Maple Ave Gazette

Happy Holidays!

2012-01-06T06:42:00.000-08:00

Christmas came and went very quietly around here. Just the way we wanted it. We have watched movies and eaten good food. Relaxed and played games. And we've gotten to just enjoy our beautiful house without the pressure of always having to work on it.

We got the tree from a farm down the road, a big fat one this year.

Swedish Christmas food on Christmas eve. The regular line up.

Ham with mustard crust

Jansson's temptation (potatoes au gratin with anchovy)

Cured salmon with mustard dill sauce

prince sausages and meatballs

At least 3 kinds of herring

Salty cucumbers

James' deviled eggs

On Christmas day we opened presents and enjoyed leftovers.

I decided to make Swedish Christmas candy this year. My mom always makes marzipan rolls and I never did cause I can never find good almond paste. So this year I made my own. I even boiled the almonds and shelled them, like we used to do. About 200 grams worth. Then I mixed them with 1 deciliter of sugar and 1 deciliter of confectioners sugar in the blender. A splash of cream and I was ready to make chocolate rolls. I made rolls from the almond paste, melted dark chocolate and brushed it on real thick.

I also made market chocolate. We call it that because you always buy baggies of it when the markets are in town, the biggest one in my hometown is around my birthday, January 25th and it is a big deal. It always seemed to coincide with the COLDEST days of the winter, but that didn't matter. You'd head in to town after school and walk for hours buying trinkets and market candy. I had to look it up and I found out that this particular market, Hindersmässan has been going on in Örebro since 1300 and it was the iron trade that kicked it off.

Whoa. That was some tangent. I get a little homesick around the holidays...

Anyway, the chocolate is so easy to make.

Put about 1/2 cup of shortening, 2 1/2 dls of sugar and 1 dl of water in a pot and boil till it all dissolves. In a bowl sift in 3 dls of flour, 2 dls of confectioners sugar and 1/2 dl of cocoa. Pour the mixture in the pot over the dry ingredients and mix good. Spread it out on a baking sheet and put it in the fridge. When its hard cut it into squares.

The cottage is coming along nicely. The siding is all done except for one side. This one...

Which makes for an excellent before and after opportunity.

Wouldn't you want to live here? You can. Starting February 1st...

We plan on painting the trim the same color as our house.

Board and baton detail.

We gutted the bathroom and Brian is laying a whole new shower in there which is going to free up a lot of room. We are doing subway tile in the shower and a checker board tile floor.

A quiet christmas was followed by even quieter squeeze days. Partly thanks to this guy.

A dog on loan. Weasley comes from down the street, Little Dog Orchard. His parents went out west to visit family for a week and the little guy moved in with us. What a perfect excuse to stay in for New Years and to stay close to home.

He really is the perfect little dog. So so mellow and lovey and fun to take for walks. The only thing he seems to like more than going out is coming back inside.

When we can get back to this.

So we made New Year's special by coming up with a 3 course dinner for ourselves.

Skagen toast for an appetizer. Which is toast with shrimp, sour cream, roe, red onion and dill.

Steak Frites with Bearnaise.

I made frites in the oven, tossed them in oil and seasoned salt and broiled till they were crispy.

I got nice thick petite sirloin steaks and rub them with olive oil, salt and pepper. I seared them for a minute on each side and then let them rest. After that I think we did about 5 minutes on low heat on each side.

We cooked the Bearnaise together with fresh tarragon. It really came out fantastic.

The next morning I made scrammies with onion and cut up left over frites. Served with steak and sauce again I think it was almost better the 2nd time around.

For desert I wanted my favorite desert of my childhood Maräng Svisch! so in the afternoon I made meringues.

It worked out well because I needed 3 yolks for my bearnaise and 3 whites for these guys. So 3 whites, 2 dl sugar and a splash of vinegar. Whisk whisk whisk and then in the oven for 1 hour at 260 degrees F.

Then you have to make chocolate sauce. Combine 1 1/2 dls of cream, 1 dl sugar, 4 tbsp of cocoa and 1/2 tsp vanilla in a pot and let it all simmer together. When it's thick take it off the heat and melt 1 tbsp of butter into it.

So that's all the SVISCH is, crushed meringue, ice cream and chocolate sauce. The best.

The Christmas ham has become a tradition here and so has the left-over-christmas-ham-pea-soup. When we get sick of it about 3 days into it I boil it down for stock.

Add an onion and some thyme and this time, a can of baby food carrots, per Rosemary, it gave a little sweetness to the soup and enriched the color like crazy.

The Latest Projects

2011-12-19T13:20:00.000-08:00

We were kind of forced in to our latest renovation project. When our tenant in the cottage of 8 months moved out in the middle of December it made us take a good hard look at the place. And we decided we could not show it to a single person in the shape it was in. Who ever would put up with that mess would not be a good person to have in your backyard. So Jake and Brian went to town.

Hard wood floors in the whole house.

French doors in one of the bedrooms leading to a deck and new siding.

A deck that incidentally has a better view than us really.

Whoever built the cottage did a good job but forgot which way the mountains were. The porch is on the wrong side. We are also putting siding on the outside and to please the insurance company - a new roof. With all these improvements in place we just had to do something about the bathroom. New shower, toilet, vanity and floor. And to top it off a washer and dryer and a new efficient gas heater. SO! If you know someone who's looking for a country getaway starting in February send them our way. I will post pictures as soon as all the work is done.

The other project is a little film I'm creating with Nathalie Handal, amazing poet and just an all around fascinating global citizen. The film is going to accompany one of her poems and I think we succeeded in creating a haunting, dreamy tone. I finally got an opportunity to use the barn for a location. The light in there is better than I ever thought!

These are stills that I have pulled from our video. In the last couple of days I've been setting up time lapses in the barn to create filler in our film. I'm having a blast. I made the first part this morning, up at 6 setting up the camera and then I went back to bed. Fun fun!

We hit up our first Midnight Ramble a few weekends ago. It was a total blast and we will definitely do it again soon. The ramble is a concert held in Levon Helm's barn in Woodstock. Levon was the drummer and singer in the Band. If you haven't seen The Last Waltz you should make it your weekend movie, it's one of the best concert films ever made and is filmed during the last show The Band ever played.

Friends from the Vineyard came down to go to the show and I took the opportunity to make French onion soup for the four of us.

I made killer stock from our Thanksgiving turkey and decided to use it for the soup. I chopped 5 sweet Texas onions. First I sweated them for about 15 minutes with some butter and olive oil. Then I added salt and 1 tablespoon of sugar for the carmelization. I let them sit in the pan for over 40 minutes but they never changed into that brown color I see in all the pictures. I decided I was done and added 3 tablespoon of flour and cooked for 3 minutes. Then I added 1/2 cup of sherry and 2 quarts of stock. I diluted mine a lot because it was so rich but after 40 minutes of simmering I took a taste and thought it was bland. OK Linda - take it easy now. What do you always do? You add salt when this happens and then you ruin everything. Soooo - what would Rosemary do... add a splash of balsamic vinegar. So I did, along with a healthy dose of thyme and saved the soup! To serve, we toasted ciabatta slices in the oven and then sprinkled muenster cheese over the bowls. About 5-7 minutes under the broiler and BAM - better than any restaurant!

The easiest breakfast to make with a crowd has got to be a frittata. And you can make it with anything in the fridge. Here's my Mexican version. I let the eggs soak with chopped up tortillas and then I add whatever may be hiding in the vegetable drawer. Onion, peppers, tomatoes... I cook it in the pan until the eggs on the are bottom is solid and then top it off with lots of cheese and in the broiler for about 5 minutes. We eat this one with the Mexican chipotle mayo I brought home from Chiapas last year.

