Monthly Archives: September 2013

hello my little dumpling!

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dumpling2I hear people want me to get back to recipes.  It is not like I haven’t been cooking, just haven’t been sharing….ooops. (Sorry about that!)

So anyway, I am getting into fall food mood.  Been making peach crisps and cobblers and pies, apple next.  Last night I did a roasted chicken that was mostly Julia Child but a little bit me – plain roasted chicken loaded with herbs from the garden.

Also yesterday I started my first soup of the season:  chicken soup.  I had the neck and gizzards from the chicken I roasted plus a bag of necks and gizzards in the freezer, so why not soup?  In total it was like six necks, six sets of gizzards and stuff.

Making soup isn’t rocket science, it is basically a ginormous pot with meat or bones and water and seasoning and vegetables and herbs, and stir and cook away.

dumpling 3I prefer my own stock and when I am making soup it is a two-day process.  Day one is throw it all into the pot and cook for a few  hours on super low temperature after first bringing it to a boil.  When it cools, pick out the (in this case) chicken necks and gizzards and discard.  Then I put the whole thing in the refrigerator in the pot to chill down overnight. That was on the second day they said let their be soup I can take the fat which has risen to the surface and congealed OFF the top of my broth/stock and I am ready to proceed.

So I have done all that and tossed in some more vegetables and chopped up leftover chicken from last night’s roast and what I decided to do was MAKE DUMPLINGS!

Dumplings are EASY. And when added to my soup and accompanied by a nice green salad, voila! An easy mid week dinner that even the teenager appreciates!

Buttermilk-powderI make  herb dumplings.  I learned from my grandmother, mother, and via trial and error. And yes, every culture has a dumpling.  I use buttermilk powder in mine.  Buttermilk powder goes into a lot of my baked goods – even my pie crusts.  Fun little thing to keep in your kitchen but it MUST be refrigerated after you open the package. The photo I am showing you is actually my buttermilk powder. And I get it at the grocery store.

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Herb Dumplings:

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 1/2 to 2  tablespoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon of butter
  • 2 eggs (beaten in a cup first)
  • 3/4 to 1 cup milk
  • 3 tablespoons buttermilk powder
  • as much fresh herbs as you want to mince up – I use tarragon, basil, thyme, rosemary, oregano, flat leaf parsley – just grab a bunch and chop.
  • a dash of fresh cracked pepper
  • 1 tablespoon grated parmesan cheese (nothing fancy – Kraft or whatever)

Cut the butter into ALL dry ingredients with pastry cutter or dough blender.  You can also use two forks if you don’t have one of those handy tools.

Mix in the minced fresh herbs

In a measuring cup large enough to hold both, combine milk and eggs.  Start with 3/4 cup of milk, you can always add another 1/4 cup to dough if too dry.

Pour the liquids into the dry ingredients SLOWLY and mix until sticky soft dough comes together.  Do not overwork the dough.

I cover that with a linen towel until I am ready to cook and set aside.

Bring your soup to a boil.  Drop dumpling dough by rounded spoonfuls into soup.  Cover pot, reduce heat to simmer and cook 10 to 15 minutes. They will puff up and bob in the pot. They should be firm and puffy. Warning – be careful not to burn your fingers if you test the consistency of dumplings.

Ladle up and serve.

Could that be any more easy? And it is so old-fashioned and simply delicious.

spell check anyone?

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Now I know my friend Ann will have a giggle over this.  She and I have fun at places like Giant when display signs and posters printed by Giant’s marketing people are wrong.

This is in Malvern Patch today.  I am sorry to be picayune but ummm they are supposedly media and this is supposedly posted by an editor and the dude can’t spell check a headline?

Really?

Mind you I do not pretend to have perfect spelling but I am not passing myself off as hyper local media. Maybe AOL Patch with all their woes can no longer afford spellcheck? Or is it spell check?

This was done by the new (and invisible) editor of Malvern Patch.  Gone are the days when actual Malvern and Malvern-area news is reported.  It is pretty sad, actually.

This editor always has typos. But OMG in an obituary headline?

Can’t an editor get a dictionary?

 

what is with this boarded up place in phoenixville?

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phoenixvilleI have apparently channeled my inner bubble head and can’t remember WHERE exactly this is in Phoenixville, only it may NOT actually be the borough.  It is on Route 29.  The nice man at the Phoenixville Historical Society seems to think it is in neighboring Schuylkill Township.

Anyone know anything?  I have heard conflicting stories. Some people say it is historic, others say not historic, just abandoned but some family still owns the land.  I have heard it may have had a retail use at one time too.

Just one of those curiously abandoned structures that litter Chester County.  I figure all of them have a story.

