Each Little World

The Saveur 100

Every year at this time I make sure to pick up a copy of the magazine Saveur. The Jan./Feb. issue is devoted to "The Saveur 100," a compendium compiled by the staff of their "favorite tools, tips, ingredients, cookbooks, recipes, restaurants, and more." Each year the list has a theme and this year it's "The New Classics."

The Saveur 100 is the perfect midwinter read: engrossing and entertaining. And I always make a game out of reading it, giving myself marks for foods I've tried, tools I own and the like. Of course, since some foods and restaurants they talk about are in other states and even other countries, I do a bit of fudging on the foodie scale. I get points if I've tried the local equivalent.

If you're suffereing from cabin fever, find yourself a Saveur and create your own quiz. 

Here's how I fared this year:

• 13. Baumgartner's Limburger Sandwich. While I am not a big fan of this sandwich, I have been within sniffing distance of it. Chalet Cheese Cooperative in Wisconsin is the last producer in the country of Limburger, so like it or not, I am proud of its history and Wisconsin connection.
• 20. Griswold Cast Iron. We grew up using Griswold muffin molds and every time I visit my sister in Erie, PA — home of the Griswold company which folded in 1957 — I try to talk her into giving me the family Griswold pans. I've found them in antique shops in her area but the prices have kept me from buying my own.
• 29. Linie Aquavit. I learned to drink Aquavit (with a beer chaser) when I took a spinning and weaving class at Peter's Valley Craftsmen out east. But here in Wisconsin, with its strong Norwegian heritage, I learned to appreciate Linie. At all times — like right now — there's a bottle in our freezer staying properly chilled.
• 59.  Christmas in Connecticut. Watched it for the millionth time between Christmas and New Year's this year. Make sure to get the original 1954 version and not the ghastly re-make. Despite the photo in Saveur, Barbara Stanwyck has a fabulous wardrobe in the movie.
• 64. Vietnamese Pork Chops. Had them for lunch on Saturday at Saigon Noodle in Madison. Saveur provides a recipe, but I'm not sure I'd ever bother making them when I can get them right in the neighborhood.
• 66. Old Gourmets. I, too, hoard my back issues of the now-defunct Gourmet magazine. I've got a few dozen issues going back to the mid-1980s; in particular those from November and December with all the great holiday recipes. And then there are untold articles and recipes I've clipped from Gourmets before I tossed them.
• 67. Judith Jones. If you love cooking and cookbooks, you know Jones.  She's the legendary editor who persuaded Knopf to publish Julia Child.
• 68. Homemade scones. I make 'em, I eat 'em.
• 93. Lambrusco. A guilty pleasure and a must with Chinese food.

 

Soon I will be able to add No. 91. Sweet Orange Buns (pictured above). Mark, who doesn't have an insatiable sweet tooth like mine, pointed out this recipe to me in a way that clearly indicated he'd be mine forever if I made him this treat. What could I do but send him to the store for some oranges and yeast?

Happy Holidays!

Woke at 6 a.m. to the sound of the plow going down the street. Jumped out of bed, turned on the Christmas tree lights and pulled back the curtains to find the picture perfect Christmas view. Just enough snow to coat the landscape, but not enough to cause any problems. By 7 a.m. the morning rush of traffic had our street clean down to the pavement. And by 8 a.m. I had two pans of triple gingerbread in the oven. Could not ask for a better day — just a better governor.

Hope you have a lovely holiday. I'm going to take a little break until the New Year begins. See you then!

. . .

If anyone knows who took this photo, please let me know so I can credit them.

Same tiny tree, new concept

For the last few years my sister-in-law and I have both been buying these small table-top live trees. One year I decorated my tree with ornaments made in India that were covered with bits of silver, glass and beads. The colors were mainly blues, greens and silver. The next year I added flocks of different birds made of glass, glitter and feathers. 

Meanwhile my sister-in-law's tree was dripping with glass icicles; a vision of cool elegance — just like her. I have a collection of icicles that were always the last ornaments that went on the full-size trees I used to do for the holidays. This year I borrowed her idea and got out all my icilcles, a few beaded snowflakes and some miniature mirrors to create a tree that sparkles without screaming.

One of the benefits of a small tree like this is that you can decorate it quickly and easily. And you can mix and match your ornaments each year instead of having to drag them all out of strorage each December and find room for every one on the tree. This way, I get to constantly re-discover forgotten ornaments, notice collecting themes and get to enjoy a bit of nostalgia while I create an entirely new tree. 

