Första Advent

I fredags, dagen efter Thanksgiving, var många ute och handlade. Svarta fredag är lågprisdagen som inleder julrushen. Jag läste just att president Franklin D. Roosevelt hade flyttat fram Thanksgiving en vecka för att skapa en extra vecka till julhandeln.

Själv var jag på däckshoppen och satte på dubbdäcken – i sista minuten, för nu varnar väderrapporten om snö varje dag nästa vecka. Det kom flera tum i mitten av oktober, men den snön smälte bort efter ett par dagar.

Idag kom plogkillen och satte upp markeringspinnar efter gårdsuppfarten. Vi bytte glödlampa i den högsta utelampan och flyttade hästsläpet från sommarparkeringen framför garaget till en mer skyddad plats intill höladan.

Hundarna fick ett par extra långa promenader idag, och mellan lunch och eftermiddagsvändan plockade jag fram receptboken och gjorde en och en halv liter vinglögg. När jag först flyttat hit brukade jag samla på mig glöggkryddor från Sverige varje chans jag fick. Till slut, när jag bara hade en enda påse tillgänglig, skrev jag ned innehållet med rätta proportioner så att jag numera bara köper upp råvarorna:

1,5 liter billigt rödvin

2 kanelstänger

10 kardemummor, torkade

1 matsked kryddnejlikor

ett par matskedar russin

två tumstora (jag skrev så den dagen jag skrev upp receptet) ingefärsbitar

2 dl strösocker

Värm upp, låt dra i en timme och sila sedan bort kryddorna. Servera med nyskållad mandel och mera russin.

Efter eftermiddagspromenaden drack vi glögg i västra glasverandan, som vi kallar ”The West Wing” (västra flygeln, som på Vita Huset). Solen tittade fram och värmde lite extra innanför fönstren.

Till middagen tände vi första adventsljuset. Staken kommer från Sverige och ljusen är riktiga Liljeholmens Kronljus. Här är det svårt att få tag på riktiga stearinljus som inte rinner.

Ikväll skiner månen full från en stjärnklar himmel. Moses började skälla när han fick syn på plogmarkeringen vid uppfartens början. Hans skall besvarades av ylande prärievargar. Han blev märkbart förvånad. De lät nära nog, kanske till och med på vår sida av floden, att vi skyndade oss in för säkerhets skull.

I morgon bitti räknar vi med att vakna till några tum nysnö.

First of Advent

Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, many people were out shopping. Black Friday is the bargain day that starts the Holiday rush. I just read that President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving back one week in order to make the Christmas shopping season a week longer.

I spent the day getting my studded tires mounted – in the nick of time, since the weather forecast promises snow every day next week. We got several inches in the middle of October, but it all melted within a few days.

Today our plow guy came and put up sticks along the driveway. We changed the bulb in our tallest flood light and moved the horse trailer from its summer parking spot in front of the garage to a more protected spot next to the hay barn.

The dogs got a few extra long walks today, and between lunch and their afternoon walk I pulled out my recipe book and made a liter and a half of Glögg. After I first moved here, I would always bring packets of Glögg spices from Sweden whenever I had the chance. Finally, with only one packet handy, I wrote down the ingredients and their proportions, so that I now just buy the ingredients:

1.5 liters inexpensive Burgundy

2 cinnamon sticks

10 dried cardamoms

1 tblsp cloves

a couple tblsp raisins

2 thumb sized (that’s what I wrote that day) pieces of ginger

2 dl sugar

Heat, let sit for an hour, then separate from the spices. Serve with blanched almonds and more raisins.

Back from our afternoon walk we drank Glögg in the West Wing, our name for the west facing glass porch.

At dinner, we lit the first Advent candle. The candle holder is from Sweden and the candles are real Swedish “Liljeholmens Kronljus”. It is hard to get candles with real candle wax that won’t drip.

Tonight the moon is shining from a starry sky, Moses started barking at the plow guy’s stick at the end of the driveway. His bark was answered by howling coyotes. He was visibly surprised. They sounded close, perhaps even from our side of the river, so we hurried in just to be sure.

Tomorrow morning we expect to wake up to a couple of inches of new snow.

A Semi-Antique Kitchen

When we bought Soltorp we immediately saw that the little red house, built in 1936, looked like a Swedish turn-of-the-century home. Certainly many things had been updated, but our thought was to turn the clock back with inspiration from Carl Larsson.

When we first saw the kitchen, we said in unison “The kitchen’s got to go”. The floor had speckled linoleum, the cabinets were metal, the sink enameled and the appliances were almost 1940’s vintage. The built-in dishwasher, of the same make as the cabinets, Crosley, matched perfectly, but both water and electricity were disconnected.

After a few months we have started to get used to the kitchen décor and our research has dated the kitchen to 1957, halfway between today and Carl Larsson’s most productive period.

Think, what enormous progress took place between the beginning of the twentieth century and its midpoint, and how little has really happened between 1957 and now – it is really just the microwave that has come about since then, but we have never adopted that invention.

The question has been raised if we really want a true replica of a Carl Larsson kitchen in a house which in spite of its old fashioned looks is much younger than that.

Perhaps it is historically more correct, not to mention practical, to accept the fact that we have a luxury kitchen from 1957 – truly semi-antique!