Farmhouse Meets Beach Cottage

Last week I made the BIG announcement that The Tiki Hut is moving to South Georgia and I wrote, "I plan on mixing shabby chic and beachiness to make the place my own and I'll be blogging about my efforts right here at the Tiki Hut. I'll be looking for your advice and I've already bookmarked a few projects I've come across that will work beautifully."

Well, without even realizing it, Kat @ Low Tide High Style, has set my mind swirling with ideas for decorating my new home. She is hosting another fabulous giveaway and this is the lovely item the lucky owner will claim:

Beach Glass Earrings!

Aren't these beautiful? I love beach glass and my earliest recollection of collecting seashells is walking the beach with my beloved Grandmother Cora. I was so young, but coming from a family that loved the beach, I can tell you that I've spent my life collecting treasures from the sea. I remember my grandmother calling beach glass — mermaid tears. I don't remember her reasoning, but this is how I've always referred to these beautiful bits of glass and seeing it always reminds me of her. Grandma also told me that seashells were left on the beach by mermaids while I was sleeping, so that I could find them in the morning. So, when I saw these lovely earrings today, memories of my grandmother were fondly brought to mind. You can sign up for this giveaway here.

Now you're probably asking yourself what earrings could possibly have to do with home decorating, right? Well, these beach glass/mermaid tears earrings come from the White Flower Farmhouse and guess what? One of the categories in their online store is The Beach Cottage and another is The Farmhouse Shop. Beach Cottage? Farmhouse? I'm moving to the country, yes, right where my ancestors started their farms so long ago.

In 1902, my great-grandparents on daddy's side, built the house pictured in this painting. This house stood just about 100 yards or so from the log cabin they had built in the mid-1880s when they married. Although the cabin still stands, the house was destroyed by a tornado in 2005. I have a few bricks from the chimneys, a bit of the trim work, a window, and some of the wood. I plan to make a shadow box with these bits and pieces of my family history.

So, I'm merging my two worlds — moving back to my roots and taking my beach style with me. What did I find in The Farmhouse Shop that would help me honor my heritage and retain my beachiness?

Bread boards and votive holders handcrafted from reclaimed barn beams. 

I think my seashells would be lovely arranged near these items.

 

Barnwood Shelf

Picture this shelf with jars of beach glass and some of my mother's salt and pepper collection. This collection includes those with a country flair and those with a beach theme. Like I said, merging two worlds. I think this is perfect!

Take a look at this!

Beach painted on a worn fence picket, definitely farmhouse meets beach cottage!

And this!

Handcrafted Aqua Swimgirl

This reminded me of this pillow Maya @ Completely Coastal blogged about recently. Visit her post to find out where to purchase this one or many other coastal-themed pillows.

I could go on and on with what I found at The White Flower Farmhouse, but I think you catch my drift. I am so confident now that I will be able to seamlessly blend my beachiness with my country roots and I have this store and Kat to thank for that!

Be sure to stop in and sign up for Kat's giveaway and just wait until you see all the luscious goodies at The White Flower Farmhouse, you are going to love it!

Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with The White Flower Farmhouse, I just fell in love with their store!

Plantains with Mango Salsa

Have you ever eaten a plantain? If you've visited the Caribbean you've probably at least sampled them or you could have had them at your local Cuban restaurant. More than likely you've had plantain chips from your grocer, they come in as many flavors as do potato chips. By their appearance you can easily guess that they are a member of the banana family.

Don't try to peel and eat these! They are starchy, low in sugar and must be cooked before they are consumed. Normally fried or baked, the plantain is used as a vegetable rather than as a fruit like a banana. I love plantains and today I thought I would show you how I cook and serve them.

Just like a banana, a plantain tastes different according to how ripe it is — when green to yellow it will taste bland and starchy. As it ripens, the plantain will have more of a sweeter flavor — but not as sweet as a banana. The moister content of a banana is higher than that of a plantain, so the process that converts starches to sugar (hydrolysis) makes them ready to eat when the skin is yellow. This process is slower in plantains because they have a lower moisture contest, so the skin must be speckled or almost black before they are ready to be cooked.

On this day, I was looking for a bland plantain to go with my meal, so I selected one that was lightly speckled. Slice lengthwise through the thick skin on each of four sides and then remove the peel. I cut the plantain in half crosswise and then cut each half lengthwise into about 1/4-inch thick slices.

Heat enough canola oil to 350 degrees so that it comes about halfway up your slices of plantain — about 1/8th of an inch. Put slices in pan so that sides don't touch and fry about 2–3 minutes on each side, until they turn a nice golden brown. They cook quickly, so I don't recommend trying to photograph them as they cook. :)

Use a slotted spatula, so that the oil will drain as you move them to a plate. Do not put them on paper towels as they will stick. Serve immediately! I always have the rest of my meal prepared before I start frying my plantains.

For this meal, I served them with roasted garlic chicken breasts, rice, and black beans.