With all this work in the going on in the cottage, the house gets a rest. We are dressing it up for the holidays and we can't wait to get the tree ready. Put our feet up with a fire in the fireplace and a glögg in our hand.

Merry effen Christmas BABY!!!

Before and sweet afters...

2011-12-01T15:28:00.000-08:00

Again, our 2 year homeowner anniversary came and went without big fanfare. I did a solid recap after the first but just as much has happened this past year.

(I'm liking the new picture viewer function in blogger. Just click on any image and a slide show will pop up including all the pics in the post!)

In the beginning we showed this picture PROUDLY. Yikes. People must have thought we CRAZY!!!

And we probably were. But we stood by our crapcastle, our diamond in the rough, our ugly duckling. And look at it now!

First fall. Dead knot weed in the land fill pit. Ugh.

This fall! Green grass. (with some bald spots...).

We tackled our dining room first. Some paint and some (HEAVY DUTY) scrubbing.

In the living room we tore 3 layers of wall paper down, painted and sanded down the floor.

Kitchen needed scrubbing, paint and some up-to-dating. Fixes are temporary here because we have a mega plan in mind that involves tearing it all out.

This is the only photo that exists of the dead zone that is now our master bath. It's how it looked when we moved in and we didn't do a thing until we tore it all apart. That window is behind the tiles in the shower.

Bedroom was gutted, reframed and insulated.

Yea uh huh that's the same corner. Minus kermit green, drop ceiling and corner closet. We rule.

The pastry shop was dark blue when we moved in. We liked the wall paper very much and decided it was always going to return to a dark blue. Serious gutting and reframing was done here as well.

Blue room and green house

2011-11-24T20:10:00.000-08:00

I am due for a post. Just in time for turkey day! The bird went in the brine around 12 today and will get a solid 24 hours in the bath. I've been looking forward to this like crazy. We had a very successful Thanksgiving dinner with friends 2 years ago. Seems crazy that the house was in any kind of shape to house guests but we did it. Last year I was stuck in Mexico and the closest to turkey I got was to learn how to say it in Spanish. Took a day for it to stick. Guajalote... Guajalote... Or pavo. I have no idea what the difference is. Rosemary is here already and today we finished the curtains for the blue room.

Our 1 month wedding anniversary came and went and our 2 year house anniversary did the same. Summer is gone and we've already had a snow storm with a for us record breaking 24 hours without power.

The house is no longer PINK but has 1 healthy coat of green on it.

This is the last little bit that needs paint. Hopefully this weekend stays warm so we can get it done.

One movie has been followed by another and I've been lucky to be on exciting projects. The latest being an adventure in the forests of Arkansas where I was shot at more than once and spent a good chunk of time up to my ankles in mud where 15 minutes earlier 10 (tame) snakes had been crawling around. It was awesome. The film is incidentally named Mud and is the 3rd movie by director Jeff Nichols. His 2nd film, Take Shelter, is in theaters now and I highly recommend it.

The film business is so glamorous.

A busted up camera crew after our last day that started at 6pm and ended at noon. I was only there for 2 weeks - the others did it for 10. God blessem and we enjoyed every minute.

Things are really happening with the projects I've done so far this year. Rich has found editors for our dance film, now called Fractures. Here are some stills I pulled from our footage. Rich is the idea man, choreographer and director and I shot it on my 7D. Andrea and Amy are our talented dancers.

You can watch the trailer and read more about the project here.

Also our Caligola music film has become public. LINK! We are massively proud of it. If you want to be in the club you have to watch it. I dare ya. Here are some stills from THAT project. Lovisa Inserra directed and I shot it on a Red with Nikkor primes. Our guest is played by Peter Eggers.

Caligola is a band consisting of members from Mando Diao plus the Salazar brothers. We shot this film and 2 music videos during a crazy 2 day period in a mansion outside of Stockholm this past June. So excited about the outcome.

That was more about work than the house I guess. But that's where the focus has been lately. And the house has been just what it needs to be - a place to relax and come home to. Our big project in the next few weeks is an overhaul of the cottage. It kinda sucks and the timing is bad but our tenant of 10 months decided to move out on a whim and it seems like now or never. Jake is getting started on the wood floors on Monday.

But first...

Another very successful Thanksgiving feast. The turkey was ridiculously juicy and tasty. I used the same herb rub from 2 years ago and the same stuffing with sausage, dried cranberries and apple. We packed the bird very lightly with stuffing and shoved some lemons in the hole as well. It cooked about an hour at 450 with the breast up to brown it. Then we flipped it and turned the heat down to 375. It was a 15 pound turkey and it took about 3 1/2 hours in the oven. We also had mashed potatoes, baked mushrooms and corn. We made gravy from the turkey neck and from spillings in the pan. Whoa. Killer. So good.

Vineyard Vows

2011-10-15T15:59:00.000-07:00

I picked the parents up at Newark airport about 10 days ago. We drove straight to Clintondale and caught a beautiful sunset on the patio with shrimp ceviche with tortilla chips and Sopa Azteca. Lots has happened since they visited 1 1/2 years ago and we took a long tour of the house.

On our 2nd night together we went down to the Gunk Haus for an overdue dinner. It was a Monday and we finally caught an empty-the-keg night. Let's see... to eat, we all shared Obatzda and pretzels for an appetizer. Entrees... I had 3 cheese chicken sausage on top of pretzel dumplings and stout onion gravy. James had the smoked pork chop. Pappa had the curry wurst, it's been on the menu since day 1, a classic so to speak. Mamma had the burger. Oh that burger!

On Tuesday we decided on a longer outing and we set out for Hudson in the morning. About 10 minutes outside of town is Olana, the home that Hudson Valley painter Frederick Edwin Church built around 1860.

It's an incredible house and the view is inspiring! We highly recommend a visit!

Strolling the grounds.

After Olana we spent some time in Hudson which is just chock full of wonderful antique stores. Before we left we had a light lunch at what appears to be brand new Café Le Perche.

Back at the house we made an Italian buffet for ourselves. With red wine of course.

On Wednesday morning we took off for the Vineyard and Rosemary. We are always looking for an excuse to go to the island but this time we had a little something special in store.

Rosemary lives in Vineyard Haven. This is the view from the Mansion House in town. When my parents were back in Sweden I told them to pack EVERYTHING (bikini, ski jacket and a tie) the weather having been unexpected to say the least. And the tie... well, my dad l0ves to wear a tie and we told them we had plans of going to a fancy restuarant in Edgartown, and he wouldn't want to be caught without one at l'etoile. Anyway, pappa says he suspected something right then. But boy did we keep our mouths shut. Confirming NO suspicions. Bordering on being antisocial. Mamma came down into the kitchen right before we left for the ceremony and sensed something was up. She asked Rosemary "what is going on??" and Rosemary just kept wiping wiping wiping the counter. Not saying a word.

We all put on on our Thursday bests and started getting ready for dinner. We told mamma and pappa we were going to check out a killer sunset before food and packed in to the car and went to the beach, the spot exactly is where Tashmoo pond meets the ocean.

...Where the heart is....

The road was long and windy and more suited for out of control motor cross than a peaceful sunset drive and the elders where probably beginning to wonder where we were taking them. Rosemary was in on the secret and helped with the details. In the parking lot I got out to find the other pieces of the puzzle. There was a fishing derby going on at the same time so I had to peek into a few beat up trucks before finding one of the fishermen wearing a tie. That must be our justice of peace, Jim... Kelly, a friend of a friend of Rosemary's was also waiting with my camera to take pictures. All the photos are by her! When Jim stepped out of his beater with a black pad under his arm my parents finally caught on. Well, they had sensed something but we all did an amazing job of keeping of pie holes shut! I grabbed my bouquet from a cooler in the trunk and HOLY SH*T we got ourselves a wedding!!!

