Author: c-ville-abode

 

Virginia is for tomato lovers

If there were a seasonal state slogan, in late summer Virginia would be for tomato lovers. Can’t you see the heart on the t-shirt replaced with a hunky heirloom? 

Hot, humid summers and acidic, red clay soil combine to produce a jungle of hairy vines and a staggering array of bulging, exploding fruit just bursting for the chance to be the star of your table. Tomatoes are native to South America but have been selectively bred and hybridized regionally in the U.S. since the early 1900s. Hybrid plants will be the most resistant to disease and pest pressure, and will consistently produce uniform fruit that is easy to handle.  

Heirloom tomatoes’ personality and flavor make them irresistible, especially when local farmers do such a magnificent job of cultivating and bringing them to market.

In comparison, heirloom varieties can be quirky to cultivate and overly sensitive to harvest and transport because they have been bred for flavor and color (not necessarily for their willingness to travel). However, their personality and flavor make them irresistible, especially when local farmers do such a magnificent job of cultivating and bringing them to market. Recent favorites from the annual tomato tasting at Appalachia Star Farm in Nelson County were Cherokee Purple, Brandywine, Green Zebra and Striped German, plus the omnipotent Sun Gold cherry.—Lisa Reeder

Spaghetti with Fresh Tomatoes and Mozzarella

A hot-weather favorite from D’Ambola’s Restaurant.

1 lb. spaghetti
2-3 lbs. vine-ripe tomatoes, cored,
   cut into 1/2" dice
2-3 Tbs. chopped fresh basil
1 Tbs. chopped fresh oregano
1/2 lb. fresh mozzarella, cut into 1/4" dice
1/2 lb. fresh Roma green beans,
   or snow peas
2 cloves garlic (or more to taste),
   minced or pressed through a garlic press
1/4-1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
   to taste
Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
red pepper flakes, optional

Blanch Roma beans or snow peas in salted boiling water for two to three minutes, until crisp but tender. Remove and place in an ice bath to stop the cooking and retain the color. Drain. Cut into thirds. Place tomatoes, basil, oregano, mozzarella, half the garlic, green beans, salt and black pepper to taste in a bowl large enough to accommodate these ingredients and spaghetti. Let this mixture sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes or up to one hour.

Prepare spaghetti according to package directions, cooking it to just below the “al dente” stage. When pasta is two to three minutes from being done, heat olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Drain spaghetti, reserving 1/4 cup of cooking water. Add garlic to oil, sauté for 10 seconds, then add spaghetti, a sprinkling of salt and cook and toss for about one minute. Add more oil or cooking water so pasta has a loose sauce.

Place spaghetti on top of ingredients in bowl. Let sit for one or two minutes so the heat from the spaghetti heats the ingredients. Toss mixture, adding more salt and pepper to taste. Top each serving with more olive oil and Parmigiano-Reggiano. Pass the red pepper flakes for those who want a little more heat. Serves four.

Put it through the mill

What to do with that bumper crop of Roma tomatoes? Overwhelmed by heirlooms at the City Market? If you are thinking ahead to sunny flavors in February, make the time now to put away tomato product for winter. The gear of choice for processing tomatoes is the food mill; it will strain the seeds and skins out of your sauce after you make it, while also milling the flesh and any added savories and herbs into a smooth, soup-like texture. What else can the food mill do? Applesauce, soup, jams and jellies, riced potatoes (like mashing, but creates less starch and guarantees no lumps), baby food—and perfect spaetzle, milled right into the cookpot.

food mill

The food mill is a classic kitchen piece that does not require electricity, and can often be found at yard sales and junk shops (must be rust-free!). For a selection of new mills in various sizes, try the Happy Cook at Barracks Road Shopping Center (thehappycook.com; 977-2665).—L.R.

 

Do no harm

You can make a lot of mistakes in the garden this time of year: broadcasting 10-10-10 fertilizer over a parched lawn, chopping back hydrangeas from a walkway along with next summer’s bloom, whisking away valuable leaves, weeds and clippings during fall clean-up as though they were dirt on a carpet.
 
Before tearing off in a frenzy of tidying as the seasons change, take a good look around. Plants are stressed. Last month’s column noted our little respite from drought, but just a few weeks without regular rainfall has withered the landscape. For the first time in 20 years, I ran dry our spring-fed cistern watering sagging tomatoes and newly planted perennials.

