a new venture

Okay so whilst I may be on LOW IMPACT modified behavior these days, due to my arm injury, that does not mean The Catskill Kiwi has been sitting around idly scratching it! No siree bob, I am now in a position to present my new business venture to you all… ta dah ta dahhhhh!!!

Say hello to www.vintage-select.com…

The unveiling of my online vintage clothing store, all DRESSES, all the time.

One of kind day wear, evening, cocktail a dress for every occasion that I have carefully curated, inspected and have cleaned ready to wear.

yip that is me frolicking around on the lawn, in the road and using the crusty old trailer as a sometime backdrop. Mr Weiss did the design, layout, coding and photography!! He is no slouch that’s for sure.

Let me know what you think…

hoard…

FINALLY some tomato action… I have been running down every morning waiting, waiting, waiting for some color change… just when I thought it would never happen.. YAY.

sliced tomatoes with olive oil and salt. Perfect.

Tanglewood

Just when I thought another summer had blown by us without making a trip to Tanglewood, we realized it was the last weekend, this past weekend.  So I whipped up a quiche, loaded up the cart and we high tailed it over there.

What a fabulous evening, if you haven’t heard or gone, make sure to mark it down as something to attend next summer.  People really go all out with the picnic paraphernalia, everything from tables and candelabras to full picnic spreads are common place, the cart was a huge hit and I got asked by no fewer than about dozen different people where to pick one of these bad boys up!  So worth every penny people, along with the $18 bucks for lawn tickets, it’s gotta be the best entertainment deal around.

loaded with goodies…

after we staked our claim, the cart doubled as the dining table.

finally some tomatoes from the garden have ripened

a selection of local cheese and a veggie tart, based on this recipe, but with kale, potato, tomato and more cheese!

nibbling…

Maybe with this next stretch of gorgeous weather, we can milk out the last of summer for a just a bit longer.

pinhole photography

Wow how awesomely cool is this… the longest pinhole photograph by German artist, Michael Wesley, found here…

this is a 36 month long pinhole exposure, documenting the destruction and construction of the new MOMA building in NYC. What a trip.

smitten pt 2

Okay so it’s not quite the gorgeous Chloe sandals… but I have been coveting this garden wagon all summer, I just couldn’t pull the trigger on paying $187.95 got this.  Shoes yes, garden cart NO.  So I’ve been waiting patiently for the end of summer price plummet and lo and behold yesterday at Home Depot, this sucker was 79.95! SCORE.

now I can wheel all sorts of crap around the lawn… and I couldn’t be happier.

smitten

I know I know summer is fast slipping away… but I still want these shoes… OMG love them!

Oh baby be mine…. don’t look Mr Weiss!

my new favorite cake

In an effort to still try and have minimal use of my gammy arm, which in my opinion is not nearly healing fast enough! I slowly made this easy cake.   The results… YUM.  This is my favorite type of cake, moist, light, good crumb, not too sweet, subtle rosemary flavor, it’s really really good, and with only using two bowls and one whisk to whip it together… a cinch to make.

Olive Oil, Rosemary & Chocolate Cake (from here)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup spelt flour

3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3 eggs
1 cup olive oil
3/4 cup whole milk
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, finely chopped
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into 1/2-inch pieces

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. (175 degrees C.). Rub a 9 1/2-inch fluted tart pan with olive oil.

Sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl, pouring any bits of grain or other ingredients left in the sifter back into the bowl. Set aside.

In another large bowl, whisk the eggs thoroughly. Add the olive oil, milk and rosemary and whisk again. Using a spatula, fold the wet ingredients into the dry, gently mixing just until combined. Stir in the chocolate. Pour the batter into the pan, spreading it evenly and smoothing the top.

Bake for about 40 minutes, or until the top is domed, golden brown, and a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. The cake can be eaten warm or cool from the pan.

This book “Good to the Grain”, by Kim Boyce, is at the top of my list to get asap and start baking immediately!

county fair

OMG hands up who has been to a county fair??? Yesterday Mr Weiss and I scooted over to the 124th Annual Delaware County Fair… and how awesome was it? Totally awesome!  The animals were the real fun stuff, we watched pig judging, cow competition and some fancy horse footwork.  I capped off the experience with some good ole fashioned BQ whilst Mr Weiss munched on a veggie burger.  Good clean fun.

busy sleeping…

busy eating…

too cute!

cows, cows and more cows…

omg I want one!

there was some bad ass pigs running riot on the other side of this fence.

yum

double yum

So people if your upstate lurking about it is totally worth a visit and on today, finishing tomorrow. Go take a look.

clams on the barbie

Okay so it’s not quite “shrimp on the barbie” but in an effort to mix up our summer grilling I decided to give clams a go. It’s low impact (due to the gammy-ness of my arm) and Mr Weiss chopped what was needed, which was not much.  Totally easy, try this for something different.

Clams BQ style

2 dozen clams

4 cloves garlic

1 cup stock (veggie or fish)

1 shallot finely chopped

1/4 cup chopped parsley

Stoke up the BQ throw everything into a skillet, cover with foil and with the lid down simmer for about 20 mins, or until all the clams have opened.  We threw on some corn, picked some lettuce and had a nice summer meal.

served with a good hunk of bread. Yum.

in the wars…

Well I’ve over done it.

I have developed tendinitis (tennis elbow) in my right elbow rather majorly and in my left elbow, somewhat less majorly.  It is excruciatingly painful!! The only way to heal, along with what I am choosing to do, which is acupuncture, is REST, REST and more REST and minimal use of my right hand.  So I am on a self imposed work hiatus until it heals, or at least until I can function better.

People!! do you know how hard this is??? yip it’s really hard.  With Mr Weiss watching me like a hawk I’m trying to be very good about doing nothing… doing nothing, is not something I am good at. NOPE, me and doing nothing is like oil and water, it should never be mixed.

I’ll let you know, how the “doing nothing” is going.