Freeform Friday

The Back Forty

It's just so gorgeous out this week. A little cooler than usual for August, but nothing to shake your head at. So, we're taking advantage of that tonight and having a campfire with friends. 

I'm going to make this:

via Katrina Runs

Um...............YUM.

I'll let you know how it turns out, though I'm pretty confident it's going to rock. I'm going to replace the chicken stock with vegetable stock to make it vegetarian and gluten free for a couple of my pals. I will of course, have the bacon bits on the side because, that's the way I roll.

My Dad and I used to stop at Bennigans for a soup like this after our yearly visit to his Boston eye specialist. Then Bennigan's closed. What a bummer. So I'm pretty excited to get a fix of this stuff.

Speaking of lunch and Dad, we did lunch on Monday and I had to take a picture of my fish and chips because the chips were served in the cutest way.

Guess I didn't have my phone camera quite in focus, but you get the picture. My own personal chip basket. Can you stand it?


Freeform Friday

To get your Friday off to a rockin' start, a favorite of mine. This stage is filled with amazing musicians. Can I just tell ya........I LOVE Fats. He is just the sweetest and while everyone else is grabbing the limelight, he plays his heart out banging those keys. Click here if you're reading via email.

 

I'm off to run errands this morning and then back to my desk to design an email for my clients Top Drawer. Love those ladies. They're the best.

Have a great day. It's Friday. Time to do the Snoopy dance!

Ciao for now,

From The Kitchen: Cuban Black Bean Soup

 

 

As Good As Soup Gets

 

I remember the first time I heard of black bean soup. My Dad and I were at a local standby, The Loaf and Ladle in Exeter. I'm not even sure why we were there because this was not a common outing for us. As soon as my Dad saw black bean soup on the menu, his decision was made. Me? Not so fast. That soup is black? Are you sure that's what you want?

 

Somewhere along the way I tried it and I gotta tell ya, I love the stuff. We love the stuff. It's just so good.

 

Now, photographing black food (it's really sort of brown, but either way it's dark) and making it look good enough to devour isn't the easiest thing to do.

 

Can you just trust me on this one? Truly. This is good soup.

 

 



I've cooked this soup a number of different ways, and if I'd had a ham hock on hand, I probably would have used that as the stock base, but since I didn't, this is how it worked itself out this time.

Cuban Black Bean Soup
{crock pot style}

14 oz bag of dried black beans
6 -8 cups of chicken stock or vegetable stock
One large onion, diced small
3 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed
Palmful of chopped fresh cilantro
3 tbs of cumin
1 tbs of saffron
Salt and pepper

Put dried beans in crock pot and cover with chicken stock so that liquid is about inch above the beans. Reserve rest of liquid and add during cooking.  Add onion, garlic, cumin, salt and pepper. Set on high and let cook for a couple of hours, checking and stirring occasionally.  If all liquid has been soaked up, add more and do so each time beans have absorbed all liquid. When beans are simmering and getting softer, turn down to low.  Add cilantro, saffron and rest of liquid and cook half hour longer.  If you want a thinner consistency soup you can add more stock if you like.  Serve with dollop of sour cream and a little chopped fresh cilantro.

Makes 6 - 8 servings

Oh. Hell. Yeah.

I like to add the fresh cilantro after the other spices because I think it allows the cumin and saffron flavors to develop. Then when you add the cilantro, it adds another completely different layer of fresh flavor.

Enjoy.


Sunset Meadows

I don't know what it is about the weather or the temperatures this week, but the sunsets have been pretty impressive.  Last night's included. Another free show that lasted for more than an hour. I called my Mom to tell her to check it out, but it was kind of a low sunset because it was hanging below clouds. She couldn't see what I was seeing, but now she can and so can you.

You need a break, don't you? Sit back, relax and take it all in.

 

Ah. Isn't that better?

 

Hope you enjoyed your weekend. Ours was filled with bookwork (yuk and which still isn't quite complete), time with the neighbors, and good steaks on the BBQ.  We wanted to have a campfire but the winds have been wicked, so it was a no go on that plan.  Did you do anything special or did you hang close to home?

 

Make it a great Monday. Let's start the week off with a bang.

 

Ciao for now,

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From The Kitchen: A Soup To Warm You

 

A Bowl Of Winter Soup

It was warmish and then cold this weekend. The weather is just crazy.

Saturday night the temps dropped and it was the perfect time for a Winter soup.

I made this one up on the fly, letting my pantry and fridge dictate what went into it.

We both thoroughly enjoyed it.

It's an easy one, and it did warm us up. Bonus? There was enough leftover to have it for supper last night too.

