Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Day One: Flavigny-sur-ozerain

We started off our french adventure with a pretty weird day... Jules slept from 7:00-11:00 on Sunday night, woke up at 11:00pm, and then went back to sleep around 3:00am. He woke up again at 11:00am on Monday morning, and we officially started our day-- with all three of us feeling more than a little wonky.



After doing an initial grocery shop (I'd forgotten that one of my greatest pleasures is shopping for food in France. Even the most basic french grocery store smokes Fairway Market by a million miles!!!) we decided we'd just cruise around and explore. What is incredible about rural France is that while you're just "cruising around", you can drive by a sign pointing for a medieval city, and when you arrive, you discover a perfectly preserved picturesque town with a cute cafe with a courtyard full of children's toys, enchanted flower-filled walkways, the location where Chocolate was filmed, AND the candy maker that produces the crazy flavored mints you buy at Fairway for $8.00! So-- that was a pretty big hit, and a happy coincidence if ever I met one.


And then after a little snooze, we went and explored the local park, where we discovered Julian's FAVORITE THING, a river where he can throw rocks. John and I practiced skipping rocks and Jules perfected his pitch, and all was right with the world. Now that we know where to find a river and a playground, we've pretty much ensured that this vacation is going to be a success!


And the best news... Jules slept through the night last night, so we're really in business today! 

Monday, September 29, 2014

One week later: Big Changes Afoot

When we left New York on Saturday afternoon...
A week ago, I was spray painting bamboo chairs and talking about yard sales, and now-- I have something big to announce. John, Jules, and I have packed up and temporaily moved to France. We're here until the end of 2014-- taking a break to enjoy ourselves and each other after a year of incredibly hard work-- and well-- we're going to be doing some working too... But mostly we'll be hanging out, cooking a lot, eating a lot and exploring France as a family.

By the time we got to Paris, Julian's eyes were square from so much bribery-television. But we made it there in one piece, with almost no in-flight spectacle, so MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! 

We're spending the first three weeks in a house we've rented in Burgundy, in a little town called "Bussy Le Grand" which literally has a cafe, a church, a museum, and overlooks this spectacular countryside where a genuine-article chateau is located. We're headed there today, and will report back on what magnificence or otherwise that we encounter. Then, after we've done all the french country living we can handle (I'm not sure if that's actually possible, but we've got to leave eventually) we pack up and head to Paris for another two-and-a-half months. We've found another awesome rental apartment there, and we're going to try our hand at Parisian city living before we head back to New York.

If you know Jules, you know that there's pretty much nothing he prefers to farm equipment and
rock-throwing. Needless to say, he's a happy camper dans la campagne! 

And of course, around every corner is another pile of rumble that I want to renovate
into our next country house. So I'm pretty happy dans la campagne aussi! 



We really can't tell you how excited we are to be here, how hard we've worked to make this possible, and how tired we are from flying. : ) 

Don't forget to check back in while we're away to see the D-I-Y projects we tackle, the beautiful places we visit, and the exciting things we cook. Just because we're on vacation does not mean that I won't be blogging so there should be lots to read!

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Barn Sale Bonanza!


We had a major yard sale-ing win yesterday-- I picked up this pair of awesome (ridiculous?) bamboo "occasional chairs" for a whopping $7.50 per chair! A couple coats of spray paint and a newly upholstered seat later, and they're truly transformed-- and a perfect addition to our dining room table.


We also found this stack of antique quilts at $5.00 a pop. One of them is a little rough around the edges, but the fabrics are so cute, it'll be worth doing a little repair work to get them back in action.



What a boon!! 

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Cheap Deals on Bedding! Country Cute meets City Chic meets Bargain Basement!

I just had a major score on bed linens for the country! West Elm is currently having a sale-on-their-sale sale, so everything that's already discounted is an additional 15% off... I picked up a bunch of cute bed linens to give our house a fresh punch for fall, and I'm pretty psyched about it!!


I nabbed the country-chic red ticking-stripe duvet and matching shams for our master bedroom at the farmhouse, for a very reasonable $85.00 for the whole kit and caboodle! I'm still dating a couple of other sets, but haven't decided if I'm ready to pull the trigger...

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Yep. That's pretty delicious.

Five-Spice Pear-And-Apple Crisp. What's not to like? 

Next room tackled... though not a triumph just yet...