It was windy as all get out but the sunset was perfect and the ceremony was lovely. Complete with our own vows. (I have no idea what I may or may not have promised Mr. Casey. It was emotional and it was on the fly and I was freezing) and exchange of a ring. First I wore it, then he wore it. Ah, it's just how we do things I guess.

Mamma, pappa, Mr. Casey, Mrs. Källérus, Rosemary and Jim, our justice of peace.

I've been calling Rosemary my mother in law for a long time already but now it's the real deal. The flowers were her idea and gift and I'm so glad I had them.

We took a moment to crack open a bottle of bubbly to celebrate.

Right on the smacker, Mr. Casey!

After the ceremony we went to l'etoile in Edgartown for one of the fanciest meals I've ever had. James and I went all out as newlyweds should and picked the chef's tasting menu. Holy smokes. Mouth watering.

1. Oysters on the half shell 2 ways. One with a champagne sauce and one with a blood orange sauce

2. Seared foi gras

3. Baby spinach salad

4. Lobster etuvée

5. Herb rubbed lamb chops

6. flour less chocolate cake with coconut ice cream

Back at Rosemary's we had CAKE! An adorable two tier baby wedding cake with raspberries and cream inside and covered with butter cream!!!!We looked at pictures and concluded that it had been a perfect day.

We stayed another day on the island and took a long drive and ended back up in Edgartown.

I took the parents to the city on Sunday to finish out their trip. Monday was stupidly hot for October 1oth and we strolled around Central Park and Bryant Park in T-shirts.

Central Park entertainment.

The 2nd part of the day we decided on the movies. But first - Sockerbit. A piece of candy heaven for a Swedish expat like myself. It's a brand new store on Christopher Street that you must visit.

We brought our goodies to the Film Forum to see Gainsbourg, which was very good. A little fragmented maybe but all the music really brings it together. We finished the night at White Slab Palace on Delancey, formerly Good World Bar & Grill. The food was great as always but the service was horrendous.

On Tuesday the parentals did the city by themselves as I got a job offer I couldn't refuse. Assisisting on the filming of the dress rehearsal of Karen O's top secret new rock opera, Stop the Virgens, in a ware house in Dumbo. Amazing!!! Mamma and pappa had their own opera experience, Barber of Sevilla at the Met. Fancy.

On Wednesday we had time for a quick stroll on the Highline and then it was time for them to get on the bus to Newark. As always, it's sad to see them go, but we have super lovely memories and we will see them soon again. They went home with a striped shirt from Muji and expensive sneakers for mom and a checkered shirt from the Gap for dad and a brand new son in law for them to share.

The Shuffle

2011-09-26T08:15:00.000-07:00

Things are really coming together over here!

With the blue room (now called the PAAAAARLOUR) and the upstairs bedroom done we can finally start getting things to their proper places. James moved his stuff from the guest room in to the old bedroom.

It's called the STUDIO and we are only peaking in. This is his room to do with as he wishes. I'm really happy he can now spread out and do his music stuff!

So - with the studio downstairs the guest room can become nothing but.

Just in time for my parents to arrive next weekend. The gorgeous old wash stand comes from Karen and Chris down the road.

Lovisa finally decided to pack up her NY life and become a true world citizen. We said good bye to her with a crayfish party here at the house a couple of weekends ago. She has left all her things in our hands to utilize or to store and I'm using them!

We set up an office with her fancy computer (that was used to edit the Conservatory which is looking amazing by the way) at the top of the stairs and in her own words I now have "a rooooom with a view..."

And so to the PAAAAARLOUR we go...

The piano is a brand new addition to our house.

This pull out couch was one of our first purchases when we moved in. It has been sitting in the barn for almost 1 1/2 years and last weekend we finally unveiled it again. The Chagall posters from the Modern Museum of Stockholm are also from Lovisa. Curtains and art have yet to be hung. Paint needs to dry a little more.

Oups. Yea, and by the parlour being done - I mean half of it. The other half is getting finished as we speak...

Got a couple of more days on a movie and then I head upstate to prepare for parental arrival. I pick them up at Newark on Sunday and then we head straight to Clintondale! We take a breather up there for a day and half and then we go up to the Vineyard to visit with Rosemary for a few days. Very exciting!!!

Relish (ing)

2011-08-30T22:04:00.000-07:00

Angry Irene sky. We got seriously dumped on rain wise in Clintondale but the wind didn't kick as hard as we thought. James and I had power all Sunday long and I sprinted out of bed in the morning and started prepping THE MOVE.

We've been going back and forth on the yellow wall. I had the paint, Farrow and Ball's Citron, a recommendation from an interior design friend, the lovely Polly of Lewis Interiors.

I guess we just didn't know if it was going to be right. But we got brave. Well, I got brave, this is actually Zombie-James who is under my control painting. (He loves the wall now but would never admit it to the dudes...)

After this was dry we took the bed apart and moved it.

I just stopped by IKEA on my way to work today and picked up two of these night stands:

Next was the dresser and closets.

Hers.

And his.

And as on cue around 6.30pm - the power went out. We were well prepared and had been nursing romantic notions of card playing by candle light but when an invite came in via text to go hang out with the neighbors we jumped at the opportunity. They had power and booze.

Saturday night was our first night in the SUITE. It felt like sleeping in a hotel. I've lived in some small apartments but I've still never been this close to the bathroom. Wow. And the bathroom. OH MY the bathroom.

It's so big and so sexy and so close to my bed and sosososo DONE!

Mr Bones is here to make you feel good about yourself every morning when you look in the mirror and wonder how you managed to age ten years overnight. AT LEAST you're in better shape than him.

Next up were drapes and shades. Rosemary had 3 pairs of these draperies so we used 2 pairs as is for this wall.

And from the 3rd pair and for the east wall she sewed these gorgeous Roman shades. Peeeerfect.

We'll be putting the finishing touches on this room here and there but it feels pretty much done already. It's our new bedroom. It's been over 1 1/2 years in the making. Since James first put that sledgehammer through that green wall on New Years eve with guests arriving in an hour. Just a quick reminder...

The only "problem" now is that we have TOO much space. Rooms galore. When James comes in the house and calls "where are you" I don't know what to answer him anymore.

Finishing the upstairs is giving a superboost to getting the downstairs done as well. Blue room is next!!! And then on to the outside.

Speaking of outside... We took breaks here and there to enjoy the crazy gorgeous post hurricane weather on Monday and at one point we had 4 humming birds buzzing around the feeder.

These three ladies were fighting over one poor dude. I think he ended up leaving first.

I've had it with these pushy broads. I'm going home to mom.

The trumpet vine is still blooming and is still attracting hungry hummers.

...and mustard

2011-08-28T07:59:00.000-07:00

My sister has been asking for the mustard and here it finally is!

It got so very busy and somehow I haven't been up to Clintondale in over a month. Apparently is was very hot the last time I was here. This picture of cold cucumber dill soup has been hanging around my desktop since then.

And I must have become temporarily possessed by a housewife from the 50's because there is also a picture of home baked WHITE BREAD lingering on the desktop. Hmmmm...

The recipe is Julia Childs' and I will link rather than write it out!

