I Belong Here.....

Isn't this a sweet house?

Doesn't it say

"come in and put your feet up"

that's what we did

this past weekend. Our friends

who live in NYC

called and said:

"Hey you want to get away for a

long weekend?"

We said"

"YES!!"

So we packed up, it took me a week

because we also had to

pack food.

I prepared some goodies and

stuck them in

the cooler and drove four and

a half hours

north.

When we pulled up to this

beautiful old farmhouse

my heart

skipped

a

beat!

And when we entered the

house

I

GASPED!

It was built in

C. 1700

actually

some time after that.

Then in the

C. 1800's they added on

to the house,

then

C. 1930's they added

the second

story to the home.

Of course

in order for it to be used

they updated

the plumbing and electrical.

This house is

alot larger than what I

thought.

It's Three bedrooms,

2 1/2 baths,

with a cellar that

has the original stone fireplace

not in use.

It also has the original wide

plank floors,

which I snagged my sock

on and it now

has a large

hole in it!

Below is the

original part of the house

They kept the original built-ins

and the woodwork,

but sometime later they changed

out the stone fireplace

and put in brick,

then sometime recently

added the gas fireplace,

which we used

every night.

I'll give you a tour of the rest

of this beautiful home

Bedrooms next:

We stayed in this room.

It actually

had two closets in it.

Bedroom II

Another couple stayed in this room.

Can you see the floors?

Bedroom III

The couple who invited us to this

lovely getaway

stayed in this suite.

The picture does not do it justice!

This was an unused

attic space for many

years, and it was redone not too

long ago to make

it into a

suite.

This room had the attached

bath

and a gas fireplace!

Dining Room

We used this cozy space

every

morning and every

evening.

Kitchen

Such a sweet room to prepare

meals

every day.

We'd all congregate here

in the mornings

yacking and

drinking some

delicious coffee

that Vince and Wendy

brought with

them from

the

city.

Then with our nosing around

we discovered

this room:

We kept trying to figure out

what this

room was for.

It was beside the kitchen.

We would be in

there coming

up with different ideas.

It has a fireplace,

it has storage,

it has a seperate

entrance,

what in the world did they use it?

This addition was

added in the 1800's.

Then Michelle thought,

it must of been used for the

slaves

they had.

Evidently we read up on the house

and they had

slaves which was strange I thought

because this house is in

upstate New York,

I guess some families had slaves

in the North.

They must of lived in this room.

Very Interesting!!

Upstairs Hallway

Entryway:

Farm Buildings:

Outside of house:

Can you see the original stone there?

We just enjoyed each others

company,

we read,

Wendy crosstiched

The guys played games and were

having a

blast

there were good laughs

and

good fun

And every night we sat in front

of this

(can you see that book there on the

coffee table? thanks to Wendy, she

brought it from the library

and I was addicted to the

darn thing and

didn't get to finish it so now

I have to go to our library

and get it, I'm just going

crazy wondering

what happens next!!)

But anyway, we had this as well

Blueberry Lemon cheesecake. I love

making

cheesecake, but this is the best one

I've ever made.

Literally licked the fork clean!

I made it at home

and wrapped it well for the journey.

So there you have it,

our vacation.

It went by so fast.

We had  a great

time with great friends.

We arrived home this

evening.

Back to reality.

But it was nice dreaming

about what it

was like back in

C. 1700.

Hope you enjoyed the tour.

Dinner Party!!

It's the start of a New Year, still

can't believe its come

and gone that quickly. And such a

cold start here.

In the 20's but it feels like its only

6 degrees today.

Tonight, -7, BRRRRRRRR!!!

But last night, my dinner

party turned out

wonderful!

Everyone seemed to have thoroughly

enjoyed their dinner.

I made Coq Au Vin, for the first time!

Started out with cooking

the bacon first:

Getting the fat off the bacon before

searing the chicken.

Don't worry, I had a lid ready this time

for all the splattering....LOL

After cooking the chicken, I then seared

the onions:

It smelled so good.

The Chicken in the meantime rested

before entering it back

into the pot:

Now time to remove all the yummy

stuff off the bottom of

the pan, with some red wine, MMMM:

Cooking off the alcohol, scraping up the

bottom of the pan,

You need all that flavoring throughout.

Got out a seperate pot

to start cooking everything together:

Poured the red wine broth then into

the pot to begin simmering:

Now its starting to really smell

good around here.

