Musings of a Vintage Junkie: pink pumpkin

Showing posts with label pink pumpkin. Show all posts

Sunday, September 28, 2014

Falling for Fall

I love blog parties with a theme so when I saw that Pamela at From My Front Porch To Yours was having a linky party for showcasing front porches, I was in! It's called Falling For Fall Porch Party.

Welcome to my home!

My husband and I recently painted the front section of our front porch and it came out great! I hadn't decorated it for Fall yet so this was good incentive to get started.

I love creating vignettes in my decorating so that is what I did all around my front porch.

Our local grocery store (Wegmans) had a pack of two mums for $4 and a local farm market has $4.99 mums every year in gorgeous colors, so I had to get them all! I put the largest ones into a few vintage orchard fruit baskets and the small yellow mums stand on their own just fine.

I love the mix of aqua and orange so when I found the orange gourd at a local craft store (it is real!) I had to have it for my porch. I found the aqua chair a few years ago at a barn sale for $2 and paid 10 times that for the aqua watering can. I had to have it!! The red watering can is from Wegmans too!

The enamelware pot is filled with sticks and twigs from my daughters' yard at her cottage in the country. I find many birds nests in my yard that have fallen from the tall, tall trees and use them all over to decorate with.

I had been wanting a vintage milk can forever and finally found one traveling home last summer at a garage sale we just happened on. I left it outside all winter to age it and it is finally getting a little chippy! The milk bottle carrier and bottles are from my earlier days of picking!

The old window is a wonderful back drop to decorate for each season so for Fall I decided to put this straw wreath on it. The chippy white bench is a recent find that I can't part with yet so I decided to use it as a side table.

I love my unique pumpkin birdhouse and the birds nest was found on the ground a little while after one of my son's birthday parties. It has streamers in it from the pinata we had that year!

Pink pumpkins are new to me so whenever I find them I use them in my Fall decorating. The one I found last year lasted till May until it started rotting. Really!

I made this wreath years ago and I still love it. I just primp it and change out the faded flowers every so often. It is huge and the focal point of my porch.

The gray, chippy, wonderfully faded bench against the railing is one that I helped my husband find for the foyer of his house before we even talked about getting married, knowing that someday it would be mine too!

I use it to photograph a lot of my vintage items for my Etsy shop.

Happy Fall y'all!!

AnnMarie xoxo

P.S. did you see that dead looking stuff to the top right of my front door and on one of the pillars? We cut the roots to an ivy plant that was taking over and now cannot get the remains off of our house! The house is sided, so to scrape it makes a huge mess. I tried vinegar and water and it did not work either. Anyone have any suggestions on how to get that dead stuff off? Thanks if you do!

I am linking up with these great blog parties:

From My Front Porch to Yours
Amaze Me Monday
Masterpiece Monday
Treasure Box Tuesday
You're Gonna Love It Tuesday
The Scoop
Vintage Inspiration Party
What's It Wednesday
Showcase Your Talent Thursday
Every Room in The House Party
Treasure Hunt Thursday
Home and Garden Thursday
Feathered Nest Friday
Freedom Fridays With All My Bloggy Friends
The Weekend Re-Treat Link Party
Share Your Cup Thursday
Strut Your Stuff Saturday
Pink Saturday

Monday, October 7, 2013

A Pink Pumpkin and A Fall Lunch

In an earlier post I said how my pink and cranberry parlor does not lend itself to Fall decorating with oranges, rusts and golds.

Well, this past weekend at the Public Market I found a pink pumpkin! Yup, I did not paint this pumpkin! I also picked up two white mini pumpkins.

Now a small corner of my parlor is Fallish!

Every Fall my Mom Jane and I celebrate her birthday with a special lunch. If the weather cooperates, a walk in the park surrounding Canandaigua Lake and maybe a game of Sequence, SkipO, or Rummikub. The plan for this year, her 75th, was to have it at her house because it was a rainy, dreary, dark day. Only the weather was dreary!

A sneak preview of the birthday lunch with recipes to follow. There is Taster's Choice Zucchini bread, the best zucchini bread and only one I make, Harvest Squash Soup and Hot Chicken Salad served in an acorn squash.

For The First Course.....

The soup is a recipe that Mom Jane gave me. It is a thick, hearty soup with fresh butternut squash and apples.....

Harvest Squash Soup

1/2 cup onion, chopped

1 tablespoon cooking oil

4 cups mashed cooked butternut squash (about 1 large)

3 cups chicken broth ( I use the reduced fat kind)

2 cups unsweetened applesauce (homemade is best *)

1 1/2 cups milk

1 bay leaf

1/4 tsp. curry powder

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

Saute onion in oil until tender. Add the rest of the ingredients. Simmer for 30 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Tip - all squash is not created equal! Some are sweeter than others. I added more cinnamon, nutmeg and a little sugar to my last batch because the squash was not as sweet.

* to make unsweetened applesauce just cut up 3-4 apples, add a little water and cook down by simmering on the stove. Mash apples and you have unsweetened applesauce!

The main entrée.....

This hot chicken salad served in half an acorn squash is from my most favorite cookbook, Applehood and Motherpie. There is not a bad recipe in the book and this is in the top ten!

Hot Chicken Salad

8 to 10 servings

4 to 5 pounds chicken (4 cups cooked and cubed)

4 cups chopped celery

2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 cup grated onion
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 cups mayonnaise
1/4 cup white cooking wine
1 cup sliced, blanched, toasted almonds
1 cup crushed cornflakes
1/2 grated parmesan or romano cheese
Acorn squash, enough for half per person

Bake chicken in 400 degree oven till done. Cut into cubes. Combine chicken with the next 8 ingredients. Allow to stand at least one hour.

(While the oven is hot, bake your acorn squash. Cut an acorn squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Put in a casserole with a little water on the bottom, cover with foil and bake about an hour at 400 degrees).

Spoon the chicken mixture into buttered shallow glass 2 quart casserole. (Refrigerate here to bake later or continue).

Top with crushed cornflakes and cheese. Bake till heated through and lightly browned.
350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes

On the side....Taster's Choice Zucchini Bread

This recipe is from For Goodness Taste, the companion cookbook to Applehood and Motherpie. I posted about it last year and you can find the recipe here.

Mom Jane enjoyed the lunch and we always have a great time together. She beat me in SkipO though.....!