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I enjoy reading success stories of older homes that have been lovingly restored, such as the one on Lido Key that Sarasota Herald-Tribune Real Estate Editor, Harold Bubil wrote about this past weekend.  But, I still feel the frustration of the homeowners over this “50% Rule” that forces them to do a major renovation in stages, when we should be encouraging and applauding them for saving and enhancing an existing, historic structure!

If you’d like to glean some great restoration and decorating ideas at a couple of wonderfully restored vintage homes in historic Bay Point Park, the “Jewels on the Bay Show” is coming up, starting this Sunday, January 22nd and running through February 19, 2012.

This annual show is a benefit for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Sarasota County and is always eagerly anticipated. Thirty top Sarasota area designers have transformed one 1920’s “Romantic Craftsman Style” home and one Ranch-Style house into elegant updated renovations which remain very sensitive to their time periods.

Tours begin at 1524 Bay Point Drive and end at 1525 Gulfview Drive. Hours are 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and noon to 4:00 p.m. on Sundays. Tickets are available, at $20.00 per person, by calling Carol Field at 941-780-1790, or by visiting the web site at:  www.designershowhousesarasota.com I highly recommend this fantastic collaboration of community philanthropy. Once you’re inspired, check out our listings of available Vintage Homes, where you too can work your magic. Click here.

Just about the longest trip you can make and still stay within the borders of the USA’s “lower 48” is what I did recently, flying from Sarasota to Seattle. I’d normally make this trip to visit my son’s family at Ft. Lewis-McChord in the sunnier months, but babysitting necessities prevailed.

I’m always in total awe crossing this huge country filled with every imaginable kind of topography, seen from 30,000 feet. From one coast to the other, over green hills, then drab brown flatlands carving the countryside into a patchwork quilt of winter fields that gradually morph into snowcapped Rocky Mountains and finally the Cascade Mountains. The huge majesty of Mt. Ranier then royally announces our arrival at the chilly coastal waters of the Pacific North West.

“Water, water everywhere…” and just how important it is to the history and growth of this land! To watch the wide, ever-reaching rivers passing beneath our wings, snaking from one city to another, reminded me how much our early transportation was dependent on these bodies of water. 

Ferries are an assumed way of life out here in Washington, there are so many islands dotting the Sound. Fort Lewis, on which construction began on July 5, 1917 as “Camp Lewis,” must have used the waterways for receiving shipments of building materials. Within two months of ground-breaking, there were 1,700 structures built on this huge property (70,000 acres) and the first soldiers to train here, shipped out in September, 1917 as the “91^st Wild West Division”.  These brave “Doughboys” as they were called in the fields of France, eventually turned the tide to end “The Great War”.

All indications, from the soldiers who attended the two “Commander’s Receptions” at my Lt. Colonel’s temporary, historic home here last weekend, are that we are in very good hands, militarily. Most of the men and women in uniform here have already been to Iraq and/or Afghanistan, and several will be on their way soon. Please thank the next soldier that you meet for keeping our freedom secure. They deserve much more than our gratitude!

 

Have you ever wondered who named your street, when and why it’s called what it is? Perhaps it has changed over time, like Fruitville Rd. which used to be 3^rd Street and Martin Luther King Drive used to be called 27^th Street.

It’s obvious when we travel over the John Ringling Causeway Bridge to Ringling Boulevard; you probably think that this route was named for John Ringling too, but no… it was his enterprising brother Charles who gets the credit. He was busy developing downtown Sarasota, while John was otherwise involved with elephants and clowns and developing the St. Armands area.

In 1925, when city planner, John Nolen arrived with his practical solutions for laying out the streets in numerical order, he followed the curve of the bay from Mound Street up to 10^th  Street; Mound Street referred to the large Indian mound across from Selby Gardens at the bay front curve. Just in case you newcomers haven’t figured it out yet, the Tamiami Trail was the main connector years ago between Tampa and Miami.

