Gettin' In The Swing & Freeform Friday

Holiday Open House

Last night Exeter, the next town over and where I worked at the Chamber many moons ago, held Holiday Open House and Festival of Trees.  It's a night when the downtown is invaded by people who want to meet Santa who holds court in the gazebo in front of the old Town Hall building and Festival of Trees inside.  It's a mob scene, but a good kind of mob scene. Every one's there to get in the holiday spirit, the lights down Water Street are lit, stores show off their holiday window displays are open for shoppers, and there's lot of milling about. It's can be quite magical. A wonderful way to mark the season.

I headed over with my sister Dianne. Sister in law Kelly ventured with us at the last minute. It was full throttle hustle and bustle of the season-  lights, people, and cars....oh my.

Just as expected, it was a mob scene with tons of people lined up to see Santa.

Now, can you see what I mean?

We met my friend Carey (aka Martha of the infamous Champagne Ladies/Bookclub) and her daugther Laine....two of my best gals.

Then we went our merry ways.  Now Laine and Martha were smart and checked out Festival of Trees right away. The three of us however, got distracted.  Blame it on all the lovely things the shops had in them.

We popped into a store that was new to me, Reminisce, but that had been open since February. Obviously, I missed that.  As I told Kathy the owner, I'm sure to be back. Her shop was packed with a whole lot of wonderful.

Everywhere you turned, more fantastic things too oogle. Kathy had lots of local artists represented. Yay for local art! She also had lots of lovely vintage in the mix.

You see that nest on the wall, to the left of the pretty mirror?  It was painted by a local artist (whose name is escaping me unfortunately). Instead of trying to hide a crack in the wall, Kathy had this artist make the most of it by painting the very sweet bird's nest and eggs....there's a swallow on the other side of the mirror if you look close.

Reminisce was a feast for the eyes.

Di and Kel obviously found something they had to look at a little closer.

Vintage textiles, mixed media art, crystal, vintage fashion. What a lovely shop.

Lo and behold, while we were there, Martha and Laine made their way through the door and did a little shopping.

Since they didn't know I was taking this shot, I decided the next one I took, they would know about.

Two of my best gals.

Kathy the owner was busy greeting shoppers.  Genuinely welcoming everyone to her store and having earnest conversations about her products and the artists that are represented in Reminisce. Not quite the same kind of 'greeting' you get at Walmart.

Thanks to Kathy for the sweetest little handmade ginger bread men ever (I'll show you them in another post for sure---itty bitty, eency weency and oh so cute).

Then we were off and away down the street in and out of stores and before you knew it, it was time to head back up the street to my friend Kath's (aka soy goddess and another one of the Champagne Ladies) restuarant, Blue Moon Evolution. They were holding a booth for us, so we could sit and enjoy a cocktail and some fresh, local fare.

Problem with the timing was, we didn't have enough. We got so caught up in the shopping, that we never went in to see Festival of Trees. What a shame. It's always so beautiful.

However, luckily, Blue Moon made up for it.

Kath was doing duty as hostess.

Ah, sit down in a booth in one of my favorite spots and have a Rosalita served to me....yes please. We shared fish cakes, salad, a cheese board and the charcuterie board.  All of the meats on the charcuterie board are house made by Chef Ted McCormick. It's ever changing, as is the cheese board.

Last night I fell in love. I know, I know....I have Gar. Not to worry.

I fell in love with a new cheese. Bonne bouche. It might be my new all time favorite and it's made right in Vermont. Heavenly.  I told Kath she needs to bring some to Book Club/Champagne Ladies Christmas, which so happens to be tomorrow night at Pearl's (the last of our little group). 

We had a great night and it's always nice to give some holiday business to the locals. 

Have you attended any special events like Holiday Open House yet? What tradition do you have to get into the Christmas mood?

Freeform Friday

Talking about getting into the mood, I'm about to put on my first Christmas album of the year...live recording of Judy Garland's award winning Christmas Special. LOVE it. Love her with Liza, with Lorna, with Mel Torme and Jack Jones.  Enjoy.  Click here if you're reading by email.

Have a great day.

Ciao for now,

A Merry Bookclub-Champagne-Ladies Christmas

Doing It Up Right

Take a tip from The Champagne Ladies...........you only live once, but if you live right- once is enough.  Live large. 'Nuf said.

Last night was 'Bookclub' Christmas, complete with the guys.

I've told you before, we started as a 'bookclub', but quickly morphed into more of a food and champagne club and the best of friends. I LOVE these gals. Each of us is very different, and that's part of what makes it work so well.

The evening started with people arriving with bottles of champagne and big picnic baskets in their hands.

Here's a run down of the night, and I apologize for the 'wrong' camera setting. I was having too much fun to notice. 

We began with some of Carey's (aka Martha) fig and olive tapenade.  Then like magic the bar was filled up with an entire buffet of appetizers.

Here's Martha going for some of her hot artichoke dip.

The buffet also included my smoked salmon with cream cheese, onions and capers which is one of Soy Goddess's (Kath) favorites. 

I tried to get some more of the smoked salmon I use for this ( I think it's Echo Falls out of Washington State), but the store was out. I had to come up with something on the fly. Luckily they had some fresh cooked lobster meat, so I made up a dip.

Jim and Pearl (aka Laurel....and you can see why we call her Pearl, can't you?) bellied up to the buffet and Pearl topped her pressed potatoes that I made, with the lobster dip.

Need a closer look?

