THE KITCHEN SHELF

I've been so busy with practically everything during the past year and also concentrating on the fix-ups in the country house so much I tend to forget my actual home in the city is pretty damn nice too. (At least under the mess of papers and clothing that is covering most of it...)

Here I spend most time in the kitchen, with Dag, and -apart from that mint green thing you know- I am most happy with the 50's styled cabinet shelf we had made by a carpenter. I just made a drawing with so-so measurements and he built the piece based on that, then we painted it ourselves with linseed paint.

It's easy to think anyting custom made is much more expensive than store-ordered but that is not always the case;  I was inspired by the similar cabinet shelf from Kvänum but that would have been two or three times as expensive as this turned out... Pretty much everything we are doing in the farm house is being built on place too. Which we will get back to later.

PAPER, LACE AND ROKOKO

It's been a while sice I posted any animations here; as some may recall I love stop animations.

Les Trois Inventeurs -The Three Inventors- is a cake paper, lace- and paper cut  (you know I love aper cuts too, like the works of Rob Ryan for example!) stop motion animation by Michel Ocelot from three decades back. It's incredibly detailed and beautiful and also the kind of work that makes me anxious trying to imagine myself doing it. So I try my best not to :)

You can watch the little sad story here:

LET THERE BE LIGHT

We finally have ceiling lamps in the new countryside kitchen!

After browsing all kinds of lamps in all price ranges from lots and I mean lots of different places for months, we decided on something similar to the one we have in our city apartment; the vintage one I found left behind in one of the rental flats I lived in over a decade ago. Which in the end quite easily could be picked up from best store in the world, ikea*, with the idea to paint it white. (The lamp is actually in a steel colored shade.)

Otherwise,  the kitchen is in use, but everything is not ready yet. Obviously anything made in an old house takes a lot longer to do than anything you want done in an apartment, old or new. I had ha-ha thought the kitchen would be ready by Christmas. Once we were at it we also started fixing up the hall in front of the kitchen and turning the space behind it into a bathroom. So everything is still in a renovation-sort-of-mode. And then when all that is done there will be PICTURES!

*) along with Clas Ohlson and Tiger. Applies to most situations in life. Sort of.

SUAVE

I wish all guys would look like they had stepped out of a Hackett brochure...

THE TWICE FORGOTTEN SKIRT

I am - apparently, as I have noticed one too many times - the kind of person who simply cannot store anything in a place that needs more effort than to open one door, max, to be remembered. Anything I put in the basement kind of goes there to die. This means it gets pretty crowded at home. Or that I have too much stuff, but then again we all have. (First world club meeting again, gather up in line!)

Well the point here being that if I tuck away clothes somewhere to wait for their right season to come I most likely will never see them again. Unless I stumble upon them by chance. And so I did with this pleated wool skirt, which I had put in a storage coffin sometime last summer or when I was pregnant. It is the second time I discover it already; as it as part of a suit that I had forgotten I had (which jacket I use all the time during the other seasons) and discovered a couple of years back... Good for me, this was put into action instantly.

The skirt is vintage; my grandmother's old, the rest is old stuff, high street.

SHOES & EARRINGS

 An easy party-shoe DIY is to bling up your heels with some jewelry.

 

I have been sparkling up a pair of dance shoes for an upcoming burlesque number, and as always with burlesque more is more is more -there can never be too much bling and sparkle- so also in this case. Instead of gluing hundreds of crystals one by one I cut apart a couple of earrings and a bracelet. And added some swarowskis and pearls string too, once I was at it.  (You may recall me saying I don't like crafting all that much as it is messy and the result not always perfect but sometimes I just don't have a choice. And glittery stuff like this can almost be fun.)

For a more subtle result, that does not look like a unicorn arrived and puked up a bucket of glitter or so, you can get a new fancy smanshy shoe by just attaching one earring, or parts of it, on the side, heel or toe. The best is to choose a light piece that looks more blingy than it is. I got some earrlings on sale from H&M. I use a special embellishment glue called Jewel It which is still elastic after it has hardened and also washable-proof.

EGGSHELL BLUE, RETRO RED, CAT BLACK

Lulu in the corner, on the fridge, countryhouse.

PINAFORE SKIRT VOL 2.0

You may remember my pinafore skirt from Vivien of Holloway?

 It's a piece of clothing I love; it's comfy and sits well, but I haven't really gotten around wearing it that much. And I know the reason: it is too red, which makes it hard to wear together with most other stuff you need to wear over here the biggest part of the year.

Instead of letting it go I decided to color it - a risk, especially if the label says hand wash, but if the result turns out good (which is kind of 50/50) it can save the item. I decided to go for dark brown which should work on red (as in opposite of blue for example, resulting in violet, etc). And brown goes well with everything, even better than black! Dark brown even goes better with black than black goes with brown, sort of.