This soup has Spanish and Italian components. and they worked very well together.  I put this soup in the oven, so that it gained more flavor from the roasting.

Hot Cha Cha Chipotle Sausage Zuppa
preheat oven to 350F

4 Sweet Italian Sausages
5 Pints of Water
2 large potatoes- chopped
1 large onion- chopped
1 small can of tomato paste
3 chipotles- chopped
1 tbs of Better Than Boullion- Chicken
1 tbs Oregano
1 tsp cumin

Brown the sausage, and place on paper towels to remove any grease.  In stock pot add 3 pints of water and all other ingredients (boullion, potato, onion, paste, chipotles, oregano, cumin) and stir to mix. Cut sausage into slices, and then halve some of the slices. Add to pot.  Put pot in oven for one hour. Stir occasionally. Add another pint at half hour and another pint 10 minutes before done, so that it keeps soup consistency (or it will become more stew like). Serve in mug or bowl with bread on the side.

Perfectly hearty for a Winter meal.

Today is still cold. The forecast is for snow later today and overnight. Which is good because, even
with the cold, the warmth we had melted most of the snow we got last week. Time for a fresh layering of white.

On this MLK day I like to remember all of the people who have fought and continue to fight for equal rights....whether it's union organizers, suffragettes or civil rights leaders.  I wish we lived in a world where the fight for equal rights wasn't necessary anymore. Unfortunately, there are so many people in the world who are enslaved by demeaning laws which do not reflect what our forefathers spoke to, but they themselves didn't fully embrace as they should have......that all men are created equal. 

“If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” - Martin Luther King Jr.

Have a great day wherever you are.

Ciao for now,

 

Make Any Present Special For FREE & Trending Thoughts

How to Make Your Gift Packaging Pretty For Free

This is a really easy lesson. 

Here's our new free printable label.

Ralph Waldo Emerson quote + romantic images and vintage bird= pretty. Easy.

Add some twine and any little embellishments you have around like I did. Easy + Pretty + Reuse + Free = memorable packaging.

This new free design fits a 8.5" w x 5.5" h label (usually come 2 to a sheet).  Just right click and save to your computer and print onto label, or copy and paste into file. Or you could even print out on paper and adhere to package with glue stick or double sided tape.  Enjoy, and thanks for being here.

Ahead of the Curve

I've been doing some research on current trends for the end of the year holiday push. I want to make it a stellar season for Bates Mercantile Co. and some of that involves offering what's hot and what's on the rise for the coming year. 

Here's some trend points that keep popping up along the way, that are worthy of noting:

*focus remains on handmade- go etsy!

*not longing for yesterday's propserity, but rather acceptance of living with   what you have

*return to simpler things and times

*gemtones, both bright and muted versions of those gem colors

*neon- think updated 80s

*romance never dies, it is always popular because of the feeling it imparts

*gentleman's lounge

*highly patterned prints, wallpapers, textures

*geometrics including assymetrical shapes and block coloring that fits together

Love this, mix and match wallpaper from new designer Kirath Ghundoo that was a huge hit at the recent London Design Show. I think it picks up on several trends all at once.

What I've noticed:

*a retro revival- 60s,70s,80s going arm in arm with simpler times.  For example: cassettes tapes (just heard yesterday on national news program that cassettes themselves are making a comeback. They never went away in our house).

*gradients, hombre/ombre coloring transistions

*tribal, native american patterns

Have you noticed any new trends for the rest of the year or seen hints of future trends? Are you reworking any product lines or creating new ones to address trends? I am. More to come on that in future posts.

Soup Night

It was a miserable day yesterday. Rain galore. Rain galoshes. Whatever way you look at it, downright wet.  G-man worked out in it all day. Figured it was a good night for soup. It turned out delicious and hit the spot.

Disclaimer: this is not a full recipe, rather a guideline.

Chicken Chipotle Cheddar Soup- or Three Cs

2 rotisserie chicken breasts (you could use one small rotisserie chicken, I just used what I had)

5 cups of water

Simmer the chicken for 1/2 hour or longer. Remove chicken from water and remove meat from bones.  Put meat back into water. 

Add:

1 diced onion

1 cup milk (I used 2%)

4 chopped chipotles (canned)

4 diced scallions/green onions

1/2 cup of shredded carrots

vegetable broth........I used a paste that I had in pantry

brown rice, 1/2 cup to 1 cup

s & p to taste

Simmer for 45 minutes on low. If you'd like it thicker you could ad a little corn starch. I thought the rice starch made it perfect.

At end, add:

one cup of cheddar

It was easy and very tasty.

Have a great Wednesday. The sun is finally trying to show it's face. A little brisk, but I'll take it.

Ciao for now