Our next project was the playroom/study at the farmhouse. What prompted me to get this room up to snuff was when we received the incredible victorian pendant fixture, that you see in the photo below, from my parents. (They're in the process of purging everything that isn't tied down, and as you may have noticed, I've been on the receiving end of many of their "donations". It's been pretty hard, let me tell you...) 

So-- when we got this beautiful brass-and-glass fixture, I really thought, "Okay. I hate this room. If I'm going to put up this fantastic new light fixture, what else can I do to hate this room less?" The primary culprit is the completely-falling-apart floral sleeper sofa which occupies one end of the room in a particularly awful way... But I'm not in the market for a new sleeper sofa (specifically, I'm not interested in paying for one) so I'm just going to have to make do with that behemoth for another season... However, wall color, lighting, pillows, and throws I can produce with almost no expense (I have a stash of pillows, accent lights, and throws in my attic that rivals the Home Goods collection, so that's no prob.)


I hemmed and hawed about the paint, and ended up picking Benjamin Moore's "Bennington Gray", which is a lovely nutty-taupe-y color, without looking too much like human flesh or purple-- which is a delicate balance when it comes to nutty-taupey. It taps into the discolored mattings of my Wallace Nutting Hand Tinted Photograph collection, and also ties nicely into the beige-y tones of the vintage oriental rug that's on the floor.  



Wallace Nutting cluster! This is only the tip of the iceberg... 
The dreaded sleeper sofa. Improved, but not saved by throw pillows and a cashmere blanket, but let's be honest. She's a beast. She needs reupholstering like nobody's business. 

The end results are... good. Not "Ah-mazing!" or "Come-PLETELY transformed!!!" but it's a step in the right direction. And if nothing else, I can safely say, "I hate this room a little less" which was the original goal...

At least I totally love that light fixture. 

Five-Spice Pear-Apple Crisp. Yum.

We have a cornucopia of pears and apples growing in our yard this fall, so of course-- seeing ten minutes of spare time on my schedule-- I decided to bake a pie. This could explain why I'm so busy and so tired. Because instead of sitting, I bake pies.

Oh well. I'll sit when I'm dead, right?

Here's the deal with the pie-- and it was a roaring success.

I nabbed this recipe from a cookbook I found in my pantry, Ken Haedrich's "PIE". Let me tell you-- nabbed is the right word for it, because I cannot find a copy of this recipe anywhere online, except by taking a screen-grab of the actual cookbook on GoogleBooks. So. That's what I did. Unconventional? Yes. Possible thievery? Pretty sure that's a yes too. But-- c'est la vie. It's going down. If Ken doesn't like it, he can just GIVE. ME. A. CALL.

Ps. What I did find online was this photo of Ken. Based on this, I'm pretty sure I could take him. Though he's the one with the rolling pin at the ready.




Can you read this recipe at all? If not, you might just have to shell out for Ken's book online, or you can call me and maybe I'll dictate it to you over the phone. : ) 

What you should know is that the pie emerged from the oven looking like this, which suggests that whatever recon mission you have to embark upon (or maybe just a magnifying glass would do?) is going to be worth the effort, because this Five-Spice Pear-And-Apple-Crisp looks and smells killer. 

Make sure you've got some vanilla ice cream too, because I'm pretty sure that's going to take this to a whole other level... 

Can't wait for dinner time so we can inhale this for dessert!! 

Monday, September 15, 2014

Post from the past... Awesome weekend behind us, busy work week almost finished!

Okay-- I actually wrote this post 10 days ago (on my honor!) but somehow forgot to post it... Sorry guys!!

I swear I've got projects a-brewin', but it's been another beast of a work week, so you're just going to have to enjoy this montage of country life photos until I've got time to start our next project...





I swear it's going to happen! Don't give up hope!


John's version of "The Ultimate Paella Recipe"

John and Phoebus were leading the paella brigade this weekend, and it was a resounding success!

My parents recently gifted us a ginormous outdoor paella-pan-kit-stand-insan-o-propane-cooker-thing (I'm not sure what the formal name for it is...) and John thought that my birthday was the perfect time to welcome it to the farmhouse.

He tracked down this "Ultimate Paella Recipe" from Tyler Florence, and with a couple of tweaks, made it his own. And it was fantastic. And plentiful. (We still have servings for six in our fridge...)



