All week I have been crawling around in the basement of my store.  Thank God it is blissfully cool down there…getting a photo for this blog of the array of goodies is mighty difficult.  I remember once standing on the rim of the Grand Canyon…this was years ago when a friend and I did a Thelma and Louise-type road trip…left the kids at home with our husbands and off we went in her white Peugot station wagon.  Our husbands agreed to such nonsense…knowing if they didn’t, we would most likely go anyway.  Well, that is another story, but the point is this: I am trying to give you a sense of  the goodies in this basement!  And I am finding that it  is akin to that time I attempted a shot of the Grand Canyon with my Brownie Hawk Eye camera!  What I am shamelessly attempting to do here is urge you all to hop on a plane if you live far away or come on your bike if you live close and partake of the wealth of my collecting!  This basement is full of unnecessary and irresistible objects (trust me, I know…I bought them all!) that will be curbside out front of the store on Friday July 30th for the summer sale.  Lots and lots of good stuff from the store shelves and a great sampling of the props from the basement.  I need a good purge before Fall rolls in!

Don’t forget…we will be closed for all of August.  I will be going on a few adventures in western New York State seeking more antiques for the store and will post from the road!  Happy late summer and don’t forget to wear your sunblock!

So here is what I think…not that you asked!  This has been one hot summer. Everything is wilted including yours truly.  My tomato plants are clinging to their stakes and producing nothing…my zucchini plants have given me blossoms, which I have happily stuffed with fresh ricotta and then happily stuffed into my mouth…but even they are giving up. So I say, invite someone over to dinner…sit under the twirling fan, eat well of what is fresh at the Farmers Market…maybe throw in a gin & tonic…now, tell me, is it possible to have a better evening?

One hot day in early July, I went off to my favorite neighborhood in all of Boston!  I get my hair cut at a barber shop in the North End (Johnnie & Geno on Hanover Street)…I then wander the neighborhood, freshly shorn, pick up my olive oil at the Salumeria Italiana, maybe a bit of that aforementioned pasta, and  lastly over to Volle Nolle for the best ever sandwiches and salty chocolate chip cookies in the whole of the city!  Who cares if it is ninety degrees in the shade!

Sunday mornings in the winter are never this good…sure, there is the NY Times and the big pot of coffee and maybe a little snow and maybe the heat would be cranked up and maybe the auto parked at the curb out front is covered in snow and the sidewalk is in need of attention and the stairs are iced over…there is no Rowley and no roaming around in an open field and no green flies and no portable potties!  I’ll take summer any day!

One reason I adore this place so much is for just this sort of thing…now, mind you, I didn’t buy bagfulls of the stuff for my own little store though it was tempting!  Just the fact that one can wander over to a table with such “good taste” items makes me smile!

I have been just plain lazy about this blog this summer.  Forgive me!  Don’t forget…the store will be closed all of August and one week into September (I know just what you’re thinking…is she entitled or what!). I will be off on a road trip antiquing in upstate New York for a few days, then five days in New York City at the dreaded Javits Center for the Gift Show sussing out goods for you all to give others for the holidays, and then a little knee repair with a snip of some cranky knee part.  At this point, August will be nearly over, and I will wonder where it all went!  There will be books to read waiting for me next to the chaise lounge.  A couple pugs to snuggle with and BINGO…there goes time off!  One thing I did want to leave you with is something a client said yesterday…she is a poet and an artist…she said she believes we are all made up of water, sunlight and dreams.  I agree!

Sunday  is one of those days when I start, at around 3 pm, to think of dinner.  Woe is me if there is nothing in the house to eat!  Now, let me tell you, years ago my Zia made Chicken Cacciatora almost every Sunday.  The chicken was alive and well only hours before…pecking around the chicken pen for grain and small bugs only a chicken’s eye could see.  The hens that became dinner were plump and most definitely organic!  They were loved and cared for by Zia and even in their demise, they got tender (well, sort of tender!) handling.  Her Chicken Cacciatora was about as close to heaven as any human can imagine while holding a fork and a knife!  I remember once reading an essay by Alan Watts called “Murder In The Kitchen”…the thrust of his essay was thus…a chicken poorly prepared is a chicken that died in vain!  I couldn’t agree more!

