Home At Last! with Patty Gironda

  “ What Is Traveling? Changing Your Place? By No Means! Traveling is changing your opinions and prejudices.” Anatole France (1844-1924) Part I I started a new project today that caused me to stumble upon this beautiful bracelet - purchased at a “rag market” in Birmingham, England almost 17 years ago. It’s a stunning example of vintage jewelry with chunky amethyst glass and brass. But it so much more than an inexpensive piece of costume jewelry-it is a wonderful token discovered on a great adventure to a part of England I knew little about. My husband and I traveled to Birmingham, England to visit a friend we had met on a Caribbean cruise two years earlier. Adrian was charming, energetic and had visited several times in the states before convincing us to include England in our upcoming travel plans. We had simple plans to visit southern Germany where my father had been stationed in the mid-60’s. Nothing was set in stone! Typically, we get in our car and drive . . . making ...

  Dessert! Lemon Cake with Lemon Creme and Hazelnuts. Enough Said!

        Making the Roasted Pork proved to be a real time-saver this week. With so many new projects in the works I was more interested in playing all weekend and really fell back on the pork for some quick delicious meals. Last night we enjoyed panninis with Roast Pork, provolone cheese and a nice loaf of freshly-baked foccacio, courtesy of my new corporate sponsor, Panera Bread Company! The crusty sandwiches transported us back to our favorite Friday market in Terranouva, Tuscany, where succulent porchetta is a favorite amoung locals. Tonight, after slicing the last of the pork into nice thick slices, I decided to chunk it and make and open-faced BBQ sandwiches. Simple, delicious and satisfying! And happily my Lemon Cake with Marscapone and Hazelnuts was a huge success! More on that later!

        Thinking that we wouldn’t be seeing sunshine and warm weather for a few more days we were forced to create a little faux-sunshine here on the ark with a big box of juicy California lemons. It’s time to make one of the two batches of Limoncello that we will make this year so I solicited my husband-the expert lemon peeler-juicer person in our family. The fragrant oils wafted through the house lifting our spirits and turning our thoughts to Italy! We imagined ourselves living in Tuscany and handpicking lemons from our own trees, tending the olive trees and imagining the first yield of our own cold-pressed olive oil. In the short time we fantasized about our villa in Tuscany, Ron peeled and juiced 10 pounds of lemons. We covered the peels with a quart of vodka and retired them to a nice, cool dark spot where the oils and flavor will be leeched out of the rinds. With some of the fresh juice I created a batch of lemon simple syrup that will begin a transformatio...

  In posting the idea for the Fire-Roasted Pork Shoulder Butt yesterday, I did so with a specific goal in mind. . .sharing ideas for stretching the family's weekly food budget. Our food budgets are being stretched to their limits while food costs seem to be on the steady rise. It seems like a good time to revisit the way our grandmothers and mothers stretched their food dollars to feed large families after the depression. I believe with a little experience and some thoughtful planning families can begin to enjoy mealtime again-saving valuable budget dollars for other family expenses. The Fire-Roasted Pork Butt is a perfect example. At one of the warehouse stores we purchased two pork shoulder butts, totally $24 for $1.59 per pound. (15+ pounds) One is in reserve for use on an upcoming episode of Home At Last and the other, already roasted is being sliced, portioned and stored later this afternoon. Last night I served about four ounces of pork, ¾ cup each of brown sushi rice an...

    Since I had the camera out all day I figured I might as well share what I was making for dinner. I had to come up with something easy so that I could goof off all day! So, I am making a Fire-Roasted Pork Butt. I have boiled the pork with cranberry juice and a 16 oz coke,(tenderizes the meat and adds a lot of flavor. I also add shallots,chives,fresh garlic,herbs,and spices to the water before boiling it for about an hour and a half! Now that it's cooked through and tender, I am going to fire up the infrared grill and cook it for another hour on low heat with a nice dry rub of brown sugar and spices! I'll be sure to get another photo tonight for you. It will feed us for weeks. I make sandwiches, fried rice and even Asian-inspried meals with the portions that are left over. It's works well as BBQ with the addition of a few more ingredients!

