Picnic Macaroni Salad With Dill

today at Farmhouse Kitchen we are feeling fresh and Spring-ey... i made a macaroni salad to go with our bbq tonight and as i was making it i thought this is really a Springtime macaroni salad...i used fresh dill from my garden, red radishes, sweet pickle, and homemade green brined olives ....a gift from a friend...but the fresh dill is what made it...

The Auberge of the Flowering Hearth

One of my favorite cookbooks is "The Auberge of the Flowering Hearth" by Roy Andries de Groot. I heard it was one of Alice Waters favorites...so I had to check it out. On the front cover it reads " This cookbook is a whole way of life. What care, love and work have gone into it. I find it fascinating. I think people would just love it, as it is not like anything else around." - Julia Child

Inside in Chapter 3 it reads" On the floor of the valley,in the ring of the arena, rich green pastures surrounded the now-quiet river, with miniature herds of cattle and sheep. And, in the very center of the ring, with wisps of bluish wood smoke rising from its cottage chimneys, was the tiny village of Saint-Pierre-de-Chartreuse.From the wooden gate, the flagstone path led through the roadside front garden, with lilac and rose bushes, geraniuims and hydrangea. We were met at the front door by two ladies who own and run the auberge. There was a small hand lettered sign above the door: Auberge De L'Atre Fleuri."

In the book there is a chapter called "The Glory of the Potato."

Tonight for supper I am going to cook a piece of ham and I am serving these potatoes.

Casserole Of Potatoes In Cream
(Gratin Dauphinois)

New potatoes, boiled with the skins left on and sliced about 1/2 inch thick
Sweet Butter
Cream
Sea Salt
Black cracked pepper
Gruyere Cheese

Layer the potatoes in a buttered casserole dish
Add a splash of cream, a dollop of butter,some salt and pepper and the Gruyere cheese
Make one more layer and top it off with grated Gruyere
Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 to 35 minutes or till hot and bubbly

I am serving these with the sauteed ham, pocketbook rolls and mandarin oranges

Good Bye February...Hello March

Good Bye February.....Hello March.... hey everybody..February is almost gone...and you know what that means.....SPRING ! I have a little daffodil update for you today. Remember those daffodils I got the other day..well, look what greeted me this morning as I walked downstairs to make tea. THESE beauties. They opened overnight in my kitchen window. While we were all asleep under a full moon...the daffodils opened.The white ones are from my garden. We had a pretty good thunderstorm yesterday morning and it knocked the life out of these outside, so I clipped them and brought them in to add to my daffodils. The little cardboard easter chickie is old, i have a collection of them across my piano, but i put this one up in the window...she just looks so Springy... the little spun wool rabbit is old too..i also collect those.Can you see the row of clay pots through the screen? I just hung that windowsill container on the fence the other day. It is very shady there but I am going to plant some impatiens in the pots. I saw some in the Burpee catalog called Candy Box. I have ordered them before and the colors really do like they are out of a candy box.The vine is a morning glory..I can't wait till is starts to bloom.... how many days till Spring?

Farmers Market Saturday

our farmers market was this morning and i really didn't need produce, but it was such a beautiful morning i just felt like getting out and smelling the air. and look what i found. pink tulips and white hydrangeas. the little bare branches are apricot branches leftover from when john pruned our bleinheim apricot trees last saturday. the room is where i blog.if you look closely on the left hand side, on the stack of books...you'll see a black and yellow book...it's a copy of blogger for dummies. i need all the help i can get.

I'm Barefoot Today!

This is not a joke. That is really me about 10 minutes ago. You see, today I am gardening...barefoot! I know..I said I wasn't gonna mention it anymore. But today I am planting my forget-me-not and baby blue eye seeds.And it is about 75 degrees in my garden this Saturday morning. Some of my columbine flowers are starting to bloom and my nasturtiums are sprouting back up.The leaves on little cherry are starting to open up too. I am gonna say it. It is downright warm out today. For supper tonight we are pretending it's summer. Making BLT sandwhiches, corn on the cob and I am making a macaroni salad later this afternoon. If you are coming to the Valentines Party you are welcome to come early and stay for Supper on the Porch tonight. We'd love to have you.

Double Jackpot

So I am pushing the cart along at the grocery store...fighting the Super Bowl shopping crowds..and I am thinking.....pork chops....with I don't know....broccoli ?...That doesn't sound too good....and I am over in the meat section...have the pork chops in my cart...and then I see it. Lurking in the meat section. A beautiful rib eye steak. One and a half pounds..perfect for 2.Jackpot. So I dump the pork chops, plop the beef in the cart ,head to the produce and what do I see there? Fresh asparagus. Double jackpot.

Came home and got out the cast iron skillet. That's what I am cooking the roast in.

After the roast comes out of the oven I will let it rest while I whirl up some yorkshire pudding batter...I'll heat the cooking fat (sorry, my new diet) and add the batter. Let it bake till it puffs way up and turns golden brown and serve it with au jus. I also got fresh horseradish and sour cream to go along side. Hello Mr. Toast...I think I am in your territory with this meal...being english and all..am I right , my friend?

As far as the asparagus goes I am just roasting it in the oven with olive oil and some of my precious pink sea salt.

I have been making yorkshire pudding and roast beef since I was in high school and still living at home. And I ALWAYS used the recipe from my FAVORITE cookbook. "The Treasury Of Great Recipes" by Mary and Vincent Price. You can see how soiled the pages are...well worn and well loved....indeed.


The drawing for the sprig tea cup is Monday and your response has overwhelmed me.
I saw some cute Valentine cookies today and a tin of Spring Cherry tea so I'll sweeten the pot with those goodies too..A little bit of Spring Cheer. I think we could all use some of that right about now.

Thank you all for your kind comments. It makes me feel good knowing that there are so many wonderful people out in this world. I am so lucky to have met each and every one of you. You're THE BEST !

Is It Over Yet?

Only 2 more days to go till it's finally over. Why do i dislike January SO MUCH ! I try. Tell myself it's cozytime. Time to make hot chocolate and heart shaped cookies and get cozy by the fire. It doesn't work. I don't like it. So as I was hanging around the house ...John said ride with me to Cambria. So I did. And we took Buddy too. Cambria is about a half hour north of San Luis Obispo on the Senic Highway One. It runs along the Pacific ocean on one side and beautiful green pastures on the other. And with all the rain we have been having I thought we might see some wildflowers. And we did. The skies had cleared and all that was left were the big high puffy clouds. Somebody called them strawberry clouds.And when the sun hits them late in the afternoons..they sometimes do look the color of strawberries. We saw the yellow mustard coming up alongside the road. The story on that is when the priests were establishing the missions here in California, they would drop mustard seeds to form a path of yellow so that others following knew where to go...and now..in the spring it is all over...all over hillsides and vineyards....i just love it...i also saw a tree in bloom here in Cambria....and coming back down the coast we saw lovely views of Morro Rock sitting out in the sea....the ride was nice...actually it was a breath of spring air.....

Between Storms

It's hard to believe that we are in for a whole week of rain next week. But I guess we are. So I decided to head out to the nursery today and pick up some springtime flowers before the rains hit. It is in the 70's again here today, so planting outside in the garden seemed like a good way to spend the day.The sun was shining on my back as as I planted fragrant stock, sunny yellow violas and linaria.

I picked up this flat of stock at The Hide Tide Nursery in Shell Beach just cause the colors looked so spring like. To tell you the truth, it was all they had. It was pretty slim pickings there. I asked the guy where all the flowers were and he just looked at me and said, "It's January, lady".

And the sunny morning went over pretty well for Whiskey Sour and Dandelion too.