Wednesday night magic!

I feel like I've fallen off the blogging planet. A few instagrams here and there, loads of intentions and ideas and not enough hours in the day.

With a handful of large interior projects and holiday setup for the retail store right around the corner, High Point Furniture Market right around the corner and my Black-eyed Susan events in full swing , there isn't much breathing room. I miss it.

My stockroom is full to overflowing with the coolest new things from fall jewelry to Christmas tabletop and glorious ornaments. There isn't a bare shelf and hardly a path to walk through the isles! Connie is in the quitting mind frame again and the design staff doesn't have time for lunch.

Oh, did I mention I am kicking off my new paint program the an upcoming class? Amy Howard Paint...cool colors, One Step Paint or lacquers in fabulous current colors. I have a little snapshot is some in progress work. You really have to see it! Using this new product can transform an ordinary aging table into a current and stylish painted accent or an old photo frame into pure glam. It's a must see (and do!)

All in all, it's a pretty exciting time! I just need to sit down and breath.




This is my treasure to restore and reuse...





...in progress One Step Paint (orange of course!) I am going to wax and age it a bit, mildly for added interest.




We created this display tonight for my class tomorrow night on fall centerpieces. What could be more glamorous than a chrome table packed and layered with mercury pumpkins and cloches?! Too cute.



Close up with one of my "Susan tips" ..."cloche your favorite collections"

Come in and see all my new arrivals for yourself. Sign up for a class or two and dream of reinventing one of your favorite old pieces of furniture into a painted wonder. Come in and enjoy the ride. It's full speed ahead. Whew.






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Thinking of Mother

My darling mother's birthday is today. I cannot leave the day without paying tribute to her style, beauty and wit. She taught, entertained, dressed and lived with style. She taught me the finest manners, gourmet baking skills, integrity, and the joy that come from service. She was my example in all things good and noteworthy. From her I learned to be a mother myself, work past the point of exhaustion , and find beauty in making my home a place I want to be. She taught through example and unconditional love.

M

Although she has been gone for almost four years, her legacy to all who knew and loved her lives on and inspires us to want to be more like her.

 Mother, Dad and my sister Denise . Three of the finest people I know.

In March the year before her death, I spent my birthday with her. This photograph of me shows the love in my heart for her as she was telling what she loved about me during the birthday celebration. I recall the words and her loving heart as she spoke. I miss her so much and continue to yearn to be the kind of woman she was. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Birthday, sweet Mother of mine.

Redemption

After making three cakes last night to get one good one, my efforts paid off tonight when I assembled and frosted the chocolate peanut butter cake with chocolate peanut butter ganache. I feel redeemed from the failures of last night! My darling friend, Lisa, said that my mother was smiling! I like that thought. And I think she is right. This is my finished cake...


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In addition, I had the brilliant idea to make a tiny one out of the scraps from one of the failures that I kept. Is about 6" in diameter and so tall that it almost fell over! I cut the rounds out of a large round biscuit cutter which made the sides very crumby...as in lots of crumbs!! It was a bit difficult to frost in a pretty fashion.




This one is for you, Andrew! Andrew is a darling friend and long time Black-eyed Susan supporter and patron. So much so, I'm sure that if I ran short of inventory at any time, I could call on him to personally replace my inventory with some of the hundreds of dollars worth he has purchased from my store! Andrew is also a loyal blog follower and last year when he read that I had made a cake for the staff luncheon, he showed up for a piece! I loved that he was so in touch with what was going on and was interested in my efforts of baking. So, this one is just for you! It also made me so happy to make something from the multiple failures of the night before! Win, win.

I'm going to bed a lot happier tonight. And I'm pretty sure my sweet mother is smiling.

Hope to see you tomorrow.

Master cake baker...or not.

I consider myself a master cake baker. My darling departed mother taught me from the age of 14 the art of fine baking, her coveted cake recipes being among the repertoire . Sift three times, perfect and precise measuring. Fine ingredients. Room temperature eggs. Don't over mix. Don't over fill the pans. Be aware of the first point of fragrance...then start testing for done ness. I've learned well...mother would be proud.

Until tonight.

The frustration started when the first cake was in the oven and I realized that the oven was not up to temp. The temperature indicator said it was at 350* but the inside thermometer said not! It was not until I checked the cake for the first time at 25 minutes that I realized it was not rising and basically batter. The inside oven temp was at about 200...oh. Dear.

At this point I realized it would mean a trip to the grocery store to restock my ingredient list of sour cream, eggs and chocolate. I tried to overcompensate by turning the temp up to 400...then 450...I finally gave up, headed to the grocery store and resolved myself to another round of measuring, pan prepping and ingredients in hope of the fine result I was used to.

