a tale of two women, 5 brautwursts and a jar of sauerkraut!

we made a fast road trip to connecticut this past weekend, so missed our sunday shopping. no trader joes, no farmers market, no food. i scored a jar of bavarian sauerkraut at world market on monday, and some delicious brauts at harris teeters. i had everything else at home to make braised sauerkraut a la julia childs. well, i didn't braise it 4 to 5 hours, maybe 2, and i might have thrown in a little garlic, but close enough. with the brauts it was a delicious meal.we each had one sausage. next day we took, to school and the flower shop respectively, sausage and sauerkraut sandwiches on crispy rolls with mustard. yum. tuesday night i made a german minestrone, adding cabbage instead of greens ,because my local safeway didn't have any greens (how could this be), and the 1 remaining brautwurst. yum, again. but there was the matter of the leftover sauerkraut. german girl told me of a casserole her mother made with kraut, ground beef seasoned with salt,pepper, nutmeg and paprika, then covered with mashed potatoes and baked. so, off to whole foods to get ground beef, sauteed it as directed,maybe added a chopped onion and more garlic,cooked half a bag of bow tie pasta, mixed all together with remaining kraut mixture. didn't have any potatoes left after monday night choucroute and tuesday soup so i dragged julia back out again and made a bechamel sauce, flavored it with nutmeg and paprika to complement meat. spread bechamel on top baked in 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes. oh, my god. i may never have a reason to make this again, but it was delish. and will be even yummier tomorrow for lunch.

Unique wall shelving system for your house plans

I ran into this interesting new wall shelving system the other day and thought I would let you in on it. The product is called Vita and it is produced by an Italian company name MDF Italia. It is a modular system made from medium density fiberboard (mdf). The system includes wall panels, shelving units and cabinet boxes. You can seemingly produce endless configurations based on how you put the modular components together. I think it is very cool and would be a great way of dressing up one of those blank walls in your house.

For more information on this see MDFITALIA VITA. Go to "products" and then find to "Vita".

The wall system is obviously quite contemporary but I think it would look great in a number of the Simply Elegant Home Designs house plans including the "scandia modern cottage" and the "marine farmhouse".

Temple of Love

Another folly built on the grounds of the Petit Trianon for Marie Antoinette by Richard Mique & Hubert Robert is the Temple of Love. This temple sits on the opposite side of the house as the older French Pavilion and houses a statue of cupid.

It overlooks a small stream that runs up to the Petit Trianon.

Inspired by antiquity, the columns sport Corinthian caps.....

and a coffered dome.It sits out in the English landscape. Here it is viewed from the side of the house.

The temple rests on a small island reached by a small bridge. I loved that the side of the bridge acted as a planter for wildflowers.The Petit Trianon, finally making its' debut as seen from the Temple of Love.

Marie Antoinette had the Temple of Love built within view of her bed in her bedroom - can it be any more poetic than that? Do we think she had Count Fersen in mind or her husband, Louis XVI?

how does my garden grow? part 1

with gifts from friends and birds and the wind.with lots of sweat and hand watering,and the occasional attack of poison ivy. oh, and this summer's curse: gardeners elbow, tendonitis. i'm a bit of a fevered weeder. i'm looking at pictures of the back of the house. here's the fig tree, planted with much trepidation in may, 2,005. it's now about 15 feet and shades the back bedroom. here are the leyland cypress, 8ft. in 2002 ,now forming a living wall between us and the back alley. here's the maple,in it's younger days, grown by our friend, chuck, that came with a ruff of white perennial geraniums at it's base. it's grown and grown and now shades a grateful group of peonies, baptisia, monkshood and berginia. garden tour to be continued.

how does my our garden grow? part I

as i look through garden pictures taken from 2002 to 2009, i am amazed and grateful at how the garden has grown. i'm also mourning a few plants that disappeared for no good reason. but,oh those exciting garden moments when plants spring up in unexpected places, brought by birds, the winds or as tagalongs on gift plants from other's gardens. the fig tree, planted with great hope and a prayer in may, 2005 has grown to shade the back bedroom. the 8 ft. leyland cypress planted on the back berm in 2002, have, indeed, grown to form a living fence. a gift of a maple tree, from our garden mentors, geoff and chuck, came with a ruff of white perennial geraniums at it's base. it has grown into a beautiful shade tree, sheltering peonies, monkshood, bergenia, and a host of other perennials that want out( of the shade). me, i wish it was always sunny and september.

Discoveries in a Small Kitchen in NYC

Chris Welsh, the designer, had to deal with this alcove kitchen. he used light colors and maximized the light he had with that one window.

That title kinda sounds like a romance novel possibly involving an interior designer. Oh well, I'm keeping it. As you all know, I have a mini kitchen. Seriously, everything is lined up on one wall and the tiles stretch literally less than a foot until it hits the parkay flooring which indicates the transition to the living room. I thought I'd share a few tips for maximizing your space here.

