Summer Projects Before and After

Its hard to believe its the first day of fall. Summer always flies so quickly and there are always so many things that I want to do and, of course, only get to around half of them. I was looking through a few photos the other day though and was encouraged to remember what some of my little projects looked like in the 'before' moments. I thought I'd share a few of these with you.

BEFORE:  This was our bedroom before I painted it.

You can't really tell from the above pictures, but this is what the walls looked like up close. The previous owners had this done in venetian plaster. Although its lovely as modern art, its not exactly relaxing and it is really hard to decorate with.

AFTER: I simply painted it, bought a crown, and a few drapes to hang up behind the bed.

We also got a new duvet cover from Restoration Hardware. Although I usually like to buy antiques, I do like new fresh bed linens!

We bought two of these wonderful antique lights from a friend who is an antiques dealer and then amazingly found two more at another antique shop. I don't know if they are common, but its pretty difficult to find four working antique sconces like this and we needed four for this room. They may be a little over the top for a bedroom, but we like them :) And we put them in ourselves, which was my first 'electrical' project!

BEFORE: Here is another little project we did. The front of the house had some weird gray patches to it, so we bought some lime paint (good for stucco houses) and painted it


DURING :)


AFTER: Just a little day project, but it made a significant difference to our entry way. We also transplanted the hosta to  another location, as it was getting a little unruly there.


BEFORE: The front of the house also had some really random landscaping in the front and the climbing hydrangea was climbing in a strange way.

AFTER: So we cleaned all this out, cut the hydrangea back so that it can grow properly and put in four nice little boxwoods. We also got some banana plants and put them out front. It makes me feel like I am in the tropics.. and not Vermont!

BEFORE: This is the walkway up to the gazebo. It is nice, but the deer have munched all our rhododendron and the gazebo needed to be painted (although you can't tell from this picture).


AFTER: We had been wanting to put statues here and we randomly drove by this place one day that had these wonderful statues. I also painted the gazebo. I think it makes it really made a big difference.

BEFORE: This was our back patio. The stairs were a mess and the house had those grey blotches.

AFTER: My husband power-washed the stairs, I painted the house, and planted a nice little kitchen garden in pots all around.

BEFORE: We had this open field that didn't really have any purpose.


We decided to put in a tennis court.


And plant a little vineyard. These are the little grape plants when they arrived.

AFTER: We obviously had someone put the court in for us, but we planted the grapes ourselves. The grass is still growing and the grapes are still small... but they are on their way!




And we're really enjoying the court!


Anyway, after quite a full summer, I am looking forward to rest that fall and winter often bring. Time to curl up with my mug of hot apple cider and relax.

Almost...

(just started on this one the other day)
The AFTER to come :)

Drowning in Zucchini...

I LOVE summer vegetables! And zucchini is a special favorite because it seems like there is just SO much of it. My parents had quite a bit (which they gave some to me) and now mine are starting to come in as well. Here are some good dishes that I've been cooking/ baking lately.

These are zucchini fritters. They are quite easy and a wonderful appetizer or small meal. There are two wonderful recipes from Closet Cooking and I kind of combined them a little and made my own thing because I added bread crumbs and Ouzo to the fritter recipe. They are great with some Greek Tzatziki sauce!

Greek Style Zucchini Fritters

(makes 2 servings)

Ingredients:
2 cups zucchini (grated, and squeezed to drain)
1 handful fresh herbs (such as parsley, dill, mint; chopped)
2 green onions (chopped)
1/4 cup feta (crumbled)
1/2 cup flour (I like to use whole wheat)
1 egg
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons oil

Directions:
1. Mix the zucchini, herbs, green onion, feta, flour, egg, salt and pepper in a bowl.
2. Heat the oil in a pan.
3. Spoon the zucchini mixture into the pan and cook until golden brown on both sides, about 4 minutes per side.

