My First Taste...

                                                 

If you have been following this blog, I am sure that you are already aware of my love of all things luxurious, in good taste and refined entertaining.  My mother invested all of the above in me, but the place that I really first saw it in action "big time" was at my Great Aunt Jenny's home.  Aunt Jenny was my mother's aunt...the baby sister of my grandmother.  She had married Abe, an entrepreneur, and moved to Uniontown, Pennsylvania, a coal mining area, where Uncle Abe built a highly successful department store.  They lived in a home on top of a mountain and were attended to by a wonderful couple who lived on the grounds.  

If we went by train we were met at the Pittsburg station and driven to Uniontown, but if we drove...well, that was truly an adventure!  Driving through tunnels on the Pennsynvania Turnpike that were cut right through the Allegheny Mountains!  And when we arrived at the house...Oh, my...the beautiful rooms filled with priceless antiques and frnishings and flowers from the surrounding gardens, perfumed linens and the softest, biggest towels I had ever seen!

                                                      I remember visiting this big, gorgeous house with its porches and gardens and a guest wing that had three private bedrooms.  There was a stove in the kitchen that played "Tenderly" when the food was finished and a basement filled with fabulous antiques, that made their way upstairs to take a turn on display when one was removed and sent back downstairs.  And of course, I remember Fella, a gorgeous collie that seemed to love me on sight as much as I adored him!

Remember, I was a child of the city.  I lived in an apartment and my mother was kind of leery of dogs. Until I went to summer camp, "Country" was a ride up to Westchester or out to Long Island to visit friends, and then home... so to be in this huge house with a big dog to play with, acres to run through and a fireplace to sit by with his sweet head on my lap was sheer heaven for me.  He even slept on my bed, much to Aunt Jenny's dismay, but from the second I arrived we bonded...we were both kids who needed a friend in a house filled with grown-ups.

But the big attraction at Aunt Jenny's was her kitchen.  The food that came from that room was exquisite.  Aunt Jenny and her housekeeper were world class cooks and together created a symphony of deliciousness.  She always served on beautiful china...she had the choice of many, many sets.  Her table was always covered with elegant imported tablecloths of finest linen, and sparkled with sterling silver and  delicate crystal.  Napkins were folded in a most unusual way...(on a much later visit, her housekeeper sat patiently with me until I was able to master "the Fold")...

The Fold!

...and I always fold my napkins like this when I entertain.  Many of my family recipes come from this kitchen and many of the beautiful serving pieces I have were inherited from my mother who inherited them from Aunt Jenny.

The people who came to this house on the mountain were people expecting the best and they were never disappointed.  Among Aunt Jenny's and Uncle Abe's dear friends were the Kaufmann's who owned "Falling Water", their vacation home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.  I have some of Rose Kaufmann's recipes in a cookbook from the synagogue to which they all belonged.  

I loved to see the assortment of beautiful crystal and glass goblets and how Aunt Jenny paired them with the appropriate china.  I now have the blue glasses in

my home and each time I use them I remember their original home and the first time I saw them on the table there...those beautiful, magical goblets spitting blue fire back at the candles on Aunt Jenny's lovely table.

The most anticipated feature of a trip To Uniontown (aside from Fella) was a visit to Uncle Abe's store...it had a toy department!  Uncle Abe would take my hand and tell me to choose whatever I wanted ! What a decision for a child to have to make, and Uncle Abe knew it, so I always got a few things.  One time Aunt Jenny took me to the jewelry department and started a charm bracelet for me.  I loved going to the store with them, feeling like a celebrity as everyone fawned over us! (Listen, a little fawning never killed anyone...right?)

I always loved how that home was run. I saw the relationship between my Great Aunt and the couple that worked for her...the love and respect they had for each other.  I appreciated the attention to detail, even for a quiet family dinner...linen napkins, lovely goblets, beautiful china... all showcasing the outstanding food.  

When I got engaged Aunt Jenny bought us Baccarat crystal...service for 12 in three sizes!  While I never had the grand life that my Great Aunt led, I have always tried to take some pages from her book.  So I treasure my "good" things...my crystal and my mother's china and the silver that my aunties gave to me...I fold my napkins like I learned all those many years ago and I try to bring that aura of glamour to my entertaining, too.  I am so fortunate to have some of Aunt Jenny's things in my home...a beautifully carved Asian linen chest, the blue crystal, many of her lamps, some of her beautiful Spode china, particularly the coffee and tea pots which enhance my collection... 

Antique Spode Coffee Pot from Aunt Jen's Collection

Aunt Jenny's Spode Coffee Pot

I wil always remember that first taste of elegant living...that first glimpse of grandeur and privelidge.  It was only after I was grown up that I realized my mother created much the same ambiance without the live-in couple!  And now, armed with some of Aunt Jenny's beautiful things and many of my mother's and my own, I strive to pass on this love of entertaining and cooking and presentation to my daughter and granddaughters...


I have already put several of Aunt Jenny's recipes in previous entries but here is one that was her friend's and a real treat...wonder if they served it at Falling Water!

                          Rose Kaufmann's Chocolate Cake

                                             

Cake                                                 
Ingredients
1 cup cocoa
2 cups boiling water
1 cup softened butter
2 1/4 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla 
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
1-In a separate bowl combine cocoa and boiling water and set aside
2-In a larger bowl  cream butter an sugar until well blended and light...add eggs one at a time...add vanilla.
3- Sift together flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder and add slowly to the butter and egg mixture, alternating with the cocoa and water mixture.  Beat well after each addition.
4-Pour into three3 buttered (I use Pam) 9"round  baking pans 
5- Bake for about 25 minutes (test with a toothpick) and cool on a rack after cooling off a while in the pan.

Frosting
1 cup softened butter
4 cups confectioner's sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1/4 cup milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup strong black coffee

...beat butter until fluffy then add confectioner's sugar, cocoa, milk, vanilla and coffee...beat until smooth

Place 1st layer on a plate and cover top with icing...place next layer on ad do the same and finally 3rd layer.  Cover sides and top with frosting...

Grab a glass of milk and go to town!