Every year we host our neighborhood board for a holiday celebration.  We have the most wonderful group of neighbors who spend countless volunteer hours maintaining the integrity and character of our North Central neighborhood.  I always feel so lucky to welcome them into our home to celebrate them and the holidays.

Typically, I would love to think I have the time and energy to make everything from scratch, but realistically that’s not always the case. What did we do before Costco or Sam’s Club? This year, I capitalized on all the wonderful things available at Costco for the hors d’oerves, flowers and desserts.  With a little imagination you can take ordinary items and turn them into something special with these entertaining shortcuts.

As you know, I think the carnation is the underdog of flower choices, but they are affordable, hold up well and provide a burst of color.

With some evergreens from our Christmas tree (or greens from your yard), you can make them look like this.

Costco has a gourmet food section with an extensive assortment of salami, proscuitto, and cheeses. The French brie, Isigny Ste. Mere is from Normandy and is so delicious.  The Cambozola blue cheese was only $8.00 for 2 wedges! Their Cranberry Cinnamon goat cheese is so festive.

With a very large tray and some effort (I had my son’s assistance), it can look like this! We added olives, nuts and fruit for a beautiful display.

Pre-packed vegetables trays are available in most grocery stores.

With a few added tomatoes and sprigs of herbs (I used thyme, but rosemary or parsley would also work), the vegetable tray can have a holiday theme.

I love making Christmas cookies, but I’ve had no time this year.  Costco has a very good selection and I especially like their Holiday Stollen Bites.

Though the picture isn’t great because I took it after our guests started arriving, you can see how I arranged the desserts.

In addition to beer and wine, my son made a Christmas sangria.  Our non-alc0holic options were water and hot mulled cider, which was a perfect choice on a chilly December night.

The cider is from Trader Joe’s.  Simmered with mulled spices, the presentation was made pretty by adding mini Rome apples and whole cloves.

By using a skewer to pre-poke the holes, the cloves are easier to insert.

A crockpot full of Trader Joe’s party size mini meatballs and their Bold & Smoky Kansas City Style BBQ sauce rounded out the appetizers.

The back porch is the perfect location for larger gatherings.  With the fireplace roaring and the ceiling heaters on, it was a lovely evening with neighbors.

What I didn’t know before writing this post, is that Costco delivers!  It appears they can do so in a few hours or a few days~~that opens up so many new possibilities!

Taking some entertaining shortcuts during this holiday season is a way to lower the stress and still provide a warm and welcoming environment for your guests.

Happy Entertaining!

 

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  It was so nice having all the children home and the house filled with their friends.  Today, as I take all the Thanksgiving items and store them away until next year, here are some random musings about the holiday.

We had the biggest turkey ever~~a whopping 28 lbs, delivered by Jimmy from Personal Gourmet, a local company who specializes in restaurant grade meat and fish. Typically, we have done this to our turkey:

But this year, my foodie son suggested we dry brine the turkey for 24 hours.  Honestly, I have never heard of dry brining and was a bit skeptical but it was so easy.  After patting the turkey dry, we sprinkled the bird with a combination of salt and baking powder.  This apparently changes the pH of the skin. We refrigerated it uncovered for 15 hours (can do up to 3 days).

Instead of a roasting pan, we put the bird in a V-rack on a cookie sheet.  According to Serious Eats, this increases air flow for even cooking.  In order to have the dark meat cook at the same rate of the white breast meat, we placed the cookie sheet on a preheated pizza stone.  You can find all the details on how to do this by clicking here.

This was, hands down, the most delicious turkey we have ever had.  The dry brining was SO easy.  I did add some herb butter between the skin and the breast meat before roasting, but other than that, we hardly basted it (maybe once).  The skin was so crispy and it sealed in most of the juices. We declared this a winner and this will be the recipe of choice when we roast a turkey in the future.

Thanksgiving Day started with blood orange mimosas.  We found the oranges at Whole Foods and it was a nice alternative to regular orange juice mimosas.

Every year, my husband makes his famous pumpkin pies.

And my son, Benjamin and I make a cake from Tessa Huff‘s incredible cake book, Layered.

