Merry Transitions Ahead: A Preview of What's to Come

There's a lot of change afoot down at Merry Mount, though everything's sort of at the start-up stages at the moment. Rio and I traveled to the farm last weekend on a Saturday filled with sheets of pouring rain, followed by sleet and finally snow. Was not really a pretty sight, but it's always a happy thing to be at the Merry farm!

 Rett is trying to will spring to come with a pot of pretty pansies, but even they had to come indoors overnight.

At least we were treated to a beautiful morning, with the dawn sun stretching long, beautiful shadows across the (still) cold fields.

Rett is looking forward to seeing what little plants and perennials survived the long winter, and which ones will soon be popping their heads up in the beds surrounding the towering maple tree outside of the sunporch. And Pat can't wait to see if the just-last-fall-planted fruit trees -- including cherry, pear, plum and chestnut -- will soon be showing signs of life.

But there's more exciting transitions on the horizon at little Merry Mount.

This will be a rose garden next summer! ("After" pictures in about six months!)

And this, well, it's the perfect place for Rett's upcoming ginormous garden! Think green beans, tomatoes, lettuce, corn, peppers, cucumbers, melons, potatoes and onions! (More "after" pics in the summer.)

Perhaps a pasture?

And of course the biggest restoration yet -- the barn!!!

Thanks to some expert help from Rett's and Pat's son's friends, the old barn is going through a huge transformation. It had been stuffed to the gills with lumber salvaged from another outbuilding, which has now been removed and will be repurposed.

Some cute little stalls have been cleaned out. . . soon to be home to an adorable goat or mini-donkey perhaps? The chicken coop will also take up residence in a corner of the barn. Think fresh eggs!

And parts of the roof and siding are being rebuilt. Just in time for a glorious summer!

In the meantime, Rio enjoyed hanging out in the yard.

And we had a lovely dinner of brown rice and lentil rolls, capped off with some luscious (and gluten free) coconut macaroons with mini chocolate chips and chopped salted almonds. They tasted like an Almond Joy! (Pat even had one for breakfast the next morning.)

Goat Cheese, Lentil and Brown Rice Rolls

Butter for the baking dish
6 large Swiss chard leaves
salt

Filling:
2 cups cooked brown rice
1 packed cup baby arugula leaves, chopped
1 cup goat cheese (8 oz) at room temp
1 cup cooked green lentils
1/2 cup chopped fresh mint leaves
1/4 cup olive oil
1 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 26-oz jar marinara sauce
1/2 cup grated Premsan
2 T. olive oil

Preheat oven to 400. Butter a 9 x 13 glass baking dish; set aside.

Remove thick stem from center of each chard leaf. Cut each leaf in half lengthwise. Trim end from leaves to make each half-leaf about 7 x 5 inches. bring a pot of salted water to boil; add chard and cook for 10 seconds. Remove and rise with cold water; drain on paper towels and set aside.

For filling: in med bowl, mix together the brown rice, arugula, goat cheese, lentils, mint, olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic. Season with add'l salt and pepper if desired.

Spoon 1/3 cup of filling onto the end of each chard leaf and roll up like a burrito.

Spoon 1 cup marinara sauce on bottom of pan. Arrange rolls, seam-side down in a single layer on the sauce. Spoon remaining sauce on top, and sprinkle with the Parmesan. Drizzle with the olive oil. Bake until the cheese begins to brown and the rolls are heated through; about 25 min. Cool for 5 min and serve. 

Delicious Coconut Macaroons

1-1/3 cups flaked sweetened coconut
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons gluten free (or regular) flour
dash salt
2 egg whites, beaten slightly
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a small bowl, combine the coconut, sugar, flour and salt. Stir in egg whites and vanilla; mix well. (I added some mini chocolate chips and some chopped roasted almonds)

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto greased baking sheets. Bake at 325° for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack. Yield: about 1-1/2 dozen.

Pure Gold....

Merry Mount was all aglow last weekend, thanks to the gorgeous late-afternoon sun that stretched long shadows across the backyard and tinted the fields a warm amber hue. A nice change, thank you, from the frigid white-on-white landscapes that have been way too common this cold, icy and snowy Ohio winter.

 A great time for a visit (and a birthday celebration) at the farm.

 A little quiet contemplation at dusk.

 A beautiful sunset.

 And a collection of fabulous friends.

 

 A little "birthday cake"

And a lovely dinner that everyone pitched in to help cook. Watch out for these guys' knife skills!

 On the menu: Mary Anne's outstanding Island Pork Tenderloin (for a hint of the tropics!), roasted sweet potato wedges with a maple glaze, and some gorgeous brussels sprouts.

No complaints about this colorful dinner!