Some hydrangeas bloom in summer on new wood produced each spring, while others carry flower buds on wood that winters over.

The ground has little resources now and regardless of public regulations, it’s time to conserve all the grey water you can (showers, dishes, laundry, dogs’ bowls). Although garden calendars recommend September for fertilizing lawns, chemical salts in petroleum-based fertilizers will burn already stressed grass that’s starved for moisture. Let it go dormant and save precious water for woodies and perennials planted earlier in the season.

Like lawn lovers, hydrangeas can lose their heads this time of year. Thriving with abundant water, they are drought resistant and long-lived once established and can survive almost any hatchet job, but the gardener becomes distressed with repeated loss of flowers due to misguided fall trimming and would be well advised to learn which type he or she has.

Some bloom in summer on new wood produced each spring (white flowered “Pee Gee” and “Tardiva”) while others carry flower buds on wood that winters over (old-fashioned blues and pinks like “Nikko Blue” and “Glowing Embers”). It used to be only the blues and pinks bloomed on old wood, so it was easy to tell to leave them alone in the fall. But nurseries work full time to give the plant lover ever more choices and now there are new blues like “All Summer Beauty” and “Penny Mac” that flower on new wood.

Confused yet? 

If you’ve saved the tag from the nursery, you’re ahead of the game, but if you’re unsure which type you have, just leave it alone. If it blooms on old wood, it will flower beautifully next summer and you can give it a trim immediately afterwards. If it’s a new wood flowerer, you’ll see new whips of branches before it blooms. These types enjoy a haircut each March (or September, if you just can’t help it) to keep them compact and encourage more flower-bearing wood, but will keep growing and blooming on their own even if you don’t prune them.

Benign neglect goes a long way in the garden. It certainly does in mine.

So if we’re supposed to hold off on pruning and it’s too dry to water or fertilize or plant anything new, what’s left? Recycle lawn clippings, kitchen waste, old potting soil and green stuff to the compost pile. Fork it over, add some gray water.  Fill a chicken wire cylinder with leaves for crumbly leaf mold next spring. The more organics you add as mulch or amendment, the more moisture the soil can hold.

Native wildflowers bloom in low spots along my country road even in this droughty September. Years of growth and decay have created a self-sustaining habitat that feeds the late pollinators. Monarchs and hummingbirds heading south sup with local bees and wasps on patches of purple ironweed punctuated with cloudy Joe Pye that towers 5’ and more, nodding heavy lavender heads over pale orange jewel weed. Nature, whose mistakes don’t last long, is always the guide in the garden.-Cathy Clary

Train the dragon

There are five different available varieties of the Madagascar dragon tree (dracaena), all with long, narrow spiky foliage in varying shades of green, white, pink and reds. Sizes also vary, from small starter plants to mature 20-footers.

Dragon Tree

Dragon Trees are easy and straightforward to care for, preferring only moderate light and moderate watering. However, they have a particular aversion to fertilizer. Basically they are happiest to just be left alone.

You can get creative with your Dragon Tree by training it into a variety of shapes, rather than simply growing straight up. It’s rather like a big bonsai. And don’t be alarmed if they frequently shed their bottom leaves—it’s just something they do.-Lily Robertson

September in the garden

-Don’t prune the hydrangeas!
-Continue composting.
-Let grass go dormant.

 

A façade of wood shingles and white siding makes this Dairy Road home stand apart in its brick-laden neighborhood. A rock wall traces the steep driveway, which leads up to a gorgeous Japanese maple tree. And it may be close to busy Rte. 250, but you wouldn’t know it thanks to huge shade trees and the tucked-away nature of the spot. Despite a lack of bricks, this place is pure Charlottesville.

 

Basket cases

Although we might not be as resourceful as Depression-era grandmothers with hand-made flour sack aprons, we love the feeling we get from reusing things that look like trash. Baskets and containers from the farmers’ market are a pretty way to organize in the kitchen, bath or office. You’ll find your berries and tomatoes come in very useful woven wood, cardboard and pulp style baskets of various sizes.

Farmers’ market baskets as free organizers for all your loose stuff? Hey, it beats driving to Tysons Corner and spending money at the Container Store.

