Search Results for "the log mansion"

I posted some photos of our trip to Wisconsin on Facebook and my sister commented, “I would like to see pictures of the rest of the house! It looks so pretty!” Although I’ve spoken of the cabin and posted a few pictures before, today I will fulfill her wish and show you the whole thing.

One reason I call Jeff and Jen’s vacation home a log mansion is because it is drop-dead gorgeous. And the other is because my husband, Dave, grew up in a simple and modest vacation log cabin in northern Wisconsin. It was built by his dad, several years before Dave was born. Sadly it was sold in 1987. I stayed there one time, in 1986 when Dave and I were first dating. And next to it, J & J’s is truly a mansion – even Dave’s mom agrees!

The Hopkins’ cabin was originally without running water (there was only a hand pump), no inside bathroom – instead of an outhouse (as seen above from a 2007 photo, and NO, I never went in there!). No heat besides what the fireplace provided. And no electricity until the mid-1960s. Once the electricity was in, the pump became electric and a bathroom was added. But as Dave told me, “Even then, when we lost electricity due to storms, it could be out for days at a time. I remember one time it was out for at least 3 days. So we still had to revert to using the hand pump, and the outhouse, and that is why we kept the kerosene lamps and the gas refrigerator and stove.”

This photo of the Hopkins’ cabin was taken in 1955.

And this one was taken in 2007, the first summer we spent a week at Jeff and Jen’s. We drove over to show Marissa and Connor the mystical place their dad always told them about… “the cabin in the North Woods.”

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These stuffed peppers are my idea of delicious and classy “poppers” and are a Christmas tradition in our house. The pink salmon against the green pepper looks great on a holiday buffet.

This past July I made these for Jeff and Jen while we were spending a week at their amazing lakeside log cabin in Northern Wisconsin. It’s hard to call it a cabin, because it’s such a big beautiful home filled with rustic and classic décor, happy kids running about, great food, and tons of fun! I call it The Log Mansion. Plus, to get out of our 110+ degree heat in July and relax in the cool pines with great friends… truly a slice of heaven on earth!

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We hosted an annual 4th of July party for many years. About 10 years ago, we stopped and instead spent the holiday in Wisconsin at the Log Mansion.

We aren’t going to Wisconsin this year because we are leaving for England and Ireland in a little more than a week.

Since we’ll be home for the first time in a decade, I pulled out all my Red, White & Blue and invited a few friends over.

I forgot just how much stuff I had! The gathering is going to be small.

But the American Pride will be everywhere!

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Jen made these tasty olive crostini for us when we were at the Log Mansion. Hopefully, I won’t be embarrassing her when I tell you that I had two and Dave didn’t get a single one before her two youngest sons ate the entire batch!

Yes, they are that good – 10 and 15-year-old boys may gobble them up before you know what happened.  Enjoy.

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We are currently enjoying the good life at the Log Mansion in Wisconsin with Jeff, Jen, and their boys. Prior to arriving here, we went from Toronto, Canada to Niagara Falls, New York to Rockton, Illinois.

Neither Dave nor I had been to the Falls before. We were blown away by their power and beauty!

This is a recipe my mother-in-law and I made while we were visiting her in Illinois. She’d found it in Ladies Home Journal. I’ve made a couple of changes to the original by using both green and yellow summer squash instead of just zucchini and by adding tomatoes, otherwise, it is pretty much as written.

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I hate to admit it, but I’ve never been much of a gardener. I’ve had an herb garden my entire adult life, so I can grow herbs, mostly cooking herbs. And I’ve always had fruit trees, but that’s not gardening.

I’ve tried to grow tomatoes, carrots, lettuce, radishes, peas, pumpkins, eggplant, okra, and even zucchini. I’ve had success with not a single one! Not even zucchini!

Everyone else I know in the gardening gig grows zucchini no problem, every harvest season I see them begging people to take their surplus. I’m so jealous! If that wasn’t bad enough, many of them even put my herb garden to shame.

This year it’s different. I don’t know if it’s the new house, a new garden, new dirt, or new attitude, but I’m a farmer now!

But it turns out I’m not really a farmer because I thought the photo above was a zucchini. I forgot what I’d planted. It’s a cucumber. Not a farmer.

Here is that same cucumber a few days later.