  My assistant!

  These have been growing wild for many years and I have enjoyed the intense purple of the flowers.

  Here's some wild strawberry blooms.

  I have been trying to take a decent photo of a dogwood bloom for over a week! The rain actually helped making the limb limp! I was able to get right under it and found a pretty shot.

  It's a lazy kind of day again . . . rained all day. A little sun is just now forcing its way through the gray clouds, promising a beautiful evening. As I write I see my rottweiler, Zena, relaxing by the pool. She is such a sweetie, enjoying everything about her days here. She inspired me to find something fun to do rather than work. Zena, like most Rotties, has a wonderful imagination and sense of humor. She's fond of toys and has taken to an empty white garbage can that sits on one of the back porches. She crashes it down the stairs, slinging it around and pushing it all over a courtyard. It's a lot of noise and apparently, a lot of fun! Taking her cue, I wanted to find some good in the day so I grabbed my camera and headed out to the yard to see what was blooming after the rain! Spring is such a magical time of the year and it's worth recording and studying! So I'm sharing a few of the shots and Zena. That's my day! Not bad!

  If you're a fan of homemade vegetable soup you know the soup taste better the day after! The reference to Herbert Hoover's "A Chicken In Every Pot" quote refers to the budget-stretching whole chicken that flavors the broth and leaves half a chicken to use for other meals. I am making Grilled Chicken wraps tonight with whole grain flatbread from Kontos!

    My husband and I have been putting in some long hours in the field. As I mentioned in an earlier post we are responsible to many other projects outside of Home At Last! As a "home body" I can stand being away from home for so long and then I crave the comforts of home and my beautiful kitchen. So in honor of home and all things "southern" I am making a recipe that is a favorite from my mother. . .Homemade Vegetable Soup and Biscuits. I'll post the recipe for the biscuits on Home At Last! The recipe comes from an aunt in Colorado. Years ago, she shared it with my mother who passed it on to me. The recipes yields big,fluffy biscuits perfect for sopping up soup! Ok. . .the biscuits are from Colorado - but I'm southern! More pictures tomorrow!

From Blog Uploads The Spring Home Show in Atlanta is taking place in North Atlanta this weekend and I don't think attendees could have ordered a more perfect weekend. Attendance seemed a little light but vendors were enthusiastic and the displays were varied and interesting. Blinds By Noon, an Atlanta Blind and Shutter manufacturer, displayed a trade show video created by my company, Paper Moon Productions! That's right . . . I moonlight! Besides being a passionate foodie and host of my own cable television show Paper Moon Productions produces corporate and trade show videos as well as cable advertising in the Atlanta, West Georgia and Alabama markets. On display at the Home Depot booth, I was tickled to see our work in action and looking quite good . . . if I do say so myself! As editor on the project I find myself eager to move on once a project is completed and while I have the video linked inside my own website, Home At Last, it's not quite the same as seeing it on ...

   

       

  I am determined to capture and enjoy every moment of spring that I can. This is a pear tree that bears a hard, sandy pear that I think be might be good for pickling. Someone explained that was the name "Sand Pear". Can't really find much on them. They are pretty to look at but difficult to enjoy . . . so this year I will experiment and see if I can't find a good use. Maybe poached with a raspberry coulee, or a pear galette with toffee. If you have information or ideas, let me know!

  Some us have spring fever, bad! This is my baby, Red, short for Robert Redford! He's so happy I am outside! Red showed up on our property years ago-not too keen on humans. But after six longs months of "coo-ing" and chats he joined our clan and has remained devoted to me ever since. He's a big handsome boy who enjoys "kissing". He bangs his hard little head on my face demanding to be kissed. You gotta love it!

  This peach tree was a gift of a local man who stayed at our Bed and Breakast over ten years ago. After enjoying our Peach Breakfast Taco he went into the woods and dug up this beautiful young peach tree and delivered it to my doorstep with an note explaining the gift as a King Peach Tree. Now, every spring I have this beautiful tree with it's delicate blossoms as a reminder of this man's generosity and a single act of kindness! This particular type of peach is favored for pickling because of its small, firm peaches.