Monthly Archives: May 2016
Breakfast in Bed – Texas Frittata
by: Alison Hein
I just returned from Texas after visiting with my sister in law Suzanne and her husband Randy. They have a beautiful ranch house set in the woods, surrounded by rolling hills and green oak trees. Suzanne’s kitchen is amazing, and each time I visit, I long to cook there. You may recall this lovely location for my great sugar burn experience while preparing a holiday flan a few years back.
With some brief moments of hesitance, I decided to return to the scene of the crime and whip up a nice breakfast. A quick search in the fridge yielded abundant selection, and I decided to prepare a nice, big frittata, loaded up heavy on the meat, Texas-style. Randy became my sous chef while Suzanne set a sparkling table.
Suzanne’s bright blue Le Creuset casserole dish was perfect for sautéing sausage, cooking vegetables, setting eggs, popping in the oven, and serving with style. A few torn basil leaves from Suzanne and Randy’s herb garden and a bottle of zesty hot sauce completed our impromptu breakfast in bed, Texas-style.
Ingredients
1 pound breakfast sausage
2 tablespoons high-heat olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
8 ounces mushrooms, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
8 ounces fresh spinach leaves
7 eggs
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 – 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese
Fresh basil, for garnish
Hot sauce, for serving
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°. Place a 10-inch ovenproof frying pan on stove over medium heat. Crumble sausage into pan and continue to cook until completely browned, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, drain, and set aside. Wipe out pan completely and return to the stovetop.
Pour olive oil into the pan and heat over medium heat. Add chopped onion to pan, and sauté until soft, about 5 minutes. Add mushrooms and garlic and cook for about 2 minutes more. Add spinach leaves by the handful until they are all wilted. Reduce heat to low.
Break eggs into a large bowl, and whisk until smooth and thickened. Add cooked breakfast sausage crumbles to the eggs and season with salt and pepper. Pour egg mixture over the onion-mushroom-spinach mixture. Continue to cook, gently moving uncooked eggs back around the sides of the pan, until edges are lightly set, about 5 to 7 minutes.
Place frittata in oven to finish, baking for about 10 minutes, until lightly puffed up and golden. Remove from oven and sprinkle the top of the frittata with parmesan cheese. Place frying pan under broiler, about 5 inches from direct heat and broil until cheese is melted and very lightly browned, about 30 to 60 seconds. Remove from oven, garnish with fresh basil and serve immediately.
Makes 4 – 6 servings.
Movies in Bed: Gods of Egypt.
Post by Mark T. Locker.
Gods of Egypt has finished its brief run in theaters and is now available to watch in the comfort of your own bedroom. Set in ancient Egypt, at a time when the gods walked among the men, larger than life and powerful. All is well and at peace until the banished god Set comes back with an army and usurps the throne and blinds his brother Horus, who was to take the throne. The fate of the kingdom of Egypt falls into the unlikely hands of a young thief, whose only reason for fighting is to get his girlfriend back. He uses his amazing thieving skills to recover one of Horus’s eyes. Horus in turn agrees to help fight Set for the throne.
This is not what I would call a “good” movie; it’s full of too much CGI, lots of Europeans and Australians posing as Egyptians, and weak dialog. It’s difficult not to think of Liz Taylor’s famously overbudget Cleopatra when watching this movie. Loads of money spent on what was meant to be some kind of epic, but just wasn’t. That said, it’s a very entertaining movie. It’s a movie that is easy to just relax and enjoy in all its ridiculousness. Plus, who doesn’t like to see fleshed-out ideas of what Egypt would have looked like in its heyday? Even if those interpretations might make Egyptologists (like my wife) cringe just a little. (Though I must say, the bit in the Underworld with the awesome jackal-headed Anubis is pretty cool to watch.)
This movie is a fun way to end a busy week. If you want something with lots of action that lets you just turn off your brain and immerse yourself in a fantasy world of gods and monsters, this is the movie for you.
RecyBags: The Perfect Summer Accessory
Post by Tracy Kaler.
Beach time is just around the corner, and every chic beachgoer needs a stylish bag to stash the sunblock, water bottle, cover-up, and a great summer read. At Charles P. Rogers, we happened to discover these colorful totes made from rice sacks and animal feed sacks in Cebu, Philippines. Can you believe that any item this lovely would be constructed of sacks? We think the bags make for an ideal beach tote, but beyond their aesthetic, RecyBags have a terrific, heartwarming story too.
The bags are made by a group of Filipino women in partnership with the Rise Above Foundation, a team of volunteers working to improve the lives of the poor and underprivileged in Cebu. Launched in 2009, the RecyBag program gives these struggling women a sense of autonomy and self-sufficiency that they wouldn’t have otherwise, enabling them to provide for their families.