How to make the most of them? Remove contents when you get home so produce doesn’t bleed into the container or start to break down. Market containers are not meant for rugged use. Pint or quart sizes catch all the small things that get lost in cabinets and drawers, like batteries, eye drops, and sponges under the sink, or loose ends in the office like paperclips, sticky notes and phone chargers.

Use a bushel basket with a handle as a waste bin for sorting junk mail, to contain unwieldy craft supplies like yarn, or as a caddy for cleaning supplies. (If you’re not lucky enough to snag one, craft stores often carry them.) Four-quart-sized baskets can work well for organizing mail or bath supplies. As for containing your enthusiasm for a well-organized home, well, that’s a taller order.—Sarah Jacobson

Scottsville on stage

When The New York Times went on a nationwide search to find great homes listed for $700,000, it was a cabin in our very own Scottsville that made an appearance among two other houses in Arizona and Florida. We agree it’s a sweet place: 2,083 square feet on 45 acres of land, extensive cedar wood work on the siding and staircase, oak beams cozying up the ceiling and a grand stone hearth to finalize the undeniable comfort of this lodge-like getaway. I’m about to drive out there and offer up my own down-payment.

Virginia’s lack of palm trees or saguaros aside, we made a good showing; and if a house-hunter, New Yorker or otherwise, had $700,000 to drop, she’d certainly have a raft of local options.

This house in Scottsville recently had its 15 minutes of fame.

At this moment on the market, you’ve got your 1,807-square-foot Wintergreen condo with three sizeable bedrooms and an equal number of full bathrooms (huh?), plus a killer view of the slopes. Or there’s a charming colonial in the heart of Charlottesville, where $695,000 buys a super-convenient location, four bedrooms and four bathrooms, all on a one-level floor plan with a terraced slate patio. Tea and closing documents, anyone?—Suzanne van der Eijk

Tile trek

In this month’s retail news, there’s one downer Downtown: Christine Magne Antiquaire has closed. 

On a happier note, Virginia Tile has picked up shop and moved to Zion Crossroads, a burgeoning retail center about 17 miles east of Charlottesville. Its old location off Harris Street was charming but cramped. While the new spot will feel more than slightly off the beaten path for Charlottesville customers, they should be pleased with the larger, streamlined facility. Owner Bruce van der Linde says the new showroom is more “self-directed and seamless, with lots more vignettes and displays.” 

While the move is still in progress, those who visit now will find plenty to peruse (including heated tile floors in the bathrooms�"�feel free to de-shoe). Van der Linde says the relocation was prompted by mounting congestion in town and the fact that “[Zion Crossroads] could be the next Short Pump,” as he puts it. 

Van der Linde hopes to keep his Charlottesville customers coming, but complaining commuters won’t get his sympathy: “I live in Earlysville.” 

If you’re thinking of dropping in, van der Linde recommends making an appointment: 817-8453.—Kathryn Faulkner

Power move

What if you want to get your main electrical service line moved to a different point on your house? At our place, this move was necessary because a previous owner had built a second-floor deck right underneath where the powerline swooped from a pole at the edge of the yard toward the house itself. This created a bit of a situation: Anyone standing on the deck could reach out and touch—or walk right into—the service line. This, in the words of our home inspector, was “the most outrageous safety violation I’ve ever seen.” Dubious distinction, to be sure!

After calling our power company to find out what the requirements are for a safe place to attach the line—it has to be a certain height from the ground and a certain distance from the deck—we located a new spot for the so-called weatherhead (the hardware that attaches line to house). From here, the line could run under the deck: safer and less of an eyesore.

Whereas before, the main service line swooped dangerously over the deck, it now attaches to the house beside the deck and travels safely underneath.

Next step: Hire an electrician. This is one of the few projects we D.I.Y.-ers weren’t willing to take on by ourselves. We got two estimates and were glad we did, since one was quite a bit lower. (Luckily, we wouldn’t have to move our meter box. If we had, we would have been paying for a lot more of our electrician’s time.) We also learned that the electrician would have to schedule the power company to turn off the juice, then turn it back on once the work was done. Oh, and there’d be still another party involved: the county building inspector, who’d sign off on the work before the power could be restored.

Bottom line? The electrician was at our house for about six hours and billed us around $500. And we feel much, much safer standing on our deck.—Spackled Egg

Breaking news

This month’s surfer: Paige Mattson, owner of Blue Ridge Eco Shop

What’s on her browser: treehugger.com

What it is: Dubbed the green CNN, treehugger.com is the center for sustainability information. Whether you’re a newbie and think green’s just a color, or you’re president of the neighborhood recycling union, you’ll find something useful among the site’s plethora of news, solutions and product information.

