Now on to something a bit out of the ordinary.
How about a quadrille with six-horse hitches??
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miscellaneous
Archived Posts from this Category
February 4, 2011
In response to yesterday’s post, Margot Clark sent me two photos and the following story.
“This ‘modern-day’ photo of a Governess Cart was taken at a Picnic Drive held by Old Chatham Hunt in the late seventies. The girls are my daughters, Robin and Jennifer Moran, ages nine and twelve. They are driving their treasure, Aladdin, who was a Welsh cross. He was their fox hunter, show pony, and all-around pal. He never took a wrong step! (The pony looks improperly harnessed, but if you’ll note, the traces are slack; he’s just not up in his work.)”
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Robin and Jennifer Moran with Aladdin in the 1970s (photo courtesy of Margot Clark)
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Margot is not in the photo, but she was with her daughters when it was taken. She was driving her horse, Captain Jack, to an antique natural-wood Road Cart.
She says, “Captain Jack was probably the best horse I ever owned. He was a 16.2-hand Thoroughbred-cross; I fox hunted and evented with him, and my daughters showed him in hunters and Medal-Maclay! He was, without a doubt, a truly unique horse.”
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Captain Jack and twelve-year-old Robin Moran (photo courtesy of Margot Clark)
January 26, 2011
who’s hungry?
Posted by Jennifer under history, miscellaneous, travel / destinationsLeave a Comment
Several years ago, A.J. and I were in Salzburg, Austria, exploring the fabulous old town and the imposing castle overlooking the city. We both love the food there, and so when we found a tiny little cookbook (perfect for slipping into a suitcase pocket) in the castle gift shop, we bought it. Austrian Specialties features just that: recipes for delicious Austrian food, plus beautiful photos (although the ones here are mine) and a few tidbits of information about Austria and its history.
a portion of the Salzburg skyline, from the mountain across the river; you can see the castle in the upper left corner
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looking up at the castle from the base of the mountain
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Just this past weekend, A.J. was looking through the little cookbook and found a recipe for “Fiaker Goulash,” which is a dish named after the country’s carriage-for-hire drivers. I’m not exactly clear on why this type of goulash would have been named after carriage drivers, but no matter.
The cookbook tells us that the country’s “first official Hackney driver (Fiaker) was licensed in Vienna in 1653.”
traditional carriages lined up in a public square, awaiting fares
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Without further ado: the recipe for Fiaker Goulash (from Austrian Specialties):
2 lbs. beef (stew meat)
1 & 1/2 lbs. onions, finely chopped
2 TB oil
2 TB sweet paprika
1 TB vinegar
3 cups beef stock
1 garlic clove, crushed
pinch of marjoram
1/2 tsp ground caraway
1 TB tomato paste
Heat oil in a large skillet and saute onions until golden brown. Sprinkle the onions with the paprika; add the vinegar and several tablespoons of the beef stock.
Add the stew meat and the marjoram and carraway. Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for about one and a half hours, stirring frequently and adding stock as needed.
When the meat is tender, add the remaining stock, the tomato paste, and the garlic. Simmer for 10 more minutes, and season to taste with salt and pepper.
The traditional garnish for each bowl of goulash is a fried egg and a gherkin pickle.
January 3, 2011
Today is the first business day of 2011 (Monday, Jan. 3), and my first day with Internet access since the end of last week.
When I logged on to WordPress this morning to check in on the blog, I saw that the WP folks are challenging their bloggers to post more often. For those who haven’t published a post in a long time, or who don’t publish posts very often, the challenge is to post something once a week.
Heh, I thought. That’s too easy, as I’m already in the habit of publishing several posts each week.
Instead, I’ve signed on for WP’s “Post a Day” challenge.
That’s right. I’m going to (attempt to) publish a new blog post every day in 2011! I do have one important caveat, however: I don’t usually have Internet access on weekends / holidays, so this will more likely be an every-business-day thing.
It’s true that some posts will be quite short: perhaps a single photo, or another wonderful old video. But my goal will be to give you something new to read / look at every weekday during the upcoming year. Wish me luck, and keep on reading!
December 29, 2010
… and then, in a couple of days … Let it melt, let it melt, let it melt.
We had more snow on Christmas Eve and early on Christmas day. It was, in fact, Lexington’s first white Christmas in something like fifteen years. By the end of this week, the weather is supposed to be rainy with temps way up in the fifties, so I’m guessing that everything will melt fully and quickly, and we’ll have a good crop of New Year’s mud.
In the meantime, a few more snow photos from the Henry Clay Estate. These are from Christmas morning.
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the driveway leading to the side of the main house (the red brick building behind the trees); the building on the left, with the conical roof, is one of the original ice houses
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the "keeper's cottage," which currently houses offices and a couple of meeting rooms; the "ghost" of Henry Clay in the upper window is a cardboard cutout 🙂
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the formal, walled garden in the snow
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the front of the main house on our beautiful, snowy Christmas morning
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Coming up next on the blog: more old videos!
The Slower Road 