On the Eighth Day of Christmas

Those milking maids brought me some fresh heavy cream and some lovely fresh milk, so that I could whip up a batch of Baltimore Eggnog for a party this evening. Baltimore Eggnog’s one of those things that even people who swear they hate it, love it.  It’s got a secret ingredient that almost no one guesses. While it’s loaded with calories, and made with un-cooked eggs, you only really have it once a year, so live a little!There is no comparison between store-bought and home-made eggnog. And home-made eggnog is really pretty simple to make. Here’s my Baltimore Eggnog Recipe with the super-secret ingredient. Shhh, this is just between the two of us, so don’t let the secret out.

Baltimore Eggnog

12 eggs, separated
2 cups of superfine sugar
1 pint of brandy
½ pint of light rum
½  pint of peach brandy (the secret ingredient)
3 pints of milk
1 pint of heavy cream

Beat the egg yolks and the sugar together until thick. Slowly stir in the brandy, rum, peach brandy, milk and heavy cream. Pour into a punch bowl and chill thoroughly. Beat the egg whites until just stiff and fold gently into the eggnog. Grate a little nutmeg on top and serve in 4-ounce punch cups. Make arrangements for guests to spend the night.

 
CHEERS!

On the Seventh Day of Christmas

The seven swans a-swimming reminded me of a post I did during my first year of blogging, all the way back in 2007! One of the best things I’ve ever gotten is an eiderdown blanket. If you don’t know, eiders are large-sized sea ducks that are found in the northern coasts of Europe, North America and eastern Siberia. Eiders breed in the Arctic and a few northern temperate regions. 

Eiders line their nests with their down, and when the chicks have flown the nest, the eider down is harvested by farmers in coastal regions. The nests are in protected areas, so the relationship between the farmers who feed the ducks and harvest their down and the ducks, works quite well. Icelandic Eiderdown farming is a multi-million dollar industry.The words eiderdown and quilt or comforter are used interchangeably, but they are totally different things. Eiderdowns are difficult to find these days and when you do, they are very expensive. I’ve seen king-sized eiderdowns priced anywhere from $4,800 to more than $13,000! You can sometimes find real eiderdowns on Ebay, or in vintage or antique stores in the UK and Europe. Most of the time, they are twin-sized though. They usually have a flower or paisley print fabric, or satin, which usually slides right off the bed. Eiderdowns are very,very light… I think that’s where the expression “Light as a Feather” comes from. With an eiderdown, you can’t feel the shafts of the feathers’ quills like you can on down comforters.If you ever see an eiderdown for less than $4800, you should buy it… or ask Santa for one!

On the Sixth Day of Christmas

Nothing says that the holidays are coming like Christmas carols. I love the old music and the traditional carols, and for the two or so weeks before Christmas, I listen to them at the office and sing along!

I just got the new Annie Lennox CD called A Christmas Cornucopia.  It’s just excellent and I’ve been listening to it all day and watching the videos.

The songs on this album are not done in the classic way. Annie adds all sorts of things, including a choir of children from South Africa and some Celtic additions to songs.The digi-pak edition of the CD comes with a lovely little booklet, which looks like it could have been letter-pressed.

Christmas Cornucopia is a great addition to my holiday music library.

On the Fifth Day of Christmas

Today’s the day of the five golden rings. At today’s price – approximately $1,398 an ounce – five gold rings would buy a whole load of presents! 

At Woodbourne, where I work, the children still need presents, including games, clothes and shoes. The State of Maryland, which funds our programs, does not provide any money for birthday or holiday presents, and we do not have the funds to purchase them. So, we must turn to our friends and ask for help.

Again this year, my friends at Houpla Studio have made a video for Woodbourne. The kids, most of whom have nothing, are asking for presents for themselves, and also for the other kids on their units, as well as children who have even less than they do.

I hope that you will take a few minutes to watch this video, and then consider a contribution to help us make these children’s holidays special.

