Each Little World

A Centennial Supper

On December 29, 1910 my maternal grandparents held a New Year's Banquet. Since I have a copy of the menu I decided to hold a dinner party on the same night — 100 years later. I used the antique menu as a starting point and re-interpreted it for 21st Century palates. I lightened it up a bit and spiced it up a lot. 

I turned the condiments (olives and pickles) served with the original appetizer (oysters) into the appetizers themselves: black olive tapenade and daikon and red radish pickles. The old menu makes no mention of beverages other than coffee with dessert. I followed that tradition, but we began our banquet with champagne.

You can read the rest of the menu if you click on the photo above. I put a menu at everyone's place and on the back printed the original menu my grandparents served. I planned on setting the table using some of my grandparents' china but Mark said I should go all out and empty the pantry of all their gilded stemware and every specialized plate, bowl and cup.

I set the table before I went to work that morning, which is when the photos were taken. The effect that evening — with candles aglow and every place marked with a stack of glittering dishes topped with placecards and menus — was a bit more glam than in early morning sunshine.

The decor down the center of the table is the inspired creation of my sister-in-law, Sara, who trimmed three little Christmas trees with notions: thimbles, buttons, bobbins, garlands of tape measures and chains of quilting pins. It was a charming nod to my grandfather who was the buyer for the notions area of a large department store in Buffalo, NY.

He and my grandmother gave their 1910 banquet for all the employees who worked in the Notions Dept. under his supervision. Their party actually took place in the Tea Room of the store, J.N. Adam, and all the dishes were named after various sewing accoutrements sold in the department, like salmon with "veiling sauce."

My 2010 homage banquet was almost as over-the-top as the original event. It may not have been the fanciest feast I've ever made but it certainly will hold the record for the number of dishes and glasses that had to be washed by hand.

But mainly it was a wonderful excuse to gather with old friends, remembering how we all met and our shared experiences over the intervening years. It also gave me the opportunity to surround myself with family treasures, remembering all the holiday meals my grandmother served on these very dishes; my grandfather at the head of the table doing carving duty.

I got to indulge my penchant for all my favorite little worlds: china and dishes, cooking and food, design and decor, family, history, and holidays. What could be a more perfect way to end one year and begin another?

 

And the Pursuit of Happiness

A portrait of America that is poignant, immediate, touching, amusing, informative and the one book you must read this year. By illustrator, writer, New Yorker and genius in her own way: Maira Kalman.

Listen to Kalman (below) describe how the book evolved during her travels through American history then and now:

 

The holiday weekend continues

Family dinner followed by presents on the 24th; dinner with friends followed by presents on the 25th. Today we're cocooned in front of the fire with coffee, biscotti, a luscious array of leftovers and still more presents sent by my sister in Pennsylvania. Three delightful days without leaving home . . . 

In the bleak midwinter

It's still dark outside, but the coffee is on, the tree is lit and I'm about to finish up the last little bits of holiday cooking before the Golbach family — age seven to ninety — arrive this afternoon. My Christmas Eve will officially begin at 9 a.m. (CST) when I turn on the radio for the live broadcast of "A Festival of NIne Lessons and Carols" from KIng's College, Cambridge in Great Britain. In the meantime, I'll be enjoying this beautiful carol based on the poem by Christina Rossetti.

Happy holidays to all of you!

 

 

Seasonal art

During the winter of 1983/84, I got a wonderful poster from the Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission celebrating the holiday traditions of all the ethnic groups who settled in our county. Once it was framed, I began to put it out every December to officially start the holiday. You can see from the first image (below) that eventually it was joined by all whole wall of holiday art. 

Turns out the wall above the longest bookcase in our newly re-modeled library (more on that soon) is a perfect place for displaying art. Currently it is showcasing 12 holiday-themed pieces including antique lace, drawings by me and Mark, new and old photos, woodcut prints, and 19th Century St. Nicholas stickers. Below (l-r) is a drawing of "Christmas Crows", a photo of me with Santa and the antique stickers.

Further down the wall is an angel drawing by Mark (done on our first computer using the mouse as a drawing tool) and a little lace skier. We're using the top of this long bookcase as a platform to display all of our toys that we have from childhood as well as the toys we periodically give each other as gifts. 

 

The two drawings below (graphite, colored pencil, watercolor and ink) were newspaper illustrations. I did these drawings with a handwritten text in lieu of photos and printed text for my holiday columns in the early 1990s.

A crocheted radish by Leslee Nelson (above) joins a handmade teddy bear (below) nestling a felt critter by Mary Wallace of White Dove Farm and gorgeous hand-painted wooden alphabet blocks by Tracy Higgs. 

