When I was growing up in Rumson there were a couple of rituals that made summer even more wonderful. One started on the last day of school and lasted all summer long–going to the beach. Every single day it was not raining my mom would load our old station wagon with three, four, five, and finally, six kids and head over the Sea Bright Bridge.
We played in the waves for hours on end, our fingers wrinkling and our lips turning blue, swallowing water and eating sand until we became expert wave riders. Our sandcastles were legendary, fantastic creations with moats and turrets which we topped with the shells, beach pebbles and colorful sea glass we found roaming the shoreline.
Eventually even the most perfect day would come to an end and she’d herd us back into the wagon, but often we didn’t go straight home. At least two or three times a week our mother would stay on Ridge Road and drive all the way to Sickles Farm just over the Rumson border in Little Silver.
Seatbelt free (they hadn’t been invented yet I guess) we would bounce along the rutted gravel road through the fields and orchards that led to a makeshift farm stand. Barefoot, sunburned and sandy we ‘d navigate bushels and bushels of freshly picked corn, and devour on the spot peaches that melted into your mouth, down your shirt–all the way to your toes. And always we’d get lots of those little boxes of blueberries that with a splash of lemon and barely a hint of sugar made the world’s most delicious pie.
Fast forward fifty plus years and the old Sickles Farm is no more. Although I will always be nostalgic for the olden days, its successor–Sickles Market–is a year-round enterprise completely in tune to the needs of the modern family. Working mom? Staying at home dad? Just a little kid?
Who does not love having the freshest fruit and veg, the convenience of quality prepared foods, a butcher selling wholesome meat, a separate cheese department plus a great bakery right on the premises? The road may be paved now, and some of the fields sprout townhomes, but the heart of Sickles Farm lives on.
So it is still a long way to go until summer. Not sure what to make for dinner on one of these cold, wintry nights? Pop into Sickles Market and buy a nice hunk of beef, some great fresh veggies, a beautiful loaf of french bread and in a couple of hours you will have a meal fit for a king–or a carload of kids. And don’t forget to pick up a fresh fruit pie for dessert!
The Best Pot Roast
Buy a well marbled four pound-ish chuck roast. Season with salt and pepper, then dredge the whole roast in flour. Brown in an oven proof pan in a few glugs of olive oil. Try not to fuss with it too much–brown means brown–leave it alone turning only once until you have it nicely seared. Remove from pot.
Then add some more olive oil to the pan and basically whatever vegetables, chopped, that you like. I used two leeks, two carrots, two celery stalks, one onion and five cloves of garlic. If you happen to have some pancetta in the fridge dice it and put it in the pot. Cook for about ten minutes until tender and then add 2 cups of decent red wine, a 28 ounce can of whole tomatoes (squish these) and thyme and rosemary and one bay leaf. Put the roast back in and add about one cup of chicken stock so the roast is mostly submerged.
Cook in a 350-degree oven. After three and one-half hours or so partially cook some fresh baby carrots (leave them whole with a bit of green at the top), pearl onions and baby potatoes, then saute in butter until lightly browned. (If you are lazy you can skip both these steps and just toss them in your pot roast adding more liquid if necessary, but it makes a nicer presentation if the veggies look pretty and colorful).
After you do this take the roast out of the oven, skim off as much fat as possible and most of the cooked vegetables (you can transfer to a blender and puree the sauce or just make a slurry with some flour and sauce and thicken it that way). Surround with your beautiful carrots, potatoes, and onions on a large platter and spoon the sauce over it. I like to serve the extra sauce on the side in a gravy boat.
Add a loaf of freshly baked french bread, a tossed salad and a nice bottle of red wine and your meal is complete.
And don’t forget the pie!
Possibly the world’s largest trade show facility with over 700 million square feet, America’s Mart January market bills themselves as “An unparalleled collection of exceptional Home products…” and for once someone is telling the truth. There are acres and acres of products, thousands of vendors, and fun stuff like crazy cash machines (see above photo).
Also featured were a series of vignettes by several of the country’s top designers that included products from a wide variety of manufacturers. This is what we do every day at British Cottage, so it was interesting to see how professionals took products we carry, like this chandelier from Curry & Co, and put it with an area rug by Loiloi (a company we are considering). Generally, we are not a fan of dark wall colors but love how everything pops in this stylish space.
And everywhere you looked there was a gorgeous navy blue couch–as our British Cottage aficionados know a look we have championed for several years now. We find navy fresh and classic, equally at home at the beach or in the city. 