Well it didn't exactly turn out that dark brown. Or brown at all.

The fabric is 100% cotton which should take on color real well, but I take it that the thread is coated somewhow. So now it's kind of a "woven" dark red.

Which is not all that bad actually.

(Dag wanted to be in the pic. Hello!)

The fabric took on a sort of vintage texture which looks very nice. And it did turn out more wearable!

Then I noticed  suspenders like this are not the most practical in mom-baby world, easily grabbable and pullable and so on, but that's another story.

FOUR THINGS RIGHT NOW: FEBRUARY 14

Had a late breakfast; a blueberry smoothie, some red orange, home made hazelnut-date bars and the morning paper.

Dag was enjoying a breakfast of his own with his kind of reading. (That particular book was part of a great gift from Katja and her boy Pieter, who is one day younger than Dag. Thank you :)

It's a terrible mess here at home, a mix of toys, unpacked burlesque bags and piles of paper that will hopefully turn in to my company's tax declaration. Gnah.

And let's not forget what day it is! Time for my annual heartly greeting:
Happy Valentine's Day to all of you!
(We had two hearts to start with but Dag drooled and ate and choked upon his. Of course.)

JUST A WHILE AGO, JUST A LITTLE TIME AWAY

There's so much snow and white everywhere.  Everywhere. And at this point it always feels like it will never ever end.

But -no more than a mere three months and the apple trees will be in bloom again, with summer around the corner!

Here's Eddi and I biking round that familiar bend at the farm on a warm day last summer.
(Screenshot from Yle today.)

SUNDAY SNAPSHOT

Sunday. Dag sleeping, a bread in the oven, the whole internet in front of me, a cup of tea and whatever's on the radio.

RAW FOOD IS GREAT BUT BREAD, BREAD IS TRULY AWESOME

How much I do and how much I like to do in the kitchen varies - enthusiasm comes and goes.  I have always been the kind of person to go between having all my meals preferably out, or aiming for the title of domestic godess. Or going experimental vegan home chef. Either way and nonetheless, I love food. Man, food is great! Not to mention carbs! (Here's where I'd add a bit heart emoticon if I'd be into that and they'd be easily available here in blogger. Carbs! Pasta and bread and cakes! Plus wine. Once we're at it with the I heart-stuff.)

Since Dag was born I have been home in a different manner than before; I have been spending more time at the house (uuumm yes, duh!), as in opposite from  working strange shifts. Or well, strange shifts away from home, away from the kitchen. The "working hours" with a small baby at home being rather strange too.  But this means I have been cooking more again. Partly because I have been at home, partly because I have been able to concentrate on what I eat, and partly because it is not only more sustainable but also more affordable with more home cooking. 

Home made bread has always been a special luxury for me, and it is one of the things I rather seldom put myself up to. But as I discovered the un-kneaded pot baked version I have been making weekly batches! It is so amazingly easy to make and turns out super pro! Win-win-win all the way!

You just mix all you need (about two parts flour and one part water with salt and yeast plus whatever you may want to flavor your bread with) together the night before and leave the dough to set, then bake it in anything with a lid the day after. You can be a total fuck up in the kitchen and get away with this for sure.

There are may recipies out there, this one HERE is a good one for example. Just remember that if you like me bake with other flours (as in not with wheat)  you might need a little more water for the dough, and let it set long enough.

The bread I've baked here is on rye and spelt with linen seeds from the farm, and dried cranberries.

FROST

Frost on the window some time ago. Pretty amazing, when you look at it closely; starry pretty ice molecules. Such various forms water takes on.

MIRRORS; LIGHTS; SHADOWS

Today -or, yesterday by now- Tinker Bell, Kitty and I shot some show stuff for an episode of a TV series, the same series I did some material for with Eddi last summer.
It airs on Teema on Mondays.

THE ONCE-A-YEAR PASTRY

To balance up all the healthy things I baked some Runeberg's cakes. They are moist cakes with almond (and some cardamom) with jam in the middle, named after our national herald Johan Ludvig Runeberg (or, actually, after his wife Fredrika). The real shape of the pastry is high and cylindar but I don't have molds for that so I made them in cupcake molds, works just as well.

You only get these -or make them- around this time of the year, as the Runeberg day is February 5th. Which is insane as they taste so good. I always try to eat trough all bakeries variations, hehe, although this year I only went for the home made ones.

There's  actually a bunch of food and baking you "may" only have once a year. While enjoying gingerbreads in June for example would feel a bit off but I think I am going to break the etiquette and make more of these just whenever. Or if not then a raw-verision, which recipe I have been playing with in my head.

BABIES AND CATS IN THE SNOW

(Or alright; one baby, but two cats.)

Spot little Lulu in the last pic?