I should have prefaced this by explaining that this bake-off is in reparation for the staff luncheon in conjunction with my annual Paris Flea Market Sale this Saturday. What can I say? I like cake. Tradition for the staff lunch.

Back from the store, I tested I the oven again and came up with a formula I thought would work...setting the temp at slightly over 400 seemed to render me with a fairly appropriate moderate oven. I started the process again after washing and prepping my finest pans, cleaning my trusty Bosch mixer and re measuring to a T. I prefer 9" pans. The recipe called for 8" pans...the last failure was produced with the 9" pans, so I decided I should follow,the suggestion and go with the 8" pans ( three layers).

Into the oven with confidence this time. Bustling away re cleaning the kitchen, I checked the cake 20 minutes later...Oh. My! My cakes were totally sunken in the middle...unusable. What had happened to my 50 years of cake baking success?! I took these out of the oven and had what my mother would call " cake guts". The 8" pans were too small, the batter overflowed and caused them to fall. The faulty oven thermometer was an issue as well.




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I will tell you it tasted pretty fine.

Another try.
Fred thought I was crazy, but I fumed that I was not going to let this get the best of me. The process started again. Cleaning, prepping, measuring, gentle mixing.

A dozen eggs, many ponds of chocolate and cups of sugar later, I had my third cake in the disreputable oven. I had done a cursory google search on sinking cakes and was pretty convinced that a faulty thermostat was to blame. With that knowledge in hand, I made yet additional adjustments to the temperature and tried another angle...lower temp, additional time. I went back to the 9" pans.




12:04 . I'm waiting for the final and last cake to test done. Holy. Smokes.

Three cakes later, it looks like I have a passable cake. Not a prize winner.




...and, a plate of cake guts for the staff and delivery men tomorrow. The real thing, on Saturday. Passable, not gourmet.

It's going to have to be a service call or a new oven before I bake another cake Mom.

*sigh*

Wednesday Night Magic...it's Fall!!

With the help of Sneelock, Matthew, Ann and myself, we made a few great and refreshing changes tonight!

There is a real thrill when the first fall accents come out and we officially start the fast track to forth quarter busy busy days. I couldn't help humming a bit as I arranged the bittersweet and stunning fall leaves and put the summer seashells away. Everyone had dispersed And headed for our cars when I realized that I had not taken one photo to spread the excitement. Ann and I went back in to snap a few photos...you really need to stop in and take in the fabulous look of fall. You won't be disappointed. (There's lots of great sale prices on floor samples as well).





Dramatically tall bittersweet vines grace this rustic table.





Fall hydrangeas, aspen leaves and a few log cuts! I added these perfectly colored book volumes and some stunning pottery to complete the look. This great new table also hit the sales floor tonight.





If you need a fall door basket, I have a nice selection of intense hydrangeas and beautiful fillers and berries to put one together for you. They won't last long, so hurry in.



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Spectacular! What can I say?




These beauties made their way out of the stock room as well. Wow. Chartreuse never looked so good...such a great accent color.

When the staff turns the key tomorrow they will feel like summer was way too short. Fall. It's here and there's. a smile on my face. See you soon.

My Christmas elf

Sneelock and I installed draperies today for a long time and loyal customer a little ways away in NewJersey. She had been talking about wanting new draperies for a good long time. Let s face it, styles change! There my not be anything wrong with your existing panels, but just like bell bottom jeans get replaced by skinny jeans, style dictates change now and then.

When we arrived at her house, she told us a cute story.

" last year my husband asked me what I wanted for Christmas and I told him all I wanted was to wake up on Christmas morning and see Fred (Sneelock) on a ladder in my dining room"! As the eyebrows of the family raised in surprise, she reminded them of the time several years ago when Fred and I arrived at her house to press and hang her bedroom draperies. Yes, Fred was on the ladder hanging those draperies and that was what she wanted again!

So today, Sue's wish came true and I took a photo for the record and my post! I got quite a kick our of her animated excitement along with the cute story, and Sneelock was her Christmas elf a little ahead of time this year.

Enjoy, my friend.




He is a darn good elf to me too.



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At the end of the day, a set of 1000 thread count perfectly ironed sheets just makes me say "ahhhhh". That's how I spent my day off today, washing, ironing and doing domestic detail work.I like it.

There are so many exciting things coming in the back door at Black-eyed Susan and lots more to come since returning from my market trip. Those of you who know me best know that its not always the best day when a newly styled vignette gets disrupted by a great sale...for most brick and mortar shop owners, that $7500.00 day would be a great reward...for me, not so much. (What is wrong with this picture, my staff often says with rolling eyes.)

Some of my favorite orders have already shown up and are here to inspire you. I hope to see you soon.