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vintage finds and other treasures

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I have a confession to make: this blog is not only a platform for me to explore new recipes and ingredients but I also use it as an excuse to hoard pretty plates and serving pieces and table linens.  True story.  Many weekends I can be found scouring estate sales and antique stores seeking out anything I think might make a nice background for food.  Case in point: the above starter collection of milk glass pieces atop a lovely tablecloth my mom found at an antique store.

When I came across these handkerchiefs at an estate sale last year I had to have them.  I wasn’t sure at the time how I would use them but they were so pretty and the woman who collected them had the same first initial as me so I took that as a sign from the heavens that they needed to come home with me.  So they did.

I’ve been fortunate to also have been handed down some very lovely things from family members which makes them more special.  You might think the sifter above is good as just an antique prop but no, I actually use it for its original intended purpose.  It’s way bigger easier to clean than the ones they manufacture today.  And I am also a sucker for old metal baking pans when I see them at estate sales– they were made so much sturdier back in the day!

A friend who knows I collect linens passed the embroidered peacock runner to me.  Love it.

I don’t exactly know what I am going to do with the glass domes I have been collecting but I know they will come in handy some day.  Thinking I will serve cupcakes in them.  Nothing like old glass milk bottles either.

A friend convinced me to buy the cake topper at an estate sale even though it made me kind of sad to think about the couple who it originally belonged to.  I like to think that they’d be happy knowing that I will put it to good use so someday I will.  I’m also a sucker for glasses and other formats for vintage advertising.

I like tablecloths with flowers on them.  So pretty!

The dishes above are my greatest find yet.  I went to a barn sale in the country not far from where I live in Wisconsin and this older gentleman who looked like he stepped straight out of an episode of American Pickers  sold me four boxes of these dishes for $4.  Four dollars!  I now have service for about 20 people though have mostly been too scared to use them because I am afraid I will break them.  Considering that they resided in a barn for years unscathed I probably shouldn’t be too worried…

Not all great things are vintage.  The majority of the above pieces came from a friend who has great taste and decided I could use a few more colorful pieces for the blog.  Love them (and her)!  Anthropologie, West Elm, and Fishs Eddy are great resources.

baxter & main now on twitter

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If you tweet please follow me at @baxterandmain on Twitter.  I don’t totally “get” Twitter just yet but I’m sure I’ll get the hang of it one of these days… Bear with me.

Merry Christmas from Baxter & Main!

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Merry Christmas to all!

Baxter & Main is super excited about all of the kitchen tools and cookbooks she has received this holiday season so be sure to check back later in the week to see them all put to good use.  Until then I wish you tidings of comfort and joy and a big ol’ plate of cookies too…

a gluttonous feast

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Now that leftovers are all gone I thought I would post some images of my Thanksgiving dishes.  Am already feeling a slight nostalgia for the day that was…

There were cheddar herb biscuits:

Cornbread and sausage stuffing:

 Corn pudding:

Sweet potato casserole:

Brussels sprouts and carmelized shallot hash:

Cranberry-apple chutney:

The star of the day, salted herb roast turkey:

Pecan pie with cream cheese crust:

Pumpkin cream pie with (homemade) gingersnap crust:

And cranberry brie pie:

 There was also gingersnap ice cream but I somehow managed to miss taking a photo of it… but I can assure you it was quite good.

It dawned on me when I opened a can of chiles for the corn pudding that it was the first and only can I opened in the entire preparation the meal– everything else was made from scratch from the chicken stock to the pumpkin puree to the pie crusts.  A very homemade Thanksgiving, indeed.

Hope everyone had a great holiday!

This week I will be traveling to New York for work so my posts will likely be images of what I am eating while there.  Will return with regular programming (aka recipes) next week.

kitchens past, present and future

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Would I like to work in a kitchen that is light and airy and open?  Of course!  Would I like to cook/bake with the finest appliances?  A Sub-Zero fridge perhaps, and a Wolf range?  You bet I would!  A kitchen with an island that goes on for miles and miles?  Sign me up!  A kitchen that looks much like the one below (courtesy of hgtv.com)?  Yes please!

But that’s not reality.  At least not until I strike it rich by playing the Lotto or sell so many baked goods on the etsy site I am contemplating opening (you know, in my spare time) that I can afford to do so.  In other words, it’s not likely to happen anytime soon.

I thought it might be fun to share images of some of the kitchens I have inhabited over the years and  yes, okay, maybe I’m stalling a little bit.  I just moved this past weekend and even though I had great ambitions of cooking and baking up a storm upon unpacking, it just didn’t quite happen.  I was tired, I’m sorry.  I will amend that in the near future, I can assure you!

I couldn’t go too far back in the old archives because a few of the apartments I’ve lived in over the years just didn’t have kitchens worth photographing and/or photos were taken before I had a digital camera (yes Virginia, there was life before digital cameras) and I don’t have a scanner and therefore no way to share the pictures on this here blog.  So, we’ll start five years ago in my Brooklyn kitchen:

1)

As you can see it was a galley style kitchen and actually relatively spacious for NYC.  It had good sunlight and ventilation from the large window and the fridge and the stove were conveniently located side-by-side (as if there were another option for placement!)  I had people over for dinner frequently in this kitchen and even hosted a few small food-related parties that I deemed to be successes.  Something you can’t tell based on the photos: we had a little bug problem in this apartment.  I’ll spare you the details but you can probably guess just what kind of insect it was…  But nevermind– I’d never let a little bug get in the way of making magic in the kitchen!

 2)

Next we have quite possibly the tiniest kitchen that’s ever existed.  See where the cooler is sitting?  That was the entire section of working counterspace– all one square foot of it.  What is hidden by the blue wall on the left is the sink and to the right of the fridge was the door to my bedroom.  And this was in a sixth-floor walk-up in Chinatown.  But I loved it!  In fact, it’s one of my favorite apartments ever.  And yes, in case you were wondering, I sure did do some baking in this teensy, tiny, little space.  Cakes, pies, cookies, bread.  All prepared on one square foot of counterspace.  Incredible!

3)

Then I moved to Wisconsin where space was not a problem.  In fact my next kitchen was so large I could have easily fit an elephant and a giraffe and probably a small whale too and they all could have lived harmoniously together without ever rubbing elbows.  (Do whales even have elbows?)  What did I not love about the kitchen?  The small oven (never could have pulled off a Thanksgiving meal here…) and the knotty pine.  Yes, it did sort of have a kitschy 1950’s appeal and on occasion I did feel like I was inhabiting Betty Draper’s kitchen (minus Don Draper, bummer) but most of the time I just felt like I was in a log cabin in northern Michigan on a long summer weekend waiting to swat some flies away from the food.  But, I did manage to bake award-winning brownies in this kitchen and that’s nothing to snuff at.  And oh man, just look at all that space!

4)

And that brings us to my brand new (but not-so-new) kitchen.  It’s smaller than the last but that was bound to happen.  It still has adequate counter space and storage.  Yes, it has some awful dark green 1980’s wallpaper with a coordinating decorative border that is barely visible in this photograph but you know what?  I can deal with that.  I will still cook and bake some wonderful things in this kitchen and fill the bellies of the people I love and hopefully bring a smile to their faces too.  Because it doesn’t matter  what kind of space you have to prep food in as long as you have passion for what you’re doing.  But if anyone wants to buy me a Wolf stove one of these days I would certainly not be opposed…