And here is my current harvest of cucumbers. Why is there Ketel One behind the cucumbers? Because my friend, Jen, told me about the new Ketel One Botanicals. I love the idea of them. They are lower in alcohol and calories. Botanical is vodka distilled with real botanicals and infused with natural fruit essences.

I made a delicious cucumber martini with the Cucumber Mint Botanical and my homegrown cucumber.

Back to the garden, I was also successful with cantaloupe and watermelon.

I’ve harvested that lovely perfectly round watermelon above and now I’m waiting for these weird-shaped ones to be ready.

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Connor and I had a blast in Disneyland and California Adventure. When I say a blast, I not only mean a great time but a heat blast too.

It never fails, I leave this Godforsaken desert to find some refreshing cool air and the heat follows me! It was 95 every day we were there. The weatherman is predicting a lovely 75 degrees for Tuesday! It’s not right!

Oh well, fall is coming soon… I hope. Until then, I have the quickest and the easiest appetizer for you …. plus a few Disney vacation photos at the end of the post.

Most grocery stores carry the tubes of prepared polenta … and prepared pesto too. Although, I used some frozen arugula pesto I had on hand. I brought this to a surprise party on Sunday that our dear friend, Amy, threw for her husband, our dear friend, Scott.

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While riding our bikes home from Lisa’s Cinco de Mayo party a couple Sundays ago, we spotted a neighbor’s “trash” on the side of the road. Amy, Scott, Ronnie, Dave, and I made a u-turn on our snazzy wheels to check it out.

There was a big-screen television, a satellite dish, four Adirondack chairs, a bunch of boxes and toys… and a rustic outdoor couch. We moved the TV to the street, piled onto the couch, and snapped a photo of our intoxicated selves. What can I say… that tequila punch was really potent… and tasty!

Then we rode our bikes home and Scott and I went back with my car because I needed that couch! Either Dave was too tipsy or more likely, too embarrassed because he wanted nothing to do with my dumpster diving ways.

Note: Drinking and driving don’t mix… this house is in our gated community, no intersections or major streets were involved in the excursion… it is only two cul-de-sacs away.

As a point of reference, in the photo above, I am standing in my backyard looking across at Ronnie’s house. The “trash pile” was in the next cul-de-sac – just behind her house. The big trash pick-up was the next morning. Please forgive.

When we drove around the corner, we were aghast! There was another car there, picking up stuff. They better not lay their grubby hands on that couch of mine! Alas, all they wanted was two of the Adirondacks.

We loaded up my couch, I dropped Scott off at home and then forced Dave to help me unload it. He begrudgingly obliged.

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We had a creative and fun-filled extra long weekend. Our BFF’s from Illinois, Jeff and Jen, flew in on Thursday.

After years of them playing hosts to us at their gorgeous Wisconsin log cabin and at their beautiful home in Illinois, we were finally able to play hosts to them….for the first time EVER!

I know, that’s crazy, isn’t it?  Well, it was an absolute joy and just makes me wish they would come back at least once a month until we could pay them back for their more than a decade of hospitality.  Even at that rate, it would take us a couple of years to catch up!

On Saturday morning, I held the burlap pumpkin class that I threatened to hold in THIS POST … several of you expressed interest.

Thankfully, Jen and Shelia were two of the participants, because those two girls are super artistic and they were able to help the other participants make some really pretty pumpkins.

Peggy and I showed everyone how to put the pumpkins together, but it was Sheila and Jen who really lead the way, helping one lady after another, bling out their fabric squash creations.

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Remember, way back when (as in April 2010), I got new carpeting? My house looked like THIS! All of the furniture and stuff that was on the carpeted portions of the house got moved onto the marble tile portions of the house. And the new carpet was installed.

Then do you remember when about a month ago, in a super-long post, I told you all about “a day in the life” of the cooking school and I said,

“The only solution is to have my marble floors stripped and polished, once classes are over at the end of the month. Now those are before-and-after photos I promise to show you!”

… remember? Well, the time has come.

Upon our return from a relaxing and rejuvenating two-week vacation at our BFF’s log cabin (which is really more like a log mansion) in Wisconsin, I moved all of the furniture and stuff that was on the marble tile portions of the house onto the carpeted portions of the house, and the next day the floor guys came and did their magic.

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