I still do not get how people abandon their land and stuff just is allowed to rot. Sorry the photos are odd, every time I see this place I am a passenger in a car and I have to snap quickly with phone camera….

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if septa is considering cutting service past paoli, why does malvern need T.O.D.?

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malvern train stationI remember years ago as a college student without access to a car when I wanted to go visit friends at West Chester University, if I couldn’t get a ride I had to take a train to Paoli and then get one of those scuzzy cabs to West Chester. And Paoli train station on the side going towards Malvern felt just as creepy and isolated then as it does today.

I was happy when Malvern and beyond opened again on Septa.  And people ride the train.  When I was transitioning out to Chester County for a while I took the train out from the Main Line.  I was going through radiation treatment for breast cancer and a lot of the time towards the end of my treatment I was too tired to drive. This was when Malvern train station was under construction.  It was then I realized there was no handicap access at either Paoli or Malvern – quite frankly during that time I would have welcomed a ramp versus steep stairs – I was just that tired. At Malvern during the heat of that summer I was going through radiation was when you not only had to climb  steep stairs, the train station also had no place for you to sit to wait to be picked up and a car couldn’t get near enough to pick you up.  Instead you had to wind your way through a construction site and around through to the other side via the roads on a sidewalk that was not the best.

So now there is the tunnel and the station is rehabbed (but still isn’t truly handicap accessible) and during the summer Malvern Borough officials were putting on charettes or whatever for T.O.D.  Transit Oriented Development, otherwise known as borough officials see dollar signs and have no brain cells. I wrote about T.O.D. before.

I said then I used to say that TOD stood for Total Of Dumbasses. It is like Groundhog Day for me because I lived through a lot of these Emperor’s New Clothes scenarios when I lived on the Main Line.  It tore apart Lower Merion Township where I used to live and to this day divisiveness truly still exists. And Transit Oriented Development is still a myth of more fiction than fact.

To say that people in suburbs and exurbs and quasi rural areas will give up driving is just ludicrous.  These municipalities and developers should just be honest: they don’t have the ability to put sufficient parking in all this new age urban-like development.  They don’t care so much about the environment and being green, in my humble opinion it is all about the green they can bank in profits. And who suffers? People already living around these infill development targeted sites.

Malvern’s charm is in it’s history and size, much like the village portion of Berwyn and similarly scaled small towns and villages.  I could see making Malvern say sprucing up a little bit more like Narberth which has undeniable charm and popularity, but Narberth does things based on sound planning and well Malvern Borough seems to chase dollars like a hooker looking for money on top of the dresser.

TOD stands to add hundreds of living units. Hundreds as in someone told me in excess of 600.  Malvern is no way capable of handling that many additional living units and cars and people.  That has a trickle down effect to the schools too. And we aren’t talking real estate taxes, we’re talking overcrowding.

TOD in Malvern will also adversely affect their neighbors in East Whiteland.  Much the way Tredyffrin affected Radnor residents downstream along the Gulph Creek when they allowed Church of the Savior and some other things to super-size.  East Whiteland should stay on top of this from a municipal perspective.  No one needs trickle down issues.

So why am I writing this? Because of something that appeared in Malvern Patch that was copied from Plan Philly.

The long and short of it there is a very real chance SEPTA will cut stops off the R5 Paoli/Thorndale Line.  As in NO MORE train service. Stopping at Paoli again.

(See  septa-s-complete-service-realignment-plan-and-letter-to-state-secretary-of-transportation-barry-schoch.original )

eli kahn

So I have to wonder if Septa will even do the makeover planned for Paoli train station?  And if the service is truncated and stops at Paoli, how will Paoli even if their grand plans make it to completion handle the influx?

I put forward that Malvern Borough Council and Borough staff /administration need to be watched.  They want to shove, shove, shove through new development yet they have no substantive planning that I can see. I know what they see- they see ratables.  What is happening (for example) with the Gables Greenhouse property on Warren and Second Ave?  There were a couple of things in Malvern Patch which seem to have disappeared?  The comments indicate on the remaining article that like five houses are being considered for that property?

Malvern Borough has lost it’s way.  They don’t seem to listen to their residents.  They also can’t seem to get much money in the end for development projects.  Remember when people checked out what they were getting in ratables for East King Street/Eastside Flats? See:

During a discussion of the police services and budgeting at the  of Malvern Borough Council, resident Joan Yeager asked a related question:

“Once the King Street project is completed, how much additional money is going to come into the borough? In taxes and all,” she said.

“Something in the neighborhood of $60,000 a year,” council president Woody Van Sciver said, citing a financial feasibility study done before the project was approved.

And oh yeah what exactly in the realm of new businesses is Eli Kahn actually bringing to Malvern? Besides Kimberton Whole Foods?

