Interior Decoration What a great, bright color in a bedroom that is so serene and gray. Love it!(I'm getting back into the swing of blogging. It isn't always easy after a long break)source: Peace-that was the other name for homeremodeling
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Building the perfect soup stock
This Week's Soups from the Cheryl & The Cowbell Kitchen:
tomato beef barley
mushroom bisque
On today's post, Cheryl is sharing the secret to her wonderful homemade soups....her stock recipe!
Oh how I love to make soup. Everyone asks how I get my soups to taste so fresh and pure? Well... it all stems from the most important combination of ingredients, the stock which is the foundation and body of your soup.
For the Cowbell Kitchen I make a simple veg stock and use it for both the meat & veg soups just because of my limited refrigeration space. Of course I always try my best to source local ingredients but this time of the year it can be challenging so I use as much organic produce possible.
School trained only in pastry my cooking skills come from my intense love of food, working along side some great chefs, traveling, eating out, and constantly reading & researching food till my brain explodes. Alice Waters and Julia Child are my constant "go to" for inspiration and guidance.
Some Stock Making Tips:
- add salt in the beginning to develop the flavor as it cooks rather than the end
bring stock to a rolling boil then turn it down to a simmer immediately- stock can frozen
- when making chicken stock, I use whole chickens which, after one hour lift the chicken out and remove the breast then return the rest to stock, the poached chicken breasts make an incredible meal especially with a little salsa verde
- meatless bones yield a thin broth
- roasted chicken carcass adds depth in a stock but grilled produce acrid smoky tasting broth
- broth should cook long enough to extract flavor but not so long that it loses its delicacy and freshness, taste as you go
- you can roast all your vegetables tossed with oil and salt first instead of sauteeing, then just add to water and follow recipe
Ingredients
3 tablespoons oil (grapeseed, olive oil or canola)
3 large white or yellow onions, coarsely chopped
6 stalks celery, coarsely chopped
6 medium carrots, coarsely chopped
3 small parsnips, coarsely chopped
3 small turnips, coarsely chopped
3 medium leeks (pale green and white parts only), coarsely chopped
2 cups quartered white mushrooms (optional)
salt, to taste
1 gallon plus 1 quart cold water
1 bouquet garni, as follows:
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme
- 10 whole black peppercorns, cracked
- 10 parsley stems, twisted to release flavor
- 2 cloves garlic, lightly crushed
- Place all ingredients into a doubled cheesecloth or unused coffee filter. Draw up all 4 corners and tie with kitchen twine.
Preparation
- Wash all vegetables well.
- Pour oil into a large (at least 12-quart) heated stockpot, then stir in onion, celery, carrots, parsnips, turnips and salt to taste. Continue to cook over medium-high heat until vegetables are starting to brown, about 20-30 minutes.
- Add leeks and mushrooms.
- Cook over high heat for 2-3 minutes, then add all the water and the bouquet garni. Bring to a boil, then immediately reduce heat. Simmer uncovered for 1 hour.
- Strain the finished stock through a fine mesh strainer or colander covered in cheesecloth. Place in a non-reactive container, and chill quickly in an ice water bath, stirring often.
- When the stock has cooled completely, place in the refrigerator or freezer, tightly covered.
Happy Soup Making!
Please stop by and say hey. Share with me your kitchen adventures, I love to talk food.
Cher
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Paint-spiration for the March Design House
This month felt a little like the latter.
We're getting ready for our March 1,2 & 3 Design House event which is our first Design House in a couple of months. Not that the February event didn't count, but that was Groundhog Sale, and the house is allowed to look....sale-ish.....still beautiful, but with a little bit of everything here and there.
In March, we're back to pulling together an entirely new show house with new furniture, new accessories, and new PAINT! Only a funny thing happened this month...
In true Lucketts-style, Suzanne went to get the paint, had a successful trip but left the paint chips at the store and they were thrown away. After a few days of trying to mentally recreate the colors (was it Summer Field, or Wheat Field?), we had to give the color formulas to the store to figure out the correct names....so here we are with our paint post!