Christmas in Wisconsin 2011

What kind of gifts do you give friends and family in this year of living strangely in Fitzwalkerstan? Top of the list for most of my friends would be to get the required number of signatures to recall Gov. Walker. But I'm thinking a bit smaller in this instance. There's the whole buy local initiative, of course. But what about gifts that capture this moment in time, that celebrate it, link it to our past and future? There are a lot of potential possibilites out there, some obvious and others less so. Here are my suggestions:

Union Town by Tom Morello / The Night Watchman: This CD features 8 union songs; the last one on the disc was recorded live in Madison last February. The disc itself carries an image of the crowds in the Capitol Rotunda and the inside of the jacket shows one of the rallies here. In addition to the music, I like this CD (versus Morello's World Wide Rebel Songs, for instance) because it's inexpensive and has just enough music to get you fired up. Under $10.

We Are Wisconsin: The Wisconsin Uprising in the Words of Activists, Writers and Everyday Wisconsinites Who Made it Happen: Edited by Erica Sagrans. $18 paperback or you can download a PDF. The strenght of this book is that it contains the first writings, essays and blog posts coming out of public resistance to Governor Walker last winter. Farmers, politicians, students and citizens make their voices heard. First-person history in a convenient package.

 

Working Words: Punching the Clock and Kicking Out the Jams: This anthology of poetry and essays — edited and with an introduction by M.L. Liebler — is an amazing and inspiring collection and includes titles both familiar and unknown. The voices range from Ed Sanders of The Fugs to Jack White of the White Stripes; from Walt Whitman to John Sayles to Michael Moore; Amiri Baraka to Dan Berrigan to Li-Young Lee. Coffee House Press, Minneapolis. This is strong stuff and not intended for Tea-Partiers. 

Where We Worked: A Celebration of America's Workers and the Nation They Built: By Jack Larkin. This is the story of the 99%, our grandparents and theirs — all the citizens who built the mills and factories and dams and farms. While the book tells our history and our stories, it is the photos (from the Library of Congress) that speak most powerfully across time and generations. Most Americans today would be hard-pressed not to be able to find images that show the jobs members of their family have done. There's a whole section on coal mining, for example, with a number of pictures of breaker boys — the job my paternal grandfather had as a 10-year-old in Pennsylvania. Lyons Press, $40.00. 

Bill Moyers Journal: The Conversation Continues: By Bill Moyers. I picked up this hardcover book by Moyers at A Room of One's Own after the first day of the Democracy Convention in Madison last summer. Came home, sat down and began to devour it. Moyers, as usual, finds those people who speak most clearly and eloquently about the issues of the day: from poetry to poverty, gay marriage to plutocracy. This book will give you Progressive talking points and an endless list of books you want to read by the people Moyers interviews. 

Cut From Plain Cloth: The 2011 Wisconsin Workers Protests: By Dennis Weidemann. This hardcover book about the Wisconsin uprising has 150 photos and personal stories that exemplify the diversity and intimacy of this movement. I recognized old friends and new in its pages. Different enough from We Are Wisconsin that you could own both without too much overlap.

  

And, of course, you could make a donation to United Wisconsin (to Recall Scott Walker) in the name of a friend or family member as their gift this year! 

NOTE: All of these books and the CD are also available through the South Central Library System in Wisconsin.

Olbrich's Holiday Express 2011

The first rush of visitors is over making it the perfect time to visit Olbrich's Holiday Express. The annual winter extravaganza features model trains, evergreens and a gorgeous array of poinsettias. This year's visual treats include unusual birdhouses like the glass one pictured below and stained glass panels featuring images of birds. You can find more information about the Holiday Express as well as December concerts on Olbrich's web site. You can also get one free ticket to the show by taking an online scavenger hunt; deadline is Tuesday, Dec. 13.

PHOTO BY KATY PLANTENBERG/OLBRICH STAFF

The pale pink and white poinsettias (above) are a beautiful change from the traditional bright colors. I was quite taken with them when I was at Olbrich earlier this week. I noticed Olbrich's Growing Gifts shop was selling them along with Amaryllis and many wonderful gifts for gardeners and others on your list. Olbrich is also offering holiday cards with images of the gardens taken by Olbrich staff members or local photographers. You might also consider a gift certificate to the shop or a membership to the Olbrich Botanical Society (the friends organization). I just used an Olbrich gift certificate to buy myself a copy of the 2012 Madison Area Master Gardeners Journal/Calendar — a great gift with a local slant. 