Paige Mattson

Why she likes it: Paige says it’s nice to find a site that is non-biased. Apart from all the up-to-date information of what’s going on in the green community, such as issues coming before Congress, it also provides links to useful resources, like places to buy green.

 

Max out your miles

Yeah, this is a house and home publication, and your car isn’t part of your house. But, for one thing, lots of us practically live in our cars, and for another thing, most household budgets have been getting heavier in the “gasoline” column lately, and therefore lighter in the “cool stuff for the pad” column.

Therefore, we think it’s perfectly appropriate to let you know about hypermiling, a fancy word for the simple practice of changing one’s driving habits to reap better gas mileage. Check out hypermiling.com for full exposition of the geekitude possible when you drive a hybrid and spend a lot of time online. Or just save yourself some gas with these techniques:

*Accelerate slowly.

*Coast whenever possible. Put your car in neutral if you can.

*Avoid sudden braking.

*Observe the speed limit.

*Keep your tires inflated.

Yeah, it all adds up to driving like a granny—and to surprising gas savings. I tried it and immediately upped my MPG by 20 percent—enough for, say, that Dwell subscription I’ve been wanting.—Erika Howsare

Hay is for horses…

But straw is for houses. Yep, that’s right; plenty of people are taking a step toward ecological responsibility by using straw as a primary wall component in their homes. Apart from being an environmental do-gooder, other individual perks include: energy efficiency, sound proofing, lower cost and potential use of local materials.

O.K., let’s take a step back. What the heck is a straw bale home? For the most part these homes still look and, uh, smell similar to your average house. The bales are simply used like insulation, filling in the walls of an erected frame. Or they can take on the heftier task of load bearing—i.e., holding up the roof. Surprisingly, straw bale is actually fire resistant. After a layer of chicken-wire is pinned in, an earth plaster or cement stucco leaves the walls looking solid and cozy.

Straw bale construction often has a sculptural, adobe-like quality; the Gyovai/Muehlman house also includes a “truth window” so visitors can see the straw.

Reed Muehlman and Christine Gyovai, local permaculturists, took part in their own straw bale home construction. “We left a truth window,” says Muehlman, just in case visiting friends don’t believe the walls are actually jam packed with blocks of straw. Looks like the big, bad wolf can huff and puff at today’s straw houses, but he’ll have to pick his pork up at Kroger.—Suzanne van der Eijk

Mercury: there’s the rub

So you finally made the eco-friendly switch from incandescent to compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). Good for you. But what are you going to do now that one of them has finally bitten the dust (after 8,000 hours of use)? If you’re thinking of tossing it in the trash, think again. These long-lasting lights aren’t that eco-friendly once unscrewed.

Like all fluorescents, CFLs contain small amounts of mercury, a neurotoxin that can be released into the environment upon breakage of the bulb. Not only should you be careful not to break a CFL, you should also make sure it doesn’t end up in a landfill.

The Rivanna Solid Waste Authority collects unbroken CFLs Monday through Saturday at both its Ivy and McIntire Road sites, according to its executive director, Thomas Frederick. As for where the bulbs wind up, “we contract with a private firm that separates the components of CFLs and recycles them,” Frederick says. Drop-off details can be found on the RSWA website: avenue.org/rswa.

In the unlucky event that you have a broken CFL on your hands, make sure your home is adequately ventilated and avoid breathing any vapors from the bulb. The EPA website has further guidance: epa.gov/mercury.—Kathryn Faulkner

Farm table

Zucchini and chocolate? Certainly not the first food combo I’d come up with, but Anne-Marie Parrish, local author of the new cookbook, From the Farm, demonstrates how culinary innovation can certainly lead to delectable surprises. Parrish and her husband farm in Fluvanna County (look for Randy’s Produce Farm at the City Market), so you know she knows her veggies. Her eclectic approach to ingredients may have made recipe development a significant challenge, but while the kids were asking, “What’s in this, Mom?” they were probably scooping up seconds. 

Apart from all the necessary nourishment you get from fresh local produce, Parrish stresses the nourishment for the soul that comes along with it. My soul was undoubtedly nourished by the genuine kitchen guidance listed on the back of the section dividers—stuff like “Don’t freeze cooked egg whites” and a recipe for a baking-soda cleaner for Teflon.

