Garden Inspiration: Great Gates

After a long, leisurely and fabulous Saturday lunch at Plage Keller "Le Cesar" restaurant on La Garoupe Beach, my husband and I strolled along Boulevard Gardiole Bacon. This quiet street on the peninsula, Cap d'Antibes, is lined with villas—more accurately walled gardens that obscure the villas from view. Many of the villas are Provençal style, a common design in this area of France, and quite large and luxurious. Others are Spanish Mediterranean and then there are the modern architectural styles of white boxes. I prefer the traditional styles.

I love garden gates. Even the driveways have gates, and some of those are inspiring. Come along on a stroll down that boulevard as we walked back to Antibes, a distance of about four kilometers, depending upon how many  detours we make to snap photos along the way. You see, we justify all the eating by walking!

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

Flipping Frittata! Have No Fear

Cooking is right up there with gardening and travel. The experience alone is rewarding and the result is usually satisfying. There are times when I love to spend hours in the kitchen purely for the creative outlet and enjoyment. I'd love to cook from scratch more often, but with only two in our empty nester household and a desire to remain healthy, I seldom make "big meals" anymore.

My pent up need to cook was released the other day when I decided to make a frittata for dinner, using an early birthday gift from my husband. I tend to use recipes as a loose guide to cooking unless baking a cake where ingredients and measurements must be precise. For most main courses, I add, subtract and substitute ingredients according to whim.

With that flexibility in mind, I embarked on making a frittata with the gift, a Calphalon Unison Slide Nonstick Fritta Pan Set from Williams-Sonoma®. In the past, I've used the stovetop to start a frittata and the oven to finish it. Nothing wrong with that method, but I was never sure if I was undercooking or overcooking the frittata. With the pan set, I can flip the frittata several times to finish the cooking.

A frittata is an egg-based Italian dish that I prefer to make instead of individual omelets and without the fuss of crust or calories of a quiche. Although we like our frittata served hot, it is often served at room temperature.

I have scanned through hundreds of frittata recipes published on the Web and buried in the pages of printed cookbooks in my kitchen for ideas. Once you master the cooking method, you can be creative and use the ingredients that you choose to combine.

Caramelized onions! Oh my, how I love the flavor, so reminiscent of onion tarts in France. With that ingredient on my short list, I started with the Wilted Greens and Gruyère Frittata as the basis for my experiment in mastering the art of flipping a frittata in the pan set without dashing the mixture all over the stovetop.

Thinly sliced yellow onions are required for proper caramelization. I tend to literally cry over this chore, rendering myself too blind to read the recipe while I recover. Using my mandoline makes quick work of onion slicing, producing only a teardrop or two from my eyes while delivering perfectly thin slices. This manual device is worth the investment for anyone who wants to turn out mounds of julienned, cubed or sliced veggies.

V-Blade mandoline produces thin slices of onion in a flash.

Cook onion slices slowly to caramelize.
You can make these a day ahead and
store in airtight jar in the fridge.

Almost caramelized, not burned.
I used the deep pan in the frittata set for prepping
the onions and sautéing mushrooms and wilting Swiss chard.

To caramelize onions takes an hour and patience. The slow cooking and light browning makes the onions quite sweet, a perfect compliment for the gruyère cheese. These onions are also wonderful for omelets, quiches, savory tarts and pizzas. The good news is that you can prepare the onions in advance. The onions must be cooled before adding to the whisked eggs in the recipe.

I altered the recipe with sautéed shiitake, oyster and baby bella mushrooms. I simply wiped out the pan to sauté the mushrooms once the onions were finished. The recipe also calls for wilted Swiss chard, and I used the same deep side of the frittata pan. If you want to use meat in this recipe, bacon is a good choice. Brown the bacon ahead of time, cool and crumble for delightful flavor.

The frittata cooking in the deep pan for 7-10 minutes.

After whisking eggs and adding all of the cooled ingredients, the mixture is poured into the deep pan. Using a spatula, you have to gently stir the raw eggs quickly at first before they firmly set. This ensures even cooking. Cook over medium heat for 7-10 minutes.

The preheated and seasoned shallow pan is then placed on top, interlocking the rectangular handles. This is where the fun starts as you must swiftly flip the pans so that the deep pan is then on top and the shallow pan on the bottom. Cook for three minutes longer, then flip the frittata back into the deep side.