I managed to have only 2 days off between then and now and those were spent trying to relax in the city. Where we also have a life and a home. Sometimes we forget and then a day off there seems like a vacation. We go to the movies - Tree of Life finally. Pure flippin poetry! (The bad reviews of this movie are amazing entertainment though. Stories of people walking out during the birth of the world sequence... Either you are a fundamentalist idiot with blinders or you hate beautiful things (????). But on the other hand non spiritualists also hate this movie for being too preachy... Make up your minds, people. Or let's just all agree on the fact that you were bored and YOU DIDN'T get it! EVERYTHING is in there. Love, loss, redemption, forgiveness... and almost without saying a word. Go on Mr. Malick. Go on.) And eat Korean BBQ. And quiche and baguette and Croque Monsieur at a happenstance French joint in the Lower East Side, La French Diner. And get a haircut. By a kinda scary but sweet hairdresser named Honey, who was from Yemen. She could talk!!!

But she could also cut hair! I LOVE IT!!!

So quickly - what HAVE I been doing with my time? When I last left here I had just come back from an awesome crazy cool week in Schenectady. What, you say? That is not possible. Well, if you are working on Derek Cianfrance's new movie you will say differently. Not a dull moment, ladies and gents. It's Ryan Gosling's playground and he will surprise you!

This is me in ONE of the moving vehicles from that week. An ATV with the camera rigged on it that was going VERY FAST through the woods following a stunt motorcycle. Sometimes. I love my job.

Then off to Wisconsin for more B roll for Alex Gibney's new project.

Somewhere in the middle I shot a dance film with my friend Rich. He's a choreographer with a lot of great vision and we had 2 intense days of shooting.

Screen capture from our Central Park day. Amy and Andrea are our talented dancers!

Then some futuristic madness about robots taking over the world for the Discovery Channel. This lovely photo of our minimal crew was taken by Amie LeeKing.

Then I quit coffee and I feel like a million bucks.

AND THEN. Out of the blue, my good friend Kate hooked me up with my dream job. I am doing stills on an untitled movie starring Guy Pearce (who needs NO introduction in my book) and Amy Ryan. (We know her as Beadie from the Wire, but you may know her as Holly Flax from The Office, either way she's flippin dynamite!). At the helm is director Drake Doremus, who's last film Like Crazy did muy bueno at this year's Sundance. Check out the trailer! It doesn't feel like a job to have to take pictures of Guy Pearce all day long but it is. And it's mine!

12 days in to the movie we had already filmed through an earthquake and now here is IRENE! There was just no filming through Irene. She was going to put us all on hold. I feel bad of course, but on the hush hush I couldn't be more thrilled about a 3 day weekend. While I've been cuckoooo crazy with work James has been finishing up the bedroom and bathroom and this weekend it's finally here!!! Power or no power.

We came up yesterday morning, both mega mega tired, but before sleep - prepare for the worst. James hooked up the genny and I went food shopping. We filled up water buckets and got the flash lights out. Secretly we are wishing for a power outage. We haven't used that genny yet (since we bought it in the winter storm of 2010) and playing cards by candle light and eating PB and J's sounds aaaaaaaallright in my book.

Woke up Sunday morning and the downpour IS ON! I checked the basement and there is minimal wetness right now. I'm sorry to say our neighbors are not as lucky. And I shouldn't speak too soon, the rain is showing NO SIGN of slowing down. So far the wind, which is our worst enemy with all of our old trees, has not been so bad yet.

The first fatality. There goes my flip flop.

Truck passing by Tom's house on Maple Ave.

The project with burying our power lines is done, the landscaping is another story (I'm just gonna say that Irene will turn our yard in to the greatest most spectacular mud wrestling field in the Hudson Valley. Come on over!!!) but talk about superb timing! We've sat and watched our trees sway over the lines in the tiniest gusts and Irene will have no mercy when it comes to old gran daddy Sugar Maple.

Brave little bugger in the rain!

I fell off the wagon this morning and had a cup of coffee so now the only real hurricane is me and here I go. MOVING DAY!!!

To be continued...

Ketchup

2011-07-07T10:49:00.000-07:00

The summer is just sprinting away and I need to document some major events. First, there was Sweden...

I was home for 5 glorious weeks, the longest in about 10 years. Which meant I could partake in croquette and in celebrating grandma Annalisa's 95th birthday.

Grand dame!

Cuzins! BTW, Anna is conducting a contest on her blog where you can win a homemade bracelet.

Click here to enter!

I even got to visit one of Kajsa's markets. Yeah markets are a blast! We love links and here is one to an interior design article in our local news paper featuring Goat Valley. It's in Swedish but click on the little thumbnail picture and there are 10 or so photos to look at. Goooooorge.

Cool dudes go to markets too. My uncle Perra and step grandson Kevin.

Usually it's family that brings me to the homeland but this time was a little different. I went over to shoot a short film called Orangeriet, The Conservatory. Like us on Facebook! The Conservatory is a lovely creepy horror film that takes place in a remote run down mansion in rural Sweden. The original screenplay is by Sarah Bergmark Elfgren and it's directed by Lovisa Inserra.

We shot most of the film in a mansion 40 minutes outside Stockholm. This wonderfully disheveled house was the perfect setting for our little gothic adventure.

We had an amazing crew and a super talented cast, little money and less time. So it was hard. It was intense. And it was superbly awesome. Wrapping the short was only mild relief though since we had simultaneously been prepping an even more ambitious project. A 2 day musicvideo extravaganza concert party shortfilm. The details are still so hush hush that I will return with more when I can show the goodies. Cause goodies they are. So happy. So so happy.

I came back to the States quite exhausted.

Arriving in Clintondale to see my whole yard dug up (on purpose) was only more overwhelming so thank gawd we had this planned.

Off to the Vineyard for a week for us. Actually the first few days were rainy and gray and we welcomed that more than sun and beach. We relaxed and played games in Rosemary's lovely screenhouse, ate wonderful seafood and slept in. On day 3 we changed gears as friends came over from Boston. The weather looked up and we took off to Aquinna for some beaching. Friends left and family arrived. James' 2 sisters with kids, all in from California.

Susan, Rosemary, Donna and James!

Nephew and niece and niece and nephew. Gabe, Sophia, Sarah and Jack.

More games, more beaching and more seafood. What else could you ask for? It was an absolutely amazing trip. Recharged we went back to Clintondale. I finally felt ready to face the mess.

Bob is digging trenches for our new electrical lines. We are burying them to the cottage and we are pulling power to the barn.

So many positives to this huge project, one of them being taking photos of our view without having to photoshop out the damn power lines. That's hours saved right there folks.

This is our old pole that is kind of an eyesore right in front of the dining room window.

New pole out by the street and out of the way.

Most of this ugly stuff is going on in the back. The front is looking good. It's quite amazing how many people stop by and tell us nice things. If I'm out in the yard it's almost a guarantee. It's so lovely and encouraging. Sometimes we feel overwhelmed and think there's no end in sight to our fixing up but wonderful passer-byers, blog readers, friends and family all put it in to perspective for us. Thank you!

Hosta update!

Happy happy Hydrangeas have been joined by one of my sister's ceramic all year round blooms.

We have not yet moved in to the renovated part of the house. With me gone and James doing a TV show on Long Island things have fallen behind.

All the doors are in upstairs though. It's looking mighty busy and looking at this picture we just decided to paint all the hinges white.

All the trim is in upstairs and downstairs. The arch came out lovely and we went simple on all the baseboards. All will be navy in the end except the doors which will be white.

We picked up our lovely drapes that Rosemary sewed when we visited the Vineyard. I had to take them for a test ride, of course. Looking goooooood.

We also came home with this game board, another beauty from Rosemary. Kind of completes this corner of the dining room.

