Quarterly Book Report

Say It Isn't So

It's April.  That means we are officially one fourth of the way through 2017!  Three months gone!!  How can that be?  I haven't even clearly defined my New Year's Resolutions!!! I know one of my resolutions was to write more blog posts. Yikes. I promise to get going with that one. So, before any more time goes by, I'd like to share with you the books I have read so far in 2017.  Since there are a number of them (another resolution - read more) I will not bore you and review them all, just present titles from the best to the worst and give a quick thumbs up or down.

Great Reads

The Language of Flowers, Vanessa Diffenbaugh
👍👍👍👍👍 ( You gotta read this one)


The Book That Matters Most, Ann Hood
👍👍👍👍👍

Never Too Late: Your Roadmap to Reinvention (Without Getting Lost Along the Way), Claire Cook
👍👍👍👍

Nine Women, One Dress, Jane L. Rosen
👍👍👍👍

The Coincidence of Coconut Cake, Amy Reichert
👍👍👍👍

The City Baker's Guide to Country Living, Louise Miller  👍👍

Not So Great Reads

Commonwealth, Ann Patchett
👎👎

Homegoing,Yaa Gyasi
👎👎 

They May Not Mean To But They Do, Colleen Schine
👎👎👎👎

May you have a fabulous remainder of 2017.  Hope this list gives you some food for thought.

A most cherished possession

Earlier, I had promised a separate post about my grandmother's china.  It is one of my most cherished possessions, mostly because every time I use these dishes, I think of my grandmother and remember again, what a wonderful lady she was.

When I was a child, my grandmother Lillian, lived with us.  She was quite severe in appearance and in manner, but there was no question about the love she had for her family.  Lillian raised six children through the grueling Depression of the 1930's, single -handed.  They all became upstanding citizens with a strong belief in family. When my mother married, she brought her mother to live with her.  Lillian was a member of our household for as long as I can remember.  It was my grandmother who took me to church every Sunday, who took me on bus rides to do shopping downtown, and who taught me to make the traditional Christmas cookies my family now love.  But, she taught me much more:  she taught me about the goodness of hard work, the importance of thrift, and the joy of earning the small pleasures of life. Every time I use these dishes, those are the lessons I remember most.  Look closer. Maybe you can see these lessons too.

When I was young, these dishes would be used only on special occasions.  Every Thanksgiving they would grace our table, and when the meal was done, my sister and I were in charge of washing and drying them...CAREFULLY.  We were told of their dearness.  Grandma had bought the twelve place settings and serving pieces, one at a time from quarters saved from her meager paychecks.  I don't know how long it took her to collect the set, but I know they were precious to her because she had to work so hard to get them.  I often think that we don't do that enough today.  My children ( and me too I must confess) take things for granted.  Instant gratification is more often than not the way of the world.  It's difficult to appreciate things that come too easily. The china was handed down to my mother, and then it was divided in half between my sister and me.  I house it in a separate cupboard, a vintage Hoosier, to give it a place of honor.

I've done a little bit of research on it.  The china was made by the Knowles China Company, which was quite well-known throughout the industry from the beginning to middle of the 20th Century.  The company closed on 1962.  This was largely blamed on tariffs which were said to encourage the importation of foreign dinnerware at prices so low that Knowles could not compete.  Sounds all too familiar in today's market doesn't it!

The dinner plates have the Knowles stamp , the name of the pattern (Princess Rose) and a serial number.  I believe the serial number dates the pieces.  In this case it ends in a 51 so I am guessing the pieces were purchased or were at least made in 1951.  Also, looking on websites, I believe the pattern is Princess Rose Coupe.  Coupe is the name of  a style of the handles and gravy boats and creamers.

I use these dishes all of the time.  I don't wait for special occasions.  They are very dear to me, and they make me happy every time I put them on my table.  Most recently, I used them as part of the table setting at the wedding breakfast that I hosted for the bridesmaids of my daughter's wedding.  I also used parts of my collection of pink Depression glass, so my grandmother's Princess Rose china with the delicate pink blossoms mingled perfectly with the other dishes on the table.  Pink was also the color of the bridesmaid' dresses.  What great luck!  Here's a few shots from the table:

Princess Rose fit right in along side of the pink champagne at the mimosa bar!

So that's the tale of my grandmother's china.  Do you have any treasures?  What  heirlooms do you cherish?

My Personal Chef

What could be more lovely than a romantic dinner for two prepared by your own personal chef?  Not much, I say.  But that's one of the benefits of being married to Bob.  Not only does he take me for delectable bike rides, but he also whips up some delectable dishes.

