Ready for Sweets???

Like any good Minnesotan Scandanavian/German small town, the emphasis of holiday eating was definitely on the sweets! Part of my inspiration for the sweets to offer up at the tea was the fact that I haven’t been home to partake in the consumption of our traditional holiday treats since 1999 and while we try to make time to make at least one item from my line up of traditional treats it just isn’t the same without ALL of them, LOL! I actually didn’t get to make all of them as my body had other plans for me and limited my baking adventures. But no one will leave hungry. If you do, it’s your own fault, LOL!

I spoke very nicely to DH last week and got him to make his famous cream scones and lemon curd in the morning while he was also baking cardamon coffee cake for his own party that evening. That is not one of my family traditions, but rather an activity that DH and I like to partake in together and it’s traditional for afternoon tea! I cheated a bit on this front and bought some double devon cream and pumpkin butter for putting on the scones. So, go ahead and help yourself while they are still slightly warm!

Oh, and in case you are thinking I’m a huge overachiever (okay, so I kind of am) I DID NOT PAINT THE CHINA! Though, a unanimous vote amongst the atendees said I could have… *sigh*

Here, we have a traditional Swedish cookie called Pepparkakor or Pepper Cookies. It is similar to a ginger snap, but much thinner and with many additional spices - cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, mace, orange zest etc. I *love* these, though I must find a way to make them without all the work of rolling the dough as that proved to be a bit too much for my ailments. I think these are Amanda’s favorite and she likes them with some pumpkin butter spread on them. Like yesterday, the recipe will follow for those interested.

These are pecan crescents. I called my grandmother for her recipe only to find out that it comes from the tried and true Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book. It’s the Sandies recipe, just with the dough rolled into logs and curled slightly, LOL! Go figure :-)

Come Thanksgiving, my aunt Karen is not allowed in the homes of any family or church member without a tin of these chocolate covered carmels in hand. If she doesn’t have them in hand she is sent home to get some, LOL! They are that good. Well, her’s are that good. I’m afraid I need a bit more practice making them at this altitude, but they were good anyway. (You can see the lemon curd there in the upper left corner).

We ended it with some Ost Kaka fresh from the oven. Everyone liked it! :-) I didn’t get a picture of it though, I forgot. Though you can see the cheese curd I made for it as it is straining here. I’ll share a cheater recipe for you that doesn’t involved making your own curd if any of you would like to try it.

I had hoped to also have my great grandmother’s sugar cookies and homemade lefse, but it just wasn’t to be. Though Ashely and I are hoping to make some lefse before Christmas sometime, but for sure this winter at some point. But, Snow helped out and brought some maxi-fours (rather larger than normal petit fours) from the famous area Bavarian bakery and Amanda brought Ferrero Rochers (which we actually didn’t open so I brought them to SnB on Monday night).

Continue reading for recipes…
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Okay, Now That Everyone Has Arrived…

Please, have a seat. We can all squeeze around the table there. Oh, you haven’t met them yet? On the left, the bubbly one with the dark hair? That’s Amanda, speed knitter and spinner. On her left, with the pixelated head? That’s Snow, our resident lace knitter extrordinaire. Next up is Ashley, fair isle knitter and steeking expert. Lastly, on the right is Linsey, the Manos knitter.

I offered a choice of Winter Blend, White Tip Earl Grey (this is amazing and doesn’t get bitter if you over steep it), Peach Ginger, or Pear tea for everyone, but they all agreed on Pear. It’s a black tea with Pear flavoring. It’s my favorite, but The Tea Table only orders it when she gets enough request for 1-lb. And, while it is my favorite you know how long a pound of loose leaf tea would last me? So, I hope you like Pear tea! Though I have little bags for individual cups so you can choose any of those I listed above if you would like or if you would prefer an herbal I think I have some in my tea cupboard as well.

While the tea is steeping, let me tell you about the savory items on the table…

There are four different finger sandwiches. They are all on sourdough cocktail bread and (with the exception of the salmon) have been lightly buttered with a sweet European style butter on both sides to provide stickiness and a barrier against sogginess.

From left to right we have watercress, tomato, cucumber, and salmon spread. With the tomato and cucumber the big secret is to slice and salt and let sit for an hour or two to get rid of excess moisture. It keeps the sandwiches from getting soggy.

These are Swiss Leek Biscuits. Don’t they look wonderful? I think everyone was quite enamored of these and you won’t believe how incredibly easy they are! The most culinarily challenged person will be able to make these and impress others!

For this week’s self-portrait head here,

For salmon spread and the swiss leek biscuit recipes, continue reading…
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Please, Come On In!

I called up my former co-workers at the National Weather Service last week and placed my order for the first sticking snow of the season to be delivered on Saturday. I wasn’t disappointed! I awoke early Saturday morning to a light dusting. Some melted before the tea began at 3pm, but it was still white and still had everyone in the holiday spirit.

Now, it’s cold out there, so please come on into the house! I have some finishing touches to put on the table so go ahead and look around at the decorations if you wish or just have a seat. Make yourselves at home!

Oh, and the spinners amongst us - Amanda, Snow… Take a look at that little cart in the lower right of the Dickens’ Village…

It’s called “Taking the Fleeces to Market” and I got it last year from my mom before I had even been talking seriously about getting a spinning wheel!

Enjoy the songs of the season, I’ll be turning them down once we’re all seated. The table is just about set!

To be continued…

Pictures, Pictures, Presents, and Presentation

I’m a firm believer in the addage that it’s the thought that counts, only I take that a step further and believe that the presentation of a gift plays a large role in the perception of that gift by the recipient as well. I love to package things uniquely, but I also like to present the items in their package in an attractive and professional looking manner. I feel by so doing that the items I put so much time and effort into such as knitting a pair of socks, spinning a skein of yarn, or hand dyeing yarn or fiber will recieve that much more respect and appreciation from the gift recipient. Plus, it gives you a place to give them important information such as fiber content and care instructions! This is the reason that all of my sock patterns come with a free sock wrapper.

Knitting, spinning, and dyeing are top items on my list of enjoyed activites. However, I cannot restrict myself to only those activities all the time - of course. I also enjoy photography, digital photo editing, and design. So, it was only natural to combine all of these into one project.

Yesterday marked the release of a variety of tags and wrappers for anything from hand knit socks, shawls, sweaters, scarves, mittens and gloves, to hand spun or hand dyed yarn. All the current offerings feature my own photography, in some cases altered some and in other cases altered drastically. The tags are great for larger items and once printed can be punched and strung with coordiating yarn or pretty ribbons and attached in a variety of ways. The wrappers are great for those small projects like socks, mittens, gloves, or even the skinny scarves that are popular. The designs can all be customized with your name or a logo if you wish, or you can order one-of-a-kind labels for you or your business!

I have got more designs in the works that will be added early next week. Mostly they include more tags and wrappers for hand spun yarn and more of the mandala-based round tags.