Tracy Porter Blog… be inspired!

Good Morning TRACY!!!…is it still Cheeseburger Friday in CA?…have you found your replacement?!?…Love,love,love the transformed secretary…definitely one or two stems at a time…we are moving into the technical age with a flat screen…so we switched cabinets around and i moved all the barware up from the bar downstairs and filled the old tv cabinet up…just waiting on one of my handymen to create a few shelves in place of the tv shelf…i am happy for your inspiration to revisit this project!!!…gets my creative mind flowing…and hopefully the saws and hammers!!!…Have a GREAT SEA URCHINY kind of weekend…love that one too!…Margie

I am loving little glimpses into your new home, can’t wait for the video home tour ( pretty please, once you’re settled in ). Did all of your animals make the move with ya’ll? The photo of the garden at the B&B made me think of the movie ” It’s Complicated” I played that scene over and over trying to memorize it for next spring in my own yard, it was awesome.

Well Tracy now that’s what I’m talkin about!Seeing how you are redecorating your new home….soooo exciting!!!!!more more, please!!!!LOL! Love this piece and It’s perfect as a bar! with your gorgeous glasses…yum! Did you already paint all the rooms? I love this color, so you!just goes great with black! You must be having a blast re purposing everything! Although I just don’t know how you do it all…the kids, John, all of your incredible creations!wow! And yes I love moving things around, I know I’ve said this before, but I move something almost every day, just keeps the creative juices flowing, but this is why I so love seeing your home T. it constantly keeps me inspired! Thanks so much for sharing!!!Have a great day ladies!xoxoxoxo to all! Rach

Happy Cheeseburger FRIDAY LOVES!!!!!….. T darling,……..What a love affair you are having with your secretary!!!!!!…… Did that come out right?????? You KNOW I have her too,……and DURL you are spot on!!!! What a decadent, mysterious, bohemian, wild swan bar indeed!!!!! JOHN should invent an “Earthquake Nightmare” cocktail!!!!!! Then call me, and I’ll be right over for one!!!!! Only YOU darling, could be so kind as to remind us that repurposing can take one to another level!!!!! You are a genius!!!!! RACH love, your decorated ceiling fan has got~ to ~be killer!!!! I must see love!!!!!…. A road trip for me today. Out the door to visit my MOM. Have a delightful weekend GORGEOUS SOULS!!!!!!
PS…….T,….thinking that BETH love is spot on!!!!… You are going to need to have a saltwater aquarium installed at the PORTER abode. I expect that the COWBOYS will have lassoed an octopus by the end of the summer!!!!!
Cameoxoxoxo

Tracy, this is lovely! I do love glassware, and yes I have been known to buy a stem at a time. I just found some lovely etched stems at the thrift store. They must be from the 1930’s, just gorgeous.
Absolutely adore seeing your secretary in another setting. The detail on that piece is amazing. I think it would look fantastic anywhere you put it. Would LOVE LOVE to see more pics of the new abode!

Tracy,

What fun! I am trying to convince my husband that we need to get rid of our boring plain glassware and replace it with bits and bots of pretty glasses…. he takes a little more persuasion than most, but I think he’ll come around (Don’t tell him, but I’ve already started collecting…)

When my husband and I moved to Houston after getting married, my mom let me have a BEAUTIFUL antique library card cataloging piece… She gave it to me when I was 16 to house my jewelry and she did not give it up without a FIGHT, haha. I repurposed it to now hold ALL of my crafting treasures! Not a drawer is unfilled! I labeled every drawer and now my moments when I just need to CREATE are easily satisfied

Blessings to you guys, Tracy. Happy Cheeseburger Friday!

-Hannah

P.S. What is sweet Sarah up to?

Beautiful Tracy! We did the same thing with our secretary…made a bar in our parlor. Do I spy Mackenzie Childs glass in there? I hope your family is adjusting well.

Oh – what a fabulous idea! I feel that I must throw a feather boa around my neck and stop in for drinks around 5? What a great re-purposing!

Hannah – I am drooling over your antique library cart – it sounds wonderful! I think Cameo is right about the saltwater aquarium! And like Rachel and the others, I am thrilled to be seeing little spots in your house!

Oh T!!! This is “over the moon” delicious!!!! I want to click on the pic and zoom in, so I can eat it all up! Yes, shake things up, repurpose!!! I agree with Cameo…John needs to create a cocktail named “earthquake nightmare”! Thank you for sharing this and I CANNOT wait to have a peek of more of your new digs!!! Happy Happy Friday….love to you!!! xoxo

Love it Tracy, I took my grandmother’s old chair that was ready for the trash and painted it .replaced the bottom with a new one and silver leafed the new wood and i put my candles and pretty towles on it, it shimmers when the candles are burning ,It makes me think of her. Happy friday !