Backyard Explosion!

2011-05-15T16:48:00.000-07:00

It's time to take this blog on the road again. I'm leaving for Sweden tonight and as much as I have time this blog will go from designing my dream house/cooking madness/garden porn to production journal during the shooting of a limited budget horror short film in Sweden.

As my job in Mexico proved, filmmaking is pretty much universal but our cultural differences lend themselves to interesting and funny situations. Also I will be shooting which is still a novelty for me and I'm so ready to jump right in and create. Lovisa, the director and I see eye to eye on most things and have had a long relationship as friends, travel buddies and partners in film crime and I am super ecstatic for this opportunity to work together again. For those of you who haven't been to the Buster site (what?!) please visit cause this is what we do.

So the last post is about the yard. That decided to go crazy a few weeks ago. I think that you can literally sit and watch the knot weed grow.

It's outrageous. But other things are growing too. This is last weekend.

And this is this weekend. With a new camera mind you, so they are looking extra FINE. Yes, I finally did it. I bought a 7D and now I fancy myself (even more of) a photographer. Who is available for your special occasions. Babies and pets and parties and you name its.

Little Hostas are thriving as well.

Inherited creeping Phlox that is getting bigger and better.

Happy happy Hydrageas. I fertilized them about a month ago and today I saw little bud clusters. Praying for big blue flowers!

The lovely dogwood tree.

Rhododendrons came into their own but the flowers only lasted about a week unfortunately. Will they bloom again? They are looking very healthy and are sprouting new leaves like crazy though.

The first Azalea to pop was the powder pink one.

Cheery cheeky pansies in a pot.

So this guy still hasn't found his way home. I think he may have moved in for good. Is anybody missing a rooster?

My cousin Åsa makes these incredible cakes and pastries (her blog here) and on her page I found a link to the ultimate pastry porn blog. Linda writes in Swedish and English and if you speak neither you can just enjoy the photos. Most of her stuff is way too advanced for me, but there was a recipe for caramel that I remember from being a kid and making Christmas candy. We tossed some together last weekend just to drown our ice cream in. Super yums.

Boil 2 deciliters of sugar until it becomes brown and bubbly. Be careful not to burn it, it will take on the taste immediately. Add 1 stick of butter cut into small pieces. Finally 150 milliliters of cream and stir until you have the perfect consistency.

I've been obsessing about my black bean soup and decided to make that our last meal together in the house for about a month. I think it's the tastiest soup I have made so far. Buuut I always want to take the opportunity to try something new even if it's just a little side thingy and I decided on corn fritters.

They are tasty just the way they are but can stand to be more savory OR more sweet so it's what you're in the mood for.

1 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs, beaten
2 tsp. baking powder
1 can of corn

Drop spoonfuls in to hot oil and fry until done.

The hummingbirds are back with a vengeance. We saw more dudes yesterday than we saw all of last summer. They are incredible to watch.

They don't take many breaks but we've seen a lot of them perch this weekend. I would be tired too if I flew all the way from Mexico on those tiny wings.

These photos are quite bad but they are hard little buggers to catch and I have all summer to get some good shots.

I will leave you with a house for sale. This one has a twist to it! I am linking you back to one of my earliest posts so you can read about our history with this absolute turkey!

Weston Road has finally been vacated and is going for $74,000. Here's the amazing listing! Look at the photos - these people left in the middle of the night. Notice the open drawers in the kitchen and one dish glove on the counter and one on the floor. The only details missing are some raccoons going through left over garbage and a tumble weed rolling across the floor. I love how they describe it as a "summer project". Oh boy, more like all year round for many years. I CAN vouch for the amazing property though. That is what we really fell in love with. But sometimes James and I look at each other and at our beautiful house and and say "Thank gawd. Thank somebody that we didn't buy that house."

Instead we bought 19 Maple Ave. I'm at the airport and I already miss it. But on to great things!

Happy Easter! Glad Påsk!

2011-04-24T18:42:00.000-07:00

The Easter lilies are on time!

The Star magnolia was the first to pop though!

We get all kinds of birds at our feeder.

This guy was roaming our yard all day today. At first I thought it was Florence's rooster doing the walk of shame back home. He looks pretty busted. There's a lot of hens to peck in our neighborhood y'know what I'm saying. But then we realized he was just lost. But how do you catch a rooster in order to bring him back home?

It's been a long week. James in Long Island on a TV show and me in the city on a little movie that is shooting mostly nights. Got done at 6am this morning soaking wet in stinky Chinatown. I was definitely the happiest traveler on that 7am bus to new Paltz. I am going to be a vampire for the next 3 weeks and then I go to Sweden to shoot our short film. It's all good stuff but unfortunately the house suffers a little. But things happen in our absence too. This week for instance, Michael finished our wood floors, upstairs and downstairs.

We started with 12" yellow pine boards. They were all in longer lengths so we wouldn't have to have seems in the floor.

We solved the issue downstairs by adding a little flush threshold in the arch. The finish was a bit of a headache to decide upon. We don't like a stained look but the yellow pine without a finish looks like a ski cabin. Eeks. So with Michael and Donald we decided on a whitewash and on top acrylic urethane in a satin finish. It looks gorgeous.

Kevin tiled the bathroom a couple of weeks ago. Scott hooked up the shower, toilet and sink and there are only a few small finishing touches to be done and then we are taking whirlpool baths and we will have his and hers toilet.

The tile is 3x6 subway tile from Lowes and the fixtures are Kohler.

I actually just premiered the jets and we worked out some kinks but only after the whole bathroom was soaked. They call that trial by fire.

We are still painting this wall dark gray but we had to get a little ahead of ourselves and hang the beautiful mirror that has been standing by since the summer I think.

Today was cuckoo for birds.

The gold finches are back!

Definitely a first. Two red bellied woodpeckers on the cottage roof.

A wonderful house just came up for sale on North Ohioville Road.

It's always been my favorite over there and when I saw the sign I had to pull in to the driveway. It's got a cute stone house out back.

Here is the listing!

Spring Thing

2011-04-05T15:06:00.000-07:00

This guy just did a Maverick type fly by and scared all the sparrows off the feeder. I can't help but think they are so cool. I'm falling for the bad guy all over again.

The bath tub alcove is built and ready for tile. It's been a long time coming but I think we may be able to take our first shower in here in about 2 weeks. Holy moly that's exciting stuff!!!

In an attempt to shape up our ratty old kitchen we had the boys build this island. We may have misjudged the measurements a little because right now we call it "the giraffe". It's a LITTLE too tall, but that's an easy fix.

The top is butcher block from IKEA, and so are the chairs. The painting is by Rosemary and the bowl is by Kajsa.

Rosemary visited last weekend and brought goodies as usual. She finished seeeeeewing the yellow Roman shades for the bedroom! Very nice! We chatted about lots of house stuff of course and searched together for a coffee table for the living room. I hadn't seen one yet that I thought would fit, but Rosemary suggested Ballard Designs and the answer was not 1 table - but 2! We are always re arranging the living room to watch movies and be comfy and with 2 little tables we can do anything we want! Plus these are good looking and fit the space. The living room is really very done except for some art on the walls and a musical instrument OR big fish above the fire place.

Rosemary and I found an interior decorator blog that finally explained what IKAT is. It's so good I have to share it. Here again is the fabric we settled on for the pastry shop windows.

It's a print AND and a weave. And it's gorgeous.

The boys are laying the floor upstairs.

We still haven't settled on a finish for the floor, all our testing struck out miserably so we are just going to leave it up to our floor guy, Michael.