Everyone at Woodbourne works hard to help and heal these children who have suffered from the worst kind of abuse – things I can’t even begin to mention for fear of how they would affect you.

As always, we appreciate anything that you can do.

If you would like to send a donation directly to Woodbourne, our address is 1301 Woodbourne Avenue/Baltimore/Maryland/21239.

Thank you so much!

On the Fourth Day of Christmas

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, everywhere I go. Except at my house.

This is my super-busy time of year at work, fundraising for the kids at Woodbourne, and arranging all of the donations of the Christmas presents for them. We shot a video on Saturday, which will be on-line shortly.

I recently found an old picture of Christmas at the house where I grew up. We had a great time decorating the house, because we always had a large party on Christmas night.  We had two columns on the front porch and we wrapped them in ropes of pine. The front door, with its fanlight window, was always decorated with a huge wreath, and sometimes even more. This particular year, I made a huge della robia-style piece, with magnolia leaves, apples, oranges, lemons, and a pineapple as the centerpiece. It was on a huge piece of foam and I remember that it was a warm winter and everything started dripping!  Looking at this picture, I realize that I should have divided the roping and hung it so it was facing down on both sides.

Inside, we wrapped the mahogany columns with pine, too. The large fireplace in the living room had pine roping draped on it, and my mother always used bright red candles in the candlesticks. The image below is my favourite shot of the house. I love the way the light is hitting the fireplace. Just out of view is a long window seat where we used to pile down pillows, and read or nap in the sun. There were little pieces that my parents had collected on their travels, scattered around the house. These pieces only came out at Christmas and included things like nativity scenes from Spain, tiny angel orchestras from the UK and much more. We always hung a tiny mobile of Santas from the large chandelier in the hallway. It danced in the breeze anytime the front door opened. While you all can’t see the house decorated for the holidays, I can.

On the Third Day of Christmas

The holidays are a great time to take a tour of a local historic home museum. Most are decorated for the holidays by either the gardening committee or the house committee and are done up beautifully. It’s a great place to get some decorating ideas for both inside and out.

While the scale of many older historic homes may be vastly different than yours, you can scale things down to a more livable size. Here, in the cozy hunt dining room at Ladew House and Gardens, just north of Baltimore, the committee has played off the teal walls of the room with different shades of blue, including turquoise accents on the mantel and in front of the fireplace as well as on the table and sideboard. It’s not traditional, but it livens up the space, which has a very low ceiling.

In the parlour, the mantel is accented by magnolia leaves and boughs of fir and holly, taken from the estate’s extensive gardens. On a visit to Ladew several years ago, I remember seeing copper trays filled with stones and balancing dozens of paper-white narcissus bulbs, just coming into bloom. Of course, since they’re one of my favourite winter blooms, I adapted this idea for my own home.

I am sure that there’s a historic home or two, or more, in your area that’s decorated in winter finery for the holidays. Check it out!

I’ll Take This… Keds Kicks

I was reading the WSJ Weekend this morning and stumbled over these great Keds kicks, made for the Ace Hotel’s Opening Ceremony shop. Naturally, they’re not shown on the website, but they’re brilliant.The toiles have been altered by Richard Saja, about whom I’ve written before. Love the stripey ones, too!

On the Second Day of Christmas

Being that the gift is a partridge in a pear tree, might I suggest that you not give people some ghastly gift basket from Harry & David or Hickory Farms? Regardless of how much someone might like apples and pears, or salami and cheese, these are the kind of presents you give to people whom you do not know at all.

But there is merit in giving a gift of food which you have made yourself. My father used to make the most amazing lemon curd and package it beautifully and personally deliver it in the days before Christmas.

