You are currently browsing the monthly archive for April 2010.
HAVE YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW how to prepare pâté for 75? How about pigeon pie? You will find out in the charmingly antiquated Specialites de la Maison (HarperCollins), a most unusual cookbook corralling recipes of the rich and famous on the eve of World War II.
Originally published as a fund-raiser by American Friends of France, it was re-discovered recently on a rare-book dealer’s shelves by Brooklyn-based writer Christine Schwartz Hartley, who shepherded it along into a new facsimile edition, complete with its original red-and-white checked covers, whimsical pen and ink illustrations, and dust jacket, left, by Clement Hurd of Goodnight Moon fame.
The appeals of this culinary curiosity are many. With recipes contributed by notables like Salvador Dali, Katherine Hepburn, Eleanor Roosevelt, Mrs. Cole Porter, Madame Igor Stravinsky, and scores of other celebs and aristocrats, it’s an intriguing glimpse into how the other half ate.
Which turns out to be, in most cases, surprisingly simply. With the exception of that pâté and a few others, the recipes look almost do-able. They’re written in a plain-spoken, second-person style; the tone reminds me of my grandmother’s recipe for borscht, which began, “Go to the greengrocer and pick out a nice bunch of beets…”
Here we have Herbert Bayard Swope’s hamburger: “Have your friend the butcher give you a cut of the best Top Round steak…” And Mrs. Douglas Ives’ Bananas Flambees Kirsch: “When you sit down to luncheon, have cook put bananas in copper saucepan…”
It’s altogether fun to read, this window into a past in which endives were creamed, lettuce broiled, and muffins made with tomato juice. You start reading the recipes, thinking how odd they are (Anita Loos’ Liverburger, Herman Oelrichs’ Bedspread for Two), and find yourself salivating. I am going to try Mrs. Louis Paget’s Eggs Madras, which involves fried hard-boiled eggs, rice, and cream sauce.
If you’re wondering who some of these people are (or were), there are biographical notes at the back, specially written for this new edition and as juicy as the recipes themselves.
THOU SHALT NOT COVET thy neighbor’s rocks. That’s what I keep reminding myself these days, as I look enviously at retaining walls, edging, even decorative tree surrounds, like the one above, on other people’s property. I’m trying to put together enough linear feet of local stone to edge my brand new planting beds – probably 100 feet in all.
I went to the stone yard a couple of weeks ago to price them, and found that an enormous wire bin of medium-sized rocks from the Delaware Water Gap would cost about $500 delivered, an expense I decided to work around.
That’s another of my mantras this spring: anything I can do, I will do. I may not be able to build a deck or renovate my own bathroom, but I can pick up rocks. The ones I need are not large or very heavy, although I would love a few boulders for key spots if I could manage it.
First, of course, I gathered all I could find here on my own property, which was surprisingly few. Did the glacier not deposit many, or have they been removed over the years? Then my neighbor across the road kindly came up with a few more. Lately I’ve been scanning the roadsides on my daily walks, setting suitable rocks aside, and driving back to pick them up later.
I know nothing about the geology of the local stone, except that the orange ones contain iron. Others are rounded and white; some are gray and sparkly (granite?) I like them all.
My fingers itch when I spy the perfect rock. Usually it’s already spoken for. But I keep walking and looking, and day by day my edging grows.
CITY PEOPLE, IT’S THAT TIME AGAIN. Want to sample the Hamptons for a month or so at its hectic, high-season best? If you’re thinking of a summer rental, here’s a taste of what’s available to old-house lovers on a budget (don’t get the wrong idea — bottom-fishing for an August rental in these parts can still set you back $6-10,000).
Above, an adorable 2BR cottage in Amagansett, typical of the area’s 1920s architecture, with cedar shingles and white trim. Pros: it’s a mile from the ocean, if that, and convenient to stores, restaurants, bars, and music venues in Amagansett and East Hampton. It’s got a deck with a circular outdoor shower, below, and a tidy lawn, below that.
The one con: it’s only three houses from Montauk Highway, with its constant hum of traffic. Some people are more bothered by that than others (I’ve learned from experience that you do get quickly used to it, and summer foliage on the trees has a muffling effect).
For pictures of the interior and the owner’s contact information, go here.
There’s something of the same ilk near Three Mile Harbor in Springs, for $10,000 from Aug 1-Sept 10, here.
Both houses are tastefully decorated — better, charmingly — in an unpretentious yet sophisticated Cottage Living kind of way. I don’t know about you, but to me, that’s critical. I don’t care how cute a place is, if it has plaid couches or otherwise ugly furnishings, I can’t abide there, even for a month (though white sheets, packing away clutter, and a quick trip to IKEA all help).
Recent Comments