A Few New Cushions and a Little Paint

Ages ago I bought green cushions for the patio chairs

And then after a while I decided that it was too much of a pain

To take them in and out!

So I stored them

And then decided to use them as front porch cushions.

They were "okay"

But they weren't "special"!

And so the search for new cushions began.

I was picky

And so many cushions were too "trendy" and "tropical"

for the wicker chairs on the front porch of a 1920s house.

And if I found something I wanted, they didn't have enough

(sigh)

So the search continued

And then . . . in TJ Maxx in Akenny, Iowa

I found these . . .

a caramel color

in a solid

with white piping

Perfect!!!

And they had enough!

They look good in the white wicker . . 

 And then there was the sagey green rocker

So a couple of cans of spray paint

And some fabric

And it fits so much better.

I like the brown with white dots

And it goes well with the other chairs

Now that the rocker is white like the others.

And I've never liked the "John Deere" green on the metal chairs on the porch

(Husband Jim's choice)

With a can of Rustoleum in Hammered Brown

The chairs were transformed

White wicker, brown cushions, brown chairs

With a touch of green from the plants

It was perfect today

For working in the garden

For last week was really hot

It was good to sit on the porch again for tea

Iced, of course, as it often is in the summer

The porch is too shady for a live blooming plant on the table

It took me many plants to figure this out!

However, a pitcher of cut flowers work

And so in the summer when I can cut fresh flowers

A bouquet is always on the table.

Leftover cake and iced tea

Lemon Thyme, rose and lavender glazed tea cake

Left from an Herbal Tea I did yesterday at Fire Lake Camp

I think it was better today!

It's Monday and I'm sharing my new porch look with Susan at Between Naps On the Porch for Met Monday

A Summer Lunch . . . Inside!

Friend Maybelle and two of her friends came to lunch today

The first lunch of summer

at Linderhof

Held inside not outside

It was close to 100 degrees on the prairie today!

A white lace cloth

The blue and white Spode

a white damask napkin in a silver ring

Garden daylilies in a new ice bucket, 

brought back from our trip to Minneapolis

flanked by two iron birds

I adore birds on the table

The centerpiece

I used one of my English lead flower frogs

Shaped like a flower

Outside the vase, they're almost sculpture

And when they're "idle", they decorate the sideboard in the breakfast room

There's always a menu

at each place

It's summer . . .

Spring pea soup served in Spode Blue Italian coffee cups

Linderhof chicken salad

Chilled succotash salad

corn madeleines

A strawberry tart for dessert

with Grand Marnier flavored whipped cream

And when I got home this afternoon after running an errand . . .

This was waiting for me

A thank you from Friend Maybelle who arranged the luncheon

It's perfect!

The recipes are really simple --

SPRING PEA SOUP

2 cups of chicken broth, one small onion, minced; and 2 cups of frozen peas.    Put peas and onion in chicken broth and cook until peas are done.    Puree in a blender or with handheld blender.   Heat to serving temperature.    Add a goodly amount of cream or half and half and heat again.    Serve garnished with a borage flower.

LINDERHOF CHICKEN SALAD

Chicken breasts, roasted (pull off skin and remove bone); equal amounts of chopped celery and minced red onion.    I like to shred my chicken but if you prefer diced, that's fine too.   Mix celery and onion and chicken.     Use equal amounts of sour cream, plain yogurt and mayonnaise and a dash of freshly squeezed lemon juice.    Mix and pour over chicken and vegetable mixture.    To this you can add whatever fruit and nuts you like or serve plain.    For this luncheon, I added dried cranberries and pecans and a good sprinkle of chopped fresh tarragon.

CHILLED SUCCOTASH SALAD WITH RED VINAIGRETTE

(I found this in the latest issue of Tea Time)

1/2 c. yellow corn (I used frozen but you could use fresh cut off the cob)

1/2 c. frozen okra

1/2 c. frozen baby lima beans

1/2 c. canned black eyed peas, drained and rinsed

1 recipe Red-Wine Vinaigrette

Mix all the vegetables together and pour over the vinaigrette.      I used the vegetables straight from the freezer and they thawed in dressing on the counter.   I also salt and peppered to taste.

RED WINE VINAIGRETTE

1/4 c. red wine vinegar

1 t. minced shallot

1/2 t. salt

1/4 t. pepper

1/2 t. sugar

2 T. olive oil

In a small bowl, combine vinegar, shallot, salt and pepper and sugar, whisking to blend.    Gradually add olive oil in a slow steady stream whisking until emulsified.    Store vinaigrette, covered, at room temperature and use the same day.