Kolokythokeftedes (Zucchini and Feta Balls)
(makes 12 zucchini balls)

Ingredients:
2 cups zucchini (grated and squeezed)
1/4 cup of feta (crumbled)
1 splash ouzo
1 clove garlic (chopped)
2 green onions (chopped)
1 handful herbs (such as mint, dill and parsley, chopped)
1 egg
salt and pepper to taste
flour (I used whole wheat)
breadcrumbs (I used whole wheat)
oil for frying

Directions:
1. Mix the zucchini, feta, ouzo, garlic, green onion, herbs and egg and season with salt and pepper.
2. Mix in equal parts flour and breadcrumbs until you can work with the mixture to form balls.
3. Form the mixture into balls and dust in flour.
4. Fry in oil until golden brown and set aside to cool.

Tzatziki (Greek Cucumber Salad)
(makes 4 appetizer sized servings)
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Greek yogurt or strained yogurt
1/2 cup cucumber (peeled, seeded, and shredded, squeezed and drained)
2 cloves garlic (minced)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill or mint (optional)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 splash ouzo (optional)
salt & pepper to taste

Of course the old standby favorite is zucchini bread. I like this recipe that I got from Dish N' That . I still had applesauce left over that I made from last fall and froze, so I liked this one because it substitutes healthier apple sauce for all that oil that is in usual recipes.

Applesauce Zucchini Bread with Walnuts and Dried Cranberries

Makes two loaves.

2 cups grated zucchini

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 cups white flour

1/2 cup sugar

3 tablespoons brown sugar

3 eggs

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts

1/2 dried organic cranberries

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Grating of nutmeg

Dash of cloves

Butter and flour for greasing loaf pans

Let the grated zucchini sit a while and then squeeze out the excess water.

Mix together the flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices. Set aside.

In the bowl of a mixer or using a hand whisk and a big bowl, mix the sugars and eggs; add the applesauce and vanilla.

Add the flour mixture in thirds, folding it in with a spatula.

Add the zucchini and mix well, but do not overbeat.

Fold in the nuts and cranberries.

Divide the batter between two loaf pans that have been buttered and floured.

Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for about 50 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center come out clean.

Let the loaves sit in the pans on a rack for 10 minutes then remove them from the pans and allow to cool.

Enjoy warm with a dab of cream cheese or nothing at all.

The loaves also freeze nicely; make sure they are thoroughly cooled before freezing.

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Even if you live in an apartment or only have a little space to grow vegetables, zucchini can still be grown. Even though I have plenty of gardening space, I like growing things in pots.

More photos of my little kitchen garden pots






A Day's Harvest


Yum!

I've gone red...

Well, this past weekend was wonderful and I made entirely too much food. I realize that its now Thursday and I've hardly blogged all week, but there's just so much time and so little to do. Scratch that. Reverse it. 

Anyway, I thought it would be fun to show off a little of my gardens (and my little slice of paradise) today. I like to plant any annuals all in one color and I think REDS are such a classic color. Wherever we went in Italy, they always have red geraniums and other red flowers everywhere. So I planted red ivy geraniums in the window boxes and a mix of other red flowers in urns...

Red impatiens in more shady areas...

Red topiary roses to make a grand entrance...

Little hints of reds here and there...

and with all my vegetable and herb pots I plant a few red flowers to give some color. 

Some, like nasturtiums, also are good companion plants.

So there you have it. Simple and sweet and a splash of color.

"Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom." - Marcel Proust

Love Love (Tennis Love that is)

We're currently in the process of putting in a clay tennis court. Its exciting to see how it is taking shape and how a once empty field is being transformed. We are also putting in a small vineyard next to it and were digging the holes for our little plants today (more on this later). We always seem to have so many projects going at once.

One thing I want to do next to the court is to put a nice pergola with climbing roses. We also need to figure out our fencing and I am thinking about planting some climbing roses all along these as well.

Here are some photos that I had downloaded for inspiration. I'm not sure where they all came from since I've been kind of randomly planning and thinking about this. Anyway, here they are for your viewing pleasure and to help me stay organized.

Fun Fact:

Why is a score of zero in tennis called "love"?

"Love" is generally taken as being derived from the French "l"oeuf", the egg, symbolising nothing. The term "love" can also be said to come from the English phrase "neither for love nor for money", indicating nothing. (Taken from the book entitled The Guinness Book of Tennis Facts and Feats and Fifteen Love).