EAB Designs

A Day in the Country

 

Although it's raining now, yesterday was a perfect fall day.

We ventured out to the countryside with friends to enjoy the outdoors and beautiful scenery.

 

 

The fall colors seemed to be at their peek, especially the large maples.

 

The leaves on the grape vines had also taken on the color of autumn.

The rolling hills were a gorgeous green and farmers were busy clearing corn fields.

 

 

We stopped for lunch not far from here.  I enjoyed the most delicious crab cake and shared a warm apple dessert with a ginger caramel sauce...yum!

 

 

The forecast for tonight is increased rain with heavy winds as Hurricane Sandy continues its northward motion.  To all in its path, be well and safe.  Here's to sunnier autumn days ahead!

Apple Votives, Fall Centerpiece

 

 

One of my favorite things about entertaining in the fall is dining by candlelight.  For tomorrow evening's dinner,  I made these apple votives to place down the center of the table.

 

They are super quick to put together and you may already have all of the supplies on hand.

 

For this project you'll need:  peat pots (available from your local nursery); fresh apples; jute twine or string of your choice (to tie the leaves to the pots); moss; tea light candles; fall leaves from your backyard; and it's super handy to have a melon baller on hand to carve out the apples.

Helpful tips:  Fill the peat pot with crunched paper first so you just need to add moss to the top. To prepare your votives the day before, rub lemon juice over the carved apple and place in the fridge until ready to use.  When carving the hole for the tea light, start with the melon baller, and then neatly finish edges with a pairing knife. 

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Fall Decorations

 

a favorite iron candlestick with a ring of delicate glass leaves & berries,

handmade velvet pumpkins, felted & faux acorns 

 

 

mini white pumpkins & waxed autumn colored leaves

 

and our festive kitchen chalkboard, drawn by sweet girl

I just love fall........

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Make Ahead and Freeze Appetizers

We love to entertain in the fall and often have friends over for dinner.  For those weekends when I have a little less time to prepare, it's great to have a few things stashed away in the freezer that I've previously made and can be baked fresh at a moment's notice.  French gougères, or cheese puffs, are so easy to make, incredibly delicious and your friends will think you spent hours preparing them.

Simple ingredients:  butter, fresh eggs, cheese (I use Gruyère), milk, water, flour & salt.

Once the dough is spooned onto the baking sheet, you can either bake the puffs straight away, or freeze them for later.  To freeze, just place the entire baking sheet in the freezer until each puff is firm and then place them in a sealed freezer bag to bake off later.

Before your guests arrive, just place some of the frozen gougères on a baking sheet and pop them into your oven.  Upon arriving, your guests will immediately feel welcome by the fabulous smell coming from your kitchen.  The gougères are light & airy and wonderful with a glass of wine. Your guests will love you!

The recipe I use is from a favorite cookbook, Around My French Table, by Dorie Greenspan. However, epicurious.com has the recipe online which can be found here.

Bread & Jam

I love baking bread, especially on a cold and rainy day like today.  I made two loaves of my favorite whole wheat bread and I wish you could smell the kitchen right now.  There's nothing like a fresh slice of bread with a bit of butter, or as I prefer, toasted with my favorite jam.  I must confess, I was first drawn to Bonnie's Jams because of the label design.  Isn't it great?  I especially love their Black & Blue jam (blackberries & blueberries mixed).  The raspberry is equally delicious though. My favorite bread recipes come from a book I've owned for many years, The Book of Bread by Judith Jones. The hardcover is out of print now, but used copies are available. If you enjoy all kinds of homemade bread, even if you're just a beginner baker, I would highly recommend adding a copy to your cookbook collection.

Fall Porch Decorations, Pumpkin Topiaries

 

It was a perfect fall day to be outside, so we stopped by a new favorite nursery for some more mums and cinderella pumpkins to decorate our front porch for this fall.  As in the past, I cut hydrangeas for the base of our urns.  This year, in addition to using the cone shaped hydrangea flowers from our hydrangea paniculata bush, I also added the deeper pink flowers from our annabelle bushes.

I love the contrast of the two varieties of hydrangeas and their different shapes.

My most favorite addition to the urns this year was the dark brown centers from the yellow cone flowers that grow all around our  mailbox.  I almost cut these back last weekend, so I'm happy I waited as they add a little whimsical touch to the urns, like polka dots.

For the front door, I placed two different colored cabbage plants inside our iron planter, along with a beautiful dark leaved plant I found at the nursery.  I'm looking forward to seeing this take shape once the plants grow a bit more.

Like last year, I wrapped the mum containers in burlap and tied them with jute twine.  So happy I was able to find a blue slate cinderella pumpkin this year.  The mums have lots of tiny buds so they should be covered with crimson and white blooms in just a short time.

 

Later, I'll add a few ravens, flying bats and apple votives to welcome our trick-or-treaters on Halloween.

~ A few tips on creating your own hydrangea or cut plant base ~

Leave long stems when cutting plants, so they can be placed deep into the soil to keep them stationary.  Also, don't forget to water as the cuttings will last much longer and retain their beautiful falls colors as well.  Lastly, to help protect your pumpkin from sitting in damp soil, and to elevate your pumpkin above the base for viewing, insert a small bowl upside down to rest your pumpkin on.  Add exta cuttings to hide the bowl.