Missing Court

Dinner with Friends

Friends were in town last week. A practice for Thanksgiving.

 Felix made the sauce and NJ style meatballs

  I made an antipasto but E ate into it before I got a picture.

 Serving production line.

Otto brought some wine from his Indiana vineyard. Yes...there's wine in the Hoosier state and it got a silver medal at a wine competition.

A night with interesting friends.

French Chef

We had a most delightful and flavorful Sunday dinner prepared by our French visitor.  Delphine arrived to take a two week English course at Kaplan. She is the daughter of our home exchange family from last summer. and loves DC. Her English proficiency was already top rate, plus she speaks Portuguese and met several Brazilians in the class. By chance one of her school friends from France was on the same plane to  do a camp counselor course so she had a home town pal in DC. She is the best tourist ever. She walked and Metroed all over town.

Sunday she made dinner while I worked on the bathroom renovation. (Yes, that's still in progress!)  Onion and quiche Lorraine were on the menu along with a tomato/avocado salad and a cherry dessert

 I gave a little help with the crust.

 Our friends Jim and Carol joined us.

 The boys came in time for desert.

 Bon appetit.

Sunday Lunch

A week ago Sunday we hosted a friend from Indonesia who was back for a visit. Enjoyable conversation all around as our friend Jim Kutz is the curriculum developer of the model curriculum PK - 12th grade for a model school in Dhaka, Bangladesh.  He is also involved with the Geology World Park to be located in Bogor, Indonesia.

I still have my living and dining rooms switched around, good for a table of eleven.

 Simple red tulips on the table.

Stock and carnations in the other room.

Food waiting to be put out.

Lemonade and wine in the kitchen.

Cheese boards.

Roasted asparagus with balsamic vinegar, mixed cherry tomatoes on the side.

 Chicken salad.

My sister's excellent pound cake and fresh strawberries for dessert.  A really easy party to prepare since poached chicken breasts take less than 30 minutes to cook. I used red grapes, dried cranberries, celery and walnuts with a minimal amount of mayo/yogurt/mustard/curry dressing.

Renewing a Marble Top Chest

Our friends acquired this piece and two others very like it when they were stationed in Germany in the 70's.  They've used it ever since, but now it was surplus in their home.

I measured it and found several places it would fit at Pat's Addition.  It took three of use to move her (I think it's a she) even though the marble comes apart. There were a couple of edge moldings off.  Some wood glue and clamps fixed them up.

The original handles were broken or missing.  They seemed to be a tin/lead material and were never fastened well.  Just small nails were used.  They had left an imprint.

 I used my favorite quick fix on the finish. 

I bought some HD knobs that were a close match in shape/color to the two originals on the top drawers.  I did have to drill holes and since the short screws were too ... short! and the long screws were too ...  long! I used a nut on the inside to make it work.

I did rig a block behind the two top drawers so they closed better.

Followed by some polish. 

 Still has the working key.

Here she is, moved to the foot of the basement stairs were light reflects in the mirror.  We used the skateboards to move her from the first place (by the bathroom door) we put her.

These are tools from my great grandfather. A scribe, plane and level.

Plus an old camera and chess set.

I think the piece is a marriage of three...chest, marble and mirror since the marble seems a bit too large for the top.  The mirror might have sat on the top with a smaller marble but it doesn't seem to be quite the same wood.  It has a faint signature on the bottom. Nice tiles on either side.

Anyway, she works for me.  Thanks Jim and Carol! A Happy Valentine's Day to all.