PHOTO BY SHARON CYBART/OLBRICH STAFF

Holiday Express is open daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., except for Dec. 24 when it closes at 2 p.m. and it's closed all day on Christmas. Admission for the general public is $3 (ages 13 and up) and $2 for children ages 3-12.

A bejeweled tree

When I was right out of grad school, my roommate and I had a great old apartment that allowed us to play out our decorating fantasies; albeit on a very limited budget. That means that at Christmas we could afford a big tree but not the ornaments. So we made paper chains, strung popcorn and improvised. One of the things we did was to put all our jewelry on the tree to add a bit of sparkle.

This year I decided to resurrect that idea and hung assorted earrings on the tiny tree that I ususally decorate with miniature ornaments. I have to say that it turned out to be easier said than done. Since I was using earrings that I actually wear, I had to be careful not to damage them by bending the posts or the loops that go through my ears. I resorted to hanging a few using ornament wires — until I remembered the stash of 1950's clip-on earrings I have that belonged to my mother. They proved to be easy to attach to the branches and added the touch of glam that my little tree needed to shine!

Stamps of approval

Hy Brasil or Hy Brazil is a supposedly mythical island off the coast of Ireland. It appeared on navigational charts until the mid-19th century. It has its own chapter in the book, "Phantom Islands of the Atlantic," and has its own postage stamp as well.

The stamp was originally issued by the magazine ‘Wildwood’ in October 2004. Colin Langevald was the stamp’s designer and my middle sister was able to get four copies, one for each of us. This year our youngest sister had all the stamps beautifully framed as Christmas presents for the four of us.

I hung mine in the dining room just above "Duchamp's Mailbox," a found object sculpture created by Mark. It's the perfect counterpart to the mailbox and Tom Sargent's painting.

Since the island is mythical, it obviously makes the stamp an art object rather than usable postage, I think the Irish government should consider issuing it. After all, a lost land is inherent in much of Irish literature and lore. Creating a real stamp would be a fitting acknowledgement of Hy Brazil and Ireland's intertwined history. You can find a poem about Hy Brazil here. Hy Brazil is also the source of our family's surname.

Amazingly enough, before the Hy Brazil stamp arrived in the mail last week, I received another wonderful stamp gift from a dear friend and former boss. This one was handcrafted by Madisonian Susan Werner, of Sue's Pins, and is a pin that I can wear. It features a 3-cent U.S. postage stamp with a garden image and a little gilded rose.

 

Wm. McKinley jumps off the page

It's no secret that I'm fascinated by history — especially the history of the places I've lived, like Buffalo, NY, where I grew up. Thus it can't really be considered a surprise that a Christmas gift from my sister was a historic souvenir from Buffalo. She sent me a little gold slipper meant to hold hatpins. It's stuffed with horsehair covered with worn blue velvet. 

But the noteworthy part of the shoe is the vamp which is decorated with a picture of the McKinley Monument in Niagara Square in downtown Buffalo. Some folks in Buffalo are of the opinion that the city's slide from Queen City of the Great Lakes in 1900 to just another Rust Belt remnant of glory all began with President William McKinley's assassination at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo in 1901. The monument to McKinley was built in 1907 and the city has at least one street and one school named after the President (who was from Ohio).

Just before I opened the Christmas box from my sister containing this little treasure, I was in fact reading about McKinley's visit to the fair which opens volume two of Edmund Morris' masterful biography of Theodore Roosevelt: "Theodore Rex." I finished the first volume on New Year's Eve. The Buffalo home where TR was sworn in as President after McKinley's death is well-known to me. It always seemed like a direct link to Roosevelt and made me think I knew something about him.

Morris' books have shown me how much there is to the man and how little I knew. But my little McKinley souvenir is a new link to the moment Roosevelt stepped onto the national stage. It is a gift that will always be linked as well to my sister, Christmas and reading. Gifts don't get any better than that.

 

It was the great urban planner Daniel H. Burnham who suggested an obelisk with fountains at the base (foreground above) as a fitting monument to the assassinated President. He also decided where it should be placed. The architects of the monument — Carrere and Hastings — were also the architects of the Exposition and had worked with Burnham on the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. The sculptor of the monument was A. Philmister Proctor. Buffalo City Hall (built 1929-31) is in the background. 

Monument specifics from "Buffalo Architecture: A Guide."

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?

 

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 . . .