Pans are used in unison to flip the frittata.
1. Put shallow pan on top, then flip. Cook 3 minutes.
2. Flip to put deep side back on the bottom.

The frittata is ready! 

With a rubber spatula, I gently
loosened the edges.
The frittata slipped right onto the plate
without sticking to the pan.

The frittata was so delicious for dinner! It also refrigerated well and we microwaved individual slices for breakfast and another dinner the follow day. We still didn't finish it! This easily serves six generous slices for a main course or eight slices as a side dish.

I plan to make a frittata for an upcoming brunch to save time and serve more people at one time. Of course, I have a few ideas for other ingredients to use in the next frittata.

As for the flipping—I spilled only a little bit of egg on my first flip of the pans! From now on, I'll have no fear of flipping.


Disclaimer: I assure you that this story is not a paid advertisement, but I am a satisfied customer of Williams-Sonoma® and linked to their site to reference the products that I used to make this recipe. Nothing mentioned has been provided for free.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

Photo Fun: Come Indoors Where It Is Cool

Come on back to the family room.

It's so hot outside in the garden; let's go indoors where it is cool so that I can show you a decorating project that's fun and easy for anyone with a digital camera and a computer.

Every few years, I like to change the "art" on my walls. I use the word "art" in the sense of being creative with what's unique and original in my life, rather than owning any masterpieces. The photos that I've chosen make me smile.

Previously, I've used framed photos from our travels in Italy. Recently, I decided to swap out Italy photos with those from Paris, France.

Architecture is a favorite photographic subject of mine. I'm not a professional photographer, but there are favorite photos that please me enough to view on my walls. Color photos don't really work with our family room color scheme and furniture. Therefore, I use a little photo editing magic (iPhoto® on my MacBook®) to convert my photos to sepia tone for framing. I then upload my photos to Shutterfly® and purchase 8 x 10 prints for under $3.00 per print.

My frames were purchased in 2006, therefore, I didn't have to purchase new frames. All of my frames came from Pottery Barn® and were purchased on sale. The mats were included with the purchase of the frames.

Inexpensive. Unique. Original. Memories.

To decide which of your photos will work, the resolution must be sufficient for the size of the print you want. One of the reasons that I like Shutterfly® is because their software will tell you whether your photo has the quality (in pixels) to be printed anywhere from as large as a poster down to a postcard.

If you go this route, pay attention to the edges of the photos. Shutterfly will ask you if the cropping is okay. They automatically set the cropping, but you may shift your image within the allowed space to ensure that no parts are cut off. Always preview the cropped image online before you put the order in the shopping cart.

The Louvre original in color, before cropped.

The Louvre photo as sepia and cropped.

Just a few of my candidates for framing.
I created a side-by-side collage to use to decide
which photos to print. Not all were chosen.

When grouping photos I like for them to "relate" to each other. For example, a set of four photos are building facades. I also use parts of bridges as a set; steeples as a set; or, sculptures as a set. Here is an example of the four building facades used in a photo grouping.

Matted and framed:
Top (L to R): The Louvre; Notre Dame
Bottom: Saint-Michel; Sacre Coeur
Paris, France. 

The four photos shown on the wall
to the right of the family heirloom mirror.

On another wall, the photos are related
to three different bridges in Paris.
These frames are the standard "gallery" style
sold by Pottery Barn®.

Don't hesitate to use your photos to decorate your house. Whether you choose color, black and white, sepia or other special effects—your favorite photos reflect your experiences and memories. Go for what makes you happy!

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

which way to the beach?

So, this is my latest flea market find.  There used to be a mirror hanging over this table at the beach house, but I took it down and hung this old freeway sign in its place.  I absolutely love it.  The family had mixed reviews.  One little granddaughter told me she liked the mirror better, but her mom pointed out she probably just liked looking at herself.  The real debate was over whether or not to wash it.  I didn't even think about it when I hung it up, but everyone was very opinionated as to what should be done with it.  What do you think?

a relaxing weekend

Did everyone have a wonderful long weekend?  We had a lovely and relaxing weekend here in town not doing much of anything in particular.  We attended some family gatherings and messed about the house. Sometimes those weekends are the nicest, don't you think?

