Library "Before"

I have not been working too much on the library/back parlor/guest room?  since Thursday. My DD moved Friday, I auctioned all day Saturday, and I tried to catch up on cooking, cleaning, laundry yesterday (although the cleaning didn't get caught up). I do plan on having it done except for decorating by the end of the week.

Here are the "before" pictures.

Auction Outing

Yesterday, I took a break from the "library" and garden stuff and went to an auction for six hours. Boy, oh boy, was a good one. There were so many cool authentic primitive antiques there (but very pricey). I didn't get any of those, but I did get quite a few goodies.

I bought a cherry drop-leaf table, a walnut chest of drawers, some china, ironstone, and pewter, a shelf, and some great prints/lithographs (a few of them ended up being valuable compare to the $3 I paid for all of them). I will be taking some pics tonight or in the morning and posting tomorrow.

Paint Color?

Today, I finished up the library wall and trim painting (mostly), and now I need to decide what color to paint the floor. I thought it was going to be gray, but hubs got me thinking about a shade of red we saw in a primitive goods shop last weekend. I am calling my farmer friend who lives in an old farmhouse herself and see if she can stop by and give me her opinion. I will be out of the house for most of the day tomorrow, so I can think about colors one more day. Decisions, decisions!

Painting the Walls

I am in the middle of painting the "library" walls right now. I've already done most of trim....just need to take the door off to paint properly. We decided on a spicy mustard, since is going to be a sort of "prim" room with white trim (all the trim in the house is white or on it's way to being white). AND.......

We have decided to paint the floors due to the different ages of the woods and poor repair job done in the 1960s. I thought I was going to do the same gray as the back hall, but hubs and a friend suggest "prim" red. Now I am just confused....I don't know what I want.

I've also received some more Amish goodies, two candle wall scones to go with the two candelabras. I bought the hooks for them today and am reminded that I have another job to do. I still need some black taper candles. Hopefully, I'll have a picture or two of the work in progress on Monday :)

Library Progress

Today, I am cleaning out the dirt from between the floor boards in the soon-to-be made over "library." It took over 20 hours to remove the old Masonite and nails, but well worth it. I'm taking  my first break right now :)

Up until now, this large room has been home to many boxes of books and office supplies and hubs' model trains/cars. It was also my spray paint room and playground for an occasional mouse (finally figured out where they were getting in last week).

I hope to have stained and sealed by the weekend so I can paint over the weekend. I like to paint after I do the floors, because sanding the floor (regardless of how "light" you do it) throws too much wood dust on the walls. And, I am neat about it.

I've decided to go a little primitive with this room so ordered some Amish-made wrought iron lighting. There is not overhead wiring, so I've opted for two 4-candle candelabras. In addition, I am using two wall-mounted iron sconces for candles and two electric iron wall sconces. These last two lights will flank what was once the fireplace that is now covered with walnut paneling saved from the pre-1849 corn crib. Some day I want to have a table and benches  made from the wood and expose the fireplace/convert it to gas. But that is a few years down the road....I just want to make it useable. I also want to use two sets of original shutters in the room (found in the barn)...maybe mounted so they can be closed. If that's not possible, maybe mount them to the wall flanking the two windows.

Tomato-Basil Soup for the Freezer

This is my recipe that I use to make "Tomato-Basil Soup." I used a copycat recipe for Applebee's soup as a starting point, but of course I had to tweak it to my specs :) I doubled the recipe to make four meals....I used quart-size freezer bags to store it in.

Amelie's Tomato-Basil Soup

Ingredients

1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil                         ½ cup granulated sugar

½ cup minced white onion                                2 teaspoons minced fresh parsley

1 teaspoon minced garlic                                   ¼ teaspoon dried oregano

8 cups fresh tomatoes, prepared*                      ¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup chicken broth                                         ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

½ cup minced fresh basil                                   2 chicken bouillon cubes (optional)

Directions

* To prepare tomatoes, boil for 45 - 60 seconds, use slotted spoon to transfer to ice water bath, slide skins off, and cut out top of core and any bad spots. I find that Roma tomatoes need the full 60 seconds to ensure the skins come off easily.

 

1.     Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat and then add onion and garlic. Saute for about one minute.

2.     Add prepared tomatoes and chicken broth and bring mixture to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Turn off the heat and let mixture cool, uncovered for 30 minutes or so. You can let it sit for as long as an hour if you like.

3.     Pour about half of the mixture into a blender. Put the lid on and hold it down with a dish towel. Blend on high speed for about one minute. Pour the mixture into a large bowl.

4.     Repeat Step 3 for the rest of the unblended mixture. (I usually do not do this step, because I like my soup a little chunkier.)

5.     Pour the puree back into the saucepan, and then add the remaining ingredients. Bring the soup back up to a bubble, then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. 

7.  Let cool to warm before attempting to ladle into freezer bags. I stand my bags up in a high-sided bowl for ladling. Make sure you have a good seal; lay flat on plate over sink to make sure.  I then transfer them (2 bags for single recipe, 4 bags if you doubled it) to the freezer. Each bag would serve four for lunch, two for dinner, or in our case two for lunch.

    When I reheat a package, I run under hot water to loosen and then "dump" the soup into a pan for reheating. I add a little bit of heavy cream or half-and-half, also. Serve with croutons and a little Parmesan shredded on top. We often have a grilled cheese sandwich or toasted ham-and-cheese sandwich with it.

Peach Jam

Today, I made peach jam for the first time. This past winter I made orange-lemon marmalade for my hubs (those English love their marmalade) when the local grocery had a special on oranges. He really liked it, so I decided to use some of the peaches from one of our fruit trees for jam. It is really easy :)

I followed the recipe at my favorite food preserving site here "How to Make Peach/Nectarine Jam" As always, her recipe was foolproof. You need peaches, sugar, bottled lemon juice, fruit pectin (from your local grocery store or Wally World) and pint or half-pint canning jars with lids and rings (also at your local grocery or Wally World). I do not even bother with the half-pint jars myself....not worth the extra $$ for the amount of product you can put in one, and it usually doesn't take us too long to empty a pint of yummy. (She also has a recipe that uses Stevia/sugar instead of all sugar.)

I plan on making more, as I want to give a few jars away. Also, I plan on using it to make shortbread cookies and some type of dessert roll this fall and winter.

I also made tomato-basil soup for the freezer today. I'll post the directions for that in the next few days....it is sooooo good on a cold Saturday for lunch.

 Earlier this week I shucked, cut, and prepared sweet corn to freeze from our good friends' farm. I'll post their recipe and directions for how they (and now me) like to preserve it so it tastes great when you use it later in the year. I did 22 dozen last year, and it was delicious. This year I am doing less than half of that as I planted a lot more veggies this year than I did last.