Cottage Revolution Has Moved

WordPress.com has been a lovely home for my blog for the past few years, but I’ve decided to change a few things and move to TheCottageRevolution.com. It’s easier to navigate and to find the tutorials and recipes you might be looking for. It’s fresh and new, and built to share all the fun projects that the future brings.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope to see you at TheCottageRevolution.com.

ETA: Anyone who subscribes to Cottage Revolution via email should have had their subscription transfer to the new site automatically. Be sure to look for a new post on Tuesday to test my understanding of this. Any other subscribers will have to resubscribe to TheCottageRevolution.com. So sorry for any inconvenience this poses to anyone. Thanks for your patience with me as I learn the ins and outs of moving a website. 

Giving Thanks

Regan and I are currently putting the finishing touches on our belated Thanksgiving meal. Both sets of parents are on their way to our house and we are grateful we are able to enjoy the holiday with them.

Here’s hoping each of you enjoyed a lovely Thanksgiving with family and friends.

The Suburban Sledgehammer

No, it’s not a pro wrestler. It’s a drink. And really it’s just called a Suburban, but the sledgehammer bit is true. While searching for some good fall cocktail recipes to sip beside a backyard fire, Regan and I came upon an Esquire recipe for these.

Mixed with rye, port, dark rum and bitters this is a powerful little drink, but it’s smooth and sweet, which makes it go down easily. From experience we’d like to tell you to pace yourself.

With a name like the Suburban, we considered all the things that could have contributed to its title. We imagined Don Draper and his Madison Avenue buddies taking the train from NY back home to the suburbs and pouring one of these powerful little drinks after a long day. In actuality it was a drink created at the Waldorf Astoria in the late 1800s and named in honor of James Keene, a big deal owner in the world of horse racing. Little known to us, the Suburban Handicap was (and is) a horse race.

I was a little disappointed in the history, but not in the drink. You should mix one up for yourself this season.

The Suburban
makes 1 

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 ounces rye whiskey
• 1/2 ounce dark rum
• 1/2 ounce port
• 1 dash orange bitters
• 1 dash Angostura bitters

Process

Stir well with ice, then pour into a chilled cocktail glass.

Handkerchief Fascinator

A friend of mine who recently got married asked me to make her headpiece for the wedding.

Allison and I have always talked about fascinators and our love of them. She has a collection of headbands and other fun accessories she has made to adorn her unquestionably awesome hair. I’ve never made anything of the sort. Yet for some reason she had faith in my ability to create something unique that she’d happily wear on her wedding day.

So when Allison’s mom gave her the handkerchief she’d carried in her own wedding (hand tatted by Belgian nuns, nonetheless), Allison asked me if I’d make her fascinator out of it. I was completely excited and honored, but as she handed over the handkerchief she said, “Do whatever you want. You can even cut it up.” (Did I mention she’s about as cool and carefree as they come?) But then I melted in fear. I was not going to cut into something so precious.

Instead I spent one evening folding up starched pieces of muslin, trying to figure out how I could manipulate an 11.5 x 11.5 piece of fabric into something that didn’t resemble an oversized origami piece. I had all but given up when I decided to try folding the actual handkerchief instead. And oh, what a difference new fabric can make. It crinkled up gently into something that resembled a flower.

Feeling like the rest would be easy because that initial fold had been so simple, I put the project aside for the evening planning to start fresh the next day. As it turns out, when I returned to the project I’d forgotten the method of folding used earlier, but after a few rounds of cursing and folding, I pinned it all together and took it to Allison to see if it would work. She kindly approved and so I gently stitched it together on the underside as discreetly as possible using stitches that could easily be snipped away if in the future the handkerchief needs to return to its original state.

To finish it, I encased a hair clip in 25 mm ribbon and then stitched the ribbon to the underside of the fascinator which, according to photos, successfully held everything securely to Allison’s head through the ceremony and the ensuing post-ceremony fun in Disney World. She rocked the hairpiece perfectly, but there’s really nothing she can’t pull off.

Congratulations, Allison and Pat. Thanks for trusting me with creating part of your wedding ensemble!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Brownies

At first I took one bite then put these brownies aside. I thought they might be too rich for me. But four hours later I decided to try them again and was hooked. I don’t know what changed during those few hours, but I soon began sneaking bites of these brownies whenever I could.

Luckily I was able to share most of the batch with friends. Otherwise I fear Regan and I would have polished off the whole batch within a matter of days. They are kind of irresistible. Let’s just say that I got a little carried away tasting these bite-sized brownies while arranging them for the camera and ruined all the good work I’d been doing in my attempt to cut down on sugar.

Totally addictive. Totally rich. Totally easy. I didn’t touch Smitten Kitchen’s recipe one bit and they were perfect.