What is it?

I spent the weekend moving shrubs and other plants from the front of the house and I unearthed this very oxidized piece of metal. Any idea what it is?
I also found quite a few shards of blue transferware. I have to wonder why they're buried in the yard. I'd love to figure out what pattern it is and when it was made.

So, do you have idea what the metal piece is?

I had a suspicion and it took me a little bit of time on the internet to find one that's similar.

I believe it's part of shutter hinge, called a pintle or pintel.

I think it's a pretty good indication my house originally had shutters which is great. I was planning to add them eventually and it's nice to know they were an original detail.

Harissa Mayonnaise and Basic French Vinaigrette

As promised, I wanted to share the recipes for Harissa Mayonnaise and a basic French Vinaigrette. I learned how to make the vinaigrette from Ms. Egnell, the mother of a French student who stayed with my family during high school. I got to spend the following summer in France, Germany and Austria visiting the families I knew from the exchange program. The vinaigrette recipe has lasted as long as my memories of that summer trip . The Harissa Mayonnaise story isn't as romantic. I made it up after seeing an episode of The Next Food Network Star a few years ago. They never gave the recipe so I made it up and it's become one of my favorite condiments for sandwiches.

So I came up with a sandwich that uses both recipes.
Harissa is a Moroccan or Tunisian--let's say North African--sauce or condiment made of chili peppers, garlic and other spices. The Middle East Restaurant in Cambridge, a local icon, serves harissa on all of it's kebab plates. Every harissa is a little different but they'll all pretty caliente. The nice thing about mixing it with mayo is you can control the heat. The recipe is how I make it but you may want to start out with half the harissa if you're chicken. This "Moustafha's Morrocan" is my favorite brand that comes from a little Middle Eastern market in the South End of Boston.
I happen to be severely allergic to eggs so "real" mayo is out but I'm making this with Veganaise which will also make this a vegan dish. Don't be scared. Vegan can still be delicious! For this recipe, you'll need mayo, harissa, a lemon (for zest) and a few springs of mint. I stole this mint from my neighbor; she'll never miss it. Thanks, Barbara!
Just one quick side note. I was low on harissa so when I went to Whole Foods I picked up this bread of "harissa spread." I would not recommend it. It tastes like sun-dried tomatoes more than harissa. I'm not saying it's bad; it's not harissa. They used to have a harissa in a little yellow can that was fine but I couldn't find it.

So let's make the mayo.

Harissa Mayonnaise

2 Tablespoons Mayo or Veganaise

2 teaspoons harissa (or one if you're a baby)

2 teaspoons chopped mint leaves
1 teaspoon lemon zest

Combine ingredients and you're done. Refrigerate until ready to use. It's that easy!

This is what it should look like. Let's set that aside and make the vinaigrette.

Mrs Egnell's Vinaigrette

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

1 clove garlic crushed

1 tsp. dijon mustard

2 Tbl. white or red wine vinegar

Combine all above ingredients and then slowly wisk in...

1/3 cup of good olive oil

When you're done, it should look like this.

This is a great dressing for any salad. I love all kinds of salads but my favorite is just a simple one made of baby greens, thinly sliced red onion, cucumber and homemade croutons. Now that I think about it, homemade croutons make anything taste good!
But let's light up the grill and make lunch. Today we're going to have a grilled eggplant sandwich with fresh tomato slices, dressed arugula greens and harissa mayonniaise.
I just throw thinly sliced eggplant on the grill, until it looks like this and then brush on a little garlic infused oil, season with salt and pepper and stack them on a plate until you're ready to make your sandwiches.
The rest I think you can figure out. Stack a few slices of eggplant on your carb of choice; today we're using a foccacia roll. Spread on some of the Harissa Mayo, a few slices of gorgeous summer tomato (or roasted sweet red peppers) and some arugula greens dressed with the vinaigrette.
Try adding about 1/2 teaspoon of rose water to a glass of fresh lemonade to complete the North African theme, and you've got a perfect summer lunch.
I had a bunch of eggplant slices left over so for dinner the next night, I spread a little of the harissa mayo on each slice of eggplant and rolled them up. These were so delicious and would be perfect on an appetizer platter of things like hummus, olives, pita chips, etc.
I hope you enjoy it!

Garden Grill Night

Friday night during the summer is Garden Grill Night at the Urban Cottage. I love to grill and I love to grill the entire meal from appetizer to dessert. Dessert on the grill has its limits but I like to push those limits. Berry Buckles and Fruit Crisps always yield the most oohs and aahs from my friends but they're unpredictable and don't always work.

The garden is having a tough year. We've had several weeks of temps in the high 80s and 90s and almost no rain so everything came on early and died quickly. The little rain we've had came in flash floods that immediately ran into the streets, along with my mulch. It's sad to say that the garden seems almost done so I need to work on adding something that flowers later.

Last night the humid air in the garden was highly perfumed with these lilies. I forget the name of them so I call them Cheeto Lilies because the color reminds me of cheetos. But they smell great!

The pink coreopsis still seems to be doing well.

And these purple phlox that looked great last night are on the ground after a quick thunderstorm last evening.

