Josh Kilmer-Purcell's Blog, page 85
November 20, 2012
Holiday Shop at Beekman 1802 Online Mercantile
When William Beekman operated his original Mercantile in Sharon Springs, NY, he stocked the shelves with things that were beautiful and practical—everything one needed in his rural community to live a beautiful and practical life. We do the same today, both online and at our store in Sharon Springs. Take a look around and see why NASDAQ called Beekman 1802 “the fastest growing lifestyle brand in America.” Shop now.
Beekman 1802 Beauty and Skin Care – Did you know that the secret to Cleopatra’s beauty was bathing in goat milk? With a pH nearly identical to that of human skin, goat milk will leave your skin beautiful and moisturized. And with no synthetic chemicals added, every single one of our products are just perfect for you sensitive types. See why Beekman 1802 products are found in the best boutiques and salons around the world, and why Vogue (July 2012) called Beekman 1802 “an American beauty brand worth celebrating”. Click here to become more beautiful.
Goods for Good Homes – We work with over 22 members in our B. 1802 Rural Artist Collective to design and produce hand-crafted and heirloom-quality products for the home. Most of our collection is made within a 20 mile radius of Beekman 1802. Click here to make your home more beautiful.
Provisions and Fine Edibles – A cheese so good that is has a waiting list? Flavor infused honeys? All the makings for a stellar cheese plate? A best-selling cookbook from the farm? Yep, you can find them just like they sit on our own pantry shelves. Click here to eat more beautifully.
The Heirloom Garden – We grow over 110 different varieties of heirloom vegetables at Beekman 1802, and we want everything we use in the garden to have the same heirloom quality as the vegetables we produce. Get good harvests for generations to come! Click here.
See everything Beekman 1802 has to offer. Walk through our entire virtual shop by clicking here.
November 16, 2012
The Lincoln Connection
We’ve told you about our neighbor Rabbit Goody before (click here). As one of the world’s foremost authorities on historic textiles, she lectures around the world and repairs historic textiles for museums. But one of the most interesting aspects of her career has been the love affair between her and Hollywood. Out of her unassuming shop just outside of Sharon Springs, she has woven fabrics that have appeared in movies such as Indiana Jones, John Adams, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Road to Perdition and others.
She’s collaborated on the movies of Steven Spielberg on multiple occasions beginning with Amistad and worked with actor Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood, so it was no surprise that she was called upon to create textiles for the movie Lincoln.
Lincoln is often depicted in paintings and in statues with a large drape of cloth (note the back of the chair in the photo of the Lincoln Memorial above). This is actually a shawl.
During the time period, women often wore a triangular shawl (similar to our Little Black Riding Hood) that covered the head, shoulders and arms. Men also wore shawls, but they were rectangular in shape and were wrapped around the shoulder.
The Smithsonian Institute has one of Lincoln’s shawls as part of the permanent collection.
Click through the slide show below to see how Rabbit re-created the shawl for use in the movie.
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If Rabbit made us a shawl, we’d bring it back in style for the modern man!
Want to learn to weave? Read Rabbit’s book, Pattern Weaving: Basics for the Hand Loom during this event. This large format guide is published by Stackpole Books and is full of how-to photos. To purchase, click here
Gartending: Politicking
Klaus fell into the wood bucket! Last time I looked he was digging in with a bottle of Texas Bourbon and Virginia Peach Brandy.
Do you think there were other gnomes nearby? He is the Soused Gnome after all.
After nearly fifteen days, Klaus got the power turned on. There was a super-storm! Klaus slept through it all in a deep alcohol driven dream. He was dreaming about his younger days in the Black Forest. There was another gnome, named Hoeffner. Hoeffner lived in the butcher shop and assisted the master sausage maker with his labor. Hoeffner loved schnapps, so much so- that he would hit the bottle pretty early in the day. He loved sausages- and getting sauced so much that he spent most of his time sampling the fine hand made pork products that the master sausage maker turned out. It was in this little shop that Klaus first tried bacon. This bacon would go perfectly, wrapped around a pork tenderloin, then cooked dry in a copper pot, until just crispy on the sides. Then, as if by magic a touch of sliced apple was added to the pan. A healthy slug of the marvelous schnapps that the butcher got from Klaus’s family finished this alcoholic dish. It was Hoeffner’s favorite way of eating a lovely meal. Of course a plate of sauerkraut was necessary, as well as draughts of freshly tapped beer and.. Well, naptime would be at hand.
Homestead Barrel Proof Bourbon Whiskey is a new brand in the lexicon of new flavors. Rolling in at 56.65% by volume, Homestead is not cut with water in any way. And as Klaus well knows, water means weak- and Klaus would never drink anything that was weak in any way. After all, he’s the Soused Gnome!
The Homestead Barrel Proof is gorgeous stuff. I give it double thumbs up for what is in the bottle. Certainly the packaging befits the flavors inside- it’s elegant, streamlined and architecturally sound on your bar. It doesn’t take up much real estate- but vertically it resembles bottles of high-end gin or vodka.
