apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Am I allowed to be here? I live in a house in South Carolina but somehow I got onto this website. Probably because we actually have colored walls and an un-Southernlike love for mid-century modern furniture. We're redoing our house bit by bit and I get a lot of inspiration from this site. Thanks for letting me hang around.

Hey Julie! There are other modern design loving Southerners here too. I'm in Dallas, Texas. I hate gold faucets. I may get disowned for saying so. :)

Hooray! On the Southern part and the gold faucets too. Part of our re-do is replacing brass doorknobs, hardware, etc.

I thought I might be some strange anomaly on here. I've been lurking for awhile and was compelled to post somewhere else about my favorite furniture. I couldn't contain myself any longer.

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee! Friends played santa big time and gave me a Le Creuset Round Dutch Oven (5 1/2 Qt) in the lemongrass color I love. It's my first piece of Le Creuset and I've been lovingly patting it like it's some sort of newborn for my kitchen. Is it weird to get so excited over this?

PS Any good suggestions for the ceremonial first meal I make with it?

Libby - how do you feel about meat? I had an ex who would make this in a Le Creuset Dutch oven.

The recipe makes an amazing brisket, and you can add more garlic to taste

== Friday Night Brisket ==
from The Jewish Holiday Kitchen, by Joan Nathan.

One 4lb brisket
6 cloves garlic, crushed
Salt & pepper to taste
Paprika to taste
1 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 large onions, chopped
6 carrots, chopped
4 – 5 stalks of celery with leaves, chopped
1 cup of water, tomato juice, or tomato sauce
1 envelope dried onion soup mix

Preheat over to 325

Rinse the meat with water, pat dry. Rub the meat on all sides with crushed garlic and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and paprika.

Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed casserole and brown the meat on all sides

Add the onions, carrots, and celery. Cover with water, tomato juice, or tomato sauce and sprinkle with the dried onion soup.

Cover and bake in the oven for 3 hours. Before serving, remove cover and brown ½ hour more.

ooo Libby, I feel your joy.
I feel long and lasting love for the friend that gave me my first Creuset pot - "volcano" color - an above and beyond housewarming present that made me feel totally loved AND understood.

I like to salt and pepper then brown chicken thighs, then throw in a pile of sliced shallots or onions, then deglaze with white wine, then throw in an entire head's worth of garlic cloves in their paper skins but with the bottoms chopped off, and a big hand full of chopped flat leaf parsley.
You let it all stew together, serve over toasted crusty bread with a green salad for a fine feast.

Unless you don't eat meat, in which case there's lots of great stuff in the Greens cookbook, like the Bresse Mushroom Soup. Even if you do eat meat, that is stellar soup.

Happy cooking!

not weird at all libby...i LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my le creuset cookware and just welcomed the zen tea kettle from le creuset in the white enamel color as one of my favorite christmas gifts this year. the lemon grass color is fabulous, enjoy!

p.s.
for a cermonial first meal, how about french onion soup? that is always one of my favorites to make in mine. the idea of browning onions and smelling the brandy diffuse through the air in the kitchen conjures up all sorts of wonderfully romantic images in my head of an afternoon spent at home cooking up some homemade soup.

Thanks for all the delicious ideas. It's great to have a place to post my infatuation with a dutch oven around others who understand!

I had roast lamb shanks Christmas Eve at a friend's house in the "country" (1 hr North of NYC). They used one of their Le Creuset's. They are incredible cooks and said this was the best. I'll have to get a good look at these.

Now I'm hungry.

Libby; I second the recipe Anne (tfo) posted. I used an oven to make it but it is delicious either way (an extra special recipe considering I am a enthusiastic eater but a reluctant cook).

Did not receive any gifts as fabulous as Libby’s but I did purge two closets of clothes instead of taking a nap on Christmas day. Next I need to thin out my herd of books (least favorite chore) and figure out how to inject some color into my bedroom, which I thought would look soothing (blues and grays with natural wood) but instead looks really boring.

Whoops! That should have been a colon, not a semicolon.

(Just got to the office and haven't had my coffee yet.)

It's another "I have nothing to do and they pay me anyway" day.

So I'm looking through the section of Top Posts, Hot Posts specifically, about bedrooms. M: All I see is "File Not Found".....what's a girl to do?

Need an opinion here. We have very dark wood floors and would like to match new kitchen floors in color, but use a different material. So far we have thought about cork and linoleum. Cost is definitely a consideration. Thoughts?

I'd go with the cork. True, linoleum has come a long way, but I think you may get better wear and a more pleasing look with cork.

I had this aweful linoleum overlay that was coming up and buckling in my kitchen. I opted to go with ceramic tile, which I am very happy about; but would have definitely checked out cork if I had been more knowledgable at the time.

Good Luck!

I've had true Armstrong linoleum installed in 2 retro kitchens and I love it. The dogs can't scratch it or if they do, it's not visible. It was about $1700 for a medium size kitchen each time.

Guido,

I love your recipe. I make something similar. I also put some cinnamon and allspice in the liquid. It smells fantastic, and it tastes terrific. All that garlic ends up like butter.mmmm! I only dream of cooking in a Le Cruset pot. Right now, my Lodge cast iron, dutch oven does the trick.

I just replaced a whitish what-were-they-thinking-don't-they-ever-clean-or-cook ceramic tile kitchen floor with cork. It looks great with the medium oak floors in the rest of the first floor, feels great underfoot and is very forgiving of dropped objects. It was a laminate product and installed, with some floor prep due to the ceramic tile deconstruction still came in at about $8.50/sf. One caveat--be sure you plan how the transition will work between the laminate and the hardwood floor. Big cork fan here, even if the NYT says it's so last year.

speaking of le crueset...has anyone else seen the new ice blue and choc brown colors! they are amazing. i think i saw an ad in the back of living etc.
i currently use all clad pots to cook soup but need to get my hands on a dutch oven.

ice blue and chocolate? i'll have sweet dreams about that, goodnight. : )

I'm addicted to my Le Creuset saucepan--one side is shaped into a pouring spout (well, spout is a strong word--it's more just a gently-sloped side that makes for easy pouring). It's just a quart or so. I completely recommend it. And, in flame, it looks just great sitting there on top of the stove all day long.

Jenna

p.s. I just searched around for the chocolate brown color but it looks like it's only for sale in the UK right now...anybody find it in the U.S.?

There's a color called "Chestnut" at Sur la Table.

i have a new obsession, for christmas i was give the emile henry "burgundian clay" dutch oven
it is amaaaaaaaaaaaaazing!!!!!!!!
its clay, that can go straight from the cook top to the oven
its lighter than le creuset, and holds its heat as well if not better
it currently comes only in black and red, but is goregous none the less

so far i've made (it was given to me before xmas): vanilla scented red wine-braised lamb, a goregous spaghetti sauce, and some bitter greens + beans in brodo
its a goregous, lovely thing, i pet it everyday :-)

ooo michael, new ice blue Creuset?
that sounds yummy. Is it in the US?
I did not see it at B'way Panhandler last week.

I occasionally pick up something in the long discontinued turquoise on eBay....

ann - good to know that someone else is so fond of a cooking vessel as to give it a little love pat! I think my family thought I was nuts when I kept cradling my new dutch oven and basically swooning over it. But the foodie-friends who gave it to me totally understood.

Guido- have not seen the new colors anywhere in the us....saw an ad in Living etc.
I am sure we will get the new colors here sometime in the new year...everything seems to happen overseas first:(
Anyone seen the new colors in person?