Ingredients: (Supposedly serves 4-6, but ours served 8-10, easily...) 

Spice Mix for chicken (recipe below)

1 (3-pound) frying chicken, cut into 10 pieces
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 Spanish chorizo sausages, thickly sliced
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1 Spanish onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, crushed
Bunch flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped, reserve some for garnish
1 (15-ounce) can whole tomatoes, drained and hand-crushed
4 cups short grain Spanish rice
6 cups water, warm
Generous pinch saffron threads
1 dozen littleneck clams, scrubbed 
1 pound jumbo shrimp, peeled and de-veined
2 lobster tails 

1/2 cup sweet peas, frozen and thawed
Lemon wedges, for serving

Notes from the chef (John): 
*John skipped the clams altogether, and no one missed them. There was so many other delicious ingredients, they really didn't seem necessary... 

** John couldn't get a hold of lobster tails upstate, so he went with king-crab legs instead. A total success!! 

Notes from me: I'm of the opinion that you can never add too many peas to paella. So you could do something like 1 cup, and I'd be a happy camper... Just sayin'... 


Special equipment:

Large paella pan or wide shallow skillet

Spice Mix for chicken:

1 tablespoon sweet paprika
2 teaspoons dried oregano
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions:

Rub the spice mix all over the chicken and marinate chicken for 1 hour in the refrigerator.

Heat oil in a paella pan over medium-high heat. Saute the chorizo until browned, remove and reserve. Add chicken skin-side down and brown on all sides, turning with tongs. Add salt and freshly ground pepper. Remove from pan and reserve.

In the same pan, make a sofrito by sauteing the onions, garlic, and parsley. Cook for 2 or 3 minutes on a medium heat. Then, add tomatoes and cook until the mixture caramelizes a bit and the flavors meld. Fold in the rice and stir-fry to coat the grains. Pour in water and simmer for 10 minutes, gently moving the pan around so the rice cooks evenly and absorbs the liquid. Add chicken, chorizo, and saffron. Add the clams and shrimp, tucking them into the rice. The shrimp will take about 8 minutes to cook. Give the paella a good shake and let it simmer, without stirring, until the rice is al dente, for about 15 minutes. During the last 5 minutes of cooking, when the rice is filling the pan, add the lobster tails. When the paella is cooked and the rice looks fluffy and moist, turn the heat up for 40 seconds until you can smell the rice toast at the bottom, then it's perfect.

Cook's note: The ideal paella has a toasted rice bottom called socarrat. One of our guests this weekend said this crust is also called "The Cookie." It's the best part of the paella, so let it sit a little bit to get that crunchy layer. Yum!! 

Remove from heat and rest for 5 minutes. Garnish with peas, parsley and lemon wedges.

Spice Mix for chicken:
Combine ingredients in a small bowl. Rub the spice mixture all over the chicken; marinate for 1 hour, covered. 

M.I.A. I know, it's getting to be a theme around here...

Excuses, excuses, excuses...

But I'm working like 70 hours a week, I'm currently commuting from the farmhouse into the city twice a week, of course I'm churning up a million-and-one projects to complete in the country, and then I'm also trying to remain remotely present in my son's life. And then--- to top it all off--- it was my birthday this weekend, so I had to relax with friends, drink rosé, and eat my body-weight in paella. (Recipe to follow!!)

I had to.... 

BUT! In between all of that racing around (and lounging around), I've actually been photographing all of the projects we've been doing around here-- I just haven't gotten around to blogging about them yet. So-- prepare yourself for a bunch of little project posts over the next couple of days... We've been busy!

One of our first projects (which was a surprising challenge because the light needed to be re-wired more than we expected!) was hanging this awesome vintage tole chandelier up in the guest bathroom upstairs... I'm so obsessed with it-- I think it's so ridiculously cute, and perfect for a bathroom that is also a bubble-bath-time hot spot!



Children and adults agree! This light fixture is a major score! 

It's all thanks to my lovely mudder-- who sent it out to me a few weeks ago. What a lady!!

I also pulled inspiration from the bathroom's oval rag-rug and the new light fixture and decided to paint the bottom of our claw-foot tub a pretty pale green, Benjamin Moore's "Budding Green". I swear it's green, but it's hard to see in that photo, so you can scope it out below on the Bm paint swatch...


One project down... Dozens more to go!!!