Isn't my rice pretty? This is what I use to season my rice:

Sazon (seasoning) is a combination of herbs and spices that carries Latino and Caribbean flavors. I put this in in a pot with two cups boiling water, one cup long grain rice, one can Rotel tomatoes and simmer for 20 minutes; remove from heat and let sit, covered for five more minutes. Use the mild or original Rotel tomatoes, the hot is too HOT for this recipe, I found this out the hard way.

I serve this meal with my favorite salsa — Chachies Mango and Peach. The flavors are perfect with this meal, but you can substitute with your favorite.

There you have it, one of my favorite meals and so very Caribbean. So, go tropical and look for plantains in your local market.

Before you go off to visit other fabulous Foodie Friday participants with Michael @ Designs By Gollum, I wanted to let you know that this will be my last entry for a few months. I am moving to Georgia on April 1st and Sister and I are busy separating and packing our combined household. Who gets what? Well, Sister is taking the couch, chair and coffee table. Me? I'm taking the stove, of course! I love my stove and I know I will need it to prepare more recipes to share with you. I'm going to be sharing more tropical recipes, picnic specialties and foods for camping once I get settled into my new home. Until then, I will still be blogging, I will still be visiting your blogs, but preparing meals will be limited to quick and easy — think can opener, frozen, instant and delivery!

Aloha for now my foodie friends!

The Good News

This is actually a bad news, good news post. I'll tell you the bad news first, but quickly move on to the good news.

I thought long and hard about if I was going to blog about what has happened to us and finally decided to bite the bullet and just be straight with you. Okay, here goes, diving in…

I decided to put a face on foreclosure for those of you who haven't had anyone you know be put in this position. Yes, dear readers, our home is going into foreclosure. Please don't be sad for us, we're going to be just fine. Sister and I have raised our families and they are off on their own, so it's just the two of us who will be uprooting our lives and starting over.

I'm just going to give you the quick version here, who wants to dwell on what's done is done? Not me. In a nutshell, we sold our big home at the beach ten years ago and bought a smaller, modest one a couple of miles off the beach. Lower taxes, lower insurance rates, blah, blah, blah. I still lived in California, but was planning on retiring to Florida. You know what they say, best laid plans and all.

Six weeks later mom suffered a major stroke and about a year later I was injured at work. We dealt with all this and moved on — my beloved mother passed away two years later, I went back to college and earned a degree in graphic design (graduated with high honors, thank you very much). Things were back on track and as a freelance designer my little business was slowly building. We were doing good, but life happens. Hurricanes came and they more than tripled our insurance rates. Still doing okay, but then the recession came and my work plummeted. I design ads for small businesses and they were dropping like flies. Then they raised our electric rates. We are on an averaging plan, which means we pay the same thing every month all year long. Went from about a $150 to just over $300 a month. Home value drops below what we owe — too late to sell (think medical bills). We contact our lender and fill out all the paperwork they tell us will help the situation. (Never heard back from them until they served the papers a few weeks ago.) Then about six months ago, Sister gets laid off from her once, very secure job. She spends her days searching for a job, to no avail — three interviews in all this time.

I think you catch my drift here, we can't do it any more. We're worn out, stressed out and we're not spring chickens any more. So, we are surrendering our home and moving. Am I bummed? No, I realize others are far worse off than we are. I couldn't imagine going through this if my children were still living at home. So, please don't feel sorry for us, I'm not looking for sympathy, I just wanted to let you know what is going on. Florida and California have the highest foreclosure rates and every weekend I see "Everything Must Go" garage sales. We are not doing this, I love my stuff and I can make a home anywhere surrounded with my memories, my favorite things and people I love.

Enough of the tragic details, let's move on to the GOOD NEWS! Sister is staying here, moving in with her best friend until she can find work. Me? I'm moving to Georgia! In case you don't know this, I was born in Georgia, so I'm returning to my roots. I was visiting Georgia quite a bit until the recession hit. Visiting kin and meeting many I never knew. Living most of my life in California, you tend to only keep in touch with some. I have a HUGE family in Georgia, I mean hundreds and hundreds and hundreds. I started working on my family tree about four years ago and it led me to some of the most amazing people I am proud to call my family. I visit graveyards, courthouses and older relatives who are a wealth of information. First, second and third cousins, all with families of their own. My family has been in Georgia since the early 1800s and farmers tended to have BIG families of a dozen or so kids. You can see why I have so many family members now.

My family has been in this country since Jamestown, the first settlement to survive the hardships of those days. My ancestor grandmother even kept the indians at bay during the Jamestown Massacre of 1622. During the Great Depression my great-grandfather and my grandfather left their farms and moved to the Okefenokee Swamp, taking jobs in the logging industry that was going on at the time. Great-grandpa engineered the train and grandpa drove a logging truck. 

 

My family in the swamp in 1934

(my mom is holding her doll)

They survived and moved on with their lives. So, I figure I come from strong stock and can survive the current situation with no problems. My family has been here for almost 500 years and suffered much worse than this, I'm not going to let them down. Plus, I'll get to be with lots of family and researching my family tree will be even more exciting. I have many older relatives in their 80s and 90s with great stories and I plan to record them all. I'm also planning to make the trek from Jamestown, Virginia to South Georgia, following the path of my ancestors. This will be after the economy gets back on track, but I'll have time to really plan it well.