“The RecyBags program has helped me a lot. Now my son’s education will be sponsored….And we also have wonderful people who always encourage us.” – Imelda S. Comon, 45 years old, RecyBag Artisan
Unsurprisingly, the making of these beautiful bags is a bit of a process. Each woman has been trained to cut and fold each strip carefully, weaving one by one until they’ve created the perfect bag. A handwoven tote takes about 10 to 12 hours to cut and weave.
Even if you’re not a beach lover, RecyBags make an excellent travel bag, carryall, or even a warm-weather handbag. As a stylish gal myself, I can imagine strutting around New York City with a fashionable RecyBag on my shoulder!
Sold locally in the Philippines and spotted in other countries like the United Kingdom, Switzerland, France, and Japan, RecyBags are becoming popular the world over. And now, the bags are available in New York and New Jersey too. Charles P. Rogers will be giving away bags (while supplies last) in our showrooms from May 20th through 30th. Anyone who purchases a sheet set at our Flatiron or New Jersey showroom during the promotion will automatically go home with one of these fabulous RecyBags, just in time for the summer season.
“Ever since I started in the RecyBags program, I don’t worry about our daily needs anymore, unlike before, I didn’t have a source of income yet.” – Juanita Baclay, 52 years old, RecyBags Artisan
Charles P. Rogers
26 W 17th St, New York, NY 10011
(212) 675-4400
300 NJ-17
East Rutherford, NJ 07073
(201) 933-8300
For more info on RecyBags, visit the Facebook page.
Bedtime Stories: American Gods
Post by Mark T. Locker.
American Gods by Neil Gaiman.
Note: This is not a story for children. But who says that kids have to have all the fun? -MTL
Neil Gaiman is an incredibly prolific writer who manages to have broad appeal no matter what he writes and no matter what the audience. From silly books like Fortunately, the Milk to the much-loved Sandman graphic novels, from a weird picture book like The Day I Swapped my Parents for Two Goldfish to adult novels like American Gods.
American Gods is noteworthy for a couple reasons right now. For one, it is celebrating its 15th anniversary. For another, it’s being cast and made into a television series for Starz. So in honor of these events I went back and reread this book. The first thing I thought of when I read this book was Douglas Adams’s weird and awesome book The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul in which slovenly and slightly questionable detective Dirk Gently gets involved with Odin, Thor and other gods of old. The premise is the same, sort of: the old gods were brought over here with the immigrants. Vikings brought Odin, Loki, Thor; slaves brought Baron Samedi and Exu; Irish brought leprechauns and other magical folk. But the modern world has little time or space for these old ones. There are now Media and Technology to worship. A Storm Is Coming. Wednesday, who we learn quickly to be Odin, hires an ex-con named Shadow who has just lost everything to be his errand boy. I don’t think anything will be the same for him again.
At times brutal and a little intense (A Storm Is Coming, remember?) it’s a fascinating story and educational as well. There are a lot of gods out there. And you may start to feel bad for them; many are forgotten and even those who are not need your support in this difficult time.
Decorating with Painted Furniture in a Bedroom
Post by Tracy Kaler.
If you have a collection of mismatched furniture and you’d like your room to have a more refined aesthetic, consider painting all the pieces one color. Painting is an easy and economical way to unify a variety of furniture styles in the same room.
Or, perhaps you need a splash? Purchase one brightly colored accent piece, such as a nightstand or side chair, and it could be just what your bedroom needs.
Be it black, white, or your favorite bold hue, let’s take a look at decorating a bedroom with painted furnishings.
Raspberry is the color of choice in this girl’s room. This tone might not seem all that practical, but it adds personality to what would otherwise be a pretty bland space. The sage green walls are a beautiful backdrop too.
A shabby-chic style Chicago bedroom takes on an elegant feel with older white furniture. Notice the variety of white used here. Different shades make this romantic room feel cohesive, yet not boring.
A turquoise chest adds just the right amount of color to this simple guest room with no headboards, painted floors, and sheer curtains. Can you picture the room without the chest? I think it would feel like it was missing an essential component. This room is a terrific example of a single piece of furniture completing a space.
Black brings this bedroom to life. The black painted furnishings and roman shades combined with the funky chandelier and table lamp, not to mention the skins and guitars work well together for a boy’s room or guest quarters.
I adore everything about this bedroom. The delicate bed with a painted green finish; the white nightstands with green hardware; the symmetry, and even the placement of the bed in front of the window. Everything feels right.