Presenting (drumroll)…..the Butterscotch Bourbon Cake.

With the table set and ready to go, we enjoyed a delicious meal with family and friends.

Friday was a relaxing day (thank goodness as I was pooped) and, as we do each year, watched the Wizard of Oz, which is my favorite movie.

And took our annual family photo~~it seems to be more difficult to get everyone looking somewhat normal at the same time.  Of course, the battery was low in the camera and hopefully with some editing, we will have a Christmas photo for our card.

Hope you had a relaxing Thanksgiving.  Today, all the autumn decorations come down and onto Christmas! I leave one Christmas related item out all year long and this sits on the mantle in the breakfast room.  I purchased this Christmas car waterless “snowglobe”from eBay.  Created by artist Alicia Reiner, each is hand signed and numbered.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

 

 

 

 

 

 

A year ago today, I sent my first blog post of Life at Bella Terra.  It was an intimidating moment, because I thought “who would ever want to read this?”  I don’t consider myself a very good writer and I’m really trying to improve upon that.  But your words of encouragement have brought me back to the computer to post again and again.  If it wasn’t for your kindness and support, it would have been easy to just quit.  Thank you for your loyalty and feedback and comments. Truly. From the bottom of my heart.

Each time I send out an email letting you know I’ve created a new post, I am praying you find it interesting, enlightening or even motivating.  I try to share a small piece of loveliness in hopes that I can brighten your day. As I look out into the world, I believe we each need to find sources of joy and create our own beauty.  Whether it be feeling the warmth from a freshly picked tomato, or the scent of a homegrown flower, these moments of perfection can only help feed the soul.

Blogging for me, is a chance to stop and capture a sliver of time, an exquisite photo or a recipe that bursts with flavor. Plus it is forcing me to attack those cluttered corners of the house or undone projects while showing you my progress. But I can honestly say, I am still a long way from feeling confident about creatively illustrating that to you. But I will keep trying.

So here is a look back at the year and some of my favorite photos and posts.

My very first blog post was about the New York Times Bestselling author, Rhys Bowen and the fundraising English tea we had here at Bella Terra.

And other events we happily hosted here…..

Recipes shared…..

My Renovations and Restorations….

Travel and leisure…..

Decorating and Design…

The holidays….

Cleaning, Organizing, and Updating…

Sharing our home and yard….

My attempt at art….

Flower arranging..

Our pets…

And a few DIYs….

My online store….

There is still so much to learn, especially better photography, writing and getting my watermarks the same size on every photo.  So thank you again for following me and sharing my blog with others.

PLEASE send in your comments~~What area of interest would you like for me to expand? What are your favorite topics? How often should I post (trying to do a maximum of twice per week)? What can I do to be better for you?  My goals for the next year are to do a contest or giveaway and conduct a real survey into your likes and interests.

Here’s to one year and onto the next!! I couldn’t have done it without you.

 

 

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Is cold brew coffee all the rage in your area?  Two years ago, I never even heard of cold brew….naturally thinking it was maybe some new kind of beer.  I began noticing it at the Farmers Market and occasionally on the shelves at the grocery store, but until recently, I never tried it.  I’ve always been a “brew your own/hot cup of coffee in the morning” gal.

Since then, I now notice it EVERYWHERE and it appears to be a marketing phenomenon. So what’s the big attraction?  I finally did some research and if you are as unfamiliar with cold brew as I am, then hopefully this will be the Cliff notes on cold brew.

Why is cold brew coffee different from hot brewed coffee?  According to ToddyCafe, a roasted coffee bean contains many compounds that are extracted during the brewing process. Some of those compounds, including certain oils and fatty acids, are soluble only at a high temperature. During the cold brew process, coffee beans are never exposed to high temperature. Deceptively simple, cold water brewing extracts the delicious flavor compounds (and some of the caffeine) from coffee beans, but leaves behind myriad bitter oils and biting fatty acids, including undesirable elements such as ketones, esters and amides.  You can serve cold brew coffee concentrate either hot or cold.

Cold brew coffee is not iced coffee, either. Iced coffee is pouring hot brewed coffee over ice.  Cold brew coffee is like sun tea~~naturally extracting the flavor with water and time.

