The rebirth of Market Street, in Louisville, Kentucky

In downtown Louisville Kentucky, just a few blocks south of the Ohio River, is Market Street. Lined with turn of the century historic buildings, Market Street is undergoing what promises to be a rebirth comparable to any other historic city in the United States. The target area on Market for this incredible renaissance is the area east of 3rd street, all the way to Baxter.

In the 1980s, most of the buildings in this area were left vacant and in disrepair and the city was ready to tear them down. But, fortunately, Barbara Smith, a business women with uncanny vision bought up 12 of them and began renovating them. In the 1990s, she started selling them one by one to artists to be used as work spaces, galleries, and homes. Finally a couple of restaurants moved in and these, along with Joe Ley's Antiques and Muth's Candies started the movement towards a real "Gallery district".

Soon after this, a Trolley Hop was started which brought visitors into the area on one of Louisville's charming historic trolleys the first Friday of each month. The trolley hop is still a popular attraction. Visitors from all over the country love to come into Louisville over the week end just to enjoy the trolley hop. If you'r looking for a fun getaway for this summer or fall, look no further. Call us at the Aleksander House for accommodations and futher information



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Great things to do with bread crumbs

Bread crumbs have been around our kitchens for a long long time. I remember my mom dredging just about everything in bread crumbs, after dipping it in an egg and milk or cream mixture. It always made the outside of every piece of meat crusty and delicious. Lots of Italian dishes call for breadcrumbs, like veal and eggplant Parmesan. I also remember my mom making Potatoes Au Gratin with bread crumbs all over the top. It was so good.

Recently, I found a great video which uses bread crumbs three different ways. I thought the one with Broccoli was really interesting. Chefs nowadays suggest making your own bread crumbs and, I have to admit, they are a lot better and more flavorful than the ones we used to shake out of those little boxes.

Here's an easy recipe for bread crumbs. You can add whatever else you would like to add to the flavor:

Ingredients: Italian bread (enough to make 2 cups of 1/2 in. cubes), 2 T butter, 1 T olive, 1 T minced garlic, 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
Directions: Cube the bread and process it until coarse bread crumbs form. Melt butter on med. heat in skillet. Add bread crumbs and cook 7-8 minutes, until golden brown. Remove frpm pan. Add olive oil, minced garlic and crushed red pepper. Cook 3 minutes. Add bread crumbs and mix thoroughly. Remove from heat and cool. Add salt, ground pepper and your choice of herbs (oregano, thyme, basil).

Click on picture to see the video:



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Summer outdoor cooking: Grilling corn and making iced tea

I found a great video this morning on how to grill corn so that it is cooked to perfection. I love fresh corn and it is so good when it's cooked on an open grill. With a salad and a serving of grilled Teriaki chicken, you have  an easy, healthy summer meal. Eaten outside on the deck or patio, it's even better.

Delicious grilled corn with a wonderful flavored butter 

*Note: Don't forget to make a big frosty pitcher of iced tea, the perfect drink to compliment your dinner.

Iced Tea
Ingredients
6 tea bags
1 quart boiling water
Directions
Place tea bags in a heatproof pitcher or glass measure. Add boiling water. Let steep 3 to 5 minutes; remove tea bags. Use immediately, or cool at room temperature about 2 hours. (After cooling, store in refrigerator. Don't chill quickly or tea will cloud.) Serve over ice. Sweeten as desired. Makes 5 servings.

Serve the pitcher of tea with a simple syrup (2 cups of sugar dissolved in 1 cup of water), so everyone can adjust sweetness to personal preference. If desired, add a hint of flavor by adding fresh mint leaves.

Sweet tea
Ingredients
2 quarts water
4 tea bags
1 cup sugar
 ice
lemon slices (optional)
Directions
Bring 2 quarts of cold water to a boil. Pour boiling water over 4 tea bags in a glass pitcher (the ratio of tea bags to quarts of water is 2:1). Steep for about 5 minutes. Remove bags, and let the tea cool to room temperature. Add 1 cup of sugar to the pitcher and stir until dissolved. If desired, add 4 slices of lemon. Refrigerate Add enough ice cubes to bring level back up to 2 quarts.

Citrus Iced Tea
Ingredients
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup sugar, or to taste
3 1/2 cups strong brewed tea

Directions
Stir together lemon juice and sugar in a pitcher until the sugar dissolves. Stir in tea; chill.

How to make a great omelet

There are many different ways to make omelets. We make them at the bed and breakfast all the time. Our guests vary widely when it comes to their "favorites".

We usually do vegetable omelets unless we are told not to include veggies, only cheese. But most of our guests like vegetables added. It's a good way to get part of your healthy day's vegetable requirements.

I always ask if there are any vegetables that they don't like. Green peppers is the most frequent reply to that question. We always have onions, tomatoes, spinach, mushrooms, brocolli, asparagus, and green peppers on hand. Most guests pick two or three of these and like cheese added. We usually use a good Italian or Mexican melting cheese.

In addition to the omelets, we add bacon, ham or sausage on the side unless our guest happens to be a vegetarian. To complete our morning offering, we include toast (usually whole wheat or sour dough), home made muffins and juice (orange, apple, or cranberry.) Most guests are completely satisfied when they leave the table.

