In The Kitchen: Vanilla Bean Lemonade

On a hot day like today there is nothing better than relaxing with a cold drink like this one...

Vanilla Bean Lemonade

• 1 bottle Dry Vanilla Bean soda
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 3 oz Hendricks Gin
• 2 oz St. Germain elderflower liqueur

Pour all ingredients over ice (add frozen lemon slices, if you have them), stir to combine. So easy!


Makes 2 drinks.

Around Town

Stoll's Alley

Those Ubiquitous Striped Paper Straws

Those of you who read food blogs have probably noticed those striped paper straws that come in fancy colors are everywhere. I've been looking for healthy smoothie recipes recently, now that it's basically summer here in Charleston a smoothie is the perfect breakfast-on-the-go while I'm walking to the store, and it seemed every other recipe I found had a photo featuring these straws (though not a smoothie, this Black Tea Lemonade recipe by honey & jam had some of the prettiest photos I had seen...also a great recipe, I went through so many pitchers of this stuff last summer). After seeing them over & over, I fell in love with their fun, vintage look, and I knew I had to have them in the store.

Well, I finally tracked them down and they're going to be available in the store in 10 different colors! In fact, our first shipment just arrived, here they are packed into one of the antique display cases in our back storage room...

I promise this isn't how they will be displayed in the shop. I have a special rack for the straws, and eventually that case will be filled with jewelry & tiny sterling silver trophies.

Sadly, I'm so busy dealing with the store right now I don't have much time for blogging...I did manage to find the time though to open a pack of the blue straws and make a Cheerwine float to celebrate finally having air conditioning in the shop! I can always make time for soda & ice cream.

 

The last bit of painting and building is just being finished in the store space right now. Soon I will get the signs up, and start with the displays. Once I get to that point I'm going to open part time. I wasn't going to do this originally, but downtown is so packed with people this time of year it seems silly to wait until I'm ready for a grand opening party. So, during that month or so while the finishing touches are still being added to the displays and merchandise is still being set up, anyone who wants to shop around the set-up mess is going to get a special discount to use once we are officially open! 

As soon as we're ready for those first shoppers, in a couple weeks hopefully, I'll be announcing it on our blog, twitter & facebook...and in the meantime I'll be popping back in here occasionally to share photos of displays & merchandise we work! For now I'll leave with with a photo of this antique orchard ladder (which will be a display) that I just found last week on an antiquing trip last week, and old wooden crates (just a small portion of what the crates I've hauled in recently), which will both be for display & sale...

(I feel like I have to point out the fact that those ugly red & green walls weren't my choice and will be gone soon. The finished shop is going to be a medium gray with white trim, with a gray & white checkered floor.)

In The Kitchen: Shaved Asparagus Salad with Truffle Salt & Wildflower Honey

Foodzie.com is a fantastic site for food lovers, filled with prepared foods, snacks, coffee/tea, chocolate, sauces & condiments, etc., all from small companies and artisan makers. I've often wanted to try their tasting box program; for $19.99 (including shipping) they will send you a small box every month filled with products to give you a "taste" of whats available on the site...so when an email arrived in my inbox a few weeks ago with a promotion offering your first tasting box free of charge I couldn't sign up fast enough! My first box arrived this week, and I already can't wait for the June box...

Among the cookies, tea and snacks in the box were flavored salts from an artisan salt company, and the Black Truffle and Fresh Thyme Herb Sea Salt seemed like the perfect mate for the giant bag of fresh asparagus a friend gave me from their garden. 

The asparagus salad was delicious, and the salt gave the perfect herb-truffle hint to each bite. In fact that salt was so good I've been putting it on everything from buttered toast to roasted potatoes this week, and I'm going to look into carrying it in the store!

Shaved Asparagus Salad with Truffle Salt & Wildflower Honey

  

• 12 whole Stalks Fresh Asparagus
• ⅛ whole Red Onion
• ½ ounces, fluid Lemon Juice
• ½ ounces, fluid Champagne Vinegar
• 1 ounce, fluid Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 teaspoon Truffle Thyme Salt
• 4 teaspoons Wildflower Honey

Trim the heads off your asparagus spears, if they are very thick, cut the heads in half. Place the asparagus heads in a large bowl. Using a vegetable peeler or mandoline slicer, shave your asparagus spears and red onion into the bowl.