HAPPY CHEESEBURGER FRIDAY!!!!
Just dropped in to say a very quick hello, I will chat with all of you Beautiful Souls later…..AND YES, I do have sea urchin recipes to share with all of you……
TRACY, please be sure to not get stung by the urchins spines, it can be very painful…..Tell John and the boys to be extremely careful…..
BTW…The new catalog, what can I say….TP & CO., take a bow….I am giving All of YOU a standing O!!!!!
Later Loves!!!! xoxoxoxo

AHHH…what a beautiful piece. It looks divine done up as a bar…what beauty. Tracy, you have such a wonderful eye for. Your creativity really gets my mind whirling to try new things! My only question to you is…How do you keep little hands from touching? Everything precious or really just anything that is even nice is up, up and out of my little guys reach! KATHY, your grandmother’s chair sounds gorgeous…I too have an old chair that needs some love…hmmmm…what ideas! Happy Friday ladies.

Seeing glimpses of your house is SO exciting. I want a world tour, but… bit by bit is SO FUN.

When John calls it your earthquake nightmare, remind him that it’s all just “stuff”… right????

Hope you’re enjoying the sunshine!

XXOO

Woo-hoo…the first glimpse and boy, it’s a beauty! (I tried to click to blow it up to no avail.) You know we all love the details. No surprise that our Tracy has so quickly made her house a home. Can’t wait for more…
Cheers to a glory-weekend!

Tracy I am so glad you are starting to feel at home in your new place. We are so anxious to see more of it. Thank you for the glimpse inside. xoxo

Ladies – I just received the Flourish French Duster. She’s a hand clappin’ eye squeezin “woo hoo!”. Tracy – thank you for the glimpse of your new home. As with everyone, I look forward to seeing more. And if it isn’t too much, please let us know how are the furry family members?

My husband is Sicilian and sea urchins are a special treat.
The first time they were put in front of me at a family dinner-well lets say it was a shock. Envision a large plate of them slowly moving their spines….and so armed with a good attitude and two vodka martinis, I was in. They are wonderful. They were served with warm,crusty Italian bread. You open the center of them and scoop out the roe. Fresh ,meaning still alive, they are not fishy. They taste like the sea. Good bread and good wine are a just perfection for these little guys.

It looks beautiful!!!!

Tracy! I am itching to see your new digs!! Please share more!! Still hard for me to think of you as a California girl now!! Hope the cowboys are adjusting….xoxo