I've posted these houses for sale before but I found the listings and thought I would share them again. The prices are TOOOOO GOOOOD. This one is on 44/55 in Clintondale.

This house is on Maple Ave.

Here's the listing for more details!

This is my favorite sign of spring!

Which means the focus is about to shift drastically around here from INSIDE to OUTSIDE. I'm ready to get dirty !

Happy spring!

Midwest Blues

2011-03-14T19:01:00.000-07:00

Got back from Milwaukee last night. It was quite the trip. Miles upon miles of barren, minimalist landscape dotted with stark industrial horizons. Just beautiful. We pulled in to a little sleepy town named Wausau where the central hub was the paper mill and I took a photo. It made me think of Harlan County USA and everything I think I know and love about the heartland.

I drove and DP Lisa documented the passing landscapes as well as me.

Rigging camera ghetto style. On this trip I acted as teamster, production assistant, assistant camera, key grip and assistant director.

Suspicious person... Me? Apparently.

In the elevator at the überhip brand spanking new hotel Iron Horse in Milwaukee where we spent 2 nights. Yikes can you say outta place?

In the lobby of our other abode, the Motor Lodge in Boulder Junction - the musky capitol of the world, dontcha know. Don't know if I'm more or less outta place here...

Checking the effectiveness of a polarizer. I think we'll use it.

And what do you take home from Wisconsin? I couldn't take a cow so I had to settle for the next best thing - cheeeeeeese. Of course.

So dinner tonight is MAC N CHEESE. Of course.

With smoked ham and green peas. I looked up a sort of overly fancy recipe but I like cooking so I'm always looking for a bit of a challenge at least.

Here's what went in the pot:

Boil 2 cups of macaroni

Melt 3 table spoons of butter

Add 3 tablespoons of flour and 1 tablespoon dry mustard

Simmer and stir for 5 minutes

Add 3 cups milk, 1/2 cup shredded onion, 1 bay leaf, 1/2 teaspoon paprika.

Then I had to temper an egg for the first time and I botched it. Not bad enough to toss the whole mess but enough to want to toss the whole mess. I cracked the egg in a separate bowl and whisked it good. Then I added a spoon full of the hot mixture and mixed it. When I added the egg to the big pot it got slightly scrambled. Hmmmm. Anyway, I went ahead as nothing had happened.

In goes 1/2 pound of shredded cheese! And salt and pepper.

I mixed this with smoked ham and green peas and poured in a big oven pan.

Melt 3 table spoons of butter and toss 1 cup of panko breadcrumbs in it.

Top off the mac n cheese with another 1/4 pound of shredded cheese and the breadcrumbs.

Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 1/2 hour!

It was the treat of a lifetime to sit back on my couch after my midwestern adventure. Feet up, fire going, some wine, music and my man. Mmmmmmmmm.

I saw this picture in a design magazine in the early stages of house planning and fell in love with the fabric (it also makes up the long luscious drapes behind the chair). Rosemary did some research and found the exact match but in a cheaper knock off. Anyway, for a second I thought we would use it for drapes in the living room but then we realized that the cleaner look with the wicker shades was better. Right?

(Funny thing is the little spotted Rosemary pillow on the right chair is almost the exact fabric of the one on the magazine chair.)

But I really wanted to use it somewhere...

And this is it! I ordered the fabric (from Calico Corners) and Rosemary is going to sow drapes for the blue room/pastry shop/music studio/Linda's creative headquarters. It's gonna look gagagagaga amazing. We still have a lot of painting to do and a floor to lay but it's fun to jump ahead and get started on detailing.

Oh and since I already ruined my reputation of brassy punk broad...

(then)

and have now become someone who orders things from places called Country Curtains I might as well show you the fabric that is becoming drapes for upstairs. Don't get me wrong - it's gorgeous and THANK YOU to Rosemary AGAIN!!! and will make the bedroom look GREAT but we may have to throw in some token skull ornaments or an Iron Maiden poster to balance it all out.

I'm mostly joking of course - I want all this beauty and I want it now.

Let there be light! And soup.

2011-03-08T05:07:00.000-08:00

I'm making a pit stop in Clintondale between random midwestern gigs. Cleveland was lovely. Worked on a commercial for a brand new hospital. I love shooting in hospitals because we can roll our gear everywhere and the elevators are BIG. We also tried the best of Cleveland dining and ate at Michael Symon's Lola's. Holy guacamole. Sam, Niki and I did it up with oysters, deep fried bone marrow and Asian style pork belly as appetizers. My entree was smoked Berkshire pork chops on top of cheesy polenta. The desert - mini donuts and cinnamon hot chocolate and mini french toast with bacon ice cream. Fun as a novelty but in the end, you got bacon and you got ice cream and they should never really be together. The rest of the meal - out-frikkin-standing. So everything that was made GOOD by fasting was made BAD by this meal. And it was worth every calorie.

Next week I head to Milwaukee with Lisa Rinzler to help shoot B roll for a new Alex Gibney documentary. I'm excited to be a part of this VERY important project.

My favorite thing to eat in Mexico was Sopa Azteca. Catering served it a couple of times and whenever we had dinner at our Zapatista coop this is what I ordered. Of course I had to learn how to make it! Turns out I needed some special ingredients but it also turns out I got a super special Mexican grocery near the apartment, Tehuitzingo. Most importantly - dried Guajillo chiles and Epazote leaves.

So with everything in place I made yesterday my Sopa Azteca day.

I roasted 2 big tomatoes in the oven. Just made a little cross hatch on the bottom and poured some olive oil over them and put them in the oven for about 1/2 hour at 350 degrees. Meanwhile I chopped 1 small white onion and 2 garlic cloves and placed in the blender. I also softened 2 Guajillo chiles in warm water. Once they were soft I used scissors to open them up. Deseeded, deveined them, clipped them into small pieces and put in the blender. Once the tomatoes were nice and soft I took them out of the oven, peeled the skin off and deseeded them. They also go in the blender. I heated up 1 quart of chicken broth. I added a little broth to the blender so it would puree easier and the rest simmered in a separate saucepan. The puree then goes in a sauce pan along with 1 tbsp of corn oil and simmers for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes add the chicken broth and let it simmer for another 15 minutes.

During the 2nd 15 minutes I got my fixins together. There's fried tortilla strips, feta cheese (which should be Oaxacan cheese or queso fresco but a mild feta also works), fried Guajillo strips, crema, which is NOT sour cream, more like creme fraiche and avocado. Other possible fixins are shredded chicken or pork rinds.

I finished off the soup with salt to taste.

I wish I could have stored the flavor of my Chiapan Sopa Azteca experience and compared it to my own making but I think I got real close. Improvements would be fire roasted tomatoes and home made chicken broth.

While I was in Clevetown, our electrician Rene came in and hooked up the electricity in the pastry shop and bedroom. Yes we are sosososos close and it's looking oh so beautiful.

We finally have light by the little porch. In the back is a little lamp in the box window. Cute cute and cute!

And by the new side entrance.

And this is one of the bathroom fixtures in place.

A test patch of Farrow and Ball's Citron. Very lovely indeed.

It's been a year now with this renovation. We are due for some reflections back in time I think. The J's (to whom we these days refer to as: REALLY?!) started gutting the pastry shop and the new bedroom around this time last year. Around the same time as we spotted our first Robin in the yard!

Last year we had no idea what was going to pop out of the ground come spring time. This time around it will be like seeing old friends. I'm just hoping everything survived the winter. It was the first one for our Hydrangeas, dappled willows and Rhododendrons.

Our little pink Dogwood is already budding.

So is the Star Magnolia.