In another bowl whisk the lemon juice, vinegar and olive oil together. Pour this mixture over the asparagus & onion mixture and toss to coat.

Separate the asparagus salad into four bowls and top each serving with a pinch or two of truffle salt* and a drizzle of honey (the measurements in the ingredients list for the salt and honey are just estimates, use as much or as little as you please).

Headed Home

I love antiquing, truly I do, but after a month and a half on the road I am ready to head back to Charleston and stay put for a while. I have two full cars worth of antique & vintage goodness for the new store, some of it, like the no surfing sign and the watch maker's chest are available in our etsy shop already...

...but other pieces, like these long framed group photos (which I am doing an entire wall of in the store) and the polished brass lamps, will be available in store only for a while. Making their way online eventually, maybe...

 

These antique c. 1910 polished brass ship lamps were one of my favorite finds of the entire trip! I picked up 1 for myself and 3 for the shop, I can't wait to get them wired and mounted on the wall in the store. I'm thinking they will be a great way to light the old wooden table-top cases I bought for displaying jewelry and small sterling trophies!

 

Once I am back home next week I'll be back to my regular blogging schedule, posing some photos of the finished store interior (yay!) and some recipes I've been saving too. I'll also share more photos of the treasures I am returning home with, and some exciting news about the start of my vintage event rentals business!

In The Kitchen: Lemony Zucchini Soup with Crispy Shallots

Yes, yet another soup post...after this I promise this blog will be soup free, for a few weeks at least.

Soup is my ultimate lazy meal. When it's rainy and I don't feel like walking through the flooded Charleston streets to the market, I dig around in my fridge and see what I can add to the stock that is always crowding my freezer. In this case just a few veggies, herbs and some wine made a delicious meal on a cold, rainy day.

Lemony Zucchini Soup with Crispy Shallots

• 4 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
• 1 whole Sweet Onion, Diced
• 5 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 4 whole Zucchini, Peeled And Diced
• ½ cups White Wine
• 4 cups Chicken Or Vegetable Stock
• 1 whole Lemon Zested
• 1 teaspoon Fresh Dill
• 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
• 2 whole Large Shallots, Sliced Thin

Melt the butter in a soup pot or Dutch oven over medium-low heat. Add onion and garlic and cook until softened but not browned, 8–10 minutes. Add zucchini and cover the pot. Cook until soft, another 10 minutes or so, stirring occasionally. Once the zucchini is soft, stir in the wine, stock, lemon zest and dill. Simmer uncovered for 40 minutes or until all the vegetables are very, very soft and the soup is fragrant and lemony.

While the soup is simmering, heat the olive oil in a small pan over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add the shallots and cook until browned (but not dark brown, as they will become bitter). Remove shallots from the pan and place on a paper towel to cool. They will crisp as they cool.

When the soup has finished simmering, take the pot off the heat and allow it to cool slightly. With an immersion blender, or in batches in a food processor or blender, puree the soup until smooth and creamy. Season with salt and pepper.

Spoon the soup into bowls and top each serving with a tablespoon of the crispy shallots, and some lemon zest if desired.

Antiquing (and a Shop Preview too!)

Suitcases stuffed with small vintage goodies, a doctor's bag, an old time card holder, vintage silver serving pieces and a 3 tier pie crust table, 
all fresh from a Virginia barn sale!

I am off on an antiquing trip, stocking up on tons of new items for the etsy shop and my new shop on Queen St. opening this summer (hooray!). I'll be out of town until the 29th, or until our cars are full, visiting tons of antiques sales, flea markets, barn sales and auctions. All orders placed in our etsy shop during this time will ship the Monday or Tuesday after I return, and everyone who patiently waits for an item during this time is getting a coupon to use with their next order as a thank you!

I'll be posting photos of finds here on the blog throughout the trip, meanwhile I'll leave you with a preview of our shop space in Charleston (none of the badly needed gardening had been done along the path at this point...think of this as a "before" shot)!