The next step is the new furniture we're waiting on. It's supposed to arrive later this week, and then it's on to the heavy lifting and fluffing the rooms. We'll be adding tons more color through art and accessories to help get you jazzed up for spring.
Here are a few pages from our Design Notebook, sharing some of the colors Amy & Suzanne picked this month.
Leave us a comment and let us know what spring paint colors are your favorites!
Monday, February 18, 2013
DIY Chalk Paint Jelly Cabinet
Today, we're taking you on an adventure with Chalk Paint, which is known for its adhesion properties and requires little prep work for most surfaces.
Heather found a dated jelly cabinet at auction, and this is how she transformed it in to a beachy beauty!
The Before
Our jelly cabinet had charm, but the original finish and hardware dated it. The only major issue was the uneven wood tones on the doors. Yes, it was nice before, but would only fit in with certain decor styles; we wanted it to look fresh and beachy.
Supplies List
Supplies list: Windex (optional), primer (optional; we used Kilz), candle wax (optional), Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (ASCP) in Pure White, Annie Sloan clear wax, make-up remover cloth (optional), 220 grit sandpaper, and one dated jelly cabinet that needs a makeover!
The Process
These first four steps are completely optional and specific to the finish achieved here - we want to mention that these are a personal process, and Annie Sloan Chalk Paint products may not mention them or require them. Heather has been painting for over 17 years and this is part of the process she personally used for this painting project.
1. Do a light sand all over
2. Lightly spray with Windex (Why you ask? Windex has ammonia in it, so it opens the pores of the wood & allows the products to stick better)
2. Lightly spray with Windex (Why you ask? Windex has ammonia in it, so it opens the pores of the wood & allows the products to stick better)3. Apply candle wax lightly on the surface of the piece if you would like larger areas of the original wood finish to peek through. {Sanding after the piece has been painted accomplishes this too, but we like the look of the candle wax method for larger surface areas.}
4. Put on one light coat of primer (Heather used Kilz)
This should take you 10 minutes, tops. Again the first four steps are optional, but Heather recommends steps 1, 2 & 4 to help with adhesion and more is more, especially if you're going to heavily use the piece of furniture!
5. After the primer is dry, apply one coat of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Pure White.
6. Let the piece dry fully (about an hour) and give it a light sanding with 220 grit sandpaper all over to bring out the woodwork and to achieve a worn, lived-in look.
7. Apply Annie Sloan clear wax all over with a rag. Affix the new hardware.
You're done! Thanks for following along with this tutorial, and thanks to Heather for sharing her process with us!
Bonus Lucketts Painting Tip: Heather used a make-up remover cloth to take any extra paint off the mirror. This tip was shared by a visitor to her Facebook page who swears by it to take paint off painted mirrors instead of the traditional technique of scraping the paint off with a razor blade.
And here she is, ready for a new home! (just noticing I forgot to turn on the other light! ahhhh! You get the idea, anyway right?) Heather chose a crisp white on white look for this piece's accessories, which included an ironstone bowl and vintage linens. UPDATE: This piece sold over the weekend!You're done! Thanks for following along with this tutorial, and thanks to Heather for sharing her process with us!
Bonus Lucketts Painting Tip: Heather used a make-up remover cloth to take any extra paint off the mirror. This tip was shared by a visitor to her Facebook page who swears by it to take paint off painted mirrors instead of the traditional technique of scraping the paint off with a razor blade.
Here are some beachy accents created from vintage bottles, twine, burlap ribbon, and sea shells. The shells are glued to the stoppers using E6000. Burlap and twine further accessorize the stoppers and bottles. Sweet!
Be sure to pin this project and share with your friends!
You can follow Heather and all of her antics on her Boots & Burlap Facebook page.
**************
This post is linked up to:
http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/
Giveaway Monday...Winner!
Our winner, chosen at random by Random.org is...
...Kathleen who loves our new bird tray. Kathleen is a jewelry designer and she'll be using the bird tray at craft festivals to display her work, how cool!
Here is a picture of some of her work I found through a link in her comment. Beautiful!