So here I was a couple Sundays ago…sitting in the shop, end of day, thinking dinner and knowing there was not a chicken…organic or otherwise…in my larder at home.  I did what I tell all others to do while in my store: “Open up that cookbook and just feast your eyes on those recipes!”  My first choice was “Yummy Potatoes,” the first page I turned to became the fixings for dinner and let me tell you it was delicious!  The cookbook was written by Marlena Spieler with photographs by Sheri Giblin.  There is not a dud in the whole wonderful book, if you love potatoes (who doesn’t?), this is your kind of cookbook!

ALOO TAMATAR BHAJI  Gingered Tomato-Curry Potatoes

1 lb. small new potatoes

1 tsp tumeric and several large pinches of sea salt

6 Tbl. extra-virgin olive oil

1 1/2 Tbl chopped fresh ginger

6-8 garlic cloves, chopped

2 shallots, peeled and chopped

2 tsp. yellow or black mustard seeds

1/2 tsp. whole cumin seeds

large pinch of ground coriander

medium to large pinch red pepper flakes

4-6 large ripe tomatoes, grated over the large holes of a box grater…(Yes! it does work and is a genius way to prepare those tomatoes that look red and ripe but are a tad too early!)

pinch of ground cumin

3 Tbl. chopped cilantro

Boil the potatoes in their skins until just tender, drain and set aside.  When cool enough to handle, peel, then break the potatoes up coarsely with a fork…each potato into 3 or so pieces…toss the broken potatoes with the tumeric and season with the salt.

In a skillet, heat the olive oil add ginger, garlic, shallots, and the mustard seeds.  Cook until the mustard seeds start to pop a little, then sprinkle in the cumin seeds, coriander and red pepper flakes.

Add those magical tomatoes you have grated!   Cook over medium heat until it all makes a sauce (not very long), then gently add the potatoes and toss them in the tomato mixture until well combined.

Cook slightly longer…season with salt if needed and sprinkle with ground cumin.  Serve warm or at room temperature, sprinkled with the chopped cilantro.

Divine!…I added a dollop of thick yogurt to my full bowl!

Diane Hanna did it again!  That girl, in all her tulle and flounce, came to the store for two remarkable days of writing.  We filled the table with eager and fine writers; we filled the room with life stories!  Thank you to all of you who attend these workshops!  They would not be possible without you.  We will do it all again, for the fourth year, next February 2011!

The last Wednesday of February was not only a wet and windy one, it was also the day that had long been scheduled to head out of town for an adventure!  These road trips can’t be put off!  The Patch boys (Don and John) and I had cooked up a plan for what could only be expensive trouble.  We decided to travel to that little hidden corner of Connecticut called “The Quiet Corner.”  Oddly enough it isn’t all that far a journey from Boston.  The countryside is positively beautiful…even in a driving rain storm.  There are hills and fields and estates and lovely winter structures with  amazing old barns in their tumble- down state and ancient old and grand trees whose spines were quite naked and bone brown.  We went first to Putnam, the home of several antique shops.  Most were closed that day but one: a huge collective with some great treasure kept the three of us very happy for several hours!  I found nothing to buy and that is most unusual…the guys did just fine!  The whole of our time in the collective, the storm pelted the windows and streets.  Rain water rushed down the stone curbs joining forces with roadways…giving the whole of Putnam and our not so little antique shop the sense of an island!  Almost as if we had washed up there!

We loaded up Big Jane (my car) with their purchases and then headed into Pomfret for lunch at The Vanilla Bean.  Now that was utterly delicious…complete with a huge slice of German Chocolate Cake (served with 3 forks)….I hadn’t had a slice of that cake since my Aunt Bella who would have served a huge piece on a brown transferware plate and there would have been one fork!

