Thrifts And Auctions and Cake. Woo-Hoo!

I haven't had much luck at our local Goodwill Store
lately.  But that's okay.  One of my favorite thrift
shops has reopened after its summer hiatus.  

And on a recent visit,

it was loaded with loot.

I am a pushover for blue and white china.

Especially when a nice big plate costs $3.

True, the farmer looks a bit of a doofus,

but I plan on hanging him 'way up high on this wall,

with some other blue and whites:

 The same fate awaits this smaller plate:

Haha -- just noticed the little screw in the upper right corner of the picture.
Something around here has a screw loose! 
Why are you pointing at me?

I like this plate even better than the farmer one.

Love the pierced edges.

It's from Portugal.  Set me back a whole 4 bucks.

On Saturday I need to enlist Howard and Annie to help me

bring some fresh pieces to my antiques booth;

some furniture sold this week and I need to fill in the gaps.

Luckily, that's not a problem.

I've got stuff waiting in the wings.

Or, in this case, the dining room.

Yes, I'm a little behind in refinishing and painting.

Oy.

This chair, from an auction

back at the end of August, is ready to go.

I think it's walnut, but I'm not sure.

It's clean and in beautiful shape, including the fabric,

but its seat is unusually low.

I suspect it might have been a rocking chair once upon a time.
Although a reader commented that it might
be a low-to-the-ground nursing chair, common in Victorian times.

With old furniture, much of the fun is figuring out 

why something is the way it is now, and what it might have been.

***************************************

 As promised . . .

Irene's Cheater's Cake

My mother-in-law, Irene, is a consummate baker,

renowned for her cakes and pastries.

She never, ever takes shortcuts or uses (gasp!) mixes.

Her sour cream coffee cakes are famous, but

recently when my husband Howard was in Florida

visiting his Mom . . . the unthinkable happened:

Bobi made a sour cream coffee cake.  From a mix.

I know, I know.  Shocking!

But here's what she did, and she calls it

Cheater's Cake.

Ingredients

One yellow or butter flavored cake mix (we like Duncan Hines)

One cup (8 oz.) of sour cream (not yogurt, not light sour cream, but the real stuff)

3/4 cup of oil (we used canola)

3 whole, large eggs

(And -- one cup brown sugar mixed with one spoon of cinnamon; your choice of spoon size!)

Bundt pan -- two bucks at the thrift.  In brand new condition.

Method:

1. Don't follow the directions on the cake mix box.

2. Instead, mix all of the ingredients (except sugar) in a mixer until it all looks like, well, cake batter.

3. Pour half into a greased bundt or angel food cake pan, and sprinkle it with some of the

brown sugar & cinnamon mix, then add the rest of the batter and top with the rest of the sugar mix.

4. Pop the pan into a preheated 350-degree oven.

5. Bake for 3 days.

No, that's not really true . . . but when Anne made this recipe on Wednesday of this past week, she baked the cake for the 40 minutes or so that was suggested on the cake box.  It was not enough time, so back into the oven it went.  Again.  And again.  I think the total time for baking was about 75 minutes.

This was probably for two reasons. 

1 -- the batter is heavier because of the sour cream and the oil.

2 -- Anne had added chopped apples in the bottom of the bundt pan,

and they add moisture to the mix.

Anyway -- let it cool enough to handle, then turn it out of the pan onto a rack.

Let cool some more, cut, and enjoy!

It's delicious with good coffee, and I'm sure would work with tea as well.

Or milk.

Hmmm . . . I just remembered there's still some left on the kitchen counter . . . . 

Bye!  Have a wonderful weekend.

We've got projects in the pipeline, here at That Old House.

Like, rearranging the Parlor furniture.  It's hopeless.

But we have to get moving; it's T.B.D.B.T time already!  -- Cass

Link Parties!

At My Romantic Home, it's Show And Tell Friday.  Click here!

Feathered Nest Friday makes its home at French Country Cottage.  Click here!

The Charm of Home features Home Sweet Home on Fridays.  Click here!

It's Vintage Inspiration Friday at Common Ground.  Click here!

Miss Mustard Seed hosts the Furniture Friday Feature.  It's a must visit -- Click here!

At Rattlebridge Farm, it's Foodie Friday.  Go!  Click here.

Bowled Over!

Last week, I said it was package-on-the-porch week.

And it sure was.

Look at the size of this box, after I brought it in

off the porch and into the front hall:

I'd been expecting delivery of an 8-quart enameled cast iron

roasting pan, and I thought, "Wow!  It's bigger than I thought."

Then I looked at the return address.

The box was from my friend Martha,

she of Lines From Linderhof fame.

And inside . . . was this:

A big -- and I do mean big -- and spectacular blue and white bowl.

With a wooden stand.

I tell you, I was bowled over!

Martha has featured Linderhof's big blue and white bowls in several of her posts.

Like this one:

 And this one, in the dining room at Linderhof.

This picture, and the one above, property of Lines From Linderhof.
I stole 'em.

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I have always admired Martha's fabulous blue and white bowls -- and told her that.

Two weeks ago today, I met Martha and her husband Jim in Connecticut for lunch,

and it was like meeting a dear and precious friend.