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Photo fails...and some creative fixes
I took a trip to the Design House this week to photograph some new items for the Lucketts online store, Shop Lucketts. The products Suzanne & Amy ordered from the January design shows arrived {finally!}, it was a little overcast {not a huge deal}, and I had a limited amount of time to stage and photograph a bunch of new products {uh-oh}.
Here's what happened when I got home and looked through everything and why I created a photo fails folder on my laptop...
Staging isn't my favorite thing, but I thought I had this cloche lookin' pretty good. Then I got home & noticed the un-hung beaded chandelier in the shot....ugh.
Solution: some creative cropping and no one has to know there was a chandelier less than a foot away on the table.
I call this the Henry photo bomb. All he wanted to know was if I liked where he hung the gold port hole mirrored cabinet....and then he just stood there....and kept talking....never realizing he was smack in the middle of the mirror I was trying to photograph.
Solution: Open the cabinet and make Henry go away {temporarily}...{just kidding Henry, you know we love you}
The earthquake shot. Angles are fun, but these new vases and moss balls look like they're ready to slide right off the mantle.
Solution: change the angle of the photo for a more straight-on photo.
The extra reflections on this clock face made it a little too unreadable.
Solution: close the curtains reflected in the clock face. Sometimes you can angle your camera or slightly reposition where you're standing and eliminate the glare on clocks and artwork. If you're showing up in a head on shot, sometimes you can slightly reposition your body or hold your arms up {or use a tripod} and take the photo. I'm actually hiding behind the urn in this photo and you can see the edges of my jacket, but I thought that was better than the glare.
Here are a few other oops moments and things to watch out for...
This one isn't too bad, but the angle of the mirror in the background is creating some odd reflections that are distracting.
Oops, the flash was on by mistake. Using the flash when there is good natural light creates weird shadows. {I'm also not really sure what this photo is supposed to show. I think I was going for scale of the clock, but a clock on a chair by a faux fireplace is a little strange.}
When you're not sure how to stage the new pad of cheese paper and you don't have cheese, just throw it in the middle of the table and hope for the best!
A photo of part of a tray.....on the floor.....lying next to a dresser. Trying to be artsy? Hmmmm.
Take a pic of the Torani syrup, two glasses and a cheese board lazy Susan....
...if it's not working, switch it up and move the syrup ON to the lazy Susan to fix everything.....ummmm, nope.
All of these items are part of our new spring collection online. We are adding new items every few days this month, as they come in so be sure to check out our online store, Shop Lucketts.
Okay, so those are my silly product photos for this week. What's the weirdest or funniest interior photo you've taken, that you thought looked good at the time?
Friday, February 15, 2013
New in the shop and online this week...
We also had ourselves a little photo shoot this week for new items for the online store. We're now featuring several items Suzanne and Amy found at the Interior Design Shows this past January.
New items in the shop this week, include this really cute antique bed converted to a twin bed frame. Lisa brought this bed in this week and it's such a cute cottage look for $298!
This pretty jelly cabinet with mirror was repainted with Chalk Paint. We'll have a tutorial for this cabinet later this week. You can see it in person on the first floor of the store.
Military collectibles are very popular. These military trunks are $149 each. The finish and coloring is absolutely gorgeous on these! You can find these trunks on the third floor of the shop.
This grey Hepple display cabinet is on the second floor of the shop. The wood inlays in the doors are really gorgeous.
These 19th century cubbies would make a lovely display in a kitchen. You can view the cubbies on the third floor, along with this vintage genealogical society sign.
**************NEW ITEMS AVAILABLE ONLINE**************
This week, we received in several new items for the online store. Some will also be featured in the March Design House!
New Spring Collection Online (left to right):
2. 8" Arctic Glass Votive $19
3. Wood Beaded Chandelier $198
4. Cow Cheese Label Tray $45
5. 31" Vera Vase $135
6. 8" Moss Spheres (set of 2) $19
7. 18" Glass Cloche $79
8. 26" Round Port Hole Mirror $198
9. Rustic Wall Hook Rack $89
10. Regal Destiny Urn $29