On our way out of town, we passed through Woodstock, CT, and it is here that we came upon this coral pink “cottage.”  This was just plain jaw-dropping, breath-taking splendor.  What a gift for a wet, grey day, the last Wednesday in February!

John Derian’s booth is always one of my favorites (as is John).  It is nearly impossible to resist his work, but then, why would any sane person want to! I bought several  pieces out of this  blue story for the store.  How I would have loved buying the whole group!  If only I had a bigger store!  John created some truly remarkable pieces for Spring.  They will be in soon and featured front and center once they arrive!

Denise Fiedler, the designer of Paste, is an old friend from early South End days in Boston. She has created Paste and lives now in San Francisco.  I bought the chair series and some dogs and several wilder animals…though, we all know nothing could be wilder than Pugs and I bought a few of those too!  I thought these would be good for kids’ rooms, and the chair series in one, two or threes would be terrific on a dining room wall.  These pieces are created from torn and cut papers culled from antique books and embellished with vintage gold bits.  Quite charming and very affordable!

Tatine was a favorite over the winter.  They have several new scents, which I loved and ordered, along with Creeping Moss, which sold out early last November.

I want to mention here that the PatchNYC booth was jaw-dropping as it usually is…I bought several pieces of Don Carney’s drawings in antique frames and two new needlepoints  in vintage frames…from these two genius men will also come new linen scarves. PatchNYC has also created a number of candle fragrances with the women at The Soap & Paper Factory.  These women are brilliant at fragrance, and the Patch men designed the packaging.  What a combination!

Coming to the store will be new and amazing books…odd titles, wonderous reads, nonsense and must haves!  I adore books… I find them hard to resist, and I assure you that you will too!  In the assortment of goods will be new soaps and lotions.  80 Acres has come up with a lavender scent for their hand cream and soap that will sooth the weary soul. Lavender is tricky…this one works!  I found a new group of greeting cards and journals I loved.  We will have more Lucky Fish for children…those little nippers deserve a chic cotton t-shirt  in the best ever sludge colors!  I could go on, but I won’t, I want you to have some surprises when you come into the store!

One reason for trade shows, in my book, is the dining.  Not that you will find fine dining at the Javits Center!  Each evening it was a new feast with great friends…the youngest of which was just over two months old!  Lucien’s mother and grandmother own Bon in Tucson so each night he joined a rather fine group of diners in rather fine places to dine! If you haven’t had a chance to eat or drink at Freemans, make that a must when you’re in New York.  With Don and John from Patch, we ate at Bombay Talkie, which just might have the best ever cocktails in all of the Big Apple (that might be a bit of a stretch!), but for sure, it has the most delicious Indian food!  We also had a splendid meal at Cook Shop on Tenth Avenue.  So, now my passion for fine food, great friends and a wicked trade show is out in the world and public!  Sometimes I think I own the store just to do the food, friends and New York thing!

It is true…this is a month that one needs to take a long rest.  It is the month I turn a year older, the month I question all those resolutions made just days before, the month I question owning a store (didn’t I tell you to talk to me in January about all that love of retail!).  January just isn’t pretty, no matter how much you might love the cold!

 

If you haven’t been to Oleana, in Cambridge MA, you must go today…this very minute!  It is one of my favorite places for the best ever food!  Ana Sortun, the chef owner, also owns Sofra. Which is my other favorite for coffee, pastry, a wee treat of exotic luncheon fare.  Ana teaches a few cooking classes a year at Sofra and, on occasion, hosts tours to celebrate the cuisine of other cultures.  Though I have taken the classes, I have yet to do the food tour…not yet anyway!

So here is what I want to tell you about Diane…other than the fact that I am a big fan of her work.  She is a poet, a special and unique teacher and a remarkable talent who wears layers of netting and practical shoes.  She hosts a writers’ workshop each February at the store.  The dates this year are the 21st & 22nd…limit is twelve lucky people per day.  If you’re on my email list, you will be hearing about the event, if not, check out the website for details.  Join us with your blank notebooks and your pens for a day of magic!

