Keep Warm with New Quilts from Carole and Charles Hicks

During these cold and wintery months a little extra color and warmth can bring a burst of joy to our lives. With this is mind Harvest Gold Gallery is pleased to present a beautiful collection of handmade quilts to be on display through the winter season. Quilters, Carole and Charles Hicks of Bridgeton, Maine have been immersed in both the quilting and art industry for several years. Their collection of quilts denotes wildlife motifs reminiscent of Maine’s stunning outdoors accented with bright geometric patterns. Carole received her education through classes offered by Cornell University in Hicksville, NY and later went on to teach classes in sewing. With her spare time she continues to further learn the artistry of quilting while also learning to batik handbags, penny wool rugs, needle punch and paper pierce. She is a member of the Chickadee Quilters Association of Bridgeton, ME as well as the Pine Tree Quilters of Maine Association. Her husband Charles has taught classes in industrial arts in both Levittown, NY and for the Lake Region High District in Naples, ME. Together they have received ribbons for their quilts from the Fryeburg Fair Association and are honored throughout the North East for the exquisitely handcrafted and aesthetically designed quilts. The collection of quilts at Harvest Gold Gallery include king, queen, twin, and baby sizes in addition to the one of a kind table runners. The exhibit is on display daily from 10am-4pm so stop in, warm up, and come enjoy some of Maine’s one of a kind fine art. Please call ahead (207)-925-6502.

Warm dinner on a cold winter night

Bill created a delightful French Country Cassoulet to ease the chill on a January evening in Maine.  "Cassoulet" is a fighting word in the southwest of France.  Each housewife has her recipe, her method, which is the right and only way."  This from the Great Women Chefs of France cook book where Bill spent some of his research for his perfect Cassoulet.
This is the list of ingredients:
2 pounds Great Northern white beans, dried
1 teaspoon of thyme
3 bay leaves
2 onions
2 strips smoked bacon
1 whole head of garlic
3-4 carrots
4 garlic sausages
4 fresh pheasant breast
6 legs of duck
4 country style pork ribs
1/4 cup goose fat
6 cups duck stock
4 cups fresh bread crumbs

 He started by soaking the Great Northern white beans overnight, 6-8 hours.  Throw out the water and put the beans in a large pot and cover with duck stock. Add Thyme, bay leaf, bacon, whole garlic sausages, chopped garlic and  quartered onions.  Set over low heat simmering until beans are tender, about 1 1/2 hours.  This is only the first part of the cassoulet.  Now to the meats.

Separate the duck legs and thighs trimming excess fat and cut pork into 2" chunks. Season with salt and pepper and roast at 450 for 45 minutes until browned.

 Remove large pieces of onion from bean mixture, discard.  Remove and cut into small pieces, whole garlic sausages and bacon.  Add to the meat roasting pan with other meats layering bean mixture and diced raw carrots covering with the  remaining liquid.

Add raw skinned pheasant breast cut into small pieces to the top of the pan and cover with foil.  Bake at 325 until it simmers about 1/2 hour.

Reduce oven temperature to 300 and cover with fresh bread crumbs.  Drizzle goose fat over the top and bake uncovered for 2 - 3 hours until brown and bubbly.

 

Serve with your favorite red wine, crusty french bread, spinach salad and 8-10 hungry friends.

Valentine Special: Free Engraving and So Much More!

Love is in the air and we are smitten! We wanted to share the love with our customers, so we are offering FREE engraving, the perfect touch to make any piece of jewelry extra special and personal! Simply put your desired engraving in your message to seller at checkout. 

We also organized some of our favorite Valentine pieces into a Valentine Section.  

These snowy days inspire us and we've been busy at work making new pieces. 

Below are new pieces we've added to the etsy shop this week!

NEW design: Silver Heart Ring.

New Design: Lobster Silver Ring.

New: Gold Night Sky earrings.

And another sweet treat for your Valentine- Our Gold Heart Earrings

4 UR Valentine

We have a lot of festive jewelry in our Etsy shop perfect for your Valentine!

Above: Silver Heart Earrings

Silver Heart Pendant 

Pink Sweet Heart Maine Tourmaline ring in yellow gold.

And as always we LOVE making custom pieces! Feel free to contact us to start a dialogue about a one of a kind piece for your sweet heart.

Fun With Carley over the Holidays

Carley was home for a break from her busy life in Florida only to work us like only she can to take lots of new photos of our new and favorite jewelry designs.

It was freezing for this Florida girl.  She found her Great-grandmothers coat to help keep her slightly warmer.

So watch for more of our new and fun jewelry photos with Carley.  Happy New Year to all and wish you lots of fun in the coming year!