jessie and cool little pencils

Jessie's blog continues to inspire me.  She finds the most remarkable things and writes about them in such a hilarious way! It's always so entertaining to read her posts.

Recently she posted about this guy who makes the coolest miniature sculptures out of the tips of pencils! It's insane!  Rather, I would go insane if I tried to do something that intricate! 

Anyway, I think you should check out the article about the guy and check out Jessie's blog and then be a follower or write a comment.  We all love new followers and comments! (hint, hint)

Turquoise

Nope! Not the color.  I'm so tricky.  It's an interior design firm in LA run by Vanessa de Vargas.  I stumbled upon so many of her designs while surfing through images on houzz.com, I decided to look her up.  I loved what I found.

 (image credits: Turquoise)

DJ

What? I have a brother? You didn't know?  Yeah, I almost forgot too. I hadn't seen him since October 2008, if you can believe it. He is going to school in Bozeman, MT and well, our schedules just never coordinate.  Plus, DJ is so busy being wayyy cooler than I could ever dream of being that, you know, it's got to be tough to make time for his lame big sister.

Did I ever mention that DJ's the favorite child? 

Anyway, it was really great to see him for a couple of reasons:  first of all he's my brother and I love him (but only because I have to, obviously) and second, he expressed memories of Camden very similar to mine.  For example, he was excited to go into the basement for the FIRST TIME EVER (I told you we weren't allowed to do anything here).  And remembered where the ghosts of our childhood imaginations "lived." But really, I was pretty impressed by how much he's grown up.  It's crazy what can happen in TWO years!

My mom was really excited to get a picture of the two of us together.  Unfortunately, I have a little problem that's called I-can't-keep-my-eyes-open-for-the-life-of-me in pictures (another reason why I'm the black sheep of the family).

Seriously!?!?! WHAT is wrong with me? I could show you more, but I'll spare you (and more importantly, me) the pain.

Finally, my eyes are open.  Too bad we both look like we're about to strangle Dan (our photog). Plus there's that creepy bird claw fist I'm making with my hand.  Sigh.  Maybe in two years time (aka when my brother can squeeze me into his schedule again), I'll be better at this.  Better start practicing now.

a saturday with mom

Colorful and delicious Farmer's Market finds were followed by a trip to the Finish Heritage House.  My grandmother's parents came here from Finland and Sweden in the early 1900's and settled in Thomaston, Maine (a 20 minute drive from Camden).  The mid-coast of Maine was a popular destination for Scandinavian immigrants as the landscape was very reminiscent of their homeland.

The above two pictures are of the students at the one room school house my grandmother attended.  That's good ol' Florence fourth from the left in the middle row in the big picture and centered in the bottom picture.  Doesn't she look like a little stinker??  Haha, I love the look on her face.  

Finnish culture is still prominent in the area today.  My mom bought me a cookbook filled with Finnish recipes that have been passed down through the generations.  They remind me so much of what my grandmother used to cook for us when we'd visit her in Camden.  I am especially excited to try out these recipes because so many of my memories of my grandmother revolve around food.  I always wish I had taken the time to learn recipes from her before she passed away, but at least with this cookbook I can tell myself that she probably would have taught me similar recipes.

We continued on our trek through the coastal outskirts of Camden.  We were on the search for a poorly advertised estate sale and stumbled across many beautiful vistas on our way.

The sign is covered in names of towns in Maine.  Kind of cute, huh?  I'm not sure if all states have such interesting (aka bizarre) nomenclature, but in Maine, you'll find many towns with international names like Paris, China, Norway, Peru, Sweden, Egypt...There are famous signs around Maine that feature all of these crazy town names.   That orange crush sign is totally unrelated, but still totally phenomenal.

Then we came home and waited for guests to arrive.  Way for work to put a damper on a fun day.  Oh well, I guess that's life!

lemon fusilli (or farfalle) with arugula (or broccoli)

Maven: someone who is dazzlingly skilled in any field.  Don't you just love that definition?  Wouldn't you love to be called a maven of something? Anything? I know I would! What a compliment.

