Uncategorized – Page 153 – This Old House 2

Newport, Rhode Island

Newport has a rich history beginning in the 1600’s when the first English settlers arrived on Aquidneck Island following a woman named Anne Hutchinson, who had been driven out of Boston for her religious beliefs. Anne and her supporters followed Roger Williams when he, too, was banished from Massachusetts for religious reasons. The group purchased Aquidneck Island (now Rhode Island) from the native Americans. Because the state was founded on religious tolerance, it welcomed many people from various religious backgrounds. In the mid 1600s, a group of Jews fleeing Spain and Portugal settled there and soon founded what became the second oldest Jewish congregation in the United States.

In the 1700s Newport became one of the five leading ports in North America, along with Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston. With the economic boom came much development, including hundreds of houses and internationally important landmarks that still exist today, such as Trinity Church, the Colony House, the Redwood Library, and the Brick Market (now home to the Museum of Newport History). One of the things I love about this town is that the rich history is so evident in the architecture and most of it has been preserved and is still in use.

The Gilded Age and it’s mansion, ofcourse, are what most people associate with Newport today. During the mid 19th century it became a hub of activity once again with new settlement and activity. Wealthy businessmen from north and south discovered the prosperous port and built their massive “cottages”on the shores, creating a summer haven for the wealthy. The Vanderbilts and the Astors are among those families.

Rosecliffe

Kingscote- one of the smaller “cottages”

The Breakers – the largest of the mansions. In this picture you can see the cliff walk which is open to the public, running along the waterfront of the estates… a great way to get some exercise and breath

the sea air in.

Inside The Breakers

It’s an easy day trip for us and we visit a few times a year. I’m amazed again and again at the magnitude of the lifestyle these families led… oppulent is putting it mildly. A tour of the mansions is like looking into another world entirely, and in all honesty I would never choose to live so “above the frey”. Besides the beautiful architecture and works of art, in such large and extravagent quarters there is also a sense of loneliness, separated from the real world and a formal lifestyle that would be very constricting. But that’s just me.

There are many books on the subject, and scandal as well. After touring Doris Duke’s mansion located at the end of Bellevue Avenue (home to most of the Mansions and if ever there were a street truly paved in Gold, this is it) I wanted to know more about her life. She was a modern day occupant of Newport until her death. The tour guide was vague and kind to Doris, but it was clear that there was much behind the facade. I found the book “Too Rich: The Secret Life of Doris Duke”, and there I found the answers. Great read for those of you who are interested.

We spent yesterday enjoying the other Newport….a busy town with a wide variety of good food, shops galore, a large boating community, art galleries, museums and great beaches. There is a vibrance to the young crowd…. if I were young and single, this is where I’de want to work. I know my husband would agree *ahem*

My favorite restaurant…

Angus burger with Roquefort and Bacon on Sourdough bun…

view from my seat.. restaurant sits out on the docks, always a sea breeze…

Tennis, anyone?

I could live here.

This stretch of rocks and water is found along Ocean Drive, just past Bellevue Avenue and the Mansions. The water is so clear and effervescent and the rock formations are beautiful. My favorite activity here in Newport is exploring those rocks and wading through the water. There is no sugar sand here, just stone smoothed over by centuries of seasalt and waves.

We came home from this trip as the proud new owners of a fine piece of Newport waterfront property….

The best use for that Keeping Room

…is keeping family together.

Now that my kids are growing up, (my BABY is FOURTEEN!?!) the moments I cherish are when we’re all together and they’re actually enjoying time spent in our presence.

Scene from a typical day:

You’re such a jerk!
MOM, do you SEE what he’s DOING to me??
You ALWAYS take her side.
heavy sigh, big eye roll, stomp and slamming of door…
OMG I can’t WAIT till you move out of the house
Where’s my phone, YOU took it!!.. WHERE DID YOU PUT IT??
You’re such a jerk!

Last night with grandmothers over for dinner, good food and gameboards, there was harmony in the house and laughter filled the air.

