It was, indeed, a wonderful July summer day when several members of the Maryland Chapter of the Tasha Tudor Society gathered at Chris' to make garlic braids. . . .
Our June gathering at Surreybrooke garden nursery was rained out so it was especially nice to be on the second-story porch of Chris's barn, chatting away as we braided garlic tops (leaves), enjoying the sunny, not too hot nor too humid, morning. Chris grew the garlic in her garden and is showing us the difference between the hardneck garlic, which can't be used for braiding, and the softneck garlic tops (on the table) which we'll be using. The garlic bulbs have been cleaned and the tops have been between moist towels awaiting our arrival. . . .
Chris gave us instructions (which you can find here) and showed us how to get started. The first part can be tricky (at least it was for me!) because you must wrap the tops in a certain order as you lay another bulb of garlic in the bunch. . . .
Then it's just a matter of braiding the tops. We chose ribbons and strips of fabric to interweave as we braided. Then we added dried flowers and fruit. . . .
VOILA!. . . .
Aren't they pretty. . . .
The table was set for the lunch awaiting us. . . .
Chris prepared the leek and potato soup, served cold, with chopped cucumbers. The rest of us brought the bread, spaghetti salad, and gingerbread with lemon sauce. . . .
Chris gave us recipes for Garlic Vinaigrette and Garlic and Honey, which can be found here: The Goodness of Garlic and for Garlic Soup.
More scenes from the bank barn's porch. . . .
.•*¨`*•. ☆ .•*¨`*•
Take Joy!
Cathy,
ReplyDeleteMy your chapter does some lovely outings! Cold soup too, not a fan of that, but I am curious how it was? Everyone's garlic braids came out great-so creative.
Take Peace,
Suzanne
The soup was very good! Refreshing on a warm day.
DeleteCathy, your garlic braids look lovely. I'm sure you must have found a special spot in you kitchen to hang yours. What a great lucheon you and your friends prepared. ♥
ReplyDeleteI added the fabric to match the garland I made last Autumn.
DeleteWhy, I don't think I've ever seen such pretty garlic braids! I grew hardneck this year {it failed due to the weather} but think softneck will be on the cards so I can emulate the pretty braids to hang in the kitchen and give as gifts.
ReplyDeleteAs ever, your menu and table settings are a feast for the eyes.
Later, will you please show us your braid and the wreath together? That would be lovely if you could.
Thank you, Deb, but the credit goes to Chris, our hostess, for the table settings and soup. The rest was "potluck" that the rest of us brought. I'll show my garlic braid and garland in my next post!
DeleteIt looks like a really fun day! I've always wanted to give that try, and it looks so pretty weaving in the ribbons and flowers.
ReplyDeleteI hope you saw the link to the instructions. They're not hard to follow, but it helps to have someone read them to you as you do the "maneuvers". The pictures are helpful, too, for keeping everything in order.
DeleteI love the braids what a wonderful addition to the kitchen décor.
ReplyDeleteIt's also nice to decorate with your own handicraft!
DeleteOh Wow! What a fun day! And I LOVE your braided garlic arrangements, they're positively too pretty to eat!
ReplyDeleteThat's what I'm thinking, too!
DeleteThat looks like it was a fun day! Your post is timely, as I am just preparing to harvest my garlic and plan to try braiding some of it. The salad dressing recipes look wonderful too. :-)
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear how timely my post is!
DeleteOohing and aahing here in Alabama; such fun you ladies are having! And isn't it enjoyable to rotate hostesses? Looks like Chris had the perfect setup; especially love those quilted table covers. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteChris's barn was, indeed, the perfect setting. Stay tuned for more perfect settings for the activities we have planned at member's homes!
DeleteForgot to ask about the B&W illustration at the top of the post: where's it from?
DeleteSharon, it's from "The New England Butt'ry Shelf Almanac" by Mary Mason Campbell, illustrated by Tasha Tudor.
DeleteAlways look forward to your blog posts!! I wish there was a chapter close to me here in Florida. Your chapter does such interesting things. She has such a lovely barn and thanks for sharing the braiding technique and recipes. Thanks ypu Cathy!!
ReplyDeleteGlad you found it interesting.....perhaps you could just gather some friends and start your own little Tasha Tudor kindred spirits group.
DeleteWhat a fun outing you all had for July! Garlic braiding, and lunch in a barn on a beautiful Summer's day. That's right up my alley. Two, please! I've never seen garlic braids that were anything except the garlic itself before either. The fact that y'all wove in ribbons, strips of fabric, natural items in as well makes them even more creative and interesting. One thing I've learned from the Internet is that there are definitely many, MANY more creative people out there than we ever suspected. Used to be I could name a handful of people I thought of as "creative" - and most of them were what we'd all consider traditional "artists" [musicians, painters, sculptors etc]. But no longer - no way. The Internet has made it clear, to me at least, that just about everyone is, to some extent, quite creative in their own particular way, and appealing to others who share those same interests. I mean, you can type in words as disparate as RUBBER BAND and CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS and page after page will pop up. It's amazing! PS - are the braids meant to actually be used, like an all-garlic braid would be? Or is this purely decorative? Oh, and I love Tasha's 'July' drawing. Do you know which book these come from, Cath? I'd love to get myself a copy. We're clamdiggers going WAY back in our family. Even my sister's Golden Retriever digs clams with us when we go to the beach. No kidding, but once he's dug the clam out of the sand with his nose, he carries it very gently in his mouth and drops it in the clam basket. It's a riot to see - such a good boy! Take care & talk to you soon.
ReplyDeleteHi Janet, I answered that question about the Tasha Tudor drawing in my comment to Sharon, two comments above. That's funny about the clam-digging dog! Dogs are so smart! The garlic braid can be what you want it to be. I suspect if we've run out of garlic we'll take some from the braid if it's still good. I agree that there are lots of creative people out there. Women have always been creative as far as I'm concerned. Whether it's cooking a meal, making a home or yard look pretty by decorating or planting flowers, or sewing--all traditional skills women have. Men can be creative, too, but some of their jobs do not allow for any improvisation, so they never get the chance to exercise their creativity. I'm sure you were creative in your teaching job!
DeleteThe braids are beautiful, I love the use of dried apple slices.
ReplyDeleteIt looks such a pretty place, love the table cloth & beautiful cat.
Fondly Michelle
❤️
DeleteThe garlic braiding looks quite complicated but the end results are so good! Your day out looks so much fun! Sarah x
ReplyDeleteIt WAS complicated if you didn't have explicit instructions. It helped that Chris read them to us so we could concentrate on keeping the tops parted and overlapped in the right order.
DeleteI love potato leek soup but haven't had it cold, but sounds perfect for a summer day. The braids look lovely and I like the patriotic flare to yours (I think it's yours). Being on the second floor porch of a barn also sounds intriguing. I was reminded of you and and Tasha Tutor last week in TN when we visited the Walker Sister Cabin in the Great Smokey Mountain National Park … do you know about them? They lived with the old ways well into the 1960s. I will have to do a post on them.
ReplyDeleteThat one was Edie's. I just realized the order of the braids in the photo doesn't match the photo with us holding ours! I'll go back and rearrange that. Someone just recently posted something about the Walker Sisters on Facebook and it showed up in my newsfeed. I hadn't heard about them before that. I would enjoy a post about them.
DeleteOh how lovely! I wonder if there is one in the Northern part of the United States. It will be so delightful to belong to one. mari
ReplyDeleteThank you, Mari. There is no official Tasha Tudor Museum Society Chapter in your part of PA, but there are like-minded folks in your region. If you email me (my address is in my Profile), I can help you connect with them.
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