Eat your veggies? But how? A local farmer’s cookbook comes to the rescue.

Parrish’s mother and sister also made recipe contributions to the book (which you can find at the City Market and Feast!). So this is definitely a family affair, with something for everybody—even if it means you have to try the beets.—S.V.

Class act

As you return to the classroom this month, don’t leave your eco-awareness at the door. Pack lightly for the sake of the planet and your pocketbook.

Experts say Americans will spend $600 on back-to-school shopping. But, my green friends, do you really need all that stuff? Consult the list, and look no further than the nearest junk drawer, where pens, pencils, crayons and highlighters abound. Dr. Denise Young, mother of five, recycles last year’s binders and notebooks, saving money and resources. When it comes to clothing, electronics, and supplies, embrace the concept of “share and share alike” among friends, family members, classmates and roommates.

Next on the list: paper products. Save a tree by minding your Ps and Cs: Look for PCW, Post-Consumer Waste, preferably 100 percent recycled, and PCF, Processed Chlorine-Free (Staples). The Blue Ridge Eco Shop carries pens and pencils made of leftover furniture wood, as well as recycled cardboard three-ring binders (no vinyl or PVC).

The popular Laptop Lunchbox (available at Rebecca’s) is lead-free, BPA-free, reusable, and easy to clean.

Don’t forget the quintessential back-to-school item: the backpack. “Buy something that lasts,” Young suggests. “A good backpack from Lands End or L.L. Bean can last years.”

Now enjoy the rest of summer vacation!

 

Nestled in the woods east of Charlottesville, this stone house says sweet relaxation. Check out that wide front porch (complete with rocking chair) and that lush wooded view. Any double-wide might boast those goodies, but this place has style too, in the brick accents hugging the windows and the substantial flared porch columns.

Summer afternoon

Henry James once said that these—“summer afternoon”—were the two most beautiful words in the English language, and with the weather we’ve been having, who could disagree? Timely rains since February have produced “significant improvement in drought conditions throughout the Commonwealth,” according to the U.S. Geological Service. The skies have been powder puff pictures and those of us without central cooling systems have been enjoying a fairly decent stretch of sleeping weather.

Coneflower and other self-seeding blooms can fill in gaps among perennials.

Our brethren along the Mississippi have not been as lucky with nature’s bounty, however, and recent flooding illustrates not only the consequences of wetland destruction and building in flood plains but also agribusiness’ addiction to cheap fertilizer. Thousands of tons of nitrogen have washed down to feed the dead zones in the Gulf.

Disasters on a grand scale can help remind us of the little things, so think again before you reach for that bag of 10-10-10. You may not be growing corn for ethanol or warehousing chickens on the Eastern Shore, but you can control what runs off your own property.

I’ve been touting compost in the last few columns as a way to keep kitchen and garden wastes out of landfills and as a natural source of fertilizer. Petroleum produced fertilizers deliver the goods—straight fixes of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium—but they don’t add anything organic to the soil, as well as having that pesky habit of rolling off into the waterways.
 
Whether you buy it or make it, think of spreading a couple of inches of compost around trees and shrubs for mulch, digging it into new beds as amendment, or broadcasting it over lawns as fertilizer. It releases organic forms of the good old N-P-K as well as improving the texture and water-holding capacity of the soil.
 
All this rain has encouraged fungal wilts and spots on tomatoes, especially if you’re growing heirloom varieties like Brandywine or Mortgage Lifter. The old ones are superior for taste and texture but not for disease-resistance. Of course it’s too late now, but if you don’t like to fuss, next year look for hybrids like Early Girl, Big Boy, Better Boy and Celebrity.

For the present, make sure tomatoes are mulched thickly with straw or shredded leaves to keep fungal spores from splashing up and if you don’t have anything better to do in the evenings, stoop among the fragrant foliage and pick off yellowing or spotted leaves to keep things clean around the bases of the plants. Don’t wet the leaves when watering.

Lawn people: Remember not to scalp the tender turf below 2" during these hot days and keep your blades sharp. Smushing the grass with dull blades spreads fungal diseases in wet weather. Leave clippings where they lie as a natural source of nitrogen. Save any fertilizing, chemical or organic, until the fall when soil temperatures cool and the roots are ready to receive.