The daffodils are on time.

At least the Rhododendrons are looking healthy.

I've been quiet about the birds lately but that doesn't mean they're not hanging around. We've been feeding them throughout the winter and they've stayed faithful to us. The other morning I saw 5 Lady Cardinals at one time.

There's still a little snow on the ground but it is disappearing quickly. We are very ready for spring. And for our GREEN HOUSE!

¡Fiesta!

2011-02-26T13:12:00.000-08:00

Found a Mexican grocery close to our apartment and am so inspired to cook Mexican. Also I'm coming off the fast gradually and I want to make all the things I loooooove. So first up is Guacamole of course. I haven't had it really since Chiapas. Since guac became dinner most nights I needed some time off, but that craving was the first one to really hit me hard after I started eating again.

Cumin makes all the difference in the best guacamole.

3 avocados
1 lemon
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
cayenne to taste

2 Roma tomatoes
1 small white onion

I made the chips from store bought corn tortillas, by frying them in vegetable oil, but as soon as I get my hands on some masa harina from Tehuitzingo grocery I'm making my own.

This Tzotzil woman was an extra in the movie and her business in the scene was to make tortillas. The tortilla press which is next to her is an essential tool and I'm dying to get my hands on one. Maybe Tehuitzingo can help me out there too.

I got to Clintondale last night after a very successful shopping spree at Tehuitzingo. They had all the goodies I was looking for and more! The above picture is of dried Guajillo chiles, an important ingredient in Sopa Azteca which is next weekend's project. I also bought Epazote leaves that go in the soup. They really DO smell like gasoline.

They even had the crappy candy we had at crafty on the moive. It made me a little sentimental. As difficult and challenging as the The Blue Eyes was, I know I will never do anything like it again. Anyway, so I also got masa harina so I can start making my own tortillas. Until I get a press I will just roll them out by hand.

And until I make my own I got a nice stack of their tortillas to use. I fried some up today and added to my black bean soup. Turns out this one is a great freezer/defroster. One of the best soups I've made, I think!

The floor wood got delivered this week. It has to sit inside and acclimatize for 2 weeks before installation.

They are 12" yellow pine boards from Willliams lumber. We had a whole shipment of white pine from Ghent in the house for about a week until we realized it just wasn't floor grade. So when we got rid of those boards, we decided to upgrade to yellow pine, which is much harder and better for floors anyway. It has enough color in itself that we will probably get away with just a white wash and then a water based finish.

We had to go to tub school the other weekend. We bought this guy in the summer and were shocked that we got away so cheap. It's a whirlpool by American Standard and we LIKED that it was so simple and small. We are shower people and may indulge twice a year with the jets. So our former contractors prepped for this tub and built a deck. Turns out a drop in tub is never a good idea when you use it mainly for showers. Many leakage possibilities and when water hits the deck it's got nowhere to go. But the deck was built and the floor was laid. Between our plumber Scott, contractors Jake and Brian and James and I we figured out a solution finally. One can purchase a vinyl flange that turns a drop in tub into an alcove tub by creating a seal between the deck and the tub. Only thing is, when using this flange - the tub has to be butted up against the wall. So without moving the plumbing and adding tiles to the floor, Jake and Brian built out the back wall and created a thicker foot wall that will end where the tile ends on the other two walls. It may look a little unorthodox but it will work and we can stay with our little tub.

I picked up the marble for the vanity today too.

The tiles came from Lowes and the backsplash was ordered from Terra Tile and Marble on Route 9. I was impatient (of course) and just laid it out to get an idea. We are getting SO CLOSE!!!

I painted a yellow patch on the bedroom wall and Rosemary is sowing Roman shades. SOOOOOO CLOSE!!!

This coming week I am off to Cleveland on a commercial. We are driving out there and right now that feels a little sucky but I have made really sick trail mix and downloaded some David Sedaris so hopefully it will be an alright ride. And in an interesting turn of events I'm continuing my mid western tour and fly to Wisconsin the week after. Fave DP Lisa Rinzler is shooting a documentary and we are heading out there for some B roll.

But in between the jobs I'm making a pit stop in Clintondale to make Sopa Azteca. Stay tuned.

All hearts day

2011-02-18T16:49:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Valentine's Day or as we call it in Sweden - All Hearts Day, on Sunday.

We treated ourselves to pink Bellinis with peach schnapps instead of the nectar. More fun that way.

And lox bennies with rosemary red potatoes. We all know how to make Hollandaise and that you need to grow a few more limbs to make it. The potatoes were tossed in olive oil and rosemary and roasted in the oven for about 45 minutes.

Writing this is actually torture since I'm on day 5 of a fast and all I want i s FOOOOOOOD. But I feel like a million gazillion bucks, I jump out of bed in the morning ready to go. I really hope I won't go back to my old coffee habits because feeling like this rules!

In case you didn't know, I kinda like this guy and I'm so lucky he's my Valentine! Skål James - here's to another however many years we've been together!

And so for a progress report...

Our very handsome bathroom floor.

The rest of the bathroom is coming together. Jake and Brian put the vanity in place yesterday and built out the shelves on the wall. We utilized a strange little cavity that was there anyway. The marble is ordered for the top of the vanity and we are very close to dropping the tub in place.

I love this bathroom I love this bathroom!

Floors and walls

2011-02-09T06:11:00.000-08:00

When we first moved in, this is what the pastry shop looked like. We kind of fell in love with the dark blue wallpaper and were always intending on keeping this room a little cavey like that.

Rosemary helped us narrow it down to one color - Ralph Lauren's Club Navy. James got started on painting this week and it looks amazing. Everything is only 1 coat so far but it's already just out of this world. There's something not real about it. Like who does this? You've only seen it in some extreme interior decorator magazine. Yikes! Subtle we are not.

Kevin came in and did our bathroom floor. There is grout mess covering the tiles still but this is a first glance. That also looks amazing.

Everything is coming together. The vanity, this vanity:

will go in next. Since we now have radiant heat in this part of the house we don't have to mess with radiators, which makes this bathroom even bigger. We are taking bets on when we are taking our first shower in here. And it will be a wrestle match to the death to figure out WHO will get to take that first shower.

We are ordering the floor wood very soon. This weekend we are experimenting with stains and finishes.

We picked out 4 possible colors. The 5th square on the board is clean of stain, so that we could try whitewash and poly on a just board. The board on the right is stained only. The board on the left is stained and whitewashed. We used a small amount of white latex paint and diluted with lots of water. Then used a brush to put it on and wiped off immediately. This week James is finishing the boards with water soluble finish on one side and oil on the other. Hopefully we will be able to make a decision after that.

We made Skagen baked potoatos. We mixed sour cream, mayo, dill, lemon juice and chopped up shrimp (or whatever other seafood we have handy). Some salt and pepper. Then we put some extra shrimp on top and some roe and we have a loaded baked potato Swedish style.

For desert - kladd kaka. Sticky cake. Or just a BROWNIE. My sister is on the path of finding the perfect recipe for sticky cake and this one is a winner for sure. Here is the Swedish version. Great thing about it is that you make it all in one pot and reduce the mess greatly!

Melt 1 1/2 sticks of butter in a saucepan. Let it cool off slightly. Add 1 cup of sugar and mix together. Add 1/4 cup of cocoa, some vanilla extract, 2 eggs (one a a time) and 2/3 cup of flour. Butter and breadcrumb a baking pan.

Heat the oven to 350 and bake for about 20-30 minutes.

Weekend in brief

2011-01-31T04:14:00.000-08:00

Scott laid our radiant heat this week and only needs one more day to finish up.

Downstairs.