Well, after singing Martha's praises in my last post, I wanted to pay homage to another kitchen maven, Ina Garten.  I love Ina.  Some people feel she's pretentious.  I just think she's dazzlingly skilled.  She's another one whose recipes I know I can infallibly trust.

With Dan being gone, I was bored out of my mind and had no real dinner plans. I was craving some sort of macaroni and cheese (shocking, I know).  But not something super heavy, you know?  It was hot out and I didn't feel like anything too rich.  I figured Annie's mac and cheese would have been perfect, but lo and behold, we had none.  How this is possible, I honestly don't know.  I think it's a crime against humanity to not always have a box of Annie's just waiting in your cupboard.  I flipped through my Barefoot Contessa cookbook and found her recipe for lemon fusilli with arugula. I had a winner.

Now, I didn't have fusilli or arugula and I didn't want as much as the recipe called for, but I was determined to make this work.  So, I halved the recipe.  Used half cream and half half and half (whoa halves!) because I ran out of cream.  I used farfalle instead of fusilli and about a cup of chopped brocolli (which I par-boiled with the pasta when it was just about done) instead of arugula.

It was still perfect though.  Just creamy and cheesy enough to remind me of mac and cheese, but light enough with the lemon and vegetables that it wasn't overwhelming on a summer night.  Yum.  Writing about it is making my stomach growl.

While my version came out great, I'm going to write the full recipe here. It was so good that unless you're only making this for one person, you should make the full batch.  I can't wait for Dan to come home so I can have an excuse to make this again.

lemon fusilli with arugula
from Barefoot Contessa at Home

1 tablespoon good olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic (2 cloves)
2 cups heavy cream
3 lemons (I think 2 would work if they're large)
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pound dried fusilli pasta
1/2 pound baby arugula (or 2 bunches regular arugula, stems removed and leaves cut into thirds)
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesean cheese
1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes, halved

Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Add the garlic, and cook for 60 seconds, then add the cream, the zest and juice of 2 of the lemons, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper.  Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add 1 tablespoon salt and the pasta and cook al dente according to the directions on the package, about 12 minutes, stirring occasionally. Drain the pasta and return it to the pot. Immediately add the cream mixture and cook over medium-low heat for 3 minutes, until the pasta has absorbed most of the sauce.  Pour the hot pasta into a large bowl and add the arugula, Parmesean and tomatoes. Cut the last lemon in half lengthwise (I skipped this step), slice it 1/4-inch thick crosswize, and add a few slices to the pasta.  Toss well, season to taste, and serve hot.

strawberry-rhubarb coffee cake

Got rhubarb? Make a pie, right? Wrong. If you're going to make one strawberry-rhubarb thing before you run out of time, I think this should be it.  Throw away those grandiose ideas of pie.  Pie crust is so tricky.  And even if you buy pre-made crust like I often (read: always) do for quiches or even if you're a pro at making pie crusts, make this coffee cake instead.  Everyone expects a strawberry-rhubarb pie.  And while I would never, ever turn down a slice (or three), I do think that this strawberry-rhubarb coffee cake is an incredibly delicious and unexpected dessert or breakfast (bonus!).

The recipe is from Martha Stewart's Annual Recipes 2003 cookbook.  This book has yet to let me down.  That Martha, always getting it right.  How does she do it? The awesome thing about her is that I know that her recipes are going to be fantastic.  I don't have to worry.  Also, the recipes I've made from the cookbook have been surprisingly simple.  I always think of Martha as doing these crazy things that us mere mortals could never do, but so far (knock on wood/refer to previous post), I've found them pretty easy!