You can certainly buy cold brew coffee but it’s very simple to make yourself at home.

I am experimenting with 3 different brewing techniques using a French press, a Ball mason jar, and a Teavana strainer. Plus I am using 3 different types of coffee: 1) old (really old) Mexican coffee beans from my freezer; 2) French Roast beans from Peet’s coffee; 3) already ground coffee from World Market.

There are many theories as to the perfect ratio of bean to water, however, it appears that the ratio is from 1/4 lb. of coffee beans to 4 cups of water. I used this ratio~~ 1/4 cup of coffee grounds to 1 cup of water.  You can adjust the strength based on your personal preference.

In the Ball mason jar, I added 1/4 cup of medium coarse grounds  from the freezer beans.

Then I add 1 cup of filtered water from our reverse osmosis system. Stir well and cover with cheesecloth.

Next, I added medium coarse Pete’s coffee grounds to the French Press and filled with water.

And lastly, I added regular Italian Roast ground coffee from World Market to a Teavana tea strainer with the appropriate amount of water.

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Now all three were ready to sit and wait 12- 24 hours.  I couldn’t fit the French Press into the refrigerator so it sat out on the counter for 24 hours.

The next day, I strained the coffee grounds out of all three. The jar with the cheesecloth was the most difficult.

Both the French press and Teavana strainer were extremely easy due to the built-in straining system.

Here’s the VERDICT!!! The old coffee beans brewed in the Ball mason jar produced the weakest brew and was a bit lifeless.  No surprise there and just confirms that you should discard any coffee beans that have been sitting in your freezer for years (embarrassing…).  Not the fault of the coffee bean.

The winner:  The strongest and most flavorful coffee was the Peet’s French Roast coffee in the French press.  The pre-ground coffee from World Market (done in the Teavana tea strainer) was also very good.  I’ve come to the conclusion that it may not be critical to grind your own beans, but to use a fresh coffee roast that you like.

Some stronger brews can be diluted with water or milk~~and of course it is fun to experiment with flavorings.

We use our cold brew concentrate for iced coffee, however, it can be heated also.  Below I’ve added my homemade almond milk.  For the blog post on making nut milks, click here.

From what I have read, cold brew coffee concentrate will last up to 2 weeks in your refrigerator. It does have a smoother taste, yet all the flavor of coffee…and very handy to use.

 

 

 

The lifeblood of our household revolves around the kitchen, especially the coffee/tea counter. In the mornings, this portion of the kitchen is crowded, with each family member making their favorite beverage. For my daughter, it is tea in all its forms-loose leaf, tea bags, compressed blocks that require specific water temperatures and steeping times. For the rest of us, life begins around the Nespresso machine and the numerous flavors of coffee pods.

This is a rather hectic and cluttered part of the kitchen.  The good news is that everything you need to make coffee drinks and tea is here~~mugs, teacups, flavorings, toppings, timer, etc. But it’s rather messy nearly all the time.

Large glass containers hold tea bags and Nespresso pods, which take up too much space but I haven’t come up with a better alternative.

The counter is angled between the Dacor gas range on the left and the SubZero refrigerator and freezer on the right.  Though the picture doesn’t capture the color accurately, the granite countertop is a dark green with sage marbling and flecks of cranberry.  The hand made tile backsplash is from Waterworks.

I’ve been pondering how to make this area more efficient.  So I cleared everything off the counter and started from scratch. I’m not a big fan of having lots of appliances on the counters, but in this area, the three machines (Nespresso machine, electric teapot, and milk frother) are used multiple times every day.

I found this tiered tray at my favorite garden destination, Whitfill Nursery.  They converted a small adobe home on the property as a store and offer unique garden and home items.  Painted Fox also has a very nice selection of tiered trays online.  Initially I thought it may be too wide, but it seems to be able to handle our favorite coffee cups, flavorings, tea supplies and toppings.

I have a few favorite cups, which I refer to as my “happy” cups.  For some reason they make me smile (a great way to start the day) and all of them are from Anthropologie.

We will test drive this new coffee/tea station design and see how it works.  I am pleased I have one less cluttered counter!