dough. Spread the shallots evenly over the bottom of the unbaked tart shell. Pour in the cheese mixture to fill the crust. Bake for 30 to 3 minutes or until golden brown and set. Cut into wedges and serve either hot or at room temperature.

Eat Your Vegetables -- Pureed Broccoli

My mother never had to make me eat my vegetables. Growing up we always had a myriad of vegetables fixed different ways. There is nothing as comforting as a vegetable puree. Mashed potatoes, after all, is really a puree of potatoes and there isn't anything else that rates as high as "comfort food" as mashed potatoes.

But we like lots of vegetables pureed. The creaminess of the dish goes well with grilled meat. It's a simple way to eat vegetables and a peasant way to eat vegetables.

Pureed Broccoli is a favorite and this recipe comes from a much used and loved cookbook, The Silver Palate Cookbook. When making it for the family, it's also a good way to use the stems that you've trimmed when fixing broccoli for a vegetable plate.

It's a good way to "eat your vegetables"!

Pureed Broccoli with Creme Fraiche
(adapted from The Silver Palate Cookbook)

2 bunches of broccoli, about 5 pounds, trimmed and chopped, including peeled stems
1 cup Creme Fraiche
4 T. sour cream
2/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 t. freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 t. freshly ground black pepper
salt, to taste
2 T. sweet butter

Chop broccoli, leaving 8 small flowerets whole, and drop chopped broccoli and whole flowerets into 4 quarts of boiling salted water. Cook, until just tender, about 8 minutes.

Transfer broccoli (reserving 8 flowerets) to a food processor. Add creme fraiche and puree thoroughly. Preheat oven to 350.

Scrape puree into a bowl and stir in sour cream, Parmesan, nutmeg, pepper and salt to taste. Mix well.

Mound in an ovenproof servng dish, dot with butter and bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes or until puree is steaming hot.

Garnish with reserved flowerets and serve immediately.

New Chandelier

We love chandeliers at Linderhof. When we first moved here, there was a chandelier (although small) in the dining room and every other room had ceiling fans!

We soon rectified that and one by one, each room received a new centerpiece -- a chandelier. No matching from room to room. Each room's chandelier reflected that room's personality.
The chandelier in the living room was a good buy at the time and although we liked it -- we didn't love it. But it would do. Then, coming home from our cruise, we stopped by an antique shop in Tulsa. There, under the table, was a beautiful chandelier. Solid brass and BIG! I knew immediately that it was what was needed in the living room. The centerpiece that our biggest room needed.

It's bigger than our old one -- twelve arms instead of six and for a house with only 8 1/2 foot ceilings, it doesn't hang down quite as far -- which is a plus!
The chandelier hangs down enough, however, than when lit, it's light is reflected in the mirror over the fireplace, which means that we get twice as much "light" for the price of one chandelier!

Did I mention that it was a "steal" as well? A very reasonable price for a chandelier of that quality. The age? I'm not sure if it's twenty years old or fifty years old. But age (nor lineage) matter much at Linderhof. Finding the perfect piece does.


Our old chandelier -- nice but doesn't quite make a statement . . . .
However, the new one does!

Oh, yes, we had to have it professionally installed. It was heavy enough that we had to put a metal brace in the ceiling to hold it.

But in our opinion, it was definitely worth it!

Valentine Luncheon, Dessert

The dining room with table set and dessert and coffee service on the sideboard. Awaiting the arrival of my guests. I love this moment whenever I entertain -- when music is softly playing in the background, when everything is ready and perfect -- just waiting for company to come.

With dessert on the sideboard just waiting until we finish our lunch. Originally, I had planned for individual heart shaped meringues filled with whipped cream and raspberries and placed in a puddle of raspberry couli. Alas, the weather did not cooperate because Wednesday it was wet and dreary. A wet day is no day to do meringues.

So I went to Plan B -- chocolate. But not rich dark chocolate but rather white chocolate. A layer cake.

Filled with orange marmalade and with orange peel sprinkled over the top.
It made a lovely presentation on the sideboard and looked pretty on the red and gold cake plates which are from an English tea set. The little pastry forks also came from England and are my favorite forks to use whenever I serve dessert.
We couldn't finish it all, but we ladies did make a dent in the cake. Husband Jim was a happy husband when he came down mid afternoon to find that there WAS some cake left and took a huge piece back upstairs with a big glass of milk!

The recipe is one of those that I clipped long ago and put in my recipe file. It's a good cake and love the icing -- cream cheese and white chocolate -- icing doesn't get much better than that!

