Frozen Lemon Mousse with Blueberry Wine

On Saturday, I had a bit of a dessert predicament. I'd pledged to bring dessert to my wine club's first blind tasting, and I needed something that wouldn't feel too heavy after all that wine, something refreshing in the heat, and something that could travel about 25 minutes without melting too much. I also didn't want to make cheesecake, which my husband hates, or cupcakes, just because I wanted to try something new.

So after a lot of thinking, I landed on the right idea: Real Simple's frozen lemon mousse. I was partially motivated because I wanted to make something that would pair well with blueberry wine.

The hardest part of this recipe is making sure you have 2 hours to allow it to chill. Otherwise, I thought it was very easy.

In a saucepan, combine 1/4 cup of fresh squeezed lemon juice, five tablespoons of sugar and four egg yolks (you should have seen me trying to separate eggs...always entertaining). Stir the mixture for about five minutes on medium low heat.

When the mixture is warm, pour it through a strainer into a large bowl. This way, it will remove the inevitable clumps.

Immediately add 4 tablespoons of chilled butter, cut into cubes, and stir until the butter is all melted. When the mixture is smooth, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and then put it in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.

During that time, I poured 3/4 cup of heavy whipping cream in the bowl of my electric mixer and with the speed turned way up (about 4), let it whip until the cream had stiff peaks. It was like watching a fun science experiment!

 When the mixture was chilled, I folded the whipped cream in and when it was well-mixed, I was able to pour the mixture into seven ramekins, which went promptly into the freezer for two hours.

For wine club, I served the lemon mousse with a spoonful of blueberry wine. It was tart and sweet and refreshing. An airy dessert like that is perfect for a hot day, and I really loved it.

Sunday Best v.69

Design Sponge recently featured the gemstone art of Elizabeth Corkery and I can't get it out of my head! I tried once to paint gemstones in watercolor and it just wasn't happening, but these turned out lovely.

I nearly forgot to post my sunday best, so here's some evening clicking for you!

• Hilariously convincing signs for gay marriage.
• Ever need to measure something, but don't have a ruler? How about a sticker ruler that fits in your wallet?
• Aren't election robocalls annoying? Reverse 'em!
• Authors' favorite snacks.
• The sweet styles of newly married couples in New York.
• A slide at the subway!
• This New Yorker is paying $800 for 78 square feet! He has some seriously clever storage ideas, though.
• An artist inspired by Google Maps.
• A hilarious account of the secrets of breastfeeding.

Today I Like ... A Little Princess

My instant queue is so full of movies adaptations of classic books that my Netflix recently suggested a category called "Movies from Classic Books." One of the ones I most recently indulged in was Alfonso Cuoron's adaptation of "A Little Princess," which I last saw in about sixth grade. I forgot how utterly gorgeous it was, and droolworthy.

It's full of sumptuous Indian fabrics and silver tea sets...

and big bows and stone buddhas. I think the Colonial-meets-Indian-meets-Victorian style could lend itself to a gorgeous nursery, library or dressing room. A girl can dream, right? After all, every girl is "a little princess."

Get the Look

A Little Princess by Amber Lester Kennedy featuring high heels

Winston-Salem Eats

If you're not much for fried food, barbecue or carbs in general, I might recommend you skip a visit to Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The guidebook in our hotel room said that the city is known for two vices: cigarettes and donuts. We were there for just two nights to go to a bridal shower, but our lovely hosts, Winston native Holly and Sean's BFF Arthur, made sure we experienced the best the city has to offer.

At the bridal shower, I had homemade pulled pork BBQ Western North Carolina-style. Our host fixed my sandwich for me, telling me that what makes it Western-style is the vinegar-and-tomato sauce, with dashes of Texas Pete (created in Winston) and fine chopped cole slaw on top. The result is a spicy, vinegary mess that is delicious. Sean had four sandwiches, no joke.

For breakfast, Holly took us to Breakfast of Course, an artsy place that serves breakfast all day. It used to be known as Mary's of Course, but it outgrew its space. Mary herself was there serving up plate-sized pancakes, chili bowls and pimento cheese biscuits.

I had the day's special: lemon-thyme french toast topped with lemon curd and yes, I cleaned my plate. It was SOOOOO good, savory and sweet and tart and fresh, and not nearly as heavy as the usual French toast. I asked if the bread was a challah bread and Mary wasn't revealing any secrets. She just said it's a lemon-thyme bread, which essentially means no, I will not be mastering this at home.

After brunch, we headed out to Yadkinville, where our hosts will be married in a fall ceremony at Hanover Park Vineyard. The artist couple who owns the winery bought the run-down 1897 farmhouse in 1996 and restored it. It had beautiful reclaimed wood for shutters and was just lovely.

We had a little wine tasting, and their blueberry wine was TO DIE FOR. We also loved their mourvedre, a grape that only they grow in North Carolina.

For dinner, we headed to Foothills Brewing. We had about six or seven people recommend it unsolicited, and you can't ignore that amount of people when they're jumping up and down to tell you. The food was delicious bar fare with a Southern spin; I had fish and chips and some mac and cheese. But the beer is what's important right? I had a delicious seasonal beer called the Hurricane Hefeweizen, with notes of banana and cloves. I'm known for never finishing those last few sips, but I knocked this one out.

We finished the night out at the original Krispy Kreme, watching the incredible process through large windows. Sean and Arthur both hot the originals and they were, as they say, "hot now." When they have fresh hot doughnuts, they will literally melt in your mouth.