There was no shortage of seminars and workshops. We especially enjoyed the presentation sponsored by Veranda Magazine. Billed as 30 Years of Veranda, interior design icons (from left) John Oetgen, Suzanne Kassler, Bill Peace and Susan Ferrier, candidly described their favorite memories and shared insights about how interior design has become what it is today.
And after all that, it was nice to come home and resume nesting, and there is nothing like a home cooked meal after being out and about for a while. My favorite stew, of all time, is Chicken Cacciatore or Pollo Alla Cacciatora as my beloved Marcella Hazan, author of “The Classic Italian Cookbook” would say. First published by Knopf in New York in 1976, some say Marcella Hazan’s cookbook is the most authentic and best guide to Italian food ever written. Of course, I knew none of that when I pulled it out of the sales pile at Barnes and Noble over 20 years ago–but I know it now.
As we all know the holidays should be all fun and games; but often times it is easy to get struck down by the details so it is best to be prepared. First, accept you are not Martha Stewart; perfection should never replace fun. Delegate, smile a lot and try not to sweat the small stuff. You have all of January to be miserable.
Same for the tree. Fresh or fake–your choice. I prefer fresh because it smells better and you can throw it out the front door on January 1. Toss on a few strands of the aforementioned white sparkly lights, no more than one box of ornaments, and call it a day. One year I only did lights and I think is was our prettiest tree ever. Less is more.
Keith and I are huge fans of the show, Fixer Upper. I confess to having spent countless evenings mesmerized watching to see what a hundred grand could do in Waco Texas–where we live in NJ that’s basically a master bath.
I have a vendor who makes a bed like this and now I just might get it. I just love the iron canopy, the dark hue and the dreamy styling.
All the bedding was lovely and from a company called Bella Notte Linens. I had just purchased similar bedding for the store from a company called Amity Home so it is nice to know Joanna and I are on the same page.
Maybe one of the more famous people we did not meet at High Point, but certainly it felt like Joanna Gaines was everywhere!
Down a few flights of stairs were Barclay Butera and Kathy Ireland–also powerhouses in the California design world. We have always loved how Barclay manages to meld beach house cool with an English manor house sensibility, and we all know that anything former model, Warren Buffet confident, and entrepreneur Kathy Ireland touches is sheer gold. When she says color is making a comeback; we listen.
Fortunately we are so on trend, because we had already purchased this fabulous couch and chair at Hickory White.
Not sure you will see a salmon pink wall anytime soon at British Cottage, (and I will source the Benjamin Moore color for those of you who have asked), but the couch and two chairs should arrive in a few weeks. We like to buy the Hickory White floor models. Why not take advantage of their professional design savvy and add to our inventory at the same time?
But fear not, we did not go completely pink, we also purchased this lovely, royal blue velvet sofa and two complementary armchairs.
I’m pretty sure the last thing my son and daughter-in-law expected was for me to write about their house after we visited them last week in deepest Nebraska. With a three week old infant, a toddler and a proud kindergartener just getting three meals on the table and everyone dressed in the morning is challenging enough. No one has the time, or the inclination to worry about home decor at this stage. But hey, I liked their house so much I couldn’t resist.
Wisely they opted to finish the walkout basement adding carpeting, a bedroom and a full bath. Perfect for visiting grandparents and perfect for two little boys stuck inside on summer days when the temperature is over 100 or in the depths of winter when snow and ice reclaim the prairie.
Upstairs there is a master bedroom suite with a fireplace, sitting room (where the treadmill sits), master bath and walk in closets, then three more bedrooms and an upstairs laundry room. Here is our newest baby modeling the upstairs quest room with all its fabulous British Cottage furniture.
Our furniture goes to the most lovely homes but rarely do I get to see them in person. Keith makes the deliveries and usually I merrily send him about his way. But Sunday I joined him on a jaunt to Quoque, a town, that to me, is all about the best Long Island living can offer. Sure there are multiple monstrosities masquerading as homes but there are also many terrific looking, normal sized houses that offer families fresh air and sunshine just sixty miles outside Manhattan.
My first advice to any novice interested in my decorating opinions is always to stay clear of jewel tones. Clearly this delightful great room proves me wrong. I love how the bold color adds definition to the space and provides a framework for all the diverse objects in this room. But also note how the glass coffee table, light rug and furniture keep the mood happy. As does Uncle Bowwow’s portrait to the left of the fireplace!
And as if the gorgeous pool wasn’t enough, the landscaping then is the icing on the proverbial cake. With both sun and a shade perennial gardens there is always something blooming magnificently.
