Darling-est: August 2009

You know how much I love Eddie Ross and all of his projects. I was particulary inspired by this post, about his makeover of a dowdy secretary desk.

Here is Eddie's result:

It reminded me so much of this gorgeous cabinent in the dining room (one of my favorite rooms ever) of Windor Smith:

Back in the Spring, Larry and I bought an old secretary desk from this place called Wacker's Trading Post in Pitman, NJ (the next town over from us) with the intention to spruce it up a la Eddie.

I must tell you, it took a little more time than expected! The oil based paint took forever to try between coats and there were many weekends too rainy to paint.

But it is finally finished and I'm very happy with the result!

So, here is the before. We had started stripping it at this point:

And after:

I have the top of it stocked with all of our vintage and special glassware: our Eddie Ross champagne coupes, my favorite Anthropologie polka dot tumblers, Morroccan tea glasses that Larry's daughter brought us from her trip there last year, sweet little two-handled teacups and saucers and other special little things.

In the desk portion are other special entertaining objects: a pair of antique salt cellars, my great grandmothers silver plates, taper candles, a set of vintage butter pats and a pair of mother of pearl salt spoons. The three drawers hold all our cloth napkins and other special linen.

As a finishing touch, I lined the drawers and the backsides of the mirrors with some pretty scented drawer liner that was a shower gift.

We spent last weekend in Ohio and Kentucky visiting Larry's family. His grandmother, brother and uncles live in Cincinnati, and his step-father, Ted, who raised Larry, lives in Mayslick, Kentucky, with his wife, Lori.

I love spending time with Ted and Lori, and I love their home. They live on a farm, with a stocked pond and a horse, and Lori maintains an amazing garden. When we arrived on Saturday, Lori fixed us a plate of smoked Gouda cheese, country ham, saltine crackers, green olives and pickled watermelon rind. We snacked while we sat with them in the kitchen, looking out a big bay window to their fields below.

While Larry and Ted went downstairs to watch the Reds game, Lori took me on a drive, pointing out all the Amish farms (there is a big Amish community in their area), and the homes of her uncle and aunt and father who live nearby.

We stopped at Nancy's grocery. Nancy is in her 70s, though her voice is young and strong and you wouldn't know it. Her store is a little place, minimally stocked, to keep her overhead low. Three cans of pringles potato chips, two canisters of dry Quaker oats, a few toiletry items: toothbrush, razors. She has a little deli counter where she serves "Methodist Portions" (apparently meaning large) of chicken salad or egg salad to her customers. There is one long, wooden table in the center of the store where people come by to take lunch.

Nancy is a born caretaker. She lives in the back of the grocery with her brother, who has cerebral palsy. Every day she calls on the little old ladies who can't leave their houses. And she opens her shop so early to make sure anyone who needs breakfast is able to get it.

On the way back home, we stopped at an Amish roadside stand to buy tomatoes (Lori's aren't really ripe yet). The family had planted pumpkins early, and there were two big ones there for sale. The little girl who lives there used one as a stepping stool to get on top of the table.

When we got home, Lori took me on a tour of her garden, pointing out tomatoes, okra, green beans, lettuce, potatoes. She has everything growing! We picked what was ripe: cucumbers, peppers, wild blackberries, a few green beans and the little yellow pear tomatoes. I ate a few right from the vine.

I arranged our salads and they were gorgeous, full of color. Lori knows how much I love real blue cheese dressing, and she had made me some- so creamy and decadent. She served dill butter (fresh dill from her garden, naturally!) with our bread. Then she brought out angel hair pasta with these amazing spicy shrimp (the recipe is from A Summer Book by Susan Branch). She served it in an old ceramic tureen, something she's had for years and with the best patina that only well-loved and well-used objects posses. Stamped Palo Alto on the bottom. For dessert we had a creamy vanilla cake with brandied cherries and vanilla ice cream on top. The little cherries- so full of flavor. Lori canned them last summer after she picked them all from a friend's tree. I love knowing right where my food came from. Last time we were there she served us Apricots soaked in brandy. The apricots were from a tree her mother planted.

Larry and I take the downstairs bedroom, that is a dark and wonderful cave! We sleep so well on a king size bed. It is heaven. Especially when you get to wake up to fresh coffee, a bowl of sliced peaches and as many slices of sweet cantaloupe as you can eat. I was already full when Lori started making pancakes and bacon, served with her homemade blackberry syrup. We ate and drank from Staffordshire blue and white dishes, Ted's favorite.

I never want to leave Back Home Farm, which is what Ted and Lori call their homestead. Our visit was so quick- a mere 24 hours. But the visit carries me for weeks since I always feel so refreshed and pampered when we leave.