After they were back home in Kansas, Martha decided that my driving 2 hours each way to meet them

deserved a thank you . . . and she packed up this amazing centerpiece bowl and sent it off to New Jersey.

Can you believe it?  I nearly passed out when this amazing bowl came out of that Fed Ex box!

Oh, thank you, Martha!  You completely astonished me!

Now, of course, I don't deserve any thank you gift, as meeting Martha and Jim was pure delight, and a
gift in its own right.  The only downside is that they live in Kansas and we live in New Jersey.  Too far away!

This gorgeous bowl will live on the dining room table at That Old House.

Unfortunately, the dining room is once again a repository for things up from the cellar,

to keep them out of the mess of more jack hammering last week.
I should have this bowl where it belongs and ready for its closeups, Mr. DeMille, in a couple of days.

Meanwhile I've put it on the coffee table in our study, where I can admire it when I'm at

the computer, and in the evening watching TV.  To give you an idea of how big and sassy this bowl is . . .

. . . that's a large decorating book resting in it.

Yes, I could probably bathe Dion in this bowl.  

But I won't!

************************************************

This is my first post since last Wednesday; I left Friday morning for

the beach house, and forgot to bring my laptop.

But a quick overview of how we spent our October weekend:

We found a great local wine, and no, Howard and I didn't drink all 3 bottles by ourselves.

Although we do like a good challenge. . . .

We had guests at the house for pre-dinner-ing on Saturday and then went into Greenport,

to a restaurant with excellent food and ridiculous pretensions and prices.

In our inlet, some of the neighbors are still kayaking, clamming, even swimming.  A little chilly, but to each his own.

On Saturday morning, we took a field trip to the Pottery Barn outlet.

Howard clambered up on a bar stool to give his imitation of the chair umpire at a tennis tournament.

This is why he is not making a living as a chair umpire at tennis tournaments.

Since I got my Pottery Barn fix, Howard snuck in a trip here, for cigars.

See him skulking through the door?

Cigars do keep gnats away on the deck at sunset.

The smoke keeps 'em from diving into your wine and doing the backstroke.

Have a lovely Monday, my friends.

Go visit Martha at Lines from Linderhof;

she's cooking up some amazing goodness today.  -- Cass

Tomorrow -- my Pottery Barn finds.

Monday Link Parties

Mosaic Monday at Little Red House.  Click here.

At The House In The Roses, it's Show Off Your Cottage Monday.  Click here!

Visit Smiling Sally for Blue Monday.   Click here!

And thank you, Peri, for this beautiful shot you snapped

from our deck on Saturday evening.

Dion stole it off your Facebook page!

What's Blue & White & Blue & White & Blue . . . .

So I was talking with my sister-in-law Doris a little while ago,
and she mentioned something from the blog, and I said,
"Gee, I haven't posted anything today.  Eh, so what?"

But it sparked a little idea in my mind.

I decided that this week I am going to post each day.  

Yeah, again, so what?  Hey, it's a goal, and I'm sticking to it.

This ain't gonna be a Pulitzer winner, friends.

However, Howard won't be home from work till nearly midnight, so no dinner to cook. . . .

(Do you cook dinner for yourself when you are home alone? Last night I had a bowl of broccoli for supper).

All right.  Enough palavering.

Here's my post for today, and as my grandmother would have said,

"That's all there is, and what are you goin' to do about it?"

It seems that Blogger is playing fast and loose with the normal rules of posting pictures,

and I'm having a wee bit o'trouble getting them where I want them to go.

Therefore I'm just going to put them all in a bunch, and you sort it out.

No, only kidding ... kind of.  I am just going to post them, and I'll explain at the end.

Welcome to a really cheap blue and white table!

The obligatory stomach's eye view.

And that's all, folks!

From Dollar Tree -- big wine glasses, large white basket weave border dinner plates, little tea light spheres (they are so chubby and cute).  Also the plate stand that is holding the plate.
From Christmas Tree Shops -- those blue and white balls, one buck a pop.
Goodwill -- the cake plate, that I took apart for this setting and stood the plate up, and used the stand part to raise up a blue fishy bowl that I got at a museum store on clearance for $7.  Also the napkins are GW.
Restaurant plates with cobalt and gold borders -- a gift from my Mom.
The hobnail milkglass S&Ps were also my Mom's.
The bowls?   CTS again.  Clearance.
The very old plated flatware, eBay.

Can't remember where I got the Delft pitcher, but it was not a thrift buy.

Tomorrow?  It's a look back at what we did to transform our kitchen to better suit our old house, and the compromises that you just live with, because . . . that's life. See, Doris was telling me about their master bathroom renovation, and the subject of compromises came up.  So, Doris, you are responsible for today and tomorrow's blog posts.  It's all your fault.  -- Cass

Linky Parties

Tablescape Thursday at Susan's Between Naps On The Porch.  Click here!

Leigh of Bloggeritaville's Thrifty Thursday.  Click here!

At Coloradolady blog, it's Vintage Thingies Thursday. Click here!

And it's an Open House Party at No Minimalist Here.  Click ... here!