A small but sweet little find! Silver-plated “Bead” candleholders, designed by Jens Quistgaard for Dansk. $5.00 at Goodwill, never used and in the original box. They have just the right amount of tarnish, too.
November, 2007 Monthly archive
Happy Thanksgiving! We’re all feeling very stuffed, sleepy, and thankful around here right now.
The dining room finally feels like a real room, like it belongs in this house and has a specific purpose and function. I like that our kitchen is a separate, distinct room (contrary to the current trend of opening kitchens up to the dining room or “great room”), and that our dining room lies between it and the living room. One of the nicest thing about living in a railroad-style row house is that none of rooms get “lost”—you have to walk through one room to get to the next, so it’s impossible to wind up with one of those formal, unused dining rooms. Nothing in our house could be considered formal!
I love having enough space to have an enormous dining table. It’s such a luxury to be able to spread out on a big surface like this, whether it’s to eat or using the computer or wrap presents or read magazines or whatever. This great table is the Norden from IKEA. It seats 10 people with the leaf in place, 6 people without. It’s made from thick, solid birch and is incredibly sturdy. We’ll have it forever.
More IKEA! These simple dressers are great. They’re innocuous enough to not compete with the big Eames storage unit (which is so specific in its style that it can be difficult to put anything too strong in the room with it), and they make for great storage. We have all of our CDs and DVDs in these drawers! They’re not heirloom pieces, but they are holding up quite well and definitely get the job done.
I made this recipe up as I went along last night, and it came out GREAT! So delicious, and so easy. It’s a little bit spicy, but in the most pleasant way. If you’re vegetarian, you can omit the chicken sausages and use vegetable broth.
Pumpkin Mushroom Soup
makes 6 large bowls or 9 cups
12 oz mushrooms (I used portobellos, but you can go fancier), diced
1 medium onion, diced
1 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp flour
1 tsp curry powder
3 cups chicken broth
15 oz canned pure pumpkin (NOT pie filling!)
2 chicken sausages (any kind; I used Trader Joe’s asiago & mushroom chicken sausages)
1 cup milk
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp sugar
shredded asiago cheese
In a large saucepan or pot, sauté mushrooms and onion in olive oil until very tender, about 10 minutes. You may want to partially cover the pan to keep everything moist. (If using precooked chicken sausages, slice into half moons, set aside. If sausages are uncooked, cook them now, slice, set aside.) Stir in the flour and curry powder until blended. Gradually add the broth, stirring. Add the sausage. Bring to a boil, lower heat, and cook while stirring for 2 minutes or until somewhat thickened. Add the pumpkin, milk, sugar and spices. Heat through on medium-low heat while stirring. Serve with a sprinkle of asiago cheese.
I finally found a spot for this fabric! Also, a tiny peek at our huge, newly-scavenged Heywood Wakefield dresser. I’ve just come around to HW furniture over the past couple of years, having previously written it off as too cartoonish. It’s soft and pretty looking, and SO solid and well-built. I think one piece is enough, though! This was just what we needed in the dressing room to soften the glass and metal of the wardrobe doors.
p.s. Have a look at the photos Sandra has posted over the past week from her recent journeys to Berlin and Copenhagen! Beautiful stuff…
