Happy New Year!

The bloom still hasn't opened on my Christmas amaryllis but you can see it is peeking out a little bit. It's cold here, 31 degrees on our deck this morning. We've cranked up the heat so maybe that flower will be enticed to open for tomorrow, New Years Day.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve has always meant Swedish smorgasbord. Growing up it was prepared by my grandmother who was Swedish. These days the dinner is at our house and although we purchase many of the foods on our smorgasbord, there are some homemade highlights such as the gravlax that our neighbor Jorma prepares that is gorgeous to look at and fantastic to eat.

When we were in Stockholm in July we bought the little bottles of acquavit specifically to serve at Christmas Eve smorgasbord. Each bottle was a different flavor but since we don't read Swedish we never were entirely sure what those flavors were. In truth the acquavit wasn't a big hit with our group but I love how the bottles looked in the big glass bowl filled with ice.

what's inside??

It's Swedish cardamom buns, wrapped up for co-workers...I keep increasing the amount of freshly ground cardamom I use in the Vetebrod (Swedish coffee bread) I make. At our house we love this distinctive spice. The uninitiated wonder what is the flavoring in the bread. Today someone asked, after a sampling, if it was Fiori Di Sicilia which is a heavenly citrus-vanilla extract used in panettone. Oh, that's another bread I hope to make this week!

biscotti baking

Biscotti are my favorite cookies and now I don't make any other kinds. I love how they don't get stale unlike most other cookies. I have tinkered with these Almond Anise Biscotti and for my taste they are just right. This year I cut back on the eggs and refrigerated the dough overnight before baking and solved my problem of dough spreading out too much when baking.

The other photo is Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti from the SoNo Baking Company Cookbook. Two concerns here: the recipe doesn't call for vanilla or other flavoring (I added some vanilla); and it's a little tricky figuring out when they are done when you don't have the visual cue of golden brown tops.

do you know about Wallboard Anchors?

They are the plastic gizmos you see here and are what you need to secure a screw in a wall that's made of sheetrock. I took down the spice rack to paint the wall and when I tried to put the screws back in the same holes the screwdriver just went around and around--there was nothing for the screw to attach to. Enter the wallboard anchors. Screw them in the holes and then the screws into the anchors and all is nice and secure, hurray!

Holiday window shopping

Treat yourself and stop to admire the beautiful shop displays-- that's what I did early this morning (even though it was dark and raining), stopping in front of Primo Regali in San Anselmo, all bright lights and glittering wares. The small shops have the best windows: check out Stripe in Santa Cruz, it looked beautiful today too!

grout repair

This crumbling tile grout at the kitchen counter has bothered me for a long time. In some areas it's not crumbling but has cracks and in others chunks of the grout have fallen out, although the tiles are still secure. I've never done grout repair before but today I mixed up a paste-like compound and using my finger filled the spaces and cracks. Of course first I cleaned out the broken bits with a special grout-removal, scraper-type tool.
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As I write this, it is a couple of hours later and I am periodically going over the areas with a damp sponge. I'm reasonably happy with this repair except that the new grout needs to get a little dirty so it blends in with the old. Since this area is right around the cooktop, it shouldn't take too long :) Or, I might get busy with a toothbrush, boiling water and bleach...

Holiday baking

We love Swedish vetebrod, a yeast bread full of butter eggs and cardamom seeds. The recipe calls for 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground cardamom seeds but I use lots more because our family is a big fan of this aromatic spice. Here are two braids but little individual S-shape rolls are also typical. Making vetebrod means the Christmas season has begun in our house.

Today I tried two new bread recipes. One is from the gorgeous new book "Sarabeth's Bakery" and the recipe is "House Bread." When I saw the full page photo of this bread in the book I knew I had to try it. It just came out of the oven so I haven't tried it yet...The other recipe is "Amy Scherber's Whole Wheat Walnut Bread." This bread is made with a biga or pre-ferment which is a mixture of a tiny bit of yeast, some flour and water all stirred together and allowed to sit for 8 hrs or more. Then this very elastic "pre dough" is added along with more yeast and the rest of the ingredients. That loaf came out of the oven earlier and I did have a slice, thickly spread with butter oh so good!

