Elderberry's

 

A new place to eat has opened up recently in Daleville.  Elderberry's is in a cute little house and serves a variety of smoothies, wraps and teas.

We had noticed the construction and then started to see cars and people on the front porch.  It looked like a cute place and Lee and I decided to stop in and check it out.

We were there after 1:00 and it was packed.  The service was fast and the food was great.

 

Lee and I split a wrap and each got a different smoothie.  You HAVE to do that in order to determine if more than one flavor of smoothie is good.  I sipped some of his and he sipped some of mine.   They were both great.  Next time we will have to each get a wrap and split a smoothie.  The smoothies were huge and the wraps were not very big.  Lot of delicious flavor, but without the smoothie I would have been hungry with half of a wrap.  One wrap is a plentiful meal, though.

One other advantage of splitting a smoothie...we both got brain freeze.  Too much cold.  Or maybe they were so good we slurped them down too fast.

 

There are a few tables inside of Elderberry's, but mostly people used them as places to sit while they were waiting for their orders to be called. 

 

There are a few places out on the deck with tables of various sizes and a great padded area to enjoy your treat.  While we were there, most people took their orders and left.

There was a nice mix of young kids and older people.  Oh, my.  Were we the older people?  Probably.

I am thrilled with a new place to eat in Daleville.  I wish someone would open something in Buchanan, but there are not enough people there to justify the expense.  So we will take the drive, or treat ourselves when we are in "town" for other things.

We suggest you do the same.

No Churn Ice Cream

I found a super easy ice cream recipe from Martha Stewart.  I used to have an ice cream maker, but it took forever and made a small amount. Plus, it was noisy.  When I saw Martha Stewart's no churn method, I was intrigued.  It seems that you whip the cream and fold it in the other ingredients and that is how the air gets mixed into the cream.

The recipe is for Vanilla Ice Cream.  I love vanilla ice cream, but I also had a bunch of peaches left over from a trip the Bryant Orchards shop in Daleville.  I figured I could make peach ice cream from vanilla, by adding peaches.

This is Martha Stewart's recipe for:

No Churn Ice Cream

1 can sweetened condensed milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons Bourbon (optional)
2 cups cold heavy cream, whipped

Mix the first 3 ingredients in a large bowl. 

Whip the cream into stiff peaks and fold it into the mixture and freeze in a loaf pan for 6 hours to firm up.  Easy right?  But I wanted PEACH ice cream, so here is what I did.

 

No Churn Peach Ice Cream

1 can sweetened condensed milk
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons Peach Schnapps (optional)
2 cups cold heavy cream, whipped
2 large peaches, diced small


 

Mix the sweetened condensed milk and the vanilla in a large bowl.  I had some Peach Schnapps, so I decided that made more sense than Bourbon in this recipe. It is optional, though.

 

I used my Kitchen Aid mixer for the heavy cream.  It takes about 5 minutes to whip the cream into stiff peaks.  Keep an eye on it for the last few minutes, as you can over whip it and it will break down.

 

Peel and dice the peaches.

 

Scrape the cream into the bowl with the milk mixture.  Gently fold it in.  You don't want to break up the air bubbles you just whipped into it.

 

Fold in the peaches and freeze in a loaf pan for 6 hours to firm up.  I tried it in 4 hours and it wasn't firm enough, but it was yummy.

 

It had to wait overnight for a taste, but ice cream and peaches sounds like the perfect breakfast, doesn't it?
 

The Last Sink

We spent the fourth with our daughter and future son-in-law and then celebrated Lee's birthday on Sunday.  So other than cooking, dishes, visiting and sightseeing, I got nothing done this lastweekend. Very pleasurable, but not productive.   Today, I got a bunch done.

 

When we bought this house there was a plastic laundry tub by the back door.  I think this was for the dogs.  The previous owners kept the dogs in the basement, with a doggie door,  and I guess they left them water from that sink.  We removed the doggie door and the laundry tub when we started finishing the basement, but left the plumbing.

Even though there is a sink in the kitchenette and one in the powder room and one in the bathroom, for some strange reason, I felt the need to keep the plumbing and put a sink there.  At this point, my idea is to put in a wooden, antique sideboard or buffet and mount a vessel sink on it.  It will then be used as a coffee bar.

 

We have driven all over southwest Virginia looking at antique shops for the right sideboard.  It also had to be inexpensive as we were going to cut a honking hole in it and I didn't want to spend hundreds of dollars for a pricey antique, and then ruin it!  Imagine then finding it on craigslist!

 

I don't know what sort of finish is on the sideboard, so I decided to put on two coats of a sealer.  Then I will put on two coats of a polyurethane and hope that protects the finish.  I am only putting it on the top, so it should go pretty quickly.

 

First I sanded the whole thing and then cleaned off all the dust from sanding.  I used a disposable natural bristle brush, because I did not want to clean it up with mineral spirits. That is a way bigger job than cleaning up with water.  I had to do two coats, however and didn't want have to buy two brushes and then throw them each away. 

  

So I used some aluminum foil.  If you are going to use the same brush in a little bit with the same color or type of coating, you can place it in aluminum foil and seal it tightly so no air can get to it.  Open it up in a few hours and keep going.  The brush will not dry out and will be fine for another coat.

 

That is me going green.

While I was waiting for the first coat to dry, I decided to make a batch of peach jam.  This last weekend we had all gone to the farmer's market in Daleville.  It was so small.  I hope it gets bigger and better as the apartments they are building there become occupied and they get more foot traffic.

While in town we hit the Willow Pod gift shop, the new coffee house and the Bryant Orchards shop for fresh peaches.  I bought two boxes because I wanted to make jam.

 

I had to send Lee out to buy the Sure Jell and more sugar.  I had forgotten how much sugar jam uses!

 

I started the jam at noon and by 3:00 I had three batches done.  It sure goes faster than making blackberries where you have to put all the fruit through a food mill to remove the seeds.  And we won't even talk about picking them in the hot sun with all the ticks and other creepy crawlies.  So peach jam is a joy! 

 

It is not without labor, however.  Three hours on your feet, toiling away over a cutting board and a hot stove is a lot!

   

Then I had a bite to eat and back to the basement to sand and apply the second coat.

 

I will put on the first coat of polyurethane in the morning.  I ordered a vessel sink and a faucet from Amazon and it should be here by the end of the week.  By then it will be ready to install.  Check back!