It's easiest to learn how to make a good omelet by watching. I've included a good video here. You can add any veggies you want to what they've done in the video. Just click on the picture.




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Amazing Mango bread

Ingredients

3 Large Eggs

¾ Cup Canola or Safflower Oil

2 ½ Cups All-Purpose Flour

1 Cup Sugar

1 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Baking Soda

1 ½ tsp Ground Ginger

1 tsp Ground Cinnamon

¼ tsp Sea Salt

½ Cup (packed) Light Brown Sugar

2 Cups Diced Mango (from 1 large peeled and pitted mango)

¾ Cup Moist, plump Golden Raisins

Grated Zest of ½ Lime

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350˚F.Butter an 8 ½ x 4 ½-inch loaf pan, dust the inside with flour and tap out the excess. Put the pan on an insulated baking sheet or on two regular baking sheets stacked one on top of the other. (This extra insulation will keep the bottom of the bread from overbaking.)

Whisk the eggs and oil together.In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt. Rub the brown sugar between your palms into the bowl, breaking up any lumps, and then stir it in.

Pour the wet ingredients over the dry, switch to a sturdy rubber spatula or wooden spoon and mix until blended-the batter will be very thick (really more like a dough than a batter) and not easily mixed, but persevere, it will soon come together.

Stir in the mango, raisins and zest. Scrape the batter into the pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula.Bake the bread for 1-½ hours, or until it is golden brown and a thin knife inserted into the center comes out clean. (If the bread looks as if it’s getting too brown as it bakes, cover it loosely with a foil tent.) Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before running a knife around the sides of the pan and unmolding. Invert and cool to room temperature right side up on the rack.

(Recipe by Angie at SeaSaltWithFood)

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Things have changed

If you read my previous post, you would have discovered that I was about to move to Austin Texas some time in July or August, having sold my bed and breakfast and my Victorian home. Well, don't believe everything you read! 

Actually, I had planned to do just that, but the whole deal fell though; the buyers could come up with the necessary financing and regretfully had to back out. I have written an article for Hubpages (to be published soon) explaining where my head is now and what's going on in my life and at the bed and breakfast
 
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Apology: To all my faithful viewers and those who drop in once in a while

I know I haven't been around much lately and that you haven't seen anything new on my site for a while now. But, if you will please accept my apology, I will try to explain. I didn't want to write about this sooner, although I have known for a while now. But I had to be sure before I let you in on it.

I have sold my bed and breakfast. Yes, after 16 years of "fun and frivolity" :=), I am retiring from the bed and breakfast world and starting a new career....in Austin, Texas! So, besides selling the business I am also selling my beautiful Victorian house and packing up to go to Texas.

Do I know what I'm getting into? Well not completely, of course, but I have a pretty good idea: hot weather and lots of air conditioning. But that's not the only thing. This is an important transition in my life; one that was inevitable.

I have had two major careers, in my life, and a lot of other short term dalliances. Having been schooled in a variety of disciplines, I have had the opportunity to apply what I learned in many situations. While I was teaching for thirty years in Chicago I was able to teach across the curriculum which really set the stage for what was to come. Of course, I was able to use what had gone before to the fullest...and there was a lot that had gone before...mostly centered around the arts: music, theater, dance, drawing and painting.

All of these experience were brought into play again when I retired from teaching, moved to Louisville, Kentucky and became an innkeeper. And adding to those was the newest and probably the most challenging of all, so far. I became an entrepreneur. I had always said, up to that point, "I will never go into business! It's not for me." I'm an arts person and my personality and experience all fit that persona.

So there I was, 16 years ago, sitting in the middle of a beautiful Victorian house in the third largest preservation area in the United States trying to figure out how to launch a business. First thing was to decorate the house in keeping with the period in which it was built....Victorian. Knowing nothing about the Victorian period, I scoured the library for information and decorated the house myself, with a little help from local artisans, antique dealers, and established Innkeepers.

I must back up a bit and tell you that prior to starting the decorating project, I had to deal with the agencies in town which dictated how a bed and breakfast was to be run in their precious city. I went through a litany of rules, regulations, and required accoutrements and procedures, and finally brought the place up to standards and ready for the world of B&Bs.

During all this, I was shopping...for beds, towels, linens, decorative stuff, waffle irons, and all the that bed and breakfasts are made of. Gradually it starting taking shape. For support and information, I joined a local group of 4 innkeepers. Eventually the group expanded into the Louisville Bed and Breakfast Association, which has close to 20 members now. I also joined the Bed and Breakfast Association of Kentucky, which has over 100 members from all over the state.

Fast forward 16 years. I have learned a lot, from being a bed and breakfast business owner, about running a B&B, about people, cooking, and most of all about myself, in general. I know I'll miss the wonderful times I've had, the many interesting and lovely guests, the Kentucky Derby and other events, and the challenges. But I am really looking forward to the future.

I want to write...every day...all day long. I love it, and never realized how much until I started writing again a couple of years ago. I'm writing journal articles, poetry, and collecting stories for a memoir of the past 16 years as an innkeeper, among other things. That's what I'll be doing in Austin...and damn the hot weather. It wont affect me, cause I'll be sitting at my computer in an air conditioned room writing about everything and anything I can think of.

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