Going, Going...GONE!

It's gone. I'm heartbroken!

I was first introduced to this country auction in Fleischmanns, NY by my daughter, Sarah, about 2 years ago. I became an auction addict and though it was a 2 hour drive my friend Judy and I often traveled up and back on a Saturday to sit for 4-5 hours and see if anything caught our fancy.

Sometimes a trinket for a mere 'dollar bill' was more than we could withstand and we'd pack up my Prius with a carload of stuff to bring home.

We hadn't been for awhile, we were busy, the weather didn't cooperate, but tonight we had a plan. It had been on my calendar for a month....we were going to the auction!

We always leave at 4 PM. Drive two hours to get there by 6 so we can preview the goodies and have a bite to eat before the auction starts at 7.

But as we arrived at the auction house, we found a For Sale sign with a large SOLD on top.

I knew that it was up for sale. It had been for more than a year....but gone! Just like that??

What ever will we do to for a good auction? And more importantly, what are the folks in Fleischmanns doing for Saturday night entertainment, now!!??
For a more descriptive analysis of what I'm mourning see this NYTimes article from 1993. It really captures the spirit of the Saturday night auctions.....

Magic Trick

Is that a magic trick you're doing, Jessica??

Daughter Jessica is here from Atlanta
for a few days. It's always fun to have her here.
We don't get to see here very often...and probably
even less now with escalating air fares!

She'll help wrap soap while she's here and
tonight we're going to the movies to see
Baby Mama with Amy Poehler and Tina Fey two
very funny comedians!

Yikes.....Frost in the Valley

At eleven PM news reported that some areas west and north of the city might get FROST!
I worried about my newly planted tomato babies.....so at midnight, flashlight in one hand and newspapers in the other, I protected them. OK, so I missed ONE. That's how I know we didn't get the frost. He was NOT frosty this morning.

Before 7 this morning...papers off...and we're ready for sunshine to make those puppies grow!

Blank Slate or how I learned to plant a garden

I love the look of a garden all ready to plant.

My father was a great gardener. He could grow just about anything. My brother is the same.

I, on the other hand, often get a pretty good start and then it all gets away from me.


We'll see how this goes. I'm going to work really hard to stay on top of these. I planted these heirloom tomato seedlings that Sarah started months ago. 16 little babies all ready to bear lovely fruit. I posted close ups of the varieties on Flickr. You can see I made use of plastic knives and a permanent sharpie to make little garden tags.

Memorial Day and Reminiscing

Reminiscing on a holiday makes me think of my mom's cooking. She was a good, old fashioned cook. Nothing fancy, but good hearty food. When she couldn't cook any longer my dad learned to make many of the recipes that she used to make....even pie crust - from scratch - so he could make a red raspberry pie, one of his favorites.

So, to hail the beginning of summer, and because daughter Jessica called from the grocery store in Atlanta, (as she often does) to find out how to make potato salad....I tell her, then head up to the kitchen to make macaroni salad. I'm out of potatoes. I make them both almost the same way and still make it the way Mom did.

You must start with Hellman's of course. It's REAL. I cook macaroni, usually elbows, but today I just had a half box of small shells. They're OK too. While they cook, I mix mayo, a small bit of mustard, chopped onion ( I used red today) and celery in a large bowl. Oh, I also cook some eggs to add. When the macaroni is done, I drain it, rinse it with cool water and set aside for a few minutes, while I cool then peel the hard cooked eggs.
While the pasta is still warm , I add it to the mayo mix and then add the chopped hard cooked eggs. Stir it up..season with salt and pepper and serve with White Hots from Zweigles....the kind that you can only get near Rochester, NY. We import these from upstate when we travel to Canada and keep a supply in the freezer. They also make a RED HOT (natural casing a must) that pretty darn good!

These MUST be cooked on the grill and then until the natural casings split open, hence the POPOPEN name on the package. I like them pretty blackened, too.

Also, must serve them with mustard and sweet pickle relish.

Now I know it's summer!

Wrapping it up

I spent Sunday at Saipua, while Sarah and Eric were at the Brooklyn Flea. I like being the shopkeeper once in a while and talking to folks that come by.


Yesterday was pretty quite in the neighborhood, it being a holiday weekend and all....so I wrapped soap.



When they came back from the market, the three of us headed over to The Farm for dinner. Great ambiance, delicious food....but no strawberry rhubarb crisp. The only item on the dessert menu that could have convinced me to go for dessert.

I did score some lovely anemones from the shop
before I left....one of my favorite flowers.



Sarah and Eric are in the midst of a very busy
wedding season. For photos of the wedding they did at Wave Hill last weekend, check out this blog at Little Winter Bride.

Thinking Big : Part 2

We christened that big pot this morning and made 120 lbs. of soap. Here I am pouring it into the last of the 4 molds. You can see the whole process on flickr.

My large mold that will hold the whole batch isn't ready yet, so we had to pour into 4 separate molds. But that was easy.
New mold should be ready to use by Tuesday.

It just doesn't get better than this!




We then succumbed to fresh coffee and sinful donuts.
Not the kind that are often described on the blognut....just the old Dunkin' kind.