Upstairs

Bathroom. Kevin, our tile guy, is going to start laying the floor this week. It's starting to shape up. Here's the tile we settled on!

We got closer to a decision on our yellow wall this weekend. We looked at swatches at different times of the day and narrowed it down to this one. It's still up for discussion a little bit. This room gets very bright in the morning and the rest of it is white so the yellow has to be soft and non abrasive and I think DALILA fits the criteria but we want to get our decorator friends involved in this one.

It was a short weekend and I wanted to make food but didn't quite have the energy for a long-cook or anything super involved so we decided on cheese FUN-due which we ate while playing cards.

Boil 1 cup of wine

Melt 1 tbsp butter
Mix in 1 tbsp of flour and cook and stir for a few minutes.

Combine the two.

Start adding cheese in cubes. I used 7 oz of Gryuere, 7 oz of Emmenthaler, 7 oz of sharp cheddar.

When it's smooth add 1 teaspoon of dry mustard and 1 tbsp of lemon juice.

We dipped toasty bread, ham cubes and sauteed mushrooms.

It's hard to go wrong with cheese. Lots of cheese.

For sunday brunch I used the left over fondue and made Croque Madames, with english muffins, ham, cheesy goo and a fried egg on top.

In other TERRIFIC news. Looks like I'll be heading home to Sweden for the month of April to shoot a short film that Lovisa is directing. It was just announced at the Gothenburg film festival that ORANGERIET is one of the chosen projects to receive funding this year. Sara Bergmark Elfgren wrote the spooky screenplay. It's super exciting and I'm watching movies like crazy to get inspired for the look. It's a very visual script and an awesome privilege and challenge for me. The film will premiere at the festival next January, so that's another trip to look forward to. 2011 - you rock so far!!!

Whose that behind the camera? John Shim is the keygrip on the feature I am currently working on and I get to play operator a little bit.

Gotta go to work!

Random Snaps

2011-01-17T21:00:00.000-08:00

Yo Svenska! We got snow too.

Just felt like sharing some random thoughts. Firstly, the tapestry I bought in the market in San Juan de Chamula found a home this weekend.

It will probably move around a whole lot but for now this corner is very suitable!

On our month long trip in Baja we stopped in Cabo Pulmo for a few nights. Cabo Pulmo is known for diving and snorkling. We also swam with sea lions and did some top notch whale watching.

James and I like the zoo and a bunch of years ago we encountered this guy at the Bronx Zoo.

The illusive, mysterious and super cuddly snow leopard.

My Christmas ham became green split pea soup right before I left for Sweden. I soaked the peas for a few hours as I boiled the left over ham bone in 1 gallon of water. After that we got the goodies off the bone and I boiled it all together. Added marjoram, salt and pepper. There may have been an onion in there too.

Planning for the bedroom. A yellow wall?

We stopped by Iceland on one of our Sweden trips. That was the most magical place I have ever been. We got a recommendation of a place to eat by a guy on the plane. The Sea Baron. Not the guy, the restaurant. Best lobster soup in the world. Even The New York Times says so. I saw a fancy sea food place in my mind so imagine our surprise when we stepped into this hole in the wall. Awesome.

Stitched together our bedroom in photoshop. It's so... BIG. I cannot wait to move into this space.

This is the potential yellow wall. Yellow paints have the happiest names. And tasty too... Safari Sun, Peach Butter, Instant Delight (hm, doesn't really give a clue to the shade but who doesn't want instant delight???), Hawaiian Passion (yes please, I may paint every room with that one!), Refreshing Mimosa (oh, now I have to build an addition to the house), OPTISMISTIC YELLOW, or simply CHEERFUL, Gusto Gold and

Social. Butterfly.

I went to Sturgis bike week on a job, an HBO show called Family Bonds. It was quite insane. I even broke my foot. Shooting was pretty much non stop.

But there was some room for play too.

We are going back to work. Looks like Scott will come in this week and start the heat. Then it's bathroom floor time!

Good night Erik (1914-2010)

2011-01-15T16:43:00.000-08:00

So I went home. I left on January 5th. Took a bus from New Paltz. Then another bus to Newark. Then a 7 1/2 plane ride. Then a 3 hour bus to Örebro. Sweden is in the middle of another record breaking winter and I was all about it.

On friday night we drove up to Goat Valley, Getingedalen, where Kajsa and Gizmo live.

An insanely gorgeous winter wonderland.

Getingedalen.

The old workshop.

The new workshop. Which also has a boutique and a garage. I did some late night "shopping" during my stay. For instance this handsome wood carrier that has already found a home by our fireplace. Handy!

We had Gizmo's home made pizza, baked in their wood burning stove. Heaven.

I spent the night and woke up to more snowing.

Idun (only the coolest dog in the world) and I ventured outside.

Idun is a fetching fool. She would run herself into a coma if you just kept throwing. The item of choice this fine day was a frisbee. I really tried to stick to the shoveled path but sometimes it would take off unexpectedly. She tried to get it once or twice but after that this is the look I got:

Really? Really. So I got it myself and then we went back inside.

Where we plonked ourselves in front of the fire to watch a movie. A Somewhat Gentle Man with Stellan Skarsgård. Entertaining.

If you go for a fika (coffee break, preferably with a baked good on the side) in a kondis (sit down pastry shop) in Sweden and you order a sandwich this is what will likely appear. Ain't she a beaut.

It's almost Semmel time! Fat tuesday is the correct day to start eating them but these days we cheat a whole lot. Semla is something that was traditionally served at the end of lent. Only bread was to be eaten during lent so people started digging holes in the bun and hiding goodies. A Semla today is a sweet bun with the top cut off. Then you dig a little hole and fill it with almond paste. Then whipped cream and you place the top back on and then sprinkle powdered sugar on it. I like it best served in a bowl with warm milk. If you follow the wiki-link as I did you will also learn that Semlan partly killed our King Adolf Predrik in 1771. So be careful.

Tuesday the 11th is the reason I came home. Grandpa Erik's funeral.

It took place in Längbro church, the church where both Kajsa and I were baptized and confirmed. We also spent many years as part of their choirs, and Erik had asked for the service to be held here.

It was a very beautiful ceremony and we all got to say a special last good bye to our dad, husband, grandpa, brother, father-in-law and uncle. We were a small party, 15, another last request from Erik, only the closest family was to attend.

Erik's little brother John (88).

We gathered at my parent's house for dinner. Erik had asked to be here after the ceremony. He considered Flugis his second home.

My sister Kajsa.

Grandma Annalisa with her kids. My mom Agneta and little brother Pererik.

Annalisa will be 95 this May. On April 12th she and Erik would have celebrated their 70th anniversary.

Little cousin Anna, Pereriks's daughter.

Dad reads telegrams at dinner. Erik asked for people to not buy flowers but instead donate money to doctor's without borders and a foundation that plants trees in Africa.

Guests also included Perra's wife AG, John's 2 sons, Lars and Per with wife Irene and son Kristoffer and Gizmo.

We play croquet once a year in my family and this is the group photo from 2008. Erik was 94 but still took part.

My very own special memory of grandpa is that he accompanied me to NY for a week when I was in college. He was 85 and he still had an urge to travel and loads of curiosity about the place that had become my home. He also started teaching himself English late in life, translating National Geographics with the help of a dictionary, calling it his crossword puzzle. He followed James around Flugis when we visited and would strike up random conversations, just so he could practice speaking. You had to be a bit of an interpretive listener, but yikes - A for effort gramps!

He will be missed by us all. It's a beautiful thing we have such great memories of him!

Hej då lilla morfar. Sov gott.