Now, I made this recipe with frozen strawberries.  I'm sure that's not how Martha intended and I do think mine came out a bit more liquid-y than hers.  It still tasted phenomenal though, and that's all that really matters.

strawberry-rhubarb coffee cake

from Martha Stewart Living Annual Recipes 2003

1 1/4 cups chilled unsalted butter (2 1/2 sticks), plus more, softened, for pan

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 2 lemons)

1/3 cup cornstarch

2 3/4 cups sugar

1 pound strawberries, hulled and sliced (about 2-3 cups)

1 1/2 pounds rhubarb, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces (about 4 cups)

3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

2 large eggs

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Brush a 9 x 12 x 3 inch baking pan with butter and set aside.  Make fruit sauce: Combine lemon juice, cornstarch, and 1 cup sugar in a medium sauce pan.  Add strawberries and rhubarb; cook, stirring frequently, over medium heat, until rhubarb is soft and liquid has thickened, 15 to 20 minutes.  Transfer to a medium bowl; let cool. 

Make crumb topping: Combine 3/4 cup sugar and 3/4 cup flour in a medium bowl.  Melt 1/4 cup butter in a small saucepan over low heat.  Drizzle butter over flour mixture; using your hands, mix until crumbly.  Set aside.

Make cake batter: Whisk together remaining 3 cups flour and 1 cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Using a pastry knife or two forks, cut remaining 1 cup butter into flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal.  In a separate bowl, mix eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla.  Pour into flour mixture; stir to combine.

Spread half the cake batter evenly into the prepared pan. Top with half the fruit sauce. Carefully spread the remaining batter over the fruit, and top with the remaining fruit sauce.  Sprinkle with the crumb topping.

Bake until cake is golden brown, about 1 hour. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool slightly.  Serve warm or at room temperature, cut into squares. 

growing up is hard to do

In running this bed and breakfast, I think I've learned a fair amount of life lessons.

• renovations take longer than expected
• take breaks from work and do fun things
• coffee is good
• that I can run a real bed and breakfast that people actually like (How have I managed to trick them into thinking this is legitimate?)

Of course, just when I find myself getting a little too confident about what I've "accomplished," life seems to always put my back into my place.  Remember that just-a-little-jaded post about bank fees? Or when I made a delicious strawberry-rhubarb crisp that was the bane of my existence because it spilled over onto the bottom of the oven and subsequently the top of the oven (don't ask) and I set smoke detectors off at all hours of the day for almost a week? (The most cringe-worthy being at 6:30 in the morning when we had our first ever guest.)

(credit: Allie Brosh)

Well, when Dinah sent me this link in an email today, it rang, oh, so true. Luckily, it makes my frustrations suddenly feel not only shared, but hilarious.  

While you're reading that one, I also highly recommend another post by Allie Brosh about why spiders are scary.  She almost made me pee my pants laughing (not that that's very hard to do...but still).

smitten kitchen's perfect blueberry muffins

If you were staying at The Good House this weekend, you'd get to eat these:

(image from smittenkitchen.com)

Dan is home in Kansas for the weekend and I have been bored out of my mind all day long.  Not only did I meticulously inspect my wardrobe for any white/summer clothing items that have yet to be worn and therefore need to be worn before Labor Day, but I also looked at every blog I read, oh, 73 times.

Just when I thought I couldn't get any more bored, I stumbled upon a new Smitten Kitchen recipe for Perfect Blueberry Muffins.  They are perfect! And I haven't even made them yet! But Deb says that the thick batter means the blueberries don't sink (I always have problems with this) AND since she halved the recipe, it only makes 10 muffins.  This is perfect!!! I hate having 20 muffins and not knowing what to do with them all.  I wind up gorging myself on them, because I don't want to let them go to waste.  But only 10 muffins? The perfect amount!  Now I won't end up looking like this:

Phew! Now that we can breathe a collective sigh of relief, I promise to post a review of my own attempt at these muffins asap.  Also, Deb (smittenkitchen author) had a baby last fall.  In her posts, she often links pictures to him.  This one was linked in the blueberry muffin post.  I think it's too good not to pass along: http://www.flickr.com/photos/smitten/4929068761/

i want to live in this world too

Images from House Beautiful, found on Aged and Gilded

shhhh

I know that being from Maine, I'm not supposed to say this, but I can't contain it anymore: I am SO excited for fall. I just can't wait for those crisp, cool days.  For sunshine filtering through orange and red and yellow leaves.  For the most delicious apples you've ever tasted.  For carving pumpkins and making pumpkin bread.  I'm tempted to break out my sweaters right now.