In the flower garden, reliable self-seeding annuals can fill in gaps among perennials. Cleome, the old-fashioned “cat’s whiskers” has flowers like pink and white clouds, and tassel flower is another possibility with its tiny red puffs.

Vitex shrubs are in their glory now, top dressed with icy azure spikes of flowers, soaking up the sun along with orange butterfly weed and blackberry lily, purple coneflower and misty blue Russian sage. Also called the chastetree, vitex is combined with figs in an amusing planting by the Honeymoon cottage at Monticello. Mine is a sprawling multi-trunked specimen at the back of the garden opening its arms to hungry butterflies, wasps, bees and flies all through the summer afternoons.—Cathy Clary

Warmer, please

Chinese evergreens are durable and dramatic, and in indoor conditions can literally last for decades. They are herbaceous perennials that bloom with inconspicuous whiteish flowers that turn into red berries.

Behind their large, distinctive silvery green foliage, their sap is poisonous, and can irritate the skin and/or mouth and throat if ingested, so be conscious when handling them.

Though they grow best in moderate to low light, ideally by a north-facing window, they are very sensitive to the cold. Temps below 55 degrees can be fatal; brown spots on the leaves mean the plant is saying, “Brrrrr!”—Lily Robertson

August in the garden

-Use compost as fertilizer and mulch.
-Let grass clippings lay.
-Mulch tomato plants.

 

Cucumber Salad

This summery salad recipe, courtesy of the Indian restaurant Milan, has one possibly hard-to-find ingredient: the Indian spice powder Chat Masala. If you can’t find it to buy, directions are available online for mixing your own.
 

1 cucumber, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces
1/2 small onion, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 large tomato, cut into very small pieces
4 branches cilantro, cut into small pieces
salt and pepper to taste
small amount of vinegar
2 tsp. Chat Masala
fresh juice from 1 lime
 
Mix ingredients together. Serves two.

In a pickle, happily

ALONSO:
And Trinculo is reeling ripe: where
   should they
Find this grand liquor that hath
   gilded ’em?
How camest thou in this pickle?

TRINCULO:
I have been in such a pickle since I
saw you last that, I fear me, will never
   out of
my bones: I shall not fear fly-blowing.

This exchange from Shakespeare’s The Tempest is the first written record of someone “being in a pickle.” Pickled or no, cucumbers are an unmistakeable herald of summer.

Cucumbers mature in the garden in high heat, just in time for scorching patio meals. Their sprawling tendrils are just as prolific as other garden- gobbling cucurbits such as squash, zucchini and melon, but cucumbers can be vined vertically to create shade and space. When small, spiky and firm, cucumbers are well suited to pickling whole (think gherkins and cornichons). As they mature, the seeds become larger, firmer and more bitter and can be removed by scraping a teaspoon along the inside of the cuke. 

A locally grown cucumber will not be coated in food-grade wax, so try striping the skin using a peeler and enjoy the striking color combination.  Dill, cilantro, mint, cumin, red onion, tomato, yogurt, sour cream, lemon, smoked salmon, and rice wine vinegar all show an affinity for the cool ruler; cucumbers can even be cooked, although doing so in the summer seems hot headed.—Lisa Reeder

Look sharp

Carrot matchsticks, waffle-cut sweet potatoes, wafer-thin disks of cucumber—you’ve seen them in restaurants and marveled at the precision, but how in the world is it accomplished? With a mandoline. 

This mandoline, available at The Seasonal Cook, represents the simple end of the spectrum; you can buy a much more elaborate mandoline if you like.

A mandoline is a hand-powered slicing machine, similar in function to a grater but with sharper, interchangeable blades and meant for high volume production. For home use, try any of the OXO brand mandolines—they mimic the “professional” French mandoline, but have been made steadier on their feet and simpler to set up, clean, and put away.

Mandolines usually include several interchangeable blades; as soon as you buy the thing, find a little box or tin in which to stash the extra pieces so that they don’t disappear (taking with them your dream of waffle fries).—L.R.

Small bath blues

Question for Kelly Pfeffer, partner and senior designer at Fifth Wall Design Group: How do you make a small bathroom feel bigger?

Answer: Less is definitely more, says Pfeffer: “Keeping out the clutter by limiting the amount of stuff that is around your vanity top or on the back of the toilet is the first step to opening up a small bathroom.” That means no hair dryers sprawling across countertops or rubber ducky collections on display.
 