Well darlings…last I checked, it is still December, colder than one could imagine, the store is getting raided…gone is the candy (well, mostly gone) gone are the books (many of them anyway), those Lisa B socks are walking out the door (so to speak)…we are gift wrapping, pouring Port for ourselves and others, laughing some, and having a reasonably good time as shop keepers do at this time of year!  With all that, there are still so many wonderful things left, so hurry on in before the store closes for our annual winter break – December 25th until January 7th.

Waiting for me, in my Florida Room/Sun Room is a delicious stack of unread books…I swear the week between Christmas and New Year I won’t move from the chaise lounge, until I have read every last book…I might have a cup or two of sweet black tea with milk  and once the light goes South, I might sip a glass of red wine.  I will wear some dreadful, but warm, frock…some of my own Lisa B socks and there will be no makeup and no hair products on this weary shopkeeper!  Yipee!

The books I am about to read…

“The Glass Castle” by Jeannette Walls….”Bittersweet” by Matt McAllester…”Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress” by Dai Sijie….”The Canal Bridge” by Tom Phelan…and, if the week and the wine and the hot tea holds out, I will read, once again, “The Power of One” by Bryce Courtenay this is an all time favorite and a must read for anyone!

 

Here we are, one week short of Thanksgiving.  This is the time all our minds wander into food…the cook books are propped open, lists are being made and scratched out and made again!  I believe one of my favorite vegetables might just be a perfectly steamed artichoke.  This I would have for my last supper and I would take time savoring each leaf.  I find the artichoke to be a magical item…who in the world was the first to eat such an unfriendly looking thing!  I would serve, with my final artichoke, a dipping sauce which changes each time I make it…take heaps of finely chopped flat leaf parsley, a garlic clove or two (finely chopped), the zest of two lemons, the juice of one of those lemons, some capers, an anchovy or two, a small slice of sweet pickle (very small), some hot pepper flakes, some chopped celery, a chopped shallot or a couple spring onions also chopped, a few oil cured black olives (chopped) add this to mayonnaise  (home made or not)..taste, add more of whatever feels right.  I assure you this is the perfect dressing for a finely steamed artichoke.

And speaking of last suppers, where the artichoke will be front and center…I would call out to Townsends Restaurant in Hyde Park (just a mile or two from where I live) I would have them deliver their grilled romaine hearts dressed with Caesar dressing, white anchovies, fresh croutons and thinly sliced garlic that has been quickly fried and is thin as a French model and even more delicious!  If you haven’t been to Townsends…GO!  If you don’t live anywhere close, come visit…see the store and I will go with you and together we will have the grilled romaine salad!

Happy Thanksgiving!

September, at its very end, was warm, leaves turning…no time to stay put in the store!  Pam delightfully agreed to shop sit while I bolted to the North Shore.  Four days of great dining, book reading, long walks and a trip to Beauport, the historic Sleeper-McCann House out on the tip of Rocky Neck.  Can I just tell you, the place is jaw dropping!  Sadly I could not take photos inside Beauport…so, you must come to Gloucester and check it out for your self!

It was also Wally, my dear, elderly, pug’s last trip to the sea shore.  These days, with Wally, every event seems to be his last!  He did not take in Beauport but did stroll the beach and had a fine pee on his favorite spot of sand.

Come next Spring, when you find yourself in Gloucester and you have finished your tour of Beauport, you can dine at The Franklin Cape Ann or Duckworths Bistro….I can assure you either place will more than satisfy!

This wonderful, worn wooden Saint stood atop one of the Catholic churches in Gloucester.  She now resides, out of the weather, in the Cape Ann Museum.  One can only imagine the numbers of fishermen and their vessels she witnessed.  Part of the charm of Gloucester, aside from its fine restaurants, is the fact that it is a viable fishing community with an active art community…all that and the Beauport Sleeper-McCann House!  How could you ask for more!