Of course, I'm savoring the last few days of summer (although, I guess summer technically goes until Sept 22nd this year? But in my mind, autumn officially begins on Sept 1st), I figured a few beautiful pictures of autumnal scenes couldn't hurt, right?

 Belfast, just north of Camden, in autumn

(above two images from marthastewart.com)

(image from bhg.com)

I can't wait to share some of our own autumn pictures with you soon.  It was really hard to find a good one of Camden online, so I (aka Dan) will for sure be taking  many.  Is anyone else as excited for fall as I am?

i want to live in this world

and my bed and breakfast favorite for last:

Photos by Ditte Isager, found on Solid Frog

stuffed green peppers

In our quest to eat as locally as possible, Dan and I rode our bikes to the Aldermere Farm to buy some Belted Galloway beef the other day. It turns out that our beloved Oreo-Cookie cows are beef cattle.  I felt kind of bad about eating one of the cuties, but justified it by knowing that it is almost 100% grass fed and comes from less than 2 miles from our house. 

I tried to choose the least cute cow picture I have....unfortunately, these cows are pretty cute.  But guess what?  Their meat is healthy (as far as beef goes) and they taste really good too! Eek...should I not say that? 

I didn't want to make just anything with this ground beef (we also bought some top sirloin to try for now).  I wanted it to be something kind of special.  I also wanted to stick with the local theme.  So, I decided to make stuffed green peppers.  The peppers were from a local farm and the onion, too.  And I used herbs, spicy red peppers, and tomatoes from our garden.  Go me.

I love how the peppers looked after chopping off the tops of them.  I also love how the tops stayed in tact; they're perfect for future use in salads, etc.

This is a picture of the blanched peppers stuffed with the beef mixture.  I then topped them with tomato sauce (from a jar, whoops, there goes my locavore status) and grated romano cheese.

Here's what the final product looked like:

There were only two left at this point, because by the time we could take them out of the oven, they smelled so delicious that I completely forgot about taking pictures and just devoured mine.  Mmmm.

Stuffed Green Peppers

Adapted from allrecipes.com

4 large green bell peppers (try to pick ones that will stand up okay on their own)

1 lb lean ground beef

1/2 medium size red onion, chopped

3 medium size tomatoes, chopped

2 small or 1 medium sized hot pepper, diced (optional)

1 tbs chopped fresh marjoram

1 tbs chopped fresh oregano

1 tbs chopped fresh parsley

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 cup instant white rice

1 cup water

1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

1 cup canned tomato sauce (preferably not a chunky kind)

1/2 cup romano cheese, shredded

Heat water in a medium sauce pan until boiling.  Cut tops off of peppers and remove seeds.  Place peppers in boiling water for about 5 minutes. Drain.  Sprinkle salt to taste to inside of peppers.  Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  

Start sauteing beef and onion in a large frying pan (with a lid) for about 5 minutes or until beef is browned. Drain off excess fat and season with salt and pepper.  Add tomato, hot pepper, herbs and Worcestershire sauce.  Add rice and water.  Cover pan and simmer until rice is tender (about 5 minutes if you're using instant rice). 

Remove meat and rice mixture from the heat.  Add mozzarella cheese and adjust seasonings. 

Fill each pepper with the meat and rice mixture.  Top the peppers each with about 1/4 cup of tomato sauce.  Then top each with about 1/8 cup of romano cheese.

Bake for about 25 minutes or until the cheese is browned and bubbly. 

I think this would be delicious served with a really crispy garlic bread.  I guess there's always next time...