TRACY,……Thank You for the delightful little sneak peeks into your new home…..Everything you touch turns into, SPECTACULAR!!!!…..Can’t wait to see every nook and cranny of your new abode……We all love and admire you soooo, that’s why we are on pins and needles waiting for the next little sneak peek!!!!
TRACY,…You asked for Sea Urchin, and Sea Urchin you will get….Here is some of what I have learned while researching my book…..
Sometimes the fisherman from Mondello Paese would pedal their bikes over to Mondello Valdesi at midday, a big basket of sea urchin tied to the rack. The family would sit around a table in the garden and watch mesmerized as the man picked up one after another of the spiny creatures with his left hand and cut it open with just one stroke of his knife. Somehow he managed not to destroy the shell, an important skill since one wouldn’t want to lose any of the golden roe, the edible part. The left hand, which performed this task all day long, was montrous, swollen like a balloon from the urchin’s spines. Eventually the market was abolished and the wooden fishing boots were replaced with noisy motorboats. Many of the fisherman who used to bicycle around Mondello with their catch now own restaurants, the Sariddus and the Pinellos, for example, where they serve fish and shellfish, including sea urchins. Vacationers in the Mediterranean sometimes hav the misfortune to tread on a sea urchin, whose fragile spines break at exactly the point where they enter the flesh, delivering a painful poison. Sea urchins are common around the whold Italian coast, but mostly come from Puglia, Calabria, Sicily, and Sardinia, four ares where the water is particularly clean. As well as feeding the local population, these sea urchins are distributed to towns and cities all over Italy. There are many varieties of sea urchin, and the roe of most is edible. The roe is the sea urchin’s egg sac, which reaches maturity in the spring and early fall. Two varieties of sea urchin are particularly good, those with violet-to-dark-green spikes and those with shorter spikes of violet with a white spot at the end.
To prepare the most delicate of frutti di mare, cut off the bottom half where the mouth is located, using a scissors or a special tool, and clean the inside to remove the black impurities. Leave the star-shaped piles ofroe intact and attched to the shell, then simply eat with a spoon or as some people prefer, simply lick them out with the tip of your tongue. The salty-sweet taste of the eggs is so delicious that no accompaniment is needed. You can also scoop out the roe and have it with a piece of bread and a few drops of lemon juice. Noncommercial harvesting of sea urchin was forbidden due to their slow reproduction capabilities. It is best to buy sea urchin whole in order to use the flavorful juices, but easier to buy it cleaned from a fishmonger or Japanese sushi restaurant.
Below are just three of the many superb pasta dishes made with sea urchins, called Ricci Di Mare…
This dish comes from Puglia……
Linguine con Ricci Di Mare….It is essential to use sea urchins that have been fished in immaculately clean waters……This dish serves 4….
40 freshly caught sea urchins
14 ounces Linguine
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 small chili pepper, finely chopped
salt
1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley (optional)
Open the sea urchins and remove the roe. Cook the pasta in boiling salted water until al dente. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a pan and gently fry the garlic and chili for a few minutes without letting them brown. Drain the cooked past, mix well with the oil, garlic and chili then transfer to s serving dish and top with the sea urchin roe and the parsley, if using.
Spaghetti con i Ricci…….Several species of sea urchin live in the U.S. coastal waters, but some find that these do not have the same exquisite tast as those from the Mediterranean…..
1/2 pound sea urchin roe, cut into pieces if large
3 medium tomatoes (1 Ib.), peeled, seede, and cubed
1/2 cup olive oil
salt
ground hot pepper
1 pound spaghetti
1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley
3 lemons, cut in half
Combine half of the roe, two of the tomatoes, 1/3 cup of the olive oil, and salt and hot pepper to taste in a large serving bowl. Cook the spaghetti in boiling salted water until al dente. Drain and toss quickly with the roe mixture. Drizzle with the remaining oil if the pasta seems dry. Top with the remaining roe and the remaining tomato. Sprinkle with the parsley and garnish with the lemon halves, Serve immediately.
Sea Urchin with Pasta Strands (Spaghetti ai Ricci di Mare)
1 cup (about 6 ounces) sea urchin
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 dried peperoncino
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
5 teaspoons sea salt, plus extra for seasoning
1 pound dry spaghetti
Freshly ground pepper
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Cut the sea urchin in half. Transfer one half to the bowl of a food processor and puree. Cut the remaining half into thin slices, then cut in half again, lengthwise. Heat the olive oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and peperoncini. Cook until the garlic is soft, 2 to 3 minutes. Add half of the parsley and a pinch of salt. Bring 5 quarts of water and 5 teaspoons of salt to a boil in a large stockpot over high heat. Add the past and cook until al dente. Transfer to a colander to drain, reserving 1 cup of the water. Add pasta to the pan with the parsley and garlic mixture. Add the pureed sea urchin. Add the remaining parsley and a pinch of pepper. Toss to mix well, adding the reserved cooking water as needed (if using whole sea urchin, add its juice), the remaining sliced sea urchin, and the extra-virgin olive oil. Toss to mix well.
Well, there it is Tracy, I do hope you are not sorry you asked. You gotta know that food is one of my Favorite Passions and I do get a bit carried away…..Ya Think!!!
ENJOY!!!! LOVE YOU!!!! XOXOXO

So sorry that the above recipes seem to flow into one another, I tried to use as little space as possible and I should have at least showed the name of each separate recipe in caps.

#1. LINGUINE CON RICCI DI MARE
#2. SPAGHETTI CON I RICCI
#3. SEA URCHIN WITH PASTA STANDS

Please forgive any spelling errors.

OH MY!!! You darling loves have been so wonderfully busy!! I have been out with family….and now here i am and loving all that you are sharing!!
ANGELA…..WOW….so cool…you are on it….and i love for it…..we share in our love of good foods…truly we must share a meal someday!! Thank you for all the wonderful research….this is incredible…!!!!xx

I will share more adventure and photos soon, thank your asking and for caring…you re awesome…we are loving it here…..a great new journey for our family!
xxx
T.

Tracy, I just found you last week, can’t get enough. We have been in this house for 10 years
and it has never felt like home. Thank you for all the wonderful ideas. Today I gave away some things to make room for the new me. Can’t wait to get started. Also ordered a duster from the new August catalog a few days ago. I’m looking forward to seeing what the future holds for my house and for my new look. Also looking forward to seeing more of your new house filled with inspiration.
BP

Am enjoying hearing about the new home. Visited Georgies recently. Just received my new black leggings. Thanks, they are great. Very well made, great fabrication.

Bought a plate and a beautiful Tracy Porter top at Georgies.

Miss you in Wisconsin, but wish you well.

Wow! Angela – you are the bomb! that is amazing information!!!! And welcome Barbara! Enjoy Wisconsin videos – we are waiting with baited (sp?) breath for California ones!