 

 And for dessert? An amazing towering chocolate cake, Graeter's ice cream and Rett's homemade hot fudge sauce. (A few recipes below.)

 Next morning? Cozy start to the day.

Furry friends.

 

 

 

 And a lovely Merry Mount breakfast: Fresh fruit, grilled polenta, and scrambled eggs.

One last question. How many people does it take to change a light bulb at Merry Mount?

A village, I guess! And a long pole with a suction cup attached! Brilliant!

Rett's Hot Fudge Sauce
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup unsalted butter,sliced
pince of fine salt
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons light cornsyrup
2 tablespoons water
9 ouncesbittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In measuring cup with a spout, combine cream, butter and salt. Set aside.

In medium saucepan over medium heat, cook the sugar, corn syrup and water, stirring until the sugar dissolves; increase heat to high and bring to a full rolling boil. Cook until a dark amber color, about 1 to 2 minutes, without stirring. Remove pan from heat and carefully pour the cream mixture into the sugar mixture. Take care since the sugar will bubble up when the cream is added. Whisk until smooth.

Put the chocolate in a large, heatproof bowl. Pour the hot cream/sugar mixture over the chocolate. Add vanilla and whisk until smooth. Serve the hot fudge sauce warm.

Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Reheat over low heat before serving.

Maple Roasted Sweet Potatoes
2 pounds sweet  potatoes, scrubbed and sliced into 1 inch wedges (you can peel them but they are good with the peels left on, too)
1 tablespoon olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
Sea salt and freshly grated nutmeg for serving

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Toss sweet potatoes on large, foil-lined baking sheet with the oil, season with salt and papper. Roast for 20 minutes.

Remove the pan from oven, and toss the potatoes with the syrup.

Return to oven. Roast, tossing twice until the potatoes are beginning to brown and are tender, about 15 minutes. To serve, sprinkle warm potatoes with lemon zest, sea salt and a pinch of nutmeg.

Best Laid Plans....Work Out OK!

So. For Rett's birthday we 3 girlfriends decided to descend on Merry Mount for a "Girls' Spa weekend" complete with dinner, decadent dessert, mud masks, manicures, yoga (taught by a fabulous yoga instructor who agreed to travel to the farm), and a girls' slumber party. The 4 of us, you may remember, have been fast friends since our daughters (now 24 years old) were in third grade!

While I was stirring the batter for Rett's birthday cake the night before (an almond cake, more later), we all got a text from our friend who now lives in Indiana. Her daughter had the flu and she didn't want to leave her. The rest of us quickly decided to soldier on. Still going! Cancel spa stuff! Cancel yoga lady (too expensive). Add in MA's husband (much to Pat's relief -- he was trying to figure out how to escape the ladies' weekend!). And we gathered at Merry Mount for a birthday celebration on a gray Friday evening.

It may have been super-cold outside at the farm.

But inside we had a cozy fire.

Plenty of furry friends.

Great food -- here's my salad that I made to go w/ Mary Anne's delish coq au vin.

Wonderful wine.

Good friends.

Almond cake -- yum!

And a few well-chosen birthday gifts for Rett -- including a favorite beer that heretofore has only been available at the brewing company in Slippery Rock, and a guide to raising chickens!

Next morning, it was a bit too chilly for our traditional greet-the-day-on-the-sunporch tradition. But we enjoyed some strong French roast coffee by the fireplace instead. And Rett's southern breakfast, complete with eggs, bacon, grits, biscuits and tomato gravy. And a sunny ruby-red bought from the semi-truck that sells Florida citrus each winter from a church parking lot.

Cheers and happy birthday to Rett! Here are some recipes from the weekend:

Mary Anne's Coq au Vin (may be doubled)

1 tablespoon olive oil

½ pound bacon, diced

3 pounds of chicken breasts and thighs (with bones, without skin)

3 tablespoons brandy, warmed

1 onion, chopped

1 large clove of garlic, diced

1-2 celery stalks, sliced

1-3 carrots, diced

1 tablespoon flour

2 tablespoons tomato paste

3 t 3 ½ cups dry red wine

4 shallots, c hopped

2-3 bay leaves

½ cup parsley

1 teaspoon thyme

salt

1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns

20 pearl onions

2 tablespoons butter

1 pound mixed mushrooms (shitake, crimini, portabello, button)

In large soup pot, sauté bacon in the oil; drain and reserve. In the same pot, sauté the chicken until nicely browned, about 10 min. Pour in the brandy and flambé. Remove and reserve.

Saute the onion and vegetables until soft, the onion translucent, about 5 min. Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute, then blend in the tomato paste, wine, shallots and herbs. Season with salt and pepper. Bring rapidly to a boil, then lower heat and add the chicken and bacon. Cover and simmer gently for 45 minutes. Turn the chicken, re-cover and simmer for another 35 minutes. If you wish to make this a day ahead (best this way, as it allows the flavors to  meld), stop here and finish the next day.