Klaus tasted Macoun apples in his first pensive sip of the bourbon. The suddenly wet stones, toasted grain, stone ground Anson Mills grits, dare I say a hint of Pappy? Pappy? Really? (Editor’s note: I think that the Homestead has the same exuberance as the Pappy 15) The brooding alcohol made his little ceramic cheeks go all red and his little ceramic heart started pounding faster and faster. Do I hear a song coming on? “Oklahoma is the place for me,” Klaus began to belt out in perfect German.
Yodeling is part of Klaus’s heritage and dancing is too. Maybe there were more than a few gnomes in the wood bucket? A party?
Resting alongside the bottle of Homestead Barrel Proof Whiskey there was something that piqued Klaus’s little ceramic brains attention. It was a marvelous bottle of peach brandy in the wood bucket. Mmm. Brandy and summer peaches. The ripest- most succulent, dripping with soft juices, like wet velvet across your lips peaches. A scant lace of liquid fire, danger from within caresses your face, it is all enveloping.
Klaus’s ardor grows and dare I say he moves, very deliberately towards the woodpile. There might be a gnome or two just below the surface. Judging from the photograph- you’d be correct if you said yes.
Between tasting and drinking, Klaus came up with these notes-
Homestead Barrel Proof Bourbon Whiskey:
Rich vanilla fire is enrobed with bittersweet coffee/chocolate nose. There is a spicy element to this slurp and plenty of heat to the finish. There is no missing the power of this Whiskey. Distilled in Indiana and bottled in Bardstown, Kentucky- the taste of the place- or Terroir is clearly delineated. The finish is pure Maldon Sea Salt, Caramel and Madagascar Vanilla. This is so sophisticated that Klaus suddenly got up to dance and yodel!
Catoctin Creek Peach Brandy
Layer upon layer of juicy, freshly crushed peaches give way to the deeper vanilla elements of the fine Virginia brandy. Dry is the first impression. Each sip is more of a peach eau de vie or schnapps than a sugar sweet American version of an infused spirit. Klaus is rather fond of this Peach Brandy in a cocktail comprised of the Homestead Bourbon Whiskey and a glass washed in peach brandy and a touch of Bitter End Curry Bitters for depth.
Klaus calls this late autumn slurp the Thomas Riley Marshall Cocktail after the vice president himself. What made Mr. Marshall famous was his statement: What this country needs is a really good five-cent cigar- and he went on to cocktail infamy!
The Thomas Riley Marshall Cocktail
Ingredients:
Chilled glass packed with crushed ice to cool
Homestead Barrel Proof Bourbon Whiskey
Catoctin Creek Short Hill Mountain Peach Brandy
Bitter End Curry Bitters
Preparation:
Pack your favorite hand blown rocks glass with ice, set to cool well
Pour out ice and wash the inside of the glass with about ½ shot of the Peach Brandy
Add one single hand-cut ice cube
Add 2 oz of the Homestead Bourbon
Dribble 2-4 drops of the Bitter End Curry Bitters over the top
Garnish with a home cured cherry. Throw those red things in a bottle out now!
Politicians will always try to convince you that things are just peachy!
CHEERS!
5 Beautiful Things
The Painted Room
In my grandparents’ former home, there was a sitting room at the back of the house where I used to love to spend time. It was filled with all kinds of houseplants, books and magazines. On a large wooden cabinet sat an old radio and on the walls were paintings of all sorts of places, including several paintings of interiors. The one I most remember was a painting of a dark cottage with stucco walls, looking out onto a pathway. There was a feeling of warmth to the painting but also melancholy and I would often gaze at it, wondering about the artist (whose signature I never could decipher) and where this cottage may have been.
Interior spaces have always fascinated me: the lines, the light and shadows, the textures and the colours.Over the centuries, artists have portrayed rooms and chambers with their brush strokes, capturing the momentary moods and atmospheres into timeless renderings. Some of the rooms hold figures, others do not. But there is always the urge in me to explore these spaces, to step inside and peek at what lies beyond the borders of the canvases.
Five Painted Rooms by:
1. Adolph von Menzel
2. Raphael Durancamps
3. Drew Simpson
4. Wilhelm Hammershoi
5. Peter Wilhelm Ilstead
Andrew Ritchie is the creator of Martha Moments, a blog devoted Martha-Stewart related content and her community of supporters. He lives and works in Toronto, Canada, and has been a longtime friend of Brent & Josh, Beekman 1802 and Sharon Springs. Each week he’ll scour the world (wide web) to find the 5 most beautiful things to inspire you. Follow Andrew on Pinterest.
November 15, 2012
Parmesan Crumb Coated Brussels Sprouts
This recipe for our Parmesan Crumb Coated Brussels Sprouts currently lives here, on Cooking Channel’s website.