Cross streets were deliciously decked with tropical fruit and flower names, to lure those early “snowbirds” down here to enjoy the balmy, winter breezes on Pineapple Avenue, Orange Avenue, Pomelo Street, etc. In the ‘50’s an entire neighborhood south of town, which was built in an orange grove, kept some of those trees and gave orange-flavored monikers to all of its streets; Valencia, Tangelo and Tangerine, just to name a few.

Bird Key… what else - all bird names. I love them, but who decided that? Probably the Arvida Corporation who developed the key. The “Flower Streets” and the Indian names that still haunt some of the neighborhoods, lend an historic flavor that goes back over almost a hundred years.

If you’re not living in a new, gated community around here, chances are your street was named long ago, honoring a former President or someone like our early developer, Bertha Palmer, for example. Think Palmer Boulevard, Palmer Ranch, Honore Avenue, and Potter Street in memory of her two sons. The list goes on and on and it’s a fascinating peek into Sarasota’s history.

While you are out and about discovering the many streets of our community, be on the look-out for the vintage homes that are located on many of them; click here to see them.

 

If you have never strolled through the Sarasota Downtown Farmers Market, you’re missing the boat! What better place to be, on a sunny Saturday morning?

We like eating locally grown foods, available at various stands there. Last Saturday we stocked up on navel oranges and red grapefruit from our friends at Browns Groves, and I made a Tropical Ambrosia for our Feast of the Seven Fishes, on Saturday evening at my in-law’s house. Only, we forgot to take it, so it ended up being part of the menu on Christmas night at our house.

The hit of the menu though, was the “Heirloom Tomatoes Trifle” which I chopped and layered from around 20 different Heirloom Tomato varieties that the Browns are growing this year. It was well-dosed with fresh basil from “the Herb Guys” – the Dufour Brothers, who also supplied the mint which topped the Ambrosia and the rosemary which got mashed into the Anchovy Mustard Glaze that we slathered over the leg of lamb. I made slits in the lamb skin and inserted both a sliver of garlic and a rosemary leaf into the holes. 

Of course the tomatoes had to have a nice sprinkling of balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil from Kristine Insalaco’s booth, where she sells the most tasty olive oils I’ve ever had. Saporedellavita obviously is not locally grown, but we’re lucky to have Kristine importing it from Italy.

The Farmers Market runs from 1^st Street to State Street on Lemon Avenue crossing Main Street. Some of the vendors have been there for all of its 30-year history – stop by and be part of it soon.

During this busy season of cooking family favorites and recipes "tried and true," I thought I'd share with you some interesting facts I uncovered about "historic foods" that have been produced in the USA for more than 50 decades. See how many are still in your pantry today:

Arm & Hammer – 1846
Kraft Foods – 1903
Oreo Cookies – 1912
Planter’s Peanuts - 1916
Vegemite – 1923
Postum Cereals – 1927
Miracle Whip – 1933
Ritz Crackers – 1934
Oscar Meyer – 1934
Jello Instant Pudding – 1950
Heinz – Vinegar and Catsups – 1869
Lipton Tea – 1893
General Mills – 1860
Post Cereals – Shredded Wheat – 1892
Kellogg’s – Corn Flakes – Over a century ago
Hershey Chocolate – 1894
Ghiradelli Choclolate – 1849
Mars Candy – 1911
Campbell Soups – 1911
Maxwell House Coffee – 1892
Folgers’s Coffee – 1850
Coca Cola – 1886
Pepsi Cola – 1898
Wonder Bread – 1912
Utz Potato Chips – 1921
Aunt Jemima – 1889
Ronzoni – 1915
Chef Boyardee – 1924
Julius Sturgis Pretzels – 1861
Old Bay Seasoning – 70+ years
Gold Medal Flour – 1880
Progresso Soups – Over 50 years
Kitchen Bouquet - 1879
Lawry’s Seasoned Salt – 1938
McCormick’s Spices – 1889
Bush’s Beans – 1904
IBC Root Beer – 1919
Welch’s Grape Juice – 1849

This is just the beginning - and if you don't have a pantry, check out our Vintage Listings; we’ll find you a home that does!