1: Efficiency. Everything must have a place. I have very little counter space so every little inch is precious. To maximize your cabinets, don't feel bad about stacking things more than you normally would. Get cute canisters, too, for silverware or large spoons and spatulas.

In this kitchen by Chad Eisner featured in House Beautiful, he used seeded glass in many of the cabinets which makes them feel lighter. I love the look of open rack shelves in kitchens but in a practical sense, I don't think it works so this is a great alternative.

This is one of my fave kitchens on the planet. It's small but look how well each space is used. Canisters for utensils, little cook book nooks, and custom cabinets. By Stephanie Stokes

2: Wall space. A good place to store things is on the wall. Use this space for a potrack, a magnetic knife strip, or a bulletin board.

These sleek racks are from Pottery Barn. I have my own little rattan spice rack but these are nice and don't take up a lot of space. HERE.

Living Etc. Vintage canisters and a handy wall mounted pot rack.

3: Junk Drawer=NO. I had to forget about having the all purpose junk drawer (the thought scares me anyway) for anything that didn't have a space. Everything MUST have a home so make a bulletin board like I mentioned above. You can tack up invitations, reminders, lists (yay, lists!) or just notes you like that make your day a little brighter.



Here is a cool DIY bulletin board you can make with old corks and a vintage frame. Plus, it has a kitchen vibe. From Apartment Therapy HERE.



4: Color. I think you have two options here based on your space. If you have a narrow galley style kitchen you can paint it but make sure everything is the same color. If you have a monochromatic room, it makes it look bigger no matter what color you paint it (almost). I have a one walled kitchen so I painted everything a very pale yellow to bring light into the room.

Living etc. Sunny yellow kitchen. Make sure you don't use the wrong yellow though. Results could be shaky.

5: Mirrors. I don't LOVE mirrors as paneling but I've noticed a few designers using mirrors in kitchens to give the illusion of a bigger room. Here you can see it in the inset on the cabinets or the backsplash as in the one above by Stephanie Stokes


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By Jonathan Berger.

You and I can have great kitchens and be gourmet cooks too even if we have small kitchens! If you have a large one, make sure it works and it isn't just a massive waste of space. Thoughts? Do you have any tips from your kitchen you'd like to share?

Alicia B.

Three ways to wrap a chord instructional video

Fine Homebuilding has a series of instruction videos that I find interesting. Many of the videos are intended for professional carpenters. They illustrate tasks that the average layperson is not likely to run into. But they also have some videos that are good for the weekend carpenter or the handi-man. I'll post a few of these as I run into them.

The first one I will post a link to is "Three ways to wrap a chord". I like this one because it is one of the most frustrating things for a man in his garage. Check it out below.

Three ways to wrap a chord

The Belvedere

On the grounds of the Petit Trianon was another charming little pavilion. The Belvedere was built for Marie Antoinette by her architect Richard Mique and the painter Hubert Robert as a highlight in her English style garden.Built on a hill on an artificial island, the Belvedere is circled by a terrace with charming sphinx standing guard. It has a commanding view of the English gardens with the Petit Trianon resting nearby, hidden by trees.The interior is painted with murals and flooded with light all day long.What a charming room to have lunch in!The decoration continues up to the ceiling.As you can see the Belevedere is a private place as its' small size demands. Set as a folly in a 'natural' landscape, the building acts as a human foil.

The grotto is the entrance to the Belvedere and you must pass over the faux bois bridge to gain entrance: Probably the most real faux bois i've ever seen!We admittedly spent a good 30 minutes here just relaxing in the sun before continuing our tour of the estate. Hope you enjoyed this folly as much as we did!

Vintage O'Brien

While at the bookthing this past weekend, I picked up a copy of House & Garden magazine from March of 1993. Hard to believe this was 16 years ago now and a lot of the magazine, especially the ads, are incredibly dated. However, one article that withstood the test of time is about William Sofield and Thomas O'Brien.The article features examples of their work from both of their own homes, office and gallery. The gallery wall (seen at the top of the post) could easily be in a magazine today.I loved this image from the Aero gallery.This is the living room of Sofield. Interesting side note -he's quite handy and restored the plaster ceiling himself!A tablescape by Sofield. The cheval glass was designed by Ogden Codman for the Breakers mansion in Newport, RI.The spare and symmetrical treatment of the fireplace will never go out of style.The only space which is a bit dated but none the less cozy is the guest bedroom of O'Brien.

I want

YUP. I want. I rarely go shopping (as much as I used to) in this economy so when I want something, I feel like I really have to want it. I've saved up (kinda) for these adorable and super chic pants from jcrew and I'm going to get them today after work! Thoughts?

Minnie Pants from JCrew. These are so perfect for Fall!

Alicia B.