That's fine and all, but I was seduced by the Cheerwine Creme donut. I loooove Cheerwine (blame it all on my roots) and this did not disappoint. Now I'm scheming ways to replicate the flavor at home.

All in all, we had a great little weekend in the city and I'm excited to explore more when we return in the fall. I'm especially excited to try to find some furniture scores and hoping I'll have a car that can accommodate them by then.

Sunday Best v.68

I'm totally pumped Kate Spade is coming out with a line of lipsticks, whimsically called supercalifragilipstick! They were designed by Poppy King, the Lipstick Queen, so you know the shades will be versatile and moisturizing.

• Amazing advice on what to say when someone gets sick.
• Simple, elegant numbered rings that can be worn alone or layered to signify lucky numbers,  anniversaries or birthdates.
• A handy guide to who deserves to complain the most about not having air conditioning.
• The story behind a famous Wilco album cover.
• How to introduce people.
• This dad made his kids a mini conestoga wagon! So amazing.
• OKGo's newest video.
• A gorgeous family portrait, taken in the rain.

North Carolina-Bound

Globetrotter suitcase from J. Crew.

Sean and I are off to Winston-Salem, North Carolina today for a bridal shower. It's my first time in the Triad, the moniker for Greensboro, Winston-Salem and High Point. The area is basically the American capital of furniture making, so I'm hoping to scope out some antique/thrift stores. Lucky for Sean, we don't have much room in our car to bring back anything big!

Have a great weekend all, and keep a lookout for Sunday Best on Sunday (i forgot last week! bad blogger)!

New Uses for Common Items

Since I joined Pinterest, I'm always finding the cleverest "Real Simple"-style new uses for common items. I have yet to actually use any of these tips, but I thought I'd share some of the ones that really blew me away:

Use a hanger to store glasses/sunglasses!

Use a pull tab to hang art!

Use rain gutters as small bookshelves!

Use a tension rod to store spray bottles!

Or, use tension rods to create the perfect slots for platters, cutting boards and pans.

How about you guys? Any super clever use/reuse tricks up your sleeves?

Today I Like ... Bloomsbury Style

Did you ever see The Hours? It had little snippets of Virginia Woolf's visits with her sister, painter Vanessa Bell. The sisters were the center of the Bloomsbury set, a group of artists, writers and friends who challenged all the commonly held ideas of their era. Vanessa Bell's home, Charleston House, is an amazing example of unprecious decorating, full of whimsy and personal touches that I wish I had the guts to pull off. Here's some inspiring shots I found on Pinterest.

Bell handpainted the famous paisley wallpaper...I wish they'd sell that pattern! It contrasts beautifully with the comfy white furniture.

The bentwood chair is very modern for its time, and I love the blanket casually tossed over it.

Bell thought nothing of painting on the fireplace. The space is grounded with classic old English antiques, like blue and white vases.

I can't wait to go to England to visit it someday! Perfect country house.

Get the Look

Bloomsbury Set by Amber Lester Kennedy on Polyvore.com

To get the look in a more budget-friendly way, I'd recommend scouring an antique mall/thrift store for interesting 20th century sculptures, blue and white vases and paintings. I tried to mimic her mix of patterns with the paisley wallpaper, from Home Depot of all places, and the Dwell chinoiserie fabric for curtains and/or pillows.

Weekend Recap and Colonial Inspiration

My in-laws were visiting this weekend, so it was jam-packed with historical site-seeing (kind of our bag here in the Tidewater area of Virginia). I thought I'd share some pics from the weekend, including this shot of the guest room. The last time I shared a picture, it was in terrible night-time light, so I thought I'd show you what it looks like in daytime.

On Saturday, we took the Jamestown-Scotland Ferry from Jamestown to Surry. The ferry is FREE and kind of fun in a weird way! We were headed over to Surry, a place we'd never been, because my mother-in-law had clipped out an article about all the historical sites in the area. Surry and neighboring Isle of Wight County are known for two things: pork products and plantations. Nathaniel Bacon, leader of Bacon's Rebellion lived here.

After our ferry ride, we ate at Surrey House, a classic greasy spoon spot known for its peanut soup (a Virginia delicacy), fried flounder and fried chicken.

Sean DECIMATED his fried chicken platter, complete with a fried apple fritter. I had the fried flounder sandwich, which was also a greasy delight.

Surry just doesn't draw the same amount of visitors that nearby Jamestown and Williamsburg attract, so we were lucky enough to get a private tour of Smith's Fort Plantation, so named because John Smith had every intention of building a fort but more pressing matters, like incredibly bad starvation, needed to be addressed.

I found the house's color schemes and simple, rustic look really appealing, even though I'm typically not into Colonial style. It reminded me of the lovely home of blogger Katy Elliott. Colonists were not afraid of color mixing, as you can see.

Check out those built-ins! So fabulous.

I thought the dark frames around these botanical prints were really elegant, especially against the unpainted wood.

And the blue floral pattern was gorgeous, calming and simple.

I liked the little display of shark teeth and bones on the windowsill...a great idea especially for the deep window sills you'll find in Cape Cod-style homes with dormers.

And last but not least, I was straight up coveting this pink striped wool coverlet...it looked like something you'd buy from Sweden. 

How about you? Is there a historical era that always inspires you most? I usually love midcentury, but I'm also drawn to sort of English country style, like this. Simple and lovely takes the cake for me.