What about the beach you ask? This old beach gal will always have the shore in her heart. I've lived most of my life on the Pacific Ocean and many years on the Gulf of Mexico, now I'll experience the Atlantic Ocean and I'm sure I'll have many beach tales for you. I'm looking for a house as close to the beach as I can get and still be near family. This shouldn't be more than an hour or so. My cousin Jackie, who I grew up with, lives at Neptune Beach in Florida, just an hour or so away from where I'll be, I have another cousin with a beach house at Fernandina Beach in Georgia and I always have my camping equipment and you know I love beach camping. I'll only be about five hours from here, so I'l be making trips back to visit my daughter, granddaughter and sister. 

I also plan on having the beachiest house in South Georgia. When I told Sister what I was planning, she said she'd have to wear her bathing suit when she comes to visit. She's so funny, but not really that far off. I plan on mixing shabby chic and beachiness to make the place my own and I'll be blogging about my efforts right here at the Tiki Hut. I'll be looking for your advice and I've already bookmarked a few projects I've come across that will work beautifully. I'm going to get back into shell design and will be opening my own Etsy store soon after my move.

All is well, I'm excited about my move and the adventures that lie ahead. When am I leaving? April 1st, the same day I left Georgia for California many, many years ago. I'm taking this as a good omen!

Okay, a little nervous now……biting the bullet……hitting publish… 

The Bad News

In case you're not aware — today is a holiday. Yes, lovely readers today is Groundhog Day and just a bit ago I heard the news from……

……and the news is not good! Seems old Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow and tradition tells us that this means we have SIX more weeks of Winter.

This old beach gal is cryin' in her mojitos. People, I can't take it any more, I want the blue skies and sunshine that is typical in Florida at this time of year. While our temps are nowhere near where they were weeks ago, when we were hitting 29 degrees and my lovely tropical plants were dying around me, we are still not having beach weather. I had a fire while I watched television last night and then slept under the electric blanket all night. Now granted it was 62 degrees, nowhere near what you're dealing with, but my subconscious is telling me I'm supposed to be at the beach, looking for seashells or taking a dip in the Gulf of Mexico, so anything below 80 degrees is sending my mind into a tailspin. No, everyday is gray and cloudy, rain falls most days and the beach might as well be 1000 miles away. This is not good people, this is just not good. Phil is no friend of mine and I say he needs to be made into a hearty stew to help me get through the next six weeks! It is not a good day at The Tiki Hut!

The photo above is from VotePrimes photostream on Flickr from last year and if you want to see the crowds this event draws, you should drop in and see him. He has pics of people in groundhog hats and wearing groundhog t-shirts and buttons. There's even a pic of a big bonfire that is a tradition and I think it would be a good place to "roast" Phil.

Want to know more about this holiday and Phil's predictions of the past? Drop in and see Kat @ High Tide Low Style. She writes, "Groundhog day was my father's absolute favorite holiday!  He even held his retirement party on Groundhog Day back in 1989!" Her post is funny and informative, so drop in and say hello.

How do you feel about Phil's prediction?

Disclaimer: No groundhogs were hurt in the writing of this post.

(Steel) Drum Roll, Please

The time is finally here! Drum roll, please……

via

Steel Drums, of course!

Last Monday I announced a fabulous giveaway here at The Tiki Hut, sponsored by CSN and today is the day I get to announce the lucky winner!

I have one thing to say before we get started, Holy Guacamole! There were 204 comments left, so I take it all ya'll loved the prize I chose? Had I known I would have ask less questions (note to self), because I had to print them all out, cut them all up and then find something to use as the hat, because they definitely didn't fit in the sunhat I had planned to use. After a couple of options, I finally emptied one of my hatboxes ( I love storing stuff in pretty hatboxes) and poured them all in.

Plenty of room in here! Next I ask Sister to help me out with this photo shoot.

She was happy to oblige (she tolerates my obsession with blogging) as long as I only focused on her hands. She's done this before when I was taking a photography class; she is my official hand model. Thanks, sis! So, here she is reaching in……

Mixing things up a bit (hence the blurry photo).

 

The lucky winner! Let's get a close up shot of that, please…

 

Whoo hoo! I wish I had a backpack to give to each and every one of you, but Kathy @ Emptynester is our winner for this giveaway. I know that she is going to LOVE this prize, she and her hubby are always heading out for day trips and she posts wonderful photos. Be sure to visit her blog and see all the fabulous adventures she takes us on.

Update: After Molly's comment (I really wish I could give everybody one of these) I thought I would post the link to CSN's Tailgating Party Store where I found this fabulous backpack. This link will take you to the backpack picnic cooler section, where they have eight to choose from!

Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with CSN, but I hope to in the near future — They have the coolest stuff!