We all followed suit. Including The Inspector.

I'm just going to tell you, the pressed potatoes will be known as smorgasbord potatoes from now on, because in addition to the lobster dip we topped them with whatever else we wanted that was on the buffet. It was classic.  As you can see in the picture of The Inspector, we still have trim to finish in our kitchen remodel, but I digress.

I have no idea why this one looks like an 'action shot'. The only action going on was Bill, Gar and Kath talking.



Ah, then Soy Goddess (who owns Blue Moon Evolution) put out her Chicken Marbella. If you haven't had this dish, make it. Rustic, sweet, sour, sticky goodness.  On the side.......Pearl's holiday salad ala Giada.

We did lots of talking, LOTS of laughing, and even sang a song or two. Oh yeah, we also drank champagne, but you could have guessed that. Right?

Then Pearl, who I dubbed Yogi last night because she came with the classic Yogi the Bear basket, went full-stop-over-the-top on dessert. Butterscotch Pudding Pie with whipped cream she whipped fresh in my kitchen, topped with bananas and pistachio brittle. Hello.

It couldn't have been a better night, but was over too soon. 

Girls, do you have to leave?

Wait, we forgot to get the Christmas picture.

Did I say we love these people?

This one's for you Champagne Ladies.

Celebration continues.......here a chick, there a chick, everywhere a chick chick

That's the chicken salad I made for my evening with the Bookclub/Champagne Ladies yesterday. We figured it was still Pearl's birthday week and Martha (really Carey) wasn't able to make the party because she was away, so let's celebrate again. Unfortunately, Soy Goddess (aka Kath) wasn't able to make it this time.......ah the hectic life of a restaurant owner.  But the show must go on.

It's was Martha's birthday too this week. Here's Pearl and Martha ready to 'blow out the proverbial candles'. Yes, they're citronella candles. Got a problem with that?

As usual, we enjoyed the evening immensely, but that's a given when we're together.

I'll state it right here. Although we started as a bookclub, we haven't read a damn book for 'bookclub' for years. Hence the second part of the club name now.  It really should be Good Food & Champagne Club.  All four of us are great cooks (please note, I do not say I'm 'great' at anything too often, but I can cook. Bake? ehhhh, sometimes. Cook? hell yes.).

Our menu consisted of:

goat cheese stuffed fresh figs wrapped in prosciutto

by Martha

take fig, cut in half, smear goat cheese on top, wrap with prosciutto

mmmmmm

cornbread and bacon stuffed baked garden tomatoes

by Pearl

Not that everything else wasn't yummy, these were the hit of the night.  I'll post recipe when I get it.

mediterranean summer chicken salad w/ greens and croissant

by Me

(aka Marge. It has nothing to do with my mother being Marge, though it's kind of weird to be called your Mom's name, but I'm used to it now. When we all first met, I reminded Pearl of an old friend Marge and the name has stuck. Yup. We've all got bookclub champagne ladies nicknames.)

I've done this chicken salad twice now in the last week and it's delicious.  And both times I took the easy way out..........rotisserie chicken (which is not in picture because there isn't any left after making the salad last night and I just took these pics today.)

Chop up breast and thigh meat from rotisserie chicken, no skin

Dice a 3/4 of medium cucumber

Dice half of a red onion

Chop handful of walnuts

Chop herbs (Whatever herbs you'd like, this time I used chive and lemon balm, which I am especially loving in chicken salad.)

In bowl, mix above ingredients with:

Hellman's mayonnaise

palm full of crumbled feta cheese

2 tbs of apple cider vinegar

couple of dashes of old bay seasoning

Chill and serve on bed of greens or a croissant, with some greens, and enjoy. Go ahead, try it.

The Roma's Are Ripe!

This makes me a happy girl.

Purty, ain't they?

This means it will soon be roma roasting time. Ah, filling the freezer with garden tomatoes to enjoy all winter. Did I just winter? Sorry.

I'll share that process when I get there, but right now, they're just ripening becuase we were late planting this year.

Wet Laundry

Skies looked threatening most of the day but it hadn't done anything. Nothing. Nada.

I knew, if I put a laundry out on the line, as soon as I did it would:

I was right. It's lashing out. So my laundry is now getting a second rinse cycle.

Enjoy the rest of Thursday in your corner of the world. Have I said thanks for being here? Thanks for being here.

Pam



A MidSummer's Break

We're in the midst of heatwave here. Yesterday, the thermometer reach 100F in the shade by noon. By the time the sun came around, it reached 110F. Hour and a half later, it was reaching toward 120F.   Of course, that was with direct sunlight on it. Regardless, it was hot.

It would have been unbearable if it hadn't been for the pool.  Bookclub Martha (really Carey) stopped by for a little dip once the shade had come around.

Don't ask why we have the noodles framing our faces. Let's just say it was the heat getting to us.

The swimming continued for hours to come, when Gerry and Sandee, two of the neighborhoodlums came over to cool off. I'm not sure how cool we got because the pool was like a sauna, but it still felt good.

Another hot one today and I'm about to do another round of watering the gardens. I thought it would be a good time for a winter interlude for your cooling pleasure.

Doesn't look nearly as fun covered in snow, does it?

The forsythia giving in to the weight of the snow.

Lucan leaping through the snow in the woods out back.

 Lucan leaping through the snow in the field across the street.

Currently, there is no leaping going on. A lot of panting, but no leaping.

Have a great Saturday where you are!