• 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons finely grated fresh lemon zest
• 1 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 3/4 sticks (3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon pieces

Whisk together zest, lemon juice, sugar, eggs, and a pinch of salt in a 2-quart heavy saucepan. Add butter all at once and cook over moderately low heat, whisking constantly, until curd is thick enough to hold marks of whisk and first bubbles appear on surface, about 10 minutes. Immediately pour curd through a fine sieve into jars and cover immediately. It will keep in the fridge for a week after it’s opened.

Another great idea using lemons is Limoncello, which if you start immediately, will be ready at Christmas. The longer it steeps, the better, and it’s not like people are going to chug down the bottle on Christmas night.

• 2 750ml bottles of pure grain alcohol or if you’re a sissy like me, 100 proof vodka
• the zest of 17 lemons – I use my fancy Microplane grater.
• 3.5 cups of white sugar
• 5 cups of water

Zest the lemons, put them in a glass one-gallon jar with the alcohol and let it sit for 45 days. Then mix the sugar and water in a pot and bring to a boil for 5 minutes. Let the mixture sit until completely cool and then mix with the alcohol and lemon infusion. Let that mixture sit for 45 days. Then filter the mixture 4 times using #4 coffee filters. Bottle the liquid and put it in the freezer. It’s excellent alone, with club soda as a spritzer, or over ice-cream.

Failing these, a good box of chocolates is usually appreciated!

On the First Day of Christmas

Since I don’t currently have a true love in my life, I thought I’d just use the twelve days conceit to talk about different holiday-related design, decor, and giving  ideas.  By the way, I never, ever say gifting. It is incorrect and sounds very jarring. You are given a gift, not gifted a gift. {end of rant}

So, on the first day of Christmas, we’re going to talk about hostess presents, since there are so many parties at this time of year. I went to the most marvelous party on Saturday night (thanks again, Susan!) and took my delightful hostess two of the French Ivory fish knives.  They can be used for cheeses or fruit, or just jam on your toast in the morning, or they would look lovely set on a table for two.Another great thing to do with miscellaneous pieces of good silverware is to include it along with a gift of food. A jar of gourmet olives can be paired with a great silver or silver plate fork. You can find one-off pieces of silverware at any thrift shop or antique mall. If you tie a big beautiful bow on the jar and add the piece of silver, you’ve got a very nice and thoughtful hostess gift. Another great idea is to take a cup and saucer and make a candle in the cup. Again, any and every junk shop has a ton of these and many are quite good-looking and can be picked up for a dollar or two. It’s easy to find candle-making materials at a craft store, or you can even melt your half-burned candles and make a new one by adding a fresh wick.  Make sure you top up the candle, so it doesn’t have a dip in the center like the one below does. Another wonderful idea is to find a really wonderful expensive and lush bar of soap and put it on a beautiful dish. You know I am a big proponent of thrift- and antique-shopping, so I always pick up gorgeous orphaned plates when I see them. Tie up the soap and plate or bowl with a huge ribbon and a lovely tag and you’ve got a simple present for less than $20 or even $10! While I’ve used all of these ideas in the past, these images came from BBC Homes & Antiques Magazine’s December issue, kindly sent to me by the thoughtful House of Beauty & Culture!

Ho-Ho-Holidays

It’s a bit frightening to think that Christmas is in less than three weeks! I am not at all prepared and have much left to do. I did manage to do a little decorating outside with a lot of the boxwood clippings I bought during the Holiday Shop Hop.

Luckily, my family saw the light and we began choosing names a few years ago, which makes shopping loads easier. But it’s still a challenge to think of perfect presents.  I have a couple for friends and my mother already, but there’s still much to do, and no trip to NYC this year.

As always, I advocate alternative sources. I am a very tactile person and have a great need to be able to touch and heft items to see whether I like the way they feel. Descriptions and images can be very deceiving.

Having said that though, I have had some good luck buying from One King’s Lane and Gilt. I bought Bunny Williams’ and Mary Randolph Carter’s new books from them recently and got great deals on both. I know they will be treasured for years to come. How are your holiday preparations coming along?