Chickpea Tabbouleh

Tonight for supper I made chickpea tabbouleh which we ate in wraps along with shredded chicken. It was *so* good that I decided to save the recipe here.

2 16 ounce cans of chickpeas, drained

2 large tomatoes, chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

5 radishes, chopped or shredded

1 cup chopped fresh parsley

½ cup chopped green onions

3 tablespoons olive oil

3 tablespoons lemon juice

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon ground pepper

Mash the chickpeas until 3/4 are broken up, add the rest of the vegetables and mix well. Add the salt & pepper, mix again. Drizzle the olive oil and lemon juice over and mix for the last time. 

The recipe made enough for us to have for supper with leftovers for lunch tomorrow. It has got to be one of the most economical wholesome meals I've ever tried. I spent less than $12 total!

In Which We Camp Out In The Living Room

We had decided last year that the drywall in the downstairs bedroom would have to come down, we thought we'd probably put drywall up again but the multiple rotten wallpaper layers should be removed first. And remember that I already had multiple holes blown through the drywall from previous Exploratory Missions. The boys and I began demolition this week, only removing as much drywall as I could finish in a day. Once the drywall is down there are multiple wallpaper layers over a layer of fabric and then below that is the original wallpaper that the Smithsonian dated to 1840. This bottom layer has to be sprayed with a vinegar solution and then scraped, after that it has to be washed several times to get the traces of glue and wallpaper remnants off. The paper had been patched in several places, we removed a patch and you can see how light and pretty it once was.

At the bottom of this paper there are traces of salmon colored paint, which is faintly visible on the trim board as well. Can you imagine what this room looked like 170 years ago?

We had several unexpected discoveries. One was that the boards over which the wallpaper is glued, are hand planed. I'm fascinated by that and loathe to cover it up now.

A partially scrubbed wall

The unscrubbed section

We also decided to remove the one and only closet in the whole house. It takes up an entire end of the room and makes the bed placement really awkward. What we found confirms some of our earlier suspicions that the cabin part of the house was moved here from elsewhere. Behind the drywall/wallpaper layers were boards that didn't match the others, we took one down and discovered a doorway!

Micah looking into the crack where the doorway was.

My theory is that the cabin was moved here in the late 1830s to very early 1840s, instead of lining the doorways up (which would have given the house an odd jog along the outside wall) they cut a new doorway to match the door in the back part of the house. Then they had the hand planed boards added in the bedroom solely so that wallpaper could be laid (I can find no evidence that they were ever painted or sealed in any way). At some later date some of those boards had to be replaced and that's when they put up these whitish boards.

Looking down inside the wall where the doorway was

The right side of the doorway, still with the nails where the jamb boards were attached

When we were scraping the paper we found section after section of intact paper and took various photos of the seam lines (that's what confirms the early date). The paper is 19" wide and 42" long, seemingly little effort was made to run the paper straight up and down, most of the seam lines have a noticeable list to them.

We moved our bed to the living room last night where it will stay until we're done with the walls. Since I don't want to cover the hand planing again I'm tossing around just sealing the boards, or maybe giving them a light paint wash.

The Last of the Plaster (almost)

 Our Memorial Day weekend project was taking down the last of the plaster upstairs. We had one whole bedroom still plastered and the hallway upstairs, I didn't get a whole lot of shots before we started working, but here's the general idea. The hole in the ceiling is where Levi stuck his foot through, he and Micah had to go in the attic to kill all of the red wasps before the real work could commence.

 We tried to save the piece of plaster that this date was written on, Gill cut carefully around it and lifted it out. It just turned to powder in his hands and ran through his fingers.

 Removing plaster has got to be one the the filthiest jobs ever. I'm so glad that we're almost at the end of taking it out.

 After the plaster was on the floor the boys and Gill shoveled it out the upstairs window onto tarps.

The bare walls, that's the clapboard siding that you're seeing.

 A few views of the roof, the rafters aren't pegged as they are in other parts of the house, but there isn't a ridgepole here or anywhere.

When the Thornburghs decided to add onto their home in the 1850s to make it into a Federal style dwelling, what was the outside wall became an interior wall. What you're looking at is the outside of the cabin and a chimney that was on an exterior wall. It now runs through the center of the house. The hole is what was cut so you can access both attics.

This is the chimney on the west side, although it's the newest chimney it's in the roughest condition. We are planning to remove it this summer.