So let me share two crowd favorites. Grilled French potato salad--a variation of potato salad I learned to make in France--and grilled peaches with mascarpone cheese. The peaches get washed and halved and the pit is removed which is sometimes easy, sometimes a chore. They can't be too ripe. Buy a few extra peaches just in case you mess a few up. I usually serve two halves to each guest.

For the potato salad, I pre-boiled five russet potatoes until they're cooked but still firm, just barely cooked. I let them cool overnight in the fridge and then cut them into wedges, maybe eight pieces per potato. I drizzle them with olive oil and season with salt and pepper just before they go on the grill.
To prep for the potato salad, I've sliced two scallions--red onion works great too--two tomatoes and maybe two tablespoons of capers. I highly recommend the capers that come packed in salt. They're pricey but they're SO much better.

I always start by grilling the potatoes. They just really need to get warmed up and get a few grills marks on them. Once they come off they'll get chopped up and mixed into the tomatoes, onions and capers and dressed with a vinaigrette. (The original version uses boiled young red potatoes, cut while they're hot and then a little dry vermouth is sprinkled over the warm potatoes so it absorbs into them. Yum!) I've made the vinaigrette for years so I don't use a recipe--and I promise I'll figure it out--but this is my guess:

salt, maybe about 1/4 teaspoon

pepper, about 1/4 teaspoon

1 clove garlic crushed (1 tsp?) or (1/4 teaspoon) garlic powder if you're feeling lazy

dijon, 2 teaspoons

two tablespoons of vinegar (I usually use red or white wine vinegar or part vinegar part lemon juice in the summertime)

Whisk all above ingredients and slowly whisk in about 1/3 to 1/2 cup of good olive oil. Drizzle the oil in a little a time and it will emulsify with the mustard to a nice consistency. Pour the dressing over the potato salad a little at a time until you feel it's nicely dressed. I think this amount of dressing would be good for this amount of potato salad.

The vinaigrette doesn't store well so I always make just enough to use immediately.

After grilling the main course of your choice (chicken, burgers, fish, tofu or other veggies) use a wire brush (wear an oven mitt) to clean the grate before grilling the peaches.
I start the peaches with the skin side down. When the skin starts to blacken (think roasted peppers) flip them over onto the cut side. I try to move them only once on the cut side so they get some nice distinct grill marks.
When they're looking nicely grilled, I turn them back to the skin side and leave them until they feel tender. Maybe five minutes on each side will do it. Once I think they're done, I put them on a plate and cover them with foil so they stay warm. This also seems to loosen the skin so it slides right off before serving.

So let's eat.

Grilled French Potato Salad

This is the final potato salad. Tonight were having it with a grilled chicken sandwich (vegetarians, avert your eyes) with Harissa mayonnaise. For meatless options, a marinated and grilled tofu, a grilled portobello mushroom or eggplant with Harissa mayonnaise are also yummy! I LOVE Harissa mayonnaise--I'll post a recipe later--because it's great on so many different things and it's so unusual. No one ever knows what it is but they love it right away. Along with a beer, it's a nice, casual summer meal.

But save some room for dessert!

Grilled peaches with mascarpone cheese

To finish the dessert, remove the skin from the grilled peaches and place two on each plate. I usually add a little bit of the peach nectar that ends renders onto the plate...it's heavenly! Mix about one teaspoon of vanilla into the mascarpone cheese and put a dollop on each plate. Drizzle a little honey over the mascarpone and you're ready to eat. I've added a tiny bit of chopped mint to the top just because I love a tiny occasional bite of something savory on a sweet dish. It's not at all necessary.

If you can't find mascarpone cheese, vanilla ice cream is wonderful, or a frozen vanilla soy/rice "ice cream" for the vegans. (One note about mascarpone: don't bother reading the nutritional information. It's really bad for you and you'll probably go to hell for eating it. Just enjoy it a few times a year.)

This is a simple dessert that never fails to yield raves and requests for future Grill Night menus.

I hope you try and enjoy these Garden Grill Night favorites.

Visit to the Window and Door Store

I made a visit to the window and door store today to see some of the things I picked from catalogs with the architect as we were doing the design. I was very pleasantly surprised by the Marvin Ultimate windows. They are nicer than I had anticipated.

The coolest thing about them is the locking mechanism has an extra little button that unlocks the window to tip in for cleaning. It seems that most new windows have the latches at both sides of the lower sash to tip them in. This allows a much cleaner look.

This is the example of the oil-rubbed bronze that Marvin has on the internet. I wasn't sure I wanted this but, in person, the finish is really beautiful.

My only disappointment is that modern windows have mullions that are thicker than old windows. There's just no one that recreates the mullions on the same scale.

Here you can see these windows are original. If you go back up and look at the image of the new window, you'll see what I mean. Most people probably wouldn't notice it, but once you're aware of it, the difference really stands out.

I had a moment of panic when I was looking at all of the door samples at the store. How can I be sure that windows of the sidelights won't look all crazy when paired with a six-panel door?