Tasted the broth, added a little

more salt and pepper.

I'm so used to cooking with alot

of spices. Not hot spicy,

just alot of different

herbs, spices.

The French though, cook with

Salt, pepper, an herb or two

fresh garlic, and onion.

That's pretty much it.

They'll add wine to most of their

dishes and broth.

They want you to taste the meat

and vegetables and

not hide that with too many

spices.

So I had to make myself stick to

the recipe. I may have

added a little more salt or pepper,

a garlic clove extra,

but mainly stuck with the recipe.

When I took the chicken out

it took on this pretty

color:

Now the recipe has you leave the meat

on the bone, but my DH

does not enjoy eating meat off the bone,

it isn't pleasant to him..HEHE,

and I was expecting

12-14 people for dinner and for some

reason, I didn't get more

meat. So I panicked, and thought I had

to do something,

I guess I should take the meat off the

bone!

Some of them had more meat than others

so, by doing this, I actually

doubled the meat

amount.

I made all this the night before, as well

as a homemade chocolate

cake, which I forgot

to take pictures of after icing it, sorry.

I heated the red wine sauce

and thickened it

with a butter and flour paste.

Added the meat back into

sauce along with

the seared onions.

We sauteed some mushrooms.

Let the meat cook

in the sauce.

This is different than the recipe.

She has you serve the

meat on the plate

and the sauce seperately.

But instead,

I made a well in the middle of the

mashed potatoes,

added the meat with sauce in

the middle,

topped it with parsley and

added the mushrooms

around it.

I was so proud of this dish...

my friend, Becky and

my cousin,

Jessica were my helpers, last

night.

They did some chopping, set the

table.

I plated and garnished and had

them set it out before

everyone sat down.

This dinner was made for 8 full-

time ministers in our

congregation.

They came over for some encouragement

from a couple of our elders

and to be pampered

with a nice dinner.

Just to show

we appreciate their hard work and

sacrifices.

I had a lot of fun doing this for them.

So when they walked into

the dining room

we had it set up for them

and we had another table

it was alot of fun.

We then had coffee and my chocolate

cake.

Played games, laughed and just enjoyed

each others company.

It turned out

really nice, and there are leftovers,

YEA!

So take the time out to cook a special

meal for someone

to make them feel special for a day.

They'll love it

and you'll love doing it for them, too.

Look What I Received In The Mail!!!

Yesterday, my hubby was on his way home to pick me up so we can meet our friends for dinner who were treating us for our Anniversary. But when he came home I saw a package in his arms. Now we needed to leave but I couldn't do that without finding out first what that was. I don't remember ordering anything, I hope not since I'm broke....lol. But he gave me the package, so it was for me. When I turned it over, it was from http://myfirstbambina.blogspot.com My dear friend, Monika. Look at the goodies she sent me. (Click on the images to enlarge if you'd like)

She included the Tea Time magazine, since she knows how much I love tea and scones.

Then she added some beautiful stationery. All tea related. How thoughtful! But too pretty to use...:)

Even the fabrics had a tea theme to them, and the RIBBON as well!! I never saw this ribbon before and I love it.

And she knows my love for my kitty's and Paris. Isn't it pretty? Even the ribbon is ruffly and beautiful. She put so much thought into this gift. It was so much fun opening it up as well. The way she wrapped everything up, it seemed never-ending. Even my husband was enjoying watching me take the gift apart and unwrapping the beautiful items enclosed. Monika, thank you from the bottom of my heart. What a sweet surprise.

Well, we made it to the restaurant on time and had a wonderful dinner with our friends.

(PS- Read the post below and give me your opinion on "should I add the rose or not?" )

Well, its been quite some time since I blogged. Way too long. I don't know why, because I do enjoy doing this. Maybe too much. Once I start, I can't get off the computer. Oh well, here I am and here is my last sewing creation. I really enjoy making aprons. This one I made for a dear friend who lives in Upstate NY, we visited them back in March and we had such a great time. So I wanted to send her an apron. It has tea cups and teapots with sayings. She and her husband LOVE tea. They introduced me to some loose tea and I'm addicted. Just love it. I have one to two cups a day. So I thought I'd make her an apron with tea all over it. Of course, I've yet to mail it. It's all packaged and ready to go, but for some reason I just hate going to the Post Office, but this gift is way over due.