How about you?  Did you do anything exciting, go anywhere fun, or just hang out and relax?

summertime

I must say, I am getting rather excited for summer to be here.  In honor of the start of this summer, I decided to redecorate my mantle.  It is certainly getting me in that summery mood...

a garden gift

I found all these crates at the flea market last time I went and I thought they would be so fun to use for plants or even as little herb boxes.  So, as usually happens with me when I am sitting in my craft room, I start to think of what fun little bags and packagings I can make to go with these boxes to create cute little individual gifts...  I have said it 1000 times, my craft room is my therapy.  And I had a lovely little session last week putting all this together...  I am going to put seeds in the little bags and fill the big "grow" bag up with some of our super fertile soil from the garden.  Throw in a watering can, some tools and even a cute little tablecloth and there you go.

Would you think it was fun to receive a vintage crate full of gardening supplies as a gift?

whoa, garden

Our garden is in full swing this year.  Everything is growing and it seems we have more than we will possibly be able to eat.  We keep encouraging the kids to come over and take as much as they can for their families, and we still seem to have so much.  I was thinking it would be so fun to have a salad making party.  Put a huge farm table out in the yard, cover it with butcher paper and lay out all the lettuce and vegetables it could hold.  Everyone could bring a bowl and take home a huge salad for dinner.  What do you think?  Would you go to a party like that?  Any ideas on what else you could do?  Would you prewash the lettuce or set up some sort of washing station in the yard?  Lots to think about...  Oooh, we could even make different salad dressings in little mason jars as party favors to take home!  I have to keep thinking about this one.  Oh, and find the time to pull it off...

Make Espresso at Home

Need an extra jolt of caffeine to get you started in the morning? It is very easy and inexpensive to make good quality espresso at home in ten minutes.

Come along as The Musician demonstrates how he makes espresso coffee on the stovetop.

Espresso is used for making cappuccino and lattes. All you do is add steamed milk and foam to the espresso shots. If you have a way to steam your skim milk to 140°, then you can make all three coffee beverages.

An espresso cup (shot) is roughly 1/3 of a measuring cup and a regular size cappuccino cup holds two espresso shots, plus milk and foam. Therefore a 4 cup espresso maker will produce 4 espressos or 2 regular size cappuccinos.

What you need to make a simple espresso:

1. A stovetop espresso pot. We prefer stainless steel instead of aluminum and purchased the Primula® Stainless Steel Espresso Coffee Maker, 4 cup for around $30 USD at our local Macys®. 
2. Good quality espresso coffee. Make sure you purchase espresso strength as regular ground coffee will not be good. We select beans at the local shop, A Southern Season®, and have them grind the beans for us. If you can't get fresh espresso coffee, the Illy® brand is very satisfying.
3. A tablespoon to measure the ground espresso coffee.
4. A stovetop burner.
5. Four Espresso cups—or two cappuccino cups if adding steamed milk/foam.

Assembling the pot and heating the espresso:

Fill the bottom of the pot with water per instructions 

with the espresso maker.

Our pot is filled with water to the line just below the

screw shown on the front of this section.

Drop the espresso basket onto the bottom section 

of the pot.

Fill basket with espresso. 

Do not pack tight, loosely smooth.

This pot makes 4 espresso shots and uses

2 heaping tablespoons of espresso coffee.

Screw top of the pot together 

over bottom/basket.

Place over medium low heat.

Listen for gurgling sound.

When gurgling stops, remove

immediately from heat.

Pour into 4 ESPRESSO size cups and enjoy!

Cappuccino variation:

1. Before espresso is ready—heat 1/2 cup of skim milk to 140° using a special steamer device with a stainless steel pitcher and thermometer. There should be ample foam on top of the milk.
2. Hold foam back with a spoon and pour hot milk into 2 cappuccino cups until 1/3 full. 
3. Spoon foam on top of hot milk until cup is half full.
4. Immediately pour hot espresso (2 shots per cappuccino) through the foam in a steady stream. 

If you prefer a latte, grab a mug and use all of the espresso, all of the milk and less foam! It's that simple! 

Some cappuccino and latte recipes will instruct you to pour the espresso first, then add the milk and foam. We prefer to carefully pour the espresso through the foam and into the steamed milk to mix it without stirring.

As you experiment, you may want to adjust the ratio of espresso, milk and foam to suit your taste.

Carefully pour espresso through steamed foam and milk 

to make a cappuccino.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel.  All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.