A color woodcut advertises an artshow in Washington, D.C. by brothers Thom and David Feild, my dad's 1943 Christmas Day menu, and Mark's "Happy Halley Days" celebrating Halley's Comet in 1985. The toy duck in the middle is the model for the "Halley Days" illustration. The 2-D art ends with a pair of photos: our Wisconsin garden in the snow and my sister's Vermont house in an equally snowy landscape.  

The 3-d figures include our collection of quirky characters made of everything from papier mache to bone.

Christmas spirits

I like to decorate the house for the holidays but our taste runs to angels, cherubs and putti rather than Santa figures. The oldest is a small (below, 5 in./12 cm.) hand-painted china angel, complete with my name on her hymnbook. My mother's best friend from college made this figurine as a baby gift when I was born.

During the year she lives behind the glass doors of our china cabinet. But at this season she gets to come out and join the most impressive spirit who lives at our house: a Burmese (Myanmar) Buddha head from the 18th century. It's life-size, made of gilded stone on a brass base.

The newest angels (below) are this pair from Swedish designers Bengt & Lotta. This year I decided to use tall candles to play up the angels short stature (just over 4 inches/10 cm.). They are only one of the many delightful designs by this Swedish pair available at Madison's Century House. 

This folksy angel of painted wood and tin is a another Scandinavian figure that we found 15 years ago.

Our wooden putti with removable wings (below left) works equally well for Christmas or Valentine's Day. We've had this Italian figure for 20+ years and have never regretted splurging on it when we were first married. We have a few others but don't put them all on display each Christmas. That way we appreciate each of them in turn.

You can also see another of Mark's recent drawings taped on the wall above the buffet. The house is covered with new drawings making the space more arty and less Christmasy!

Foliage Follow-up: 12.16.2010

Northern gardens mainly rely on evergreens for color once December arrives. But depending on the temperatures and snow cover (or rather, lack of it) ferns can provide a touch of fresh, bright green. I've discovered they are among the most resilient plants in my garden. They shine in December when their surrounding perennial partners are sleeping. This is what they looked like on Dec. 3 after major frosts and temps in the low 20s. Mark took these shots just before it snowed and pretty much buried them. In honor of Pam's Foliage Follow-up, here is some December foliage — just not today's foliage which is all white.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day: 12.15.2010

Unlike Elizabeth of Gardening While Intoxicated, I don't force a lot of bulbs indoors. But paperwhite narcissus are a must: inexpensive, easy and I like the fragrance. Once the flowers begin to come into bloom, I move them from the living room to the entrance hall where it's cooler. That helps to prolong their bloom span and keeps the fragrance from overwhelming the house. Walking into a sea of white flowers from the cold, snowy white outdoors is a real treat in December. 

I've got them singly in vases, pairs of antique dishes, glass and handmade ceramic bowls. No matter the container or the number of bulbs you plant, they always look good. And this year I finally tried the Cornell booze experiment and have to agree that it works. So my plants are shorter and sturdier with no flopping!

To see what's blooming in gardens around the country and the world on December 15, visit Carol of May Dreams Gardens who host this monthly round-up of blooms!

 

December flowers

Don't get excited; we're not talking flowers from the garden in December in Wisconsin. I mean flowers from the greenhouse and the grocery store that will get you and your house in the holiday spirit. While I love the new pink poinsettias, I am looking for cheap, charming and unusual — if such a combination is possible. 

Best all-around cut flower are carnations. I recently saw a fat bouquet of white ones in a square glass container set on the back of a toilet tank in a small all-white bathroom. White walls, fixtures, flowers, towels and graphic black and white art. Wintry and wonderful. 

I recently opted for 3 bunches of intense carnations: two hot pink and one red. I stuffed them in an antique footed glass bowl (above), with the red ones scattered here and there. The color difference was barely noticeable until the flowers began to fade a bit. I had so many stems that I took the ones that would not fit into the bowl, cut the stems way down and put them into a silver julep cup (top). A container like that is so small that I could move it from table to table and room to room at a moment's notice. That way, you have flowers wherever you go!

I have always had good luck with Cyclamen because we have a cool room where they thrive. They are my go-to flower for the holidays rather than poinsettias. And now they come with large or small flowers, with ruffles and white edges, and in such mouth-watering shades of pink, red, cerise, and burgundy, that it's hard to limit myself to just one plant. 

When I wanted something to make the transition from Thanksgiving to Christmas without overshadowing the art or the holiday decorations, I turned to a Rex begonia. This is one of the few houseplants that I've grown indoors for a few years at a time. They're easy and the leaves are so fascinating.

This bouquet, picked from the garden in October, was finally tossed out over the weekend. When you start with cedar, sedum and seedpods, you know that you can forget about watering once the vase dries up and everything will just slowly dry out and look good for a month or more.

Is there a flower or plant that says December to you? What's on your must-have list?

Note: Photos have been done using the Hipstamatic app.

And so it begins again ...

Am waiting for Almazo Wilder and Cap Garland to shovel us out and bring us supplies ...