The sun is out and reflecting off of the fresh layer of snow we got in Newburgh last night—it’s winter, it’s beautiful, and it’s the last day of the year. My mice are enjoying their fresh pot of wheatgrass, and I’m preparing for a late-night feast with friends at our house tonight.
Be safe, be happy, be bright. In 2008, let’s spend less money, fix more things that are broken, and say hello to people we don’t know!
(The Swedes have the best New Year posts: Camilla, Elisabeth, and Sandra.)
This morning in our house—the decorations are subtle. No tree this year, just wee Jultomte and Julbok, with some floating silver glass balls in the fireplace. My grandmother’s Christmas plate from 1911 (it hangs in our kitchen all year long, but only today is it appropriate). It still feels like Christmas!
Christmas Eve at my mother’s house was more festive, as is always the case when children are around:
Today we’re off to see Sweeney Todd! Then it’s a much-needed week off for doing anything we want to. (Fingers crossed for lots of snow.) Merry Christmas!
Apologies for the lack of updates, it’s been so busy around here! We did manage to put a new rug down in the living room, though. After much deliberation and stalling, we finally settled on the Alvine Triangel flat wool rug from IKEA. Yes, the flokati was nice, but cleaning up after it (and brushing it, and hand-vacuuming it) for the past two years has been more than I really feel like dealing with. Plus, we really needed something bold and graphic in the room, and I think this really does the job! I love how soft the white parts of the rug are. It has a Moroccan feel to it that’s very appealing, and a nice contrast to all the Victorian features of the house and the Danish Modern/mid-century furniture.
I also took the time to give a good oiling to the Arthur Umanoff bar cart I scored a few months ago. It was really looking very gray and haggard, but Danish oil once again saved the day and made it look great. I strongly recommend trying to oil old furniture rather than putting polyurethane on it! If the old finish is scuffed or damaged you can sand it a little first, but you’d be amazed how many flaws oil will hide. Every now and then you can give it a light re-oiling if it starts to look dry, and the finish will stay looking rich and warm.
My mother is Swedish, which is a wonderful thing foodwise at Christmastime! Last year, my siblings and I each took over a part of the traditional recipes to help her out a bit. I really enjoyed learning how to cook all of the yummy Swedish Christmas dishes I’ve been eating my whole life, and I’m looking forward to doing it again this year.
Here is my mother’s recipe for Janssons frestelse (Jansson’s temptation). So easy, and so unbelievably delicious.
Janssons frestelse (Jansson’s temptation)
2 yellow onions, sliced thinly
3 tbsp butter
6 medium raw potatoes, peeled and cut into small strips (julienne style)
20 Swedish sprats/ansjovis (save the brine)*
1-1/2 cups heavy cream
- Saute onion in 1 tbsp butter until nicely browned
- Butter a baking dish
- Layer potatoes, onions, and anchovies (finish with a layer of potatoes)
- Drizzle 1 tbsp of the brine from the can over the top
- Dot with remaining butter (2 tbsp)
- Pour 3/4 cup of the cream over the top
- Bake at 400 degrees for about 50 minutes, adding the remaining cream (3/4 cup) after 15 minutes
Janssons may be covered and reheated at 300 degrees for about 20 minutes or so and kept warm until serving. Aahh!
*Authentic Swedish ansjovis (available at IKEA and specialty food stores, a common brand name is Abba) are larger and much less salty than the “anchovies” we buy here. They are actually sprats (a different kind of fish), pickled in sugar, salt and spices. If you can’t get to IKEA or find true Swedish ansjovis elsewhere, you can use good quality Italian anchovies. Use the same number—the saltiness makes up for them being smaller. The taste will not be absolutely authentic, but it will still be yummy!
Brown the onions in plenty of butter.
All ready to go in the oven!
Two Japanese wood trays and one ceramic plate of unknown origin, found and bought at the same time as the lamp.
Today is Lucia Day and the start of the Christmas season! Fittingly, we received half a foot of fresh snow here in the Hudson Valley today, and I have spent the evening cooking for tomorrow’s potluck lunch in the art department I work for. Here’s the first recipe of the night, Chocolate Sour Cream Cake. This has been my mother’s go-to recipe for many years of birthdays and other celebrations—I wonder how many slices I have eaten over the course of my life! It is so simple and delicious, and goes very nicely with a little whipped cream and a cup of coffee.