For about five minutes, but I’ll take it.

Before and After – Keeping Room

According to wisegeek.com- ” A keeping room is an area just off the kitchen of a home. Keeping rooms date back to Colonial times when families would sleep in that area when the rest of the house was cold. Since the area could be heated by the kitchen stove, it often provided the only heated place in the house. Today, a keeping room is called by many different names, depending on one’s geographical location, such as a family room, a great room and a hearth room. The whole idea of a keeping room is to have a family gathering place that is near the kitchen.”

Our “keeping room” is the kitchen cooking and eating area, the dining room, a hearth sitting area with wingbacks…basically a family hub. This part of the house takes up the entire back first floor of the original homestead. the two front rooms, which were once a study and a dining room, are used as our offices.

We took that center of the kitchen wall out in the new design (it housed a very narrow staircase) and the kitchen island now takes it’s place…

We reinstalled the original hearth… (before)…

( after…)

We went back and forth about painting over the original finish..

but we had the feeling the room needed lightening up and this shade of beige did the trick.

In this photo you can see the placement of the two front rooms, his office on left, mine on right.

Original view – the window centered in room is now the hallway to the masterbedroom.

This was a great feature in the original house… french doors that swung out onto a patio.

We put the dining table in that area and the doors would not accomodate the placement, so they were exchanged for a large window.

An old rocker that I bought for a song, thinking I was picking up something authentic. I love rocking horses…

This turned out to be a knock-off, there’s actually a whole website or two dedicated to this very subject.

I still love him, even gave him a new tail.

My son brought these in from the field today… Queen Anne’s Lace and Butterfly weed..

These are awesome dishtowels made by Hilary of Crazy as a Loom… beautifully made, soft, absorbent..

and you should see her jeans rugs, among MANY other things….

I do have four island stools for the kitchen… but they’re currently needed elsewhere…

I was born in the sign of water

..and it’s there that I feel my best. The albatross and the whale, they are my brothers..

Actually that’s not much of a stretch and it’s one of my favorite songs. If you were here right now you’de have the distinct torture of hearing me belt it out as I type this post. Anyone know the next line? No googling, now….

I have always loved the water, always lived NEAR the water ( ON it is way too expensive around here) and I can’t imagine not being able to GET to it fairly quickly. Nothing better at the end of a hectic day than sitting by water’s edge and breathing the salt air in. I swear it heals the soul.

My dad used to dock his boat at this marina. He was a live-aboard until he fell on the docks and broke his hip. Now he lives in a home a few miles from there, and his answering machine says “You’ve reached Louie’s Lighthouse”.

We spent many childhood summer days either crawling around his sailboat while it sat in the yard for repair, or out in the harbor having a dinner cooked on the little hibachi attached to the side. Sometimes we’de jump off the back and swim with the little green flourescent jellyfish (they don’t sting). Sometimes we went out for a ride, but I can’t say that my sister and I were always thrilled at the prospect. On a sailboat there’s quite a bit of R_o-L-L-i-N-g, you see…. and on those days, dramamine was our dearest friend.

One fine day the seas were a bit rough and the boat ran into a sandbar. I thought we were stranded for good, marooned, destined to die on that sandbar…and I said so… over and over. It meant nothing to me that we could have walked to the jetty… just waist high water from us to the rocks. Yeah, I still hear about that one.

We went back to the Harbor today where a friend now keeps his fishing boat.. just a few slips from my dads old “home”. What used to be an old boat shed is now the “Yacht Club”.

… I love what they did with the place.

This is my dream boat…. great seating in the rear, a little table, dual engines, a small but sufficient cabin (bathroom!) …

And alittle bowspace to sit and catch the breeze while reading a good book…

A girl can always dream….

Master Bedroom

This bedroom is the new kid on the block, not part of an old structure, but we incorporated post and beam construction and those large beams you see in the ceiling are from an old Pennsylvania barn. They are beautiful, one of my favorite features of the house. They’re also infested with bugs! Actually, ALL the beams in the house have microscopic bugs. I had no idea. Apparently it comes with the territory, centuries old beams & bugs.

