Gorgonzola and Pecan Salad Recipe
Basically, we have been on the road all spring, finding inspiration and beauty everywhere we go. Nothing, however, tops young Charlotte here. Our newest grandchild, and look, at just seven months, already a lady who does lunch!
We started out in April in North Carolina at the High Point Spring Furniture Market where thousands of furniture manufacturers from all over the globe presented their wares to retail buyers–also from all over the globe. One of the many highlights was at Hickory White, the company that makes most of our custom upholstery. (Don’t worry; Keith is only looking so glum because he has just figured out exactly how much we spent there!)
Although I always say never paint your walls dark blue, this Hale Navy by Benjamin Moore really was stunning. The rug is from Fiezy, all wool and surprisingly affordable. See how it ties the whole room together and softens the intensity of the wall color? 
We did not buy the rug (only because it was not for sale), but we did buy this fabulous ecru velvet Chesterfield sofa along with the two coordinating armchairs. Classic, elegant, vintage, but with a smattering of modernity, that is our British Cottage story.
But I digress, back to little Charlotte. After High Point we flew to Omaha to visit with the littlest Nelsons; we’re up to three now! Naturally, we had to check out the local furniture scene. Which was easy because there is basically only one player in town–maybe even the state–and that is the Nebraska Furniture Mart. Owned by Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway, it is a colossal 420,000 square feet on a 77-acre site. It’s huge.
Sadly, big was not better. I think Warren needs to hire me. While I get that a store of this magnitude has to appeal to a variety of tastes and budgets, I refuse to believe that the Midwest really deserves furniture this, I hesitate to say ugly, let’s go with design challenged–and it wasn’t inexpensive! After walking one million miles at the High Point Spring Furniture Market I can personally attest there is no shortage of well-made, attractive, and affordable furniture. 
Looking at this vignette, you have to wonder; is this really the best a billion dollar company can do? Crank it up. Go get those Fiezy rugs and a coffee table that doesn’t clash with everything. While you’re at it, rethink your artwork. And accessories. Come on Warren, it’s definitely time to up your game; hire some new buyers, and show Nebraska some style.
But time to move on. Next stop was Seattle to visit with our daughter, and of course, we had to go to University Village to see the latest Restoration Hardware extravaganza. Hopefully, they had a billion dollars because that is what this four story, 60,000 square foot structure must have cost.
It was architecturally awesome; I loved the polished concrete floors, the M.C. Esher-esque seemingly never-ending series of arched doorways, symmetrical room settings, and the high-reaching ceilings. Sadly the products were every bit as lacking, in their own way, as the items at Warren’s Nebraska Furniture Mart. Not that they were ugly or poorly designed but, after you’ve seen one crystal chandelier, one upholstered linen chair, and one low-slung couch, there’s fifty more to look at. Enough already!
In the RH world, we all live in grey hued palazzos, with fragmented light, dispelled by 1000 watt crystal chandeliers that look like their last home was Versailles. We spend our days lolling on oversized sofas and dining like lords on massive plank topped tables. It’s all too Brobdingnagian and blah for my taste, even with all that bling.
But we had other fish to fry:
Sights to see:
And beers to drink:
Nordstrom’s to shop:
And Farmer’s Markets to frequent. 
And lest we forget, dinners to eat and family to visit.
Peter Morse’s Gorgonzola and Pecan Salad
No matter where you are, or what is on the menu, you can never go wrong with Peter’s Salad. When you were married, like Peter was, to a fabulous chef, it is not easy to get some play at the table. Yet with this salad, rest assured, he got game.
I always made sure when inviting the Morse family over to dine, that Peter would be in charge of the salad. Invariably he would arrive laden down with supplies, including several heads of romaine lettuce, and start rummaging around the kitchen for my non-existent salad spinner. He was ever hopeful, but it never appeared, so he would sigh and then, finally get down to washing, then hand drying, all that lettuce.
Next up was the dressing. In a large wooden salad bowl, he would take a fork and smush up a nice hunk of gorgonzola cheese. (Peter always measured precisely but I just toss in chunks depending on how many I am serving–figure about a quarter of a pound per head of lettuce.) What does really matter is the quality of the cheese–don’t use supermarket brand or pre-crumbled in a plastic container cheese. And don’t use blue cheese either. Spend the money and get some decent gorgonzola and your guests will love it–and you.
After smushing the cheese, add enough olive oil to turn it into a soft paste. Figure 4 or 5 tablespoons or so per quarter pound of cheese. You want it to be almost like peanut butter in consistency. Then add a tablespoon (or two–you will have to do this to taste) of red wine vinegar to make it more liquid, but make sure not too liquid; this is a pretty thick dressing.
Next, add about 1/2 cup of pecans–chopped finely. (And you can substitute walnuts or other nuts but really pecans taste the best). Stir into your mixture and let sit until you are ready to dine. Then just tear up your lettuce leaves into a bit larger than bite size pieces, add to the bowl, toss and serve.
There are lots of ways to enhance this recipe. You can toast or caramelize the nuts; add some ripe pear, or toss in a few cranberries. But I like Peter’s way best; it’s simple and delicious and that always works for me.
Next up was the hunt for tables. While we build a lot of our own product at our factory in Hungary, High Point Market gives us the opportunity to augment our inventory with some of the latest designs on the market.
Originally built in the mid 1800’s as a lighthouse on a hill on the eastern Middletown border, this house exudes charm and personality. From the entrancing private lane, you enter through the iron gates to a lushly landscaped, circular drive topped by this simply lovely home. I want to say it is the icing on the cake, or the jewel in the crown–it is really super.
I walked through the periwinkle blue door straight into a kitchen right out of the original Smallbone Catalogue.
Smallbone is an English firm famous for introducing “unfitted kitchens” to the United States. Totally bucking the trend of build-in, built-up, over-built kitchens that are now the norm, an unfitted kitchen features freestanding furniture and appliances and a variety of finishes and materials. Utterly charming, yet totally serious with industrial strength appliances, this is my dream kitchen.
Upstairs, besides the master bedroom (which has an en suite bathroom to swoon over), there is an enchanting guest room and bath, another bedroom they use as a dressing room and a spiral staircase that leads to a ladder that leads to the cupola where the lighthouse used to be. It is like the stairway to heaven; you keep climbing and climbing and finally you get there. You can literally see for miles!
You can do this with lamb shanks but I usually just buy a boneless leg of lamb–it is all in one piece and easier to handle. Salt and pepper then sear on both sides in olive oil in an oven-proof pot.
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.
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.
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.