After the plaster and lath were out we washed and washed and washed the floors. And then we washed them some more. :-)

Now onto insulating and then putting up drywall.

Welcome to your Really Old House

I saw this in Yankee magazine and thought it was cute. And so true!

Congratulations! As the proud new owner of a vintage New England home, you can look forward to many years of satisfaction, enjoyment, and repairs.

Steep Thrills
Note the daring slope of the roof, which has approximately the same pitch as Tuckerman Ravine and will get you to the bottom just as fast in case of emergency. A built-in snow-removal system uses heat from the house to melt the white stuff and transform it into those charming full-length icicles featured on New England calendars. (See Appendix B: “Ice Dams.”)
Boxed In
The attic of your old house comes pre-filled with ancient furniture, clothes, and trunks. Don’t worry, none of it’s valuable–your junk will fit right in! The attic is climate-controlled to be an oven in summer and a freezer in winter, just as nature intended.
Rooms with a Flue
Your brick chimney was designed to let small animals come and go at their leisure, providing you with many happy evenings playing “What’s That Noise?”
Breezy Does It
You’ll enjoy fresh air year-round, thanks to patented Flo-Thru technology, consisting of hundreds of tiny air leaks strategically placed around windows, doors, and other openings. Many of these gaps are large enough to let insects pass through, bringing the wonder of nature right into your home.
Hidden Turn-Ons
Light switches in new houses are generally placed just inside entry doors–boring! You’ll find your light switches outside the door, down the hall, and possibly in your neighbor’s broom closet.
Privy Counsel
You’ll enjoy the luxury of 1-1/4 baths (the downstairs toilet was originally an ironing-board closet). The main bath features a clawfoot tub that your friends will ooh and aah over but will not take off your hands, as it weighs only slightly less than the Hoover Dam. There’s no shower, but you can easily add one using a variety of contraptions, most of which will also add a refreshing moistness to the walls and floors.
Wall or Nothing
The walls of your home have been filled with old newspapers that provide an insulating R-value of 0.0002, largely owing to the use of words like “coruscate” and “perspicuous” in the text. The surface is genuine horsehair plaster, noted for its attractiveness, durability, and tendency to crumble to pieces if you try to hammer a picture hanger into it.
Floor Better or Worse
Luxuriate in the warmth and beauty of genuine hardwood floors. They’re guaranteed to be maintenance-free, as long as you don’t care what they look like. They also act as built-in hygrometers, alerting you to excess humidity by popping up high enough to stub a toe on.
Cellar Beware
Your New England cellar is a haven of dampness, coolness, and mold spores the size of rutabagas. Unlike modern basements with their tediously straight angles and smooth walls, your cellar incorporates features of its natural surroundings, such as boulders, ledges, and major root systems. In places, the cellar is actually large enough to let you stand up straight, though generally not where you need to access wires or pipes for repairs. Here, you’ll find handy crawl spaces, home to a variety of interesting creatures, including spiders resembling mohair work gloves. After a long winter, the sound of running water will alert you to the arrival of spring as it passes through your cellar.
The Heat Goes On … and On … and On
Your old house comes equipped with an original furnace the size of a Winnebago. This classic heap o’ technology fires up with a house-rattling roar just a few decibels shy of a space-shuttle launch, giving you the calm assurance that it’s working day and night. Heat is delivered through a single vent to the living room, where it’s free to roam the rest of the house, though it rarely feels called upon to do so. In later models, heat may be provided via iron radiators, which can also be used as anchors by any Class 2 cargo ship.

It Came Upon The Middle Of February

For various and sundry reasons we did not celebrate Christmas this past December. When we were finally ready to celebrate the availability of trees was rather....limited, so I decided we would do something totally different from your typical Christmas tree. I decided to make it a permanent reminder of our first Christmas in the new house, something that furthers my vision for what I want to transform this property into. I chose an American Crabapple tree. It arrived on Saturday, I stuck it in a sap bucket, very simply decorated it and opened presents Sunday morning. Then out the tree went. We will plant it tomorrow I think, 2 other apple varieties will join it later in anticipation of the day that we can press our own apples.

 We already have 2 blueberry bushes planted and loads of garlic. A raspberry bush or two will join the other bushes and some strawberries in a raised bed. The planning and planting alike make me so happy, I'm thrilled to be getting back portions of our former life that I've missed.