OR you could use your favorite oil/vinegar salad dressing!

It's Thursday and I'm sharing my first lunch of summer with Cuisine Kathleen for Let's Dish and with Susan at Between Naps On the Porch for Tablescape Thursday and Bernideen for Open House.

It's Summer!

Friday was Midsummer's Night

The night when fairies come out to play . . .

And at Linderhof

We have a fairy house

in a fairy garden

And . . . last Friday . . .

We found fairies in the gardens!

Blowing fairy dust

Watching her reflection in a small pond

with her turtle friend . . .

Reading a book in a quiet nook

And holding a leaf so a small bird can have a drink

And a fairy we found amongst the thyme

Who decided to come in for tea

Tea treats of lemon balm cookies

Fairies love lemon balm --

almost as much as thyme.

A proper tea for Midsummer's Night

And our corgi, Dolly,  is a shameless beggar

For she has to have strength for on this night

She was hitched to the fairy queen's coach

You can see the harness marks on her back

All corgis have them

The calendar says summer

And it's finally gotten hot

And I'm afraid that the rain is gone until September

But, oh, what lush plants we have

for our cool wet spring encouraged growth.

I'm joining Susan at A Southern Daydramer for Outdoor Wednesday

From Pansies to Begonias

Spring is pansy time

I adore pansies and I buy at least two flats every Spring

Some go in the front planters

The ones that flank the entrance to the porch

While others go in the back planters

The ones that flank the back door

The door to the basement

The door -- back in the 20s

Where groceries were delivered

Where the servants came and went

But pansies don't last long in prairie heat

Usually around Memorial Day

they seem spent

And then we replant the planters with annuals

But we've had a cooler spring

And a wetter spring

And the pansies have been stellar this year

And I've enjoyed each extra pansy day

For pansies are one of my favorite flowers!

However, it has been warmer

(although it's still wet)

And the pansies started getting leggy

It's mid June

It's the longest that I've had pansies!

Often, by the time it's time to replace the pansies,

the annuals are on sale

Although the selection is not as good as it was earlier in the year

This year
The annuals were not on sale
but because of the wet and cool spring
there were more choices.

I have found begonias are a great pot plant for the prairie.
No deadheading and they seem not to suffer so much if we have a hot and dry spell
(as we often do)

Usually, I get red ones

This year . . .

I opted for white

With bronzy leaves 

Which echo the rust on the front pots

And the white looks fresh in the planters by the back door

It makes the side entrance seem "brighter"

And I love the name of this variety of begonias . . .

"Cocktail Whiskey"

Isn't that a great name?

And what pretty flowers!

Now . . . finally all of the planters at Linderhof are now filled with annuals!

Where they will keep blooming away until frost

And will be replaced with Winter evergreen!

It's Sunday and I'm joining The Tablescaper for Seasonal Sundays.

It's Coffee . . . It's Chocolate . . . It's At A Snail's Pace!

It's Chocolate . . . . It's Coffee

All in one cookie!

And not one snail . . . .

But a small herd . . . 

Some will be sampled . . . 

While others will go home with guests

For Sunday at life+style is a Slow Foods SEK Event

A Chocolate and Coffee tasting

And although there is chocolate and coffee in the cookies

There will also be local chocolate and coffee to taste.

Askinosie chocolates from Springfield, Missouri

Spice Merchant Coffee from Wichita, Kansas

It's this Sunday, June 23

at 4 p.m.

at life+style

Tickets are advance purchase only and they're only $8.00 per person

It's an event sponsored by Slow Foods SEK (where all the details are))

The snails (the logo of Slow Foods) are made from an old recipe of mine.

It's a shortbread but it's espresso shortbread and then it's dipped in chocolate --

guilty pleasure!!!!

They're a good cookie and I usually cut them out in hearts and then dip half in chocolate. 

  But you could do rectangles or circles or another fun cutter (like a coffee cup or coffee pot!)