I feel I must say again that in addition to better planning by municipalities and boroughs throughout Pennsylvania, there also need to be updates made to the Municipalities Planning Code.  After all Zoning blames Planning and Supervisors/Commissioners.  Supervisors/Commissioners blame flaws in Municipalities Planning Code.

Want to see bad planning?  Look no further than Lower Merion Township and take Ardmore as an example.  There is a short film surfacing about development there and the fact that when it occurs a lot of businesses and residents will have ZERO parking for two years and reduced parking after that. Why?  Because Lower Merion is essentially giving away land to a developer. I think you can view the documentary short by following this link: https://vimeo.com/72950877

Getting off the soapbox now.  Just been chewing on this a few days.

the road not taken….

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The Road Not Taken

By Robert Frost 1874–1963

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

 

ah yes, about that restaurant review: carmel cafe & wine bar

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DSC_0032I owe all of you a restaurant review.  I went to the friends and family and press event opening on September 7th and life being what it is, I am later than I wanted to be posting the review.  They have now been open to the public about a week.

DSC_0036What am I talking about?

Carmel Cafe &  Wine Bar at 372 W. Lancaster Ave. in Wayne, PA.  It is not so far from the Chester County border, so give it a try. Carmel Café is a small chain of Floridian restaurants which are trying their luck farther north, in Wayne.  Right where another Florida inspired restaurant was and tanked after a while – HogFish Bar & Grill. HogFish was inconsistent, expensive, and stuck behind another restaurant that was a ghost town and then closed.

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Carmel Café and Wine Bar took over the entire building and made it its own.  I found parking no problem, the lot seems bigger than it was.

Outside the building is still your basic developer’s box but inside is something totally different.  It is sleek and sexy.  My guess is the cougars who frequent the White Dog will flock to this new bar for the more flattering lighting alone.

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Anyway, I am not the only one to review Carmel Café and Wine Bar.  Michael Klein did as well.  You can read his review here.

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My review might seem like I did not like it when you are finished reading, but overall I did.  I am just going to be brutally honest.   I WILL be going back.  They just have some kinks to work out. New places often do.

Here are notes I took on my phone as we were dining:

  • Wasn’t sure we were getting into opening.  Woman with clipboard out front handed us off to someone inside as us not being on the list.  I was invited by publicist and RSVP’d to the Chef.  I think what she had was a technical difficulty as they were having issues with their internet and whatnot.  She could have just said that instead of making me wonder if she thought I was crashing the event. Inside the hostess person at the front at that time was much more smooth and polished.

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  • Cool – menu is on an iPad – customers will order that way with wait staff.
  • Atmosphere is sexy.  Fun art on the walls. Lighting could come up just a smidgen in dining room.
  • The lounge is also very sexy but at this opening seemed forgotten and empty.  I would have had some nibbles or something in it to draw people in.  They need to make the lounge seem less of an afterthought, but I hope they don’t ruin it – they just need to make it more enticing.  Right now it is just red banquette rimming a room. If I had been the designer, it would have been only a partial banquette with maybe a couple of small lounge/slipper type chairs and tables and a focal point of say a small gas fireplace or something. That looks like the room where they had to conserve money.
  • This  restaurant is a GREAT place for date night whether a first date or a wedding anniversary or something in between.

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  • Terrific wine list  – I started with M. Picard Vouvray.  By the glass that was a little tasty.  The wine list on a lot of items had a mark-up I found close to gouging in some cases, which is a common flaw with restaurants that open in Pennsylvania, I think due to the state store system.  One would think that a restaurant tech savvy enough to have a menu and ordering off an iPad tablet would be savvy enough to know that people also have wine apps on their smart phones and will check wines for price…

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Food overall is quite good but noticed some of the trendy from Wayneunk being really hard on staff who are nervous.  I mean come on people, we were given a wonderful evening out, you can’t pay for a couple of extra drinks on your own? The booth behind us was brutal on staff. We were embarrassed for them.

  • Carmel Cafe has a few kinks to work out but they are earnest and their staff is terrific – they all are working hard.

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We had hands down the best waitress I have had in years.  She knew that menu inside and out and the wine list.  She knew food and how restaurants work.  She was helpful and always checked in without being overly solicitous or overly familiar with customers. What a pleasure.

 

  • Bathrooms need some tweaking – ladies room needs purse hooks in stalls (I imagine that is corrected by now). Gentlemen guests remarked that Men’s room urinals set  too low – men over 5′ 5″ will splash themselves and well at this soft opening there are guys in $600 loafers so I would listen.
  • Front of house staff is the weakest spot in staff – host guy is awesome and attentive  but one woman not so much – she got irritated when I asked for lights to be raised in lounge and did not know where switch was. Said she would find out and evaporated and never came back.  There were  a couple of waitresses that we thought at end of day probably wouldn’t make it long term.  When so many wait staff shine so brightly, the ones not getting with the program really stand out, unfortunately.