With our straining wedding budget, we have had to forego eating out at fine dining restaurants.  This has been quite a challenge for my "foodie"  of a husband. We have tried to make up for it by spicing things up in our own cooking.  I'm a decent baker, but I must admit, Bob is the master chef of this household.  He loves food and is not satisfied with a can of Campbell's Chunky Beef soup over noodles ( a staple of our first year of marriage), so he scours the newspapers and magazines for tempting things to make.  This weekend he graced us with a salad that was a meal in itself. The salad boasted golden beets, raspberries and pistachios sprinkled among tender greens.  And it was accompanied by goat cheese toasts...heaven!!!  He found the recipe in the Healthy Eating section of The Star Ledger, but it came from the cookbook of Ellie Krieger.  Ellie has a blog and a weekly newsletter and you can reach her Here .  Take a look at these greens:

Bob may have done most of the cooking for the meal, but I added some ambiance.  I set the small round table in our sun room with a faded pink vintage linen table cloth.  The centerpiece is a simple rustic green Ball canning jar with a "necklace" of jute twine.  I added a few Queen Anne"s Lace blooms from the garden.  The dinner plate is from Pier One (last year's summer purchase) and the salad plate is a find from Home Goods.  Just lovin' the blue transferware-like patterns. Wine goblets are part of an etched glass collection we bought years ago from  Flemington Cut Glass.  Sadly, after decades of being in the cut glass business they closed up shop.  What a loss for the community, another landmark gone, but at least I got a few treasures before that happened.  

To make the experience even more romantic and restaurant-like, I added some music from one of our present favorite artists, Michael Buble.  Love those mellow tones and smooth jazz sounds.  Bob was so inspired, I got a slow dance out of him!  We kept the sliding door open, so we could hear the burble of the patio fountain and feel the warm late afternoon breeze.  Almost like eating alfresco.  We must have created some envy in the neighborhood because we ended up with visitors at our door.

The basset on the left is our neighbor's dog, Violet.  She often stops by for bones and sunny spots for sunbathing on the patio.  The beagle on the right is our grand-dog, Lilly.  She's our youngest daughter's dog and used to live here with us before Alli bought a house of her own and moved out.  Lilly often comes to visit her old play pals Violet and Violet's housemate Sudsy.

If you want to make the salad yourself, you can see the recipe HERE. All in all a lovely evening.
 

Sweet Music

Just had to share about a phenomenal concert Bob and I attended Thursday May14th.  My daughter had given me tickets for Mother's Day to hear Vince Gill at the MPAC in Morristown, NJ, and it turned out to be a wonderful time.  What a class act this guy is!  If you are a country music fan, I am sure you already know this, but I was still impressed at the level of professionalism and sophistication displayed throughout the concert.  The sound system alone was the best I have ever heard, and I know it must have been his because I've been to other concerts at the MPAC and they did not sound this professional.  A unique part of the experience was that Vince played every song on a different guitar.  Some of them were obviously vintage and something collectors would drool over.  He practically petted them when they were handed to him.  You could tell how much he loved and cherished each of the instruments.  Vince's backup musicians were equally impressive.  His bass guitarist use to play for the Doobie Brothers and the steel guitar player is the most recorded steel guitar artist of the past 40 years.  A sweet touch was that his female backup singer was his daughter, Jenny Gill.  He was obviously a proud Papa when he introduced her to do a solo performance. Needless to say the apple didn't fall far from the tree...she has a phenomenal voice.

The other thing that struck me about Vince (besides his smooth- as -silk voice and outrageous guitar skill) was his sweet, humble and kind nature.  He wore a simple pair of jeans and a plaid flannel shirt.  The set was a clean backdrop of light stands.  The focus was obviously the music.  But Vince is a great storyteller and his stories reveal the kind of person that he is.  He told stories of his dad and how he was a lawyer by day and a redneck by night and how he taught Vince about life. Vince followed the story with a tender song about his dad.  Vince also shared the tragic story of his brother who was dramatically injured in a motor cycle accident early in his life and suffered with the after effects for years.  Again, Vince followed the story with a loving tribute to his now -deceased brother. Vince also shared a beautiful love song he had written for his wife, Amy Grant.  He shared that he has never recorded it, because it was just for her.  How sweet can a guy get?

I don't have any photos to share of the performance because I obeyed the rules of no cell phone use or recording during the performance, unlike many others who disregarded the rule and forced the ushers to run up and down the aisles asking patrons to shut their phones! Jeesh!  But I do have some pics to show you of a pizza spot where we ate dinner prior to the concert. Millie's Old World Meatballs and Pizza made the top 25 list of N.J. Pizza Power Rankings.  Pete Genovese, a food critic for the Star -Ledger, is most known for his "Munch Mobile".  Pete travels all over New Jersey finding the "best" spots for just about anything from doughnuts to seafood. This month he had a six-month update on his pizza rankings.  Millie's Old World Meatballs and Pizza made #16.  My husband is a life-long foodie and follows Pete's exploits avidly.  So, when he saw this Morristown eatery in Pete's list he decided to give it a try when we went to see Vince Gill.

Pete was right the pizza was super good.  The unique thing about Millie's is that they serve two kinds of pizzas:  those baked in a wood-fired oven and those baked in a coal-burning oven.  We preferred the wood-fired as the crust was thinner and crispier.  Make sure you also try the meatballs.  Bob and I shared an appetizer of meatballs with warm ricotta cheese.  Yummy.  The salads looked equally as delicious, but my husband's a devout carnivore so meatballs won.

Here are the two different ovens that are on the premises:

It was a lovely evening in Morristown.  A big thank you to my daughter Susan.  We had a great time.