Chocolate Sour Cream Cake
2-3/4 cups flour
1-1/2 cups sugar
1/2 pound unsalted butter
3 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
6 heaping tbsp instant cocoa
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
In a mixing bowl, combine the first 3 ingredients. Take off and reserve 1/2 cup crumbs for top of cake. Add eggs, sour cream, baking soda, and vanilla and mix well (I find it easiest to use an electric mixer). Pour half of the batter into a well-greased tube (Bundt) pan. Sprinkle instant cocoa on top of batter. Mix chocolate chips in rest of batter, and pour that over the bottom half. Sprinkle the reserved crumbs over the top of cake. Bake at 350° 1 hour or until the tester comes out dry.
You’ll want to cut yourself a slice when it’s just out of the oven, but try to resist! This cake is really at its peak at room temperature (or even refrigerator-cold the next day). To serve, invert the cake onto a pretty plate—the crumbs will be on the bottom. You can garnish with a bit of powdered sugar if it’s for a fancy occasion, but it will look nice just by itself.
One of our nice weekend finds from Iron Fish in Beacon is this teak lamp. Evan rewired it so we don’t burn down the house (rewiring this type of lamp is very easy and costs less than $10 to do, so never let an old, damaged, or missing cord stop you from buying a cute lamp!), and I gave it a good sprucing-up with several coats of Danish oil.
The lamp base looks great now, but I’m not totally sold on this particular lamp shade (it came without one, so this is a stopgap). Time to start looking for the right one!
Last month, I got a great deal on bright blue Eames shell chair, but the swivel base was just too office-y for my taste. Over the weekend, I switched out the old base for a black wire rocker base with walnut runners. So much better!
By the way, I personally find the vintage fiberglass Eames shells to be FAR more attractive than the newer polypropylene reproductions made by Vitra. Yes, they’re licensed by Herman Miller, but they just aren’t the same thing. If you live in the U.S., it’s very easy to get vintage Eames shell chairs for less than $50 apiece. Patience is key, but they are absolutely not as unattainable as Vitra would have you believe—there’s no need to pay $229 for a chair ($399 for a rocker!) that doesn’t even look like its supposed to (trust me on this; if you saw a vintage Eames shell next to a new one, you would think the new one is a cheap knockoff). If you find a shell without a base (or with a base you don’t like), there are several people who sell reproduction bases in all styles on eBay. For my money, a vintage shell in all its fiber-rich glory is way more satisfying than a completely smooth piece of new, molded plastic, even if I have to do a little extra work to get it how I want.
Bruno needs a dog bed, but after nearly 5 years of looking, I can’t find just the right one. This seems to work, though! We’ve had this scavenged Eames shell chair sitting in the basement for a while (it’s awaiting a trip out to Retro Redo for reupholstering), and, well, doesn’t every good puppy deserve his own piece of classic mid-century furniture? Yes!
Legs removed, sheepskin added, dog inserted. Everyone is happy!
p.s. Bruno is going for a haircut tomorrow, I swear. I am aware of the fact that he is looking more and more like Sam Sheepdog every day.
I try to make the majority of our meals from scratch, but tonight was all about odds/ends/leftovers. This was so easy and delicious! I can’t really even call it a recipe, but here’s what went into it (makes 2 large bowls):
1 small (16oz) box Imagine butternut squash soup
1 spicy italian chicken sausage (defrosted, sliced)
2 small handfulls dried mushroom tortellinis (cooked, drained)
2 cups Trader Joe’s Greens With Envy* (defrosted, chopped)
2 tbsp shredded asiago cheese
Put everything but the cheese into the soup. Heat. Serve sprinkled with asiago.
That’s it! Yuuuummmm.
*Greens With Envy is the best frozen veggie product EVER: organic spinach, broccoli, edamame, asparagus, and green beans. I try to always have it on hand, as it can be added to just about any dish for extra deliciousness and nutritiousness.
Bruno got a little plaid bulldog named Nigel for Hanukkah. He wore himself out chewing Nigel’s ears off, and had to rest for a bit before starting in on his tail.
It wasn’t until I had framed both of these posters that I realized how well they compliment each other and decided to hang them side by side in my front hallway. The one on the left was designed by my grandfather, Robert Dorfman, nearly 40 years ago. Elisabeth Dunker designed the one on the right just this past year. It made me smile to see them hanging there together when I got home this evening!
My grandfather passed away before I was born, but in addition to the poster I have several of his lovely watercolor paintings hanging in the house, as well as the seaside shadowbox he made for my father when he was a child. I am forever thankful to come from a family of creators; these physical items left behind mean so much to me.
Isn’t this rug great?! It’s the Unni from IKEA. We bought two of them this weekend thinking we’d line them up in the hallway as a runner, but it worked out better to put one out there and one in here instead. I actually like how small it is, it’s just a happy little colorful surprise in the middle of the room. Also, it looks like the $15 coffee table is going to be used as a coffee table after all, at least for the time being. I’m not sure how permanent either of these pieces are in this room, but for now, they’re making me happy.