When I got home, I went back to the Simpson website and pulled all the images of the options for doors and sidelights to my desktop. Then I opened up a new Word document and started pulling the pieces from my desktop into the Word document. They were scaled perfectly so it couldn't have been easier. It took only about 60 seconds to pull all of the combinations into the Word document so I could see exactly what they would look like. Now to pick one.

Option 1. This option is exactly like the last Greek Revival house I lived in. It offers the least amount of light but more privacy. Although the wood panels are consistent heights across the door and sidelights, the glass panels are a little off.
Option 2) This option would provide the most light but the least privacy. This is exactly how the architectural drawing was done for the variance so I may not have the license to vary from this design.
Option 3. This is the most traditional design with the full panel of glass and the six-panel door that is typical of the period.
Option 4. Although this one offers less light from the sidelights, in my opinion, this design feels like it's the most symmetrical and balanced. At the same time, I don't think it's my favorite.

I have it narrowed down to two. I think.

I saw a lot of door hardware at the store and this is the first time I realized I'm soon going to have to pick something. If it were the back door, it wouldn't be a big deal but what goes on the front door is a very important accessory. I'm sure I'll lose a few nights' sleep before making the final decision.

Here a few I've added to my "possibilities" file:
I think with all of the squares created by the panels of the door and sidelights, I would like something with curves to contrast that. I like the curve of this thumb latch AND I LOVE the glass interior knob!
Sometimes simpler is better and, if so, this would be a good choice. But I'm not in love.
I like the rope detail on this knob and I've always loved egg shaped door knobs. They just seem to fit the hand better than other shapes.
I pulled this image because the handle replicates the flutes that will be in the columns. It's an interesting idea but I don't think proportion of the fluted part is close enough to make that "column" connection.

And I thought I was avoiding having to make hard decisions.

Does Hardware Need to Match?

I've gotten all of my formal decision papers from the Zoning Board of Appeals and I'm about two weeks into the 20-day waiting period during which someone can appeal the ZBA's decision in land court if they object. Since it would cost someone money at this point to fight the ZBA's decision, I think I'm in the clear.

In the meantime, plans move forward. I originally thought I wanted to have a mahogany front door but every wood door I've seen installed in the neighborhood looks faded and weathered after just a few years, even when under the cover of a porch. That would drive me crazy.

I think I've decided on a gray color scheme similar to this...medium gray body, light gray trim with black window sashes, doors and shutters. It's a classic and handsome color combination, appropriate for a Greek-Revival and a black front door could be easily be freshened with a new coat of paint.

I'll be using a Simpson six-panel door and I thought it would look nice to have...

...bull's eye glass in the top two panes but it doesn't seem to be an available option. It's not a typical detail on a Greek Revival--perhaps a little more colonial--so I'll might just go with the...

...typical six-panel door since I'll have...

...the sidelights flanking each side of the door.

I'm also using Marvin Ultimate double-hung windows, six over six panels, aluminum clad in black on the outside, primed wood on the inside. And then came an unexpected question:

What color hardware do I want on the windows?

Uh...

I don't know. I thought I had put off having to make any decisions about the inside so I was a little unprepared to answer that question. I decided I try to find some information or advice on the internet and found an article on Addicted 2 Decorating that addresses this subject.

"The short answer to your question is...YES. You do want to keep the hardware consistent throughout.

It's been my experience that people generally fall into one of two categories--(1) people that give absolutely no thought to hardware/metal finishes, and combine anything and everything, and (2) people who live by hard-and-fast rules, and keep all of their hardware/metals EXACTLY the same finish. The first one is a decorating no-no, but the second one is very extreme. There is a happy medium.

When it comes to your hardware and metal finishes, you do want consistency, but you don't necessarily have to have the exact same finish throughout the house. The main thing is just to ask yourself, "Does this finish blend with and enhance the style of my home?"

I do recall going to an open house in the neighborhood where they had used oil-rubbed bronze doorknobs on the white doors but when I went into the bathroom I immediately noticed that they had chosen chrome fixtures. The chrome towel rack on the back of the door next to the bronze door knob stuck out like a sore thumb.

I think I've always considered myself a brushed nickel kind of person but remember...

I already bought these antiques hinges. Once they're all stripped, I thought I would take them somewhere and have them professionally finished. I can see these painted in black but I think they would look terrible sprayed in some fake metallic finish. I'll have to do some research but maybe there's some kind of oil finish or lacquer, that would make them work well with oil-rubbed bronze hardware.

So I thought I'd look at the Cottage Living website just to see what dark hardware would look like in different rooms throughout the house.

I do like the dark hardware on the white kitchen cabinets although this woman has chosen a chrome or nickel faucet. What do you think of that?

Here's a bathroom with dark hardware and fixtures on white. I really like it.

And here's a bedroom with a dark doorknob and hinges. I think it looks great.

This is a photo of a kitchen I recently found on Junk Garden Girl (a great blog for inspiration photos if you like vintage style) that perfectly meets my mind's image of what my kitchen should/can be. Even though the hardware looks like brass or copper, I think a dark bronze would be equally as nice.

So I think I'm pretty comfortable moving forward with oil-rubbed bronze for the window hardware.

What do you think? Should hardware match throughout the house? Have you ever thought about it?