These two bakers have shops in NYC. For me, a good reason to plan a trip!

one hour east of San Diego

...here's the country you will find. It's rugged, timeless, with here and there orchards of gnarly old apple trees that are these days dropping fruit for little bands of grazing cows. While visiting my family down there the past few days, here's a bit of the glorious landscape I saw. Don't you love the old stone house in among the oaks and boulders?

Autumn in the neighborhood

Some early morning views today as I walked around town.

On the weekends I've been making bread. The recipe I've been using is Coarse Grained Whole Wheat with Toasted Walnuts from the book "Amy's Bread" which I keep modifying. The loaf you see here has no walnuts and is partly whole wheat flour and partly a blend of rye and whole wheat flour that I brought back from Stockholm. When I saw this 50/50 blend of wheat and rye in the grocery store I had to try it and so packed home a 2 kilo bag. Also a bag of rye flour (and envelopes of Swedish yeast--and yes, I did get nailed for extra baggage charges at the airport!) I think I pretty much have the recipe I want now, maybe to be called Coarse Grained Whole Wheat Rye and Flax loaf.

my World Series slipcover

This is what I've been doing while watching the playoffs and now the World Series. The ottoman was so nasty, ripped along the edges where the cat has scratched it to shreds (don't even want to take pictures of that). Sitting on the floor in front of the tv, cutting, pinning and basting a simple slipcover out of some heavy denim that's been in the closet for years...and today I sewed it up and here it is! Way better.

mission accomplished

Here is that little paint project, all done but taking a lot longer than I had figured on. Sanded off the spray paint and then brushed on a coat of oil based primer followed by two coats of Martha Stewart Crevecoeur (a sample size bottle I got for free at Home Depot).
I like it because it helps make the fixture less noticeable than it was before which is good since we are "making do" with it for now.

one step forward, two steps back

So as you know we try to salvage anything we can and here you see the 80s- or maybe 70s-style light fixture over the sink in the bathroom (where everything was finished except this small detail) all masked and ready to spray paint a stainless steel/nickel tone. Better than the old gold finish! But one light spay and the finish "beads" rather than levels nicely. Can you see that in the second picture? Not acceptable. So I am going to buy a little can of paint, lightly sand and then hand paint it and hope it turns out OK. Disappointing.

This book makes it tough...

to choose a color concept for a room. "Paint the Big Book of Natural Color" by Elizabeth Hilliard and Stafford Cliff is page after page of breathtaking rooms and sources of inspiration: the deep Mediterranean blue walls of a home on Santorini with window frames the color of cumulus clouds; the gray of stone gargoyles on an ancient French cathedral brought into an elegant bathroom in England; and humble whole wheat bread, toasted rich and maybe a bit charred,used as an accent color in a folk art museum in Sweden. Oh and the whites are just as compelling: the color of birch tree bark, the pale face of a barn owl, a morning"s frost. I've mentioned books by Stafford Cliff here before and each one is a treasure. Take a look and tell me, what do you think?

fall garden beauties

The Japanese anemones stand tall and graceful above their foliage and are my favorite fall flowers. A dear friend gave me a clump from her garden years ago and they have gradually taken over in the areas that get morning sun, even coming up along the gravel driveway. Pretty by day and by night.

getting rid of stuff

For the last month or so I have been getting rid of one thing each day. Some days it's more than one thing. These bags are the latest collection ready to give to the thrift store. Even before this "one a day" program I regularly filled bags of unwanted/unused clothes and housewares to donate (when you have kids you are always clearing out the old as new things take their place). Getting ready for home exchanges is big motivation and certainly we can't have bulging closets when we do VRBO. Besides, it just feels good to pare down.

thinking ahead to Spring

Yesterday I bought dozens of white tulips to plant right at the edge of the street. Now they're in the refrigerator to chill for a couple of months.

Borrow this book!