Afterward we went to a restaurant to eat, a very, very rare treat for our family. The owner and several waitresses came over to inquire whether they were all our children and to ask what their ages were. Later the owner came back to tell us what a wonderful family we had and to compliment us on how well behaved and quiet they were.  :-)  That makes me happy too.

 

Christmas is a very low key day for us, simple and family oriented, just the way I like.
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Thinking About Lighting

We've taken a hiatus from working on the kitchen for several months, but once the weather warms up a bit more we want to tackle the few remaining projects with a will. I have worked out where every jelly cupboard, pie safe and appliance will go, finally figured out the issue of how to have work space without using modern countertops and am now trying to work out lighting. I want chandeliers that look at peace with the age of the house and the decorating scheme, but don't necessitate an ambulance call when I look at the price tag. For instance, this:

Isn't it lovely? Indeed. And the price tag? $2360.00 This one and the next are from Authentic Designs.

The one above is a more modest $552.00, but still unaffordable.

Then I began looking at the options from Circa 1820 and found several choices that I really like. Such as this one:

It costs $278 and comes in lots of delicious distressed paint combinations.

Or this one above. It is a mere $198. I ordered a print catalog, I really prefer shopping that way and I'm hopeful that just the perfect light will be there. Many of the lights that will go in the rest of the house were either already here or were given to me by my family, so I actually haven't had to spend any money on lighting so far.

Maple & Honey Coulommiers

Since work on the house has pretty much come to a standstill for the "Winter" (30-40 degrees and rain seems like perpetual Spring to us) I decided that now would be a good time to dust off the cheese making supplies and get at it. One of our very favorite cheeses is Coulommiers, a cheese in the Brie/Camembert family. Three of my friends requested a tutorial, so this is for you Amy, Jenny and Ken. 

A few notes. This is the first time I've ever made a cheese from pasteurized milk and I know that it will give a softer set. I figured that since this is a semi-soft cheese that it shouldn't matter too much; the cheese was notably softer, but still fine. Second, I found vegetable rennet locally so I used that. Since it was expired (didn't check that until I got it home) and presumably weaker in strength that may have contributed to a softer cheese as well. Third, I added 1t of maple extract and 3T of honey to the milk, I've never added a liquid before and that may also have contributed to a softer cheese. If I would try it again I'd add dehydrated honey. Fourth, my cheese thermometer broke and I sent Gill for a candy thermometer. It was useless for this recipe so I guesstimated the temperature. Fifth, the book says to never directly heat the milk, but I always do. It works out. And lastly, there is both science and art to cheese making. I get the science, but prefer the art. My directions will frustrate you if you are a "follow directions" kind of person.  :-)

Step 1, heat the milk to 90 degrees. Since the lowest temperature on the candy thermometer is 100 I kept it below that and heated the milk until it felt blood warm.

Step 2, Add 1/8 teaspoon of Flora Danica starter, stir well, cover and allow milk to ripen for 20 minutes.

If you want to add herbs or honey or whatever, do it now. Generally when I make this I add chives, onion powder and garlic powder. It is sublime

Step 3, Dilute 2 drops of rennet in 1T of cool, unchlorinated water. Add rennet to milk and stir well. The recipe says cover and let set at 90 degrees for 45 minutes, I put a lid on the pan and put it in the oven.

Step 4, Place a cheese mat on a cookie sheet with one end of the sheet raised a bit. Put cheese mold on top.

Step 5, HOLDING THE MOLD WITH 1 HAND! and using a metal serving spoon, slice thin slices of curd from the top and gently place in mold. Don't sweat it if they just plop in, it'll still be fine.

Step 6,  Ladle in all curds, the mold will be filled to the top. Place a weight on top, I used a small cast iron frying pan.

Step 7, Let cheese set at 72 degrees (ha ha, I just left it on the counter overnight) for 6-9 hours. Whey will be draining all over your counter and onto the floor.

Step 8, You are now ready to flip the cheese. Take a length of dental floss and run it under the cheese so it won't be attached to the mat.

Step 9, Flip the cheese onto a fresh mat and continue to let it drain and settle.

Step 10, Flip cheese several times a day. The cheese is done when it stands an inch to an inch and a half high and pulls away from the sides of the mold. You can eat it right away or wrap it in cheese wrap and age for a week or two. The aging gives it a bit of a wang, for wangless cheese eat immediately.