We have beam bugs, people.

Start to finish…

bedroom addition to the left…

This is the Paula Deen Savannah bed I found online.. assembly required… yeah that was fun. It comes in either an off-white or tobacco finish. I love this shade, very warm and I wanted to bring in some contrast.

I’m trying to figure out what would look good on either side of the photo above the headboard. It’s a matted picture I photoshopped into a watercolor of one of our old cats lying under a barrel filled with geraniums.

This area needs help.

An old chair from my office in the previous house.. very comfortable and worn in.

But this area needs something too.

One thing I always splurge on is good quality sheets. My mother would probably iron these after each washing because the trim would look so much better. The apple rolled way down the hill from that tree…..

Pillows-Pier One Imports, duvet below – Pottery Barn…

Not sure where to hang this Robin… an art quilt by artist Vivika Denegre (see blog roll, beautiful work)

The white kitten is a ceramic figure I made for my grandmother 35 years ago. She always kept it on the floor of her bedroom, using it as a doorstop. When she moved to Florida it took up the same space at her condo. When Nana passed away I brought the kitten home and it sits on my dresser so it doesn’t get trampled by the zoo.

Last night with slumber fast approaching, I gazed dreamily into those

1,000 lb. beams and asked the obvious question…

“There’s no chance those things would ever, like, fall down on us or anything, would they? “

And in a drowsy haze and heavy sigh, the answer came soft and simple.

“If they did? ..you’de never know.”

Ok then.

Thank you Neighbor

It’s been a hectic two weeks with family visiting and camp schedules and alittle work and still unpacking?! and heat management, it’s been so gawd-awful HOT. I have another room or two to reveal in the next post… but today I’de like to thank yet another wonderful neighbor, Mrs. N., for leaving these beautiful blueberry and raisin bran muffins at my door. I’ve blogged about her before… Her road is not an easy one, and yet she finds time to help many others…and oh boy, can she bake 🙂

The heat has not been a friend to our fledgling garden this year. It didn’t help that we threw in the plants hastily without proper fortification of the soil… but we are reaping a small harvest and that’s better than nothing. This fall we will do what needs to be done to the soil so that next years crops will be a happier lot.

I think I might actually have an edible melon or two… will let you know…

Only in New York

This came across my laptop this morning and I was instantly hungry.

Article by Megan Steintrager
New York City’s Serendipity 3 restaurant has a history of doing stunts to make the Guinness World Records. They’ve scored twice before — with the World’s Most Expensive Ice Cream Sundae and the World’s Largest Hot Chocolate — and on Friday, they did it again with the World’s Most Expensive Hot Dog, which will sell for $69.

So how do you get a hot dog to cost nearly 70 bucks? First, you start with a regular Serendipity 3 foot-long beef hot dog, which already sells for $8.50 — a little more than your average street dog in New York (and a lot tastier, I’ll admit). Then you use the tried and true pre-recession stunt of chefs around the world: Add foie gras, then add truffles, repeat as necessary until the price tag explodes. (The other surefire fancifier — caviar — would taste a little gross on a hot dog, though Serendipity 3 puts it on a burger)

To be more specific, this particular “Haute Dog” (as it’s being marketed) is grilled in white truffle oil and is served on a chewy pretzel-bread bun (sort of like a cross between a soft pretzel and a baguette) that’s toasted with white truffle butter. It’s topped with foie gras pâté with black truffles. Condiments (served on the side) include Dijon mustard with black truffles, caramelized Vidalia onions and ketchup made with heirloom tomatoes (more like a tart tomato relish).

I tasted the dog this morning (breakfast of champions), and I’ve gotta admit, it was darn tasty. My notes, after the jump.

