Completely Honored!

Last Saturday we held our annual Paris Flea Market Sale. Soooo much work!

We had a very successful day and the weather was pure heaven. Many prayers were answered as we anticipated this event! The clouds didn't break open until fore casted (4:00pm)! 

The day started out with such a great response from our Black-eyed Susan friends and followers that I got caught up in the frenzy...sorry, no photos...I know, how silly of me. It's always fun to show you what a mad house this sale creates!

It is also an annual tradition that my staff and I provide a very nice lunch spread for the Black-eyed Susan workers. It was hard to find time to start the rotation this year! If you had a chance to read my last post "What I did on my vacation, really", you will catch a glimpse of the cake I made for my staff. Late in the day, one of our favorite friends and long time BES supporters dropped by. It's always a pleasure and sociable time when Andrew stops by. He often brings gifts and always accolades for our efforts. I think he has been shopping in my store for almost as long as I can recall. I often tell him should I run short of inventory, I know where I can readily gather some!

We noticed that he had brought with him a "take-out" container and this caused quite a lively conversation. Andrew said that he had read my blog (a dedicated follower!) regarding my cake baking for the Flea Market and remembered that last year I had sent him home with a piece of the pie you might say!  So this year, he came prepared! He called it presumptuous, I called it pure flattery! There isn't anyone I would rather include in our cake-fest than such a friend. Good thinking, Andrew.

This could be our new Flea Market tradition! Meet Andrew. He's a fine friend to have.

Andrew's sizable piece of German Chocolate Cake! Photo compliments of Nancy's cell phone.

First Day of Spring!

Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

The first day of spring did not disappoint!


I love forsythia! In the picturesque roads of Bucks County, you will find meadows full of this.

Ahhhhhh.

Rural split rail fence flanked by tender blossoms. I want some.

The wonders of bursting Spring!


Weeping plum in full bloom...it takes my breath away.


Magnificent magnolia...


This is real!


Masses of daffodils. So cheery!

Spring wreath, courtesy Black-eyed Susan! Fresh color and contrast.


My favorite reindeer moss nesting pale robin egg blue eggs, just inside my door!

Welcome Spring. Stay awhile.

Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner of Champions!

Fresh baked All Bran cranberry muffins (mini!) on the way to work in the car. Great recipe, courtesy of my sister Denise (and All Bran!) . Only 1 point for two!! Plenty of fiber, no protein...

The best I could do...peanut butter and spun honey sandwiches. One for lunch, one for dinner. I should have a minute to eat one right before the crowd hits tonight. High fiber bread, a little protein, and yummy, yummy spun honey! If you have never had this kind of honey, we import it from Utah (courtesy of my daughter, Michelle)! It is usually in my Christmas stocking and any other occasion that we meet. Cox's delicious creamed honey,nature's delight. That should do it, then!

I wonder if the event group would be happy with this for our treat? That may just happen.

Well, all my best intentions of blogging about the upcoming Trinity Church House Tour...(VERY cool properties!!) were seriously dashed after arriving home last night from work around 11:00pm. What can I say, our first event tonight ("Change is in the air"), loads of new and fabulous new inventory to put out, and sales during the day dictated some refreshing on the whole. All in all, I was pleased and felt a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day.

(And, the wonderful foot rub at midnight from Sneelock was a fine reward to boot!)

So, I'm off for another day. Rummaging through the kitchen to find fare for the day proved challenging, as my normal grocery shopping time (that would be about 9:00pm each Saturday night...) was overlooked last week due to reworking the store after a massive blowout sale.

Hmmm. What can I take for lunch and for dinner? Never mind breakfast!

Jackie, you might as well just shut down right now and read no further! (Jackie is my friend and project manager who has lost boatloads of weight of late eating a perfectly healthy and controlled died of organic fresh foods. (I really need to do that. Put that on the list of "things to do".)

Sorry about the photos at the top! Holy Moly, if I don't get this stupid program to cooperate with allowing me to cut and paste, or select and drag, I may just have to sign off blogging....so, just use your Anne of Green Gables imagination and imagine the photos in the right place, after the copy. Time to do this sort of "fixing" is just not on my side!

Enjoy!

Redemtion!

12:30 am. Bread out of the oven and I'm off to bed!

Remember my bread debacle last fall---same bread, disaster! I posted how I saved the day by breaking it into pieces when it would not come out of the pan! So, here's the real beauty! Susan's sheepherder's bread, oh so good. I'm having a small dinner party Saturday night and this will be on the menu, in perfect form...this time!

Just to give you the scale of this loaf, it is baked in a dutch oven. It is about 13" in diameter and 14-15" tall! It's a showstopper,and best of all, it will feed at least 20 people! I guess you could call it "stylish bread"!

When time permits, I'll be happy to pass along the recipe if there is any interest. It's a keeper in my family.

Happy to have redeemed myself from the last attempt!

Another Charlotte Jane Keeper!

As promised, here is the recipe for the delicious lemon bread that I made for our third day of our grand opening of the Design Center! It's been a great week so far, introducing my retail friends to the resources now available to them . Combining our retail and interior division is an exciting new adventure and truly does take me back to my roots.


My first little retail store was only 400 sq. feet! The historic stone cottage on Stony Hill Road in Lower Makefield was my first venture into retail. My interior design business had exisited many years prior to opening my cute store. So many people have asked me how I came to name my store! I wanted my name to be part of it. I also opened with about 75% of my inventory being floral related. In addition to these factors, I wanted a name that could be any kind of store I wanted it to be! I thought maybe someday I would want it to be a boutique for jewelry or clothing. Black-eyed Susan could be vintage collectables! Maybe I would want a shoe store someday! (I'm sure my daughters are getting scared about now wondering if I am planning on even more adventures!) Black-eyed Susan. I like it.

I hope you will come in and take advantage of the new resources that have been added. If I personally am not available, one of my assistants will be. I can be found at the retail store now any time that I am not out with a design client. We will be offering instore consultations and design for a reduced rate from the custom full service interior design rate.


Here is the recipe for the lemon bread that was served today. Try it, it's great and not difficult.

6 tablespoons butter

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

3 Tablespoons lemon juice

2 teaspoons fresh lemon zest

1 1/2 cups flour, sifted

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup milk

3 tablespoons lemon juice

1/2 cup sugar



1 large loaf, or 3 mini loaves


Cream the butter and 3/4 cup sugar until fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Beat in 3 tablespoons lemon juice and the lemon zest. Combine sifted flour, baking powder and salt. To the butter mixture, add the flour mixture aternately with the milk, beating just enough to blend. Line the bottom of the pan with waxed paper. Spray the pan with Pam. Turn the batter into the pan. Bang pan down hard on the work surface to settle the batter evenly. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean. Blend the remaining 3 tablespoons of lemon juice and 1/2 cup sugar. Pour this mixture slowly over the hot bread. Let the bread remain in the pan until the glaze is absorbed, at least 15 minutes. Remove from pan, leaving on the wax paper. Let stand on rack until completely cooled. Remoe waxed paper; wrap bread in foil and let sit for 24 hours before slicing.

Note: I made mini loaves and baked them for about 20-25 minutes.

Enjoy! I hope to see you soon.

Tomorrow, I'll be serving mini coconut cream tarts! Watch for the recipe as well.