CHOCOLATE DIPPED ESPRESSO SHORTBREAD

For the cookies:

1 c. cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

1/2 c. sugar

1/8 t. salt

2 1/4 c. flour

2 T. finely ground espresso beans

For the Dipping Chocolate:

9 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

1 T. vegetable shortening

Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.    Combine butter, sugar and salt in a stand mixer bowl (use the paddle attachment).   Mix on low speed until the butter combines with the sugar, but isn't perfectly smooth, 1 to 2 minutes.    Add the flour and ground espresso and mix on low speed, scraping the bowl frequently, until the dough has just pulled together, about 3 minutes; don't over mix.    Roll on a lightly floured board to about 1/4 inch thick.    Cut into bars or squares with a sharp knife, or using cookie cutters, cut out shapes as close to one another as possible.     Re-roll scrapes as needed.   If the dough becomes sticky, refrigerate it briefly.    Arrange the cookies on the baking sheets and refrigerate until chilled, at least 20 minutes.    Position oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and heat oven to 300 degrees.   Bake until the tops look dry and the color has darkened just slightly -- about 20 minutes.    Cool completely.

Set a sheet of parchment or waxed paper on a work surface.    Put the chocolate and shortening in a small heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water.    Melt the chocolate, stirring, until it's smooth and warm.    (Don't let it get hot).    Dip half of each cookie into the chocolate.    Set the cookies on the parchment and let the chocolate set up at room temperature, about 2 hours.

It's Friday and I'm joining Michael at Rattlebridge Farm for Foodie Friday.

Elegant Ladies for Lunch

I had four elegant ladies for lunch

In the breakfast room

Elegant ladies

means an elegant lunch

China and silver and crystal, oh, my!

The Aynsley "Early" Pembroke china

Husband Jim's grandmother's silver

Antique wine glasses with a caramel stem

to echo the caramel rim on the plate

And an antique linen tablecloth

Damask napkins in silver rings

This one was a Christmas/Birthday gift from Daughter Sarah

It came from Charleston!

Each place had a wee Waterford vase

And a rose

Similar to the one on the china

A bigger bouquet in a crystal rose bowl

Real flowers "shed" and I love petals on the tablecloth!

And, of course, a menu at each place

With a rose . . .

Late spring is a great time for a cold cucumber soup

Topped with borage blossoms

Served in the old Aynsley tea cup and saucer

Lunch was individual chicken and asparagus frittatas, spinach and strawberry salad with poppyseed dressing, candied pecans and feta cheese and corn madeleines

Dessert was a flourless chocolate cake.

A favorite recipe

It's called Chocolate Graggy Cake 

or Graggy Chocolate Cake

served with Grand Marnier flavored whipped cream

and an orange pansy

It is Thursday and I'm sharing my Elegant Ladies for lunch with Cuisine Kathleen for Let's Dish and with Susan at Between Naps On the Porch for Tablescape Thursday.

Spools for Tea

Even though it has been hot here on the prairie

The front porch always seems to be cool

It's tree shaded

And faces East

There always seems to be a breeze as well

For a porch I like wicker

And tables to hold tea things

A tray with a plate of Lemon Spool cookies

And two glasses of tea

(iceless because our icemaker was broken . . .

but the tea was cold . . . for it was well chilled in the fridge)

The cookies are fun to make

And I suppose one could do other "flavors"

Although my recipe called for lemon

A glass of lemony cold tea and a plate of lemon cookies

However, two seem to feel that they're forgotten

They're inside

And the cookies are outside!

The cookies are fun to make and I love the design the spool creates in the dough!

Almost like a flower.

LEMON SPOOL COOKIES

2 1/2 c. flour

1 t. salt

1/2 t. baking powder

1 c. sugar

3/4 c. vegetable shortening

2 medium eggs

1 T. grated lemon rind

1 T. lemon juice

1/2 t. lemon extract

4 drops lemon food color

For the design, use a large empty plastic spool from thread.    Remove the paper from the ends.

Mix flour, salt and baking powder.    Set aside.    Beat sugar and shortening in a large bowl with electric mixer until fluffy.    Beat in eggs, lemon rind and juice, lemon extract and food color.   On low speed, gradually beat in flour mixture.    Chill dough 1 hour.

Heat oven to 400.    Make colored sugar by stirring together the sugar and yellow food color until uniform in a small bowl.    Form dough into small balls the size of a walnut.    Roll in colored sugar.   Place about 2 inches apart on silicone or parchment covered baking sheet.    Press flat with the bottom of a glass.    Cookies should be about 1/4 inch thick.    Press spool about half way into each cookie center to make design.    Bake 7 to 8 minutes or until light golden color.    Cool or wire racks.    Store the extra colored sugar for your next batch of lemon cookies.   (You sometimes can find yellow sugar in the baking aisle so you don’t have to make your own!)

It's Tuesday and I'm joining Sandi at Rose Chintz Cottage for Tea Time Tuesday and Marty at A Stroll Thru Life for Inspire Me Tuesday.