The wiener itself was high quality and would have been great with just a little mustard. But the combo of flavors and textures — the smokey, firm yet juicy hot dog, the creamy, pungent foie gras, the earthy truffles, the chewy, salty bun, the sweet onions, the bite of mustard, and the bright, tart ketchup — played together remarkably well. My minor complaints: I found the bun a bit too salty and the occasional visible glob of truffle butter was over the top (or perhaps I should say “over the top of the top”).

The dog, which was created in honor of National Hot Dog Day (and, I presume, in order to garner just this sort of press attention), debuted for the press Friday and will be available to the general public as soon as new menus are drawn up, according to a spokesperson for the restaurant (note that the haute dog has to be ordered 24 hours in advance).

So is this stunt dog for you? Only if you love foie gras and truffles (their flavor, not just the “I’m a big roller” factor — though that’ll play a part in your decision too) and you’ve got an extra $70, plus tax and tip, burning a hole in your pocket (hey, we heard the recession was over…right?).

Would you pay $69 for this hot dog? I’m a hotdog fan and yes I know how bad they are for you…but this one sounds so good I’de almost be tempted.

Watermelon Sangria

photo courtesy google

A few years back the kids and I went to Cape May, NJ with my mother to visit an old friend of the family. One night we sat out on the balcony of our hotel overlooking the beach sipping the nectar of the Gods, I’m telling ya. Mom’s friend is one of those people who bends over backwards for the care and comfort of anyone and their brother, hospitality being her middle name. She brought us a big pitcher of this thirst quencher, knowing we had spent a long day traveling and needed a reprieve. I brought the recipe home with me.

Watermelon Sangria

1 bottle white wine – don’t use an expensive kind

3/4 cup watermelon schnapps

1/2 cup white cranberry juice

2 cups cubed or scooped watermelon

2 limes, cut into half wheels

Combine all ingredients in large glass pitcher and stir well. Cover and refrigerate for atleast four hours. Serve over ice.

If you’ve never been to Cape May, it’s a lovely old seaside town at the far end of the Jersey Shore… Many victorian homes and inns, great food, a kid-friendly beach and lots of shopping. It still has the seaside hometown feel, and yet it’s not far from the big parks and attractions that the younger crowd seek, making it a great family destination. The fresh ground coffee at Kiss The Cook is the best I’ve ever had, especially the Creme Brulee. You can actually have it shipped!…

The “hood”

We live in a rural neighborhood… that isn’t quite as rural as it seems. We’re a town of 6,000 and we have a main hub of retail spaces that include a Dunkin Donuts, a Subway, a few other restaurants including chinese, pizza, a family restaurant, a gourmet take-out and a bakery. There are other retail spaces including our little artisan gallery attached to a toy store… and we’ve got a gigantic True Value hardware store. And I mean gigantic…. because out here in the sticks (just 10 minutes from Route 1 along the coast)….we apparently need THAT MUCH massive power equipment , tools, pet supplies, paint, carhart clothing and bird feeders to survive the wilds.

Truth be told, the folks at True Value had another space that was more appropriately sized, and they wanted to expand some to meet their growing needs. This charming little hamlet’s town government gave them such grief they were forced to find another location up the street and rebuild unless they wanted to remain stagnant. Rebuild they did, and in GRAND ~~central~~ scale. Their old place sits vacant. In this economy?… well I wish them the best, they’re good people and they’ve been good to the people of this town. We need a town planner, enough said.

The street we live on has a very odd name, and it comes from a very odd circumstance that occured just behind our house on the hill you see frequently in pictures here. I have to repeat the name frequently when I’m asked for my street address because folks can’t believe someone would name our road what it is named. Despite the hideous name and it’s origin, it’s location and scenery are worth the weirdness . This Old House is one of quite a few old homesteads and our neighbors have settled along this road for much of the same reasons we have….the rural character and the old world charm from the turn of the last century. While none are fancy, the homes reflect their owners pride and appreciation for their history.

This morning our neighbors across the street brought us a beautiful wire basket full of treasures from their garden. The pickles and ratatoille are delicious and just look at those dried mushrooms and cukes.