Heat the butter in a frying pan. Saute the mushrooms until golden, then add to the chicken mixture. Continue cooking until the chicken is tender, about 10 minutes. Remove the chicken bones if you wish. Heat through, garnish with fresh parsley if desired, serve with parsleyed potatoes, green salad and crusty French bread. 


Gluten Free Italian Almond Cake with Raspberry Sauce

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

8 ounces almond paste

3 eggs

 1 tablespoon Amaretto

 1/4 teaspoon almond extract

 1/4 cup sweet rice flour

 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

 powdered sugar

 

Raspberry Sauce or fresh raspberries

Combine sugar, butter and almond paste, blending well; beat in eggs, Amaretto, and almond extract. Gently stir in flour and baking powder, mixing just until blended. Pour batter into a greased and floured 8-inch round cake pan. Bake at 350° for 40 to 50 minutes,or until a wooden pick or cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Invert onto a cake plate and sprinkle with powdered sugar. For berry sauce: blend in food processor 1 bag of frozen raspberries, thawed, 3/4 cup sugar, and juice of 1 small lime. 

Baby Lettuce Salad with Feta, Pecans and Pears:

Baby lettuce mixture
Feta cheese
Sliced scallions
Diced celery
Toasted pecans
bacon, cooked and crumbled
Sliced ripe pears
Dried cranberries
Layer ingredients on salad plates. For dressing, mix 1 bottle of Maple Grove Farms of Vermont fat free Honey Dijon salad dressing and juice of one orange together in a jar. Shake and drizzle over salads.

A Little Night Music

Pat and Rett's first Winter Solstice Celebration at the Farm = 8 good friends + 5 assorted dogs (who got along famously for the most part) + a soggy, wet, windy weekend punctuated with fabulous food, a few cocktails and lots of laughter. Oh yeah, and a fantastic folk violinist from Kiev in the Ukraine.

Pat always has something up his sleeve. (Last year, for the "end of time" he greeted us at the front door in tux and tails -- if the world was going to end, he was going out in style, he said.) This year, we were just finishing up dinner, when out of the blue, a knock at the door! Enter, Arkadiy Gips, a classically trained violinist who emigrated from the Ukraine in the 1990s, winding up first in New York City and soon playing Russian gypsy music as a backdrop to Madonna's Sticky and Sweet Tour.

Gips, who lives in Columbus, played a handful of rich folk and holiday songs, performing with incredible skill and such passion, and making the lone violin sound like it was being accompanied by a host of other instruments. What a nice surprise!

But let's backtrack. The 8 of us had gathered in the late (wet) afternoon for our annual solstice celebration, and the best way ever of kicking off the holidays. That means great girlfriends.

Guy friends.

Perhaps a doggie friend.

Or two.

 Something shaken, not stirred.

A beautiful holiday table.

And Rett's always-amazing dinner. This year, she ventured to Carfagna's butcher shop earlier in the week for a luscious beef tenderloin, which she crusted with freshly grated horseradish root and served with three different sauces.

Truly delish! Especially with her roasted root vegetables and Mary Ann's beautiful salad. After dinner we had our traditional solstice readings; Pat always digs up wonderful prose for us to read aloud -- often something he's written himself! That evening, my reading was a fitting tribute to the farm:

"But May, or her mirthful spirit,
dwelt all the year round at Merry Mount,
sporting with the Summer months,
and reveling with Autumn, and basking in the glow of Winter's fireside.
Through a world of toil and care
she flitted with a dreamlike smile,
and came hither to find a home
amoung the lightsome hearts of Merry Mount."
Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864)

After dinner, we had our traditional gift exchange, and talked and laughed the night away.

Finally, we girls donned our jammies and had a nightcap before we all retired til the gray, gray morn dawned.

Rio and I were up early, but the sunporch (in name only that day) was cozy and cheery with flickering candles.

I'd brought a good book, too.

And the rest of the day? A little cigar and pipe action on the soggy front porch.

A cut-throat game of Scrabble.

And a nice afternoon for a nap. Or two.

Sandra and I cooked dinner (chicken marbella, brown rice with pine nuts, sweet potatoes, and a salad) and Dave made a scrumptious creme brulee.

And since Saturday really was the solstice, we had a few more readings. Here's a good one to end with:

The Shortest Day
So the shortest day came, and the year died,
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away,
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive,
And when the new year's sunshineblazed awake
They shouted, reveling,
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us -- Listen!
All the long echoes sing the same delight,
This shortest day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, fest, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.
Welcome Yule!!
     -- Susan Cooper