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  • Ordered dessert trio – they had a lava cake but that is all over
  • Blind spot: owners were only interested in talking to their obvious social connections/people who could do something for them not everyone who was there to give feedback.  I am not the Queen of England but I have been to many a soft restaurant opening like this and every time I have had an owner or a general manager stop by my table for feedback.8
  • Some of guests said food too salty.  My salad was too salty.  I ordered the one with tuna  (tuna was cooked to perfection, however) was too salty and the salad has too much going on – it needs to be simplified and what Coco Chanel said about removing one piece of jewelry before you go out should apply to restaurants and ingredients in certain things.  The edamame  and egg in the salad I had (Mediterranean Ahi Tuna is its name and it should come in two sizes like the salmon entrée I had) , for example, were overkill.  My better half had similar feelings about the braised short rib and portabella flatbread too.
  • The basil grilled salmon entrée is one word: AMAZING3

 

Again, I will go back.  And I wish them tremendous success. The food prices are moderate and the menu is of a manageable size to give you plenty to try on a few return visits, but not so huge it is trying to be too many things.  I am not a professional restaurant reviewer, what you see are my impressions and what I overhear around me.

 

neigh it isn’t so! rumors abound about horse rescue?

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luna2Wow, I haven’t written about horse rescue in forever (I mean what is the point it is not regulated in PA  is it and does anyone in elected office even care about horses?)

Anyway….

Is it true she who shall not be mentioned by name no longer operates a rescue from rented barn space in Glenmoore? So what happens to that rescue now? Are they still around? Are they still in Chester County?

But what I am really curious about as I find the above a side-show circus in the scheme of things at this point is something going on at Turning for Home the Non-Profit that Barbara Luna was I thought the head of? Not only am I not able to bring up what used to be Turning for Home’s own website and can only access information through Patha.org, but well Barbara Luna doesn’t lock down her Facebook page and by posts she has written it appears she has (a) moved to Virginia and (b) is starting a new non-profit for horses so what’s up in Equine Land people?

Seriously this is what PATHA says about Turning for Home:

With the help of the following organizations and farms, we have been able to succeed in our mission. Many of our adoptable horses can be seen on their websites or on Facebook.

  After the Races, Nottingham, PA

South Jersey Thoroughbred Rescue, Moorestown, NJ

Lisa Molloy Training Center, Suffolk, VA

Castle Rock Farm, West Chester, PA

Sports Equine, Doylestown, PA

Hill Haven Farm, Millstone Twp., NJ

Ivy Hill Farm, Sewell, NJ 

In spite of all the comments about how mean a bunch of Chester County horse people were being, I have to ask the question: were they actually right on the money all along?

I keep looking for press releases on changes at Turning for Home, but seriously can she run Turning for Home and live in Virginia and start a new non-profit?

Inquiring minds want to know if this is all just fate and coincidence or something else?  And if she can run Turning for Home and War Horses at Rose Bower, Brava, because wow, what a lot of work! And apparently as per BizaPedia the filings were done on this war horses thing in October 2012 and is that true?  GuideStar has them in their directory but no information to speak of.

 

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just like in country living magazine!

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As seen at The Smithfield Barn today. A very cool old hall tree in yellow. My guess on age? End of 19th into beginning of 20th century. And yes…sigh…it was sold pending pick-up:

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Do any of you subscribe to Country Living Magazine? Check out page 82 of the October, 2013 issue. That hall tree is a restored relative!

In my humble opinion, very cool!

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vintage linens

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I love most things vintage. Which is of course one reason I love open barn weekends at the Smithfield Barn on Little Conestoga Road in Downingtown.

So I went wandering out this afternoon to pick up a garden bell on hold for me and ended up scoring a couple of kitchen items – fabulous old and handmade wooden spoons, a Corningware covered medium casserole ( which was just perfect for my peach blueberry crisp I baked later), and a couple of hand embroidered kitchen towels that were kicky in a kitschy sort of way.

I laundered by hand the towels and dried and ironed them. It was at that point I thought I would put them in my powder room instead. They would get too beat up in the kitchen.

I have been collecting linen and cotton vintage hand towels for years. I pick them up where they are inexpensive – thrift stores, church sales, flea markets, the Smithfield Barn. I buy what catches my eye and I buy them to be used.

What you see in the photo above are the towels I scored today with others I already had.

Yes I know, a very Martha moment – only I still do my own ironing!

But seriously? Look how easy it is to dress up a fairly utilitarian powder room or half bath with some vintage linens?

Remember, freshening up the decorating takes neither a large budget or a decorator.

what a sky!

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Right now, this is the sky in Frazer!

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