WHITE CHOCOLATE CAKE WITH ORANGE FILLING

12 oz bag white chocolate chips
Betty Crocker white cake mix
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
2 t. vanilla
3 egg whites
6 T. butter, melted
1/4 cup orange marmalade
8 ounces cream cheese, softened

Heat oven to 350. Grease and flour two 8 inch round pans.

Place 3/4 cup of the white chocolate chips in a small microwaveable bowl. Microwave on medium 1 to 2 minutes or until melted, stirring once halfway through cooking time. Stir until smooth.

In a large bowl, combine cake mix, buttermilk, vanilla and egg whites, beat at low speed about 30 seconds to mix. Gradually beat in melted butter. Drizzle melted white chocolate into bowl, beating at medium speed 2 minutes, thoroughly scraping side and bottom of bowl once halfway through beating. Spoon batter evenly into pans. Bake until tops spring back when touched lightly in center. About 30 to 35 minutes. Cool cake in pan 10 minutes. Remove cakes from pans; place on wire racks. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, place remaining 1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips in medium microwavable bowl. Microwave on medium 3 to 6 minutes or until melted, stirring once halfway through cooking time. Stir until smooth. Cool completely, about 35 minutes.

Place 1 cake on serving plate; spread with orange marmalade. Top with remaining cake layer.

In medium bowl, beat cream cheese at medium speed until soft and fluffy. Add cooled, melted white chocolate, beat until of soft spreading consistency. Immediately frost side and top of cake. Store in refrigerator.

NOTE: I added a teaspoon of orange extract to the frosting and topped the frosted cake with a shower of orange peel.

Valentine Luncheon

Every year I have a Valentine's Luncheon for friends. Every year I have a different menu and different table decorations although the cherub candlesticks bought many years ago seem to graviate to the Valentine's table.

This year I decided that since red is the color of Valentine's that the tablecloth and napkins should be red as well as the flowers.

Tulips were bountiful this year and although I do like the smell of roses, tulips are really a better fit to Linderhof's style. Four of my antique silver julep glasses make the perfect low "vase" for a bouquet.

At each place is a silver vase which holds a placecard. One tulip in each vase for each guest. The placecard is the invitation that was mailed two weeks ago -- cut in half. It tells each guest where to sit on the front.

And on the back is the menu -- Rozelle Court Chicken Salad (from the dining room at the Nelson Gallery of Aart in Kansas City); Chantilla Lacy Fruit Salad (a bed and breakfast and tea room in Johnson City, Texas -- I whined until they gave me the recipe for the poppyseed dressing which is so perfect for fresh fruit), my mother's banana bread (for when she had her ladies over -- that was the menu -- chicken salad, fruit salad and banana bread). Dessert was to be heart shaped meringues but the weather didn't cooperate and so white chocolate cake with a orange marmalade filling was substituted.

The china is my grandmother's Noritake (Marcasite), the flatware is the English hotel silver (only knife and fork because it is a one plate meal) and the goblets are the parfait glasses that we always use for water. The red napkins are in my collection of silver napkin rings -- Victorian and Edwardian most with names but some with initials.

This is my second "Tablescape Thursday" -- sponsored by Susan from Between Naps on the Porch. It was so much fun last week that I thought I would participate again!

Pork Chops with Cranberry Chutney

A recipe adapted from The Silver Palate Cookbook, a much loved and well worn cookbook. With pork chops from the market and a half jar of cranberry chutney left over from the holidays, this seemed like the perfect marriage.
Easy to do, it was both tart and tangy. A half bottle of cabernet was the perfect accompaniment.

Pork Chops with Cranberry Chutney
(adapted from The Silver Palate Cookbook)

1/4 cup cranberry chutney
1 1/2 T. Dijon
6 center cut pork chops, 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick
salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup white wine vinegar

Mix the preserves and mustard together in a small bowl. Set aside.

Heat a nonstick skillet and brown the chops lightly on both sides. Season with salt and pepper to taste and spoon the cranberry and mustard mixture evenly over them.

Cover chops, reduce heat, and cook for 20 minutes, or until the chops are done. Transfer them to a platter and keep them warm in the oven.

Remove excess fat from the skillet. Add the vinegar, set pan over medium heat and bring juices to a boil, stirring and scrapping up any brown bits. When the sauce is reduced by about one third, pour itover the chops and serve immediately.

NOTE: The original recipe called for black currant preserves. I used what I had on hand. I think either would be fine.