Glass doors rather than plastic shower curtains can open the space in a tight bathroom.

Color scheme is also a crucial component in allowing little to seem large. Pfeffer says, “Keep it light, and consider painting the ceiling the same color to make it feel higher.” Light, as in illumination, is also central to opening up the bathroom. “Large mirrors can be used for extra reflecting,” says Pfeffer.

Pedestal sinks or wall-mounted vanities can be huge space savers. “If more storage is necessary, the piece should have legs and be open underneath,” Pfeffer says. If you have some say in the preliminary room design, Pfeffer suggests a glass partition instead of a shower curtain to add new space.

One final tip: “Large tiles on a diagonal also have great potential for widening an area."—Suzanne van der Eijk

Rug’n’roll

We spotted the spots on this medium-sized rug at Floor Fashions, and were drawn to its lighthearted, but not too showy, brand of contemporary design. The color palette could calm a child’s room or liven up a grownup space. Bullseye!—Erika Howsare

Nosh news

Here’s something to savor: the beautiful and brainy magazine Gastronomica. It’s a food publication, but it’s no ad-riddled recipe collection. In fact, there are very few ads or recipes. Instead, there are smart articles that start at “food” and wander toward poetry, music, art, and even postmodern literary theory. We challenge you to name another magazine covering both Jacques Derrida and Italian artisanal honey in the same lovely, glossy issue. Luscious fare, indeed.—E.H.

 

The Spring Street cocktail

Created several years ago by Cynthia Schroeder and Blue Light Grill’s Remington Donovan in honor of Schroeder’s boutique, Spring Street, this cocktail’s personality is “effervescent, happy and lively,” in Donovan’s words. And it’s pink as a summer sunset.

1/2 cup fresh or frozen blackberries or mixed berries
1 Tbs. sugar
2 oz. Triple Sec or Cointreau
6 oz. vodka
Champagne or sparkling white wine (happily, “you don’t need to use anything expensive,” says Donovan)

This shakes includes its own strainer; others will send you shopping for a strainer accessory.

Use a spoon to mash the berries and sugar with the Triple Sec or Cointreau; be sure to leave small pieces of berries. Mix in vodka. Fill a small martini glass half-full with berry mixture and then top with champagne. Makes approximately four drinks.

It’s done in the sun

When the weather starts to heat up and you entertain the idea of entertaining by the grill, consider stirring up festive signature drinks that feature herbs and local berries and fruit.

Harness the energy of the sun to make the base for your signature cocktail (or mocktail, the nonalcoholic version). You’ll need a large glass pitcher or jar, a hot, sunny spot, and imagination—the heat of the sun will infuse water with the color and flavor of your “tea,” which becomes a simple syrup when sweetened with puréed fruit, honey, juice or sugar. This syrup can be frozen in ice cube trays, ready to pop at your next party.

Seasonal berries make cocktails more fun.

But how to build the perfect drink? Sweet liquors like bourbon or whiskey would love the astringency of a sun tea of Orange Pekoe, orange zest, mint and honey; clear liquors like rum and vodka are naturals with lemon and Thai basils, vanilla bean, and lemonade. Get wild with a chilled chai—Darjeeling tea, cinnamon stick, clove, black peppercorn, cardamom, vanilla, and milk or cream.

For a fancy presentation (be it tea or cocktails) consider freezing whole or sliced berries or fruit—the trees and bushes in our area produce cherries, blackberries, plums, peaches, melons, and blueberries (in roughly that order). To avoid disposables, serve drinks in Mason jars (or ask friends to bring their favorite drinking vessel!) and use the frozen fruit as ice cubes in each glass.—Lisa Reeder

The shakes

So you have a signature cocktail, eh? Every great bartender is also armed with a bottle opener, “wine key” (or corkscrew) and a drink shaker. For entertaining, a larger drink shaker enables one to mix and pour in batches. You can also mix each drink in a glass, then tip it into a smaller shaker for mixing, and back into the same glass. Regardless of size, a shaker also requires a strainer (either perforations in the top covered by a small cap, or a separate bar-toy that fits inside the shaker and is held in place while the pour is accomplished). Confident you have what it takes? Don’t forget a bar towel and a couple of great stories.—L.R.