Today I found a book at the library by one of my favorite interior design authors, Stafford Cliff, and I am thrilled! It is called 1000 Home Ideas and like his earlier The Way We Live, this book has hundreds of gorgeous photos, organized in subject areas such as "Openings and Closings" (doors and transitions), "Shelf Life" and "Stylish Storage" I've shown a page from "Steps and Bannisters" here. The "Walls of Wonder" section shows displays of things people collect and/or use every day such as workboots, cutting boards, wooden kitchen utensils. Believe me, these are NOT sterile Pottery Barn interiors!

H&M Home World Premiere!

When we were Stockholm one of the first places I went to on the big shopping street is the new H&M home store. It's the first and only one anywhere so far! It is on the second floor of one of the (many) H&Ms in Stockholm. There are no stacks of merchandise from which you serve yourself. Instead you take a little refrigerator-type magnet that has the picture of the item you want and take it to the register. Then a staff person gets you the item (I didn't see them do this because I didn't buy anything). Interesting how that will work out. The displays gave me the feeling of being in a museum, gazing at beautifully lighted and cleverly mounted exhibits.

more Sweden

The Swedes love lingonberries and the sweet-tart preserved berries are served frequently (and always with meatballs). I brought back this jar of jelly, so good this morning, spread on toast.

more Swedish style: outlets and switches

Here you see some electrical work in our Stockholm apartment. Why did I take these photos?? Because here is proof that it is entirely possible to add switches/outlets to an old house without ripping into the walls! I have always wanted another lamp in our bedroom but the outlets are already maxed out. It doesn't bother me to see the wires running along the trim...so add this project to list!

Swedish style

We did a home exchange in Stockholm recently and how beautiful was this heating stove in the living room. Beautiful glossy white tiles, in a room bright with light and white paint, I came home inspired...and am painting the dining room walls white, no more "peanut shell" which the walls have been for years Today I bought a can of Benjamin Moore "White Dove" in pearl finish, a step up in glossiness from the eggshell I had been using. Will see!

the front steps

The front steps sorely needed a new coat of paint. Used my new power washer to clean them first, then some scraping and here is the exciting part, putting on the pretty green paint!

a little detail

The heater vent in the bathroom needed attention--rust and old paint--so I got out the steel wool and cleaned it up, then spray painted it with Rustoleum white satin finish. Looks way better!

How many coats??

I've run out of paint and am losing track of how many coats of paint I have applied to the bathroom walls. I think it is 4, plus primer and still I don't have that great looking saturated white. With the skylight there is lots of natural light coming in this time of year so I can really notice the lack of color depth. I got a new paint pad thinking that was part of the problem. The best coverage is the hand-painted areas. I'll buy another quart,apply one more coat and be satisfied. But isn't the new teak countertop beautiful!

Italian street painting (at Larkspur Library)

This has nothing to do with what I am doing at our house, but I love this chalk painting, done on the concrete threshhold outside of the Larkspur Library where I work. So beautiful. If the rain comes back tomorrow, it will wash away...thank you Gemma.

choosing a white paint isn't easy....

I painted some color samples on the bathroom walls. I want fresh, clean white to go with the brown tiles and (as yet uninstalled) teak countertop. "Linen white" which I thought I'd want (in the center left) was instantly eliminated as too tan. I decided to go with "White Opulence" from Benjamin Moore. The little sample bottles are great--no need to buy a whole quart of paint and then decide it's all wrong.

I have tsp'ed the walls, this weekend I will prime them and then hopefully it will cover in 1 coat?

bathroom countertop demo

Today was a happy day--the herringbone countertop in the bathroom began being demolished. How pleased I am to get rid of this busy, brown and carmel colored tile countertop from the 70s. We are having a new top made out of teak, a wood that is a good choice for wet places (it is often used in boats). We still will have the brown tile shower and floor but plan to give the bathroom a modern look by painting the walls white and adding new chrome elements in towel bars and sink and shower fixtures. I went to the paint store today and grabbed lots of Benjamin Moore white paint chips. This is very fun!

Happy Easter!

Isn't this a pretty bread bag? A b-day gift from my lovely daughter, it is made of bamboo fabric and with a handy drawstring, it's perfect for keeping this loaf of whole wheat walnut bread fresh. She found this great bag at a favorite Berkeley foodie spot, the Cheese Board.