Rebecca Christian

Modern Shape, Vintage Images — Intriguing Handmade Lamps at a Reasonable Price

Written on November 3, 2011 at 12:03 pm
By Rebecca Christian

If, like me, you are drawn to flea markets where you can find nostalgic oddments such as old coins, old stamps, vintage card games, and handwritten recipes, I think you will like Monica Burke’s Table Lamps as much as I do. Working at a vintage lighting studio inspired Monica to rewire old lamps and remake them using found objects and nostalgic images from old postcards and maps. Sometimes she uses her own original photography. In her recent work, a contemporary cylindrical shape gives the lamps a modern edge.

Czech Rhino Stamp Lamp by Monica Burke

The lamps are handmade of sturdy cotton with archival grade ink. I first saw Monica’s work when my daughter — who loves handmade things and likes to support emerging artists and craftswomen — gave one of her lamps as a wedding gift. The “Appearing Quote Typewriter” Lamp looks like an old typewriter with a fresh sheet of paper in it when unlit. When turned on, a quote appears — and you can pick the quote. She’ll customize it.

Monica Burke’s Appearing Quote Typewriter Lamp

The lamps are $48 at The Daily Grommet (http://bit.ly/vGUc0Q), and you can also find her work at etsy.com.

Bluestem, a cookbook for progressive American cuisine

Written on October 28, 2011 at 3:31 pm
By Rebecca Christian

Bluestem is a restaurant in Kansas City, much-praised for creating dishes that are imaginative but that ordinary people might actually want to eat: Smoked Salmon Panna Cotta, Rack of Venison with Pickled Lady Apples, Stone Fruit Cobbler, Oatmeal-Ale Cake. It’s run by passionate foodies and husband-and-wife chefs Colby and Megan Garrelts. Bluestem is also the name of their new cookbook, which is written in the first person with instructions such as “Know thy monger and thy butcher.”

If you’re already thinking Christmas like I am, it would make a nice gift for the foodie on your list (and maybe he or she would invite you over to try the Honey Custard with Linzer Wafer Cookies). The book becomes available from Andrews McMeel Publishing November 8, and you can order it for $28.22 from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Bluestem-Cookbook-Colby-Garrelts/dp/1449400612

It’s also filled with the chatty asides you might expect from those who live and breathe food, such as dessert maker Megan’s anthropomorphism of sugar : “As a woman, I can confidently say that sugar is definitely female: It can be cranky and temperamental…Hell hath no fury like hot sugar.”

The cookbook is divided into seasons, keeping the emphasis on cooking whatever is fresh, good, and locally available. Each season has recipes organized this way: amuse-bouche, cold, hot, pasta, water (seafood), land (meat), sweet, and petits fours.

This autumnal recipe for Risotto with Butternut Squash caught my attention:

 

Risotto, butternut squash, allspice
Serves 8 as a first course,
4 as a main course

If you’ve ever patiently stirred risotto until it’s thick and creamy, you know why it is such a rewarding task when it turns out right. Despite the patience required, you’ll want to make it over and over again.
Risotto is not difficult to make. But before you start, make sure that you have the correct variety of rice (long-grain rice will not yield the right results), all of the stock warm and ready to go, and, above all, the time. Don’t try to rush this, or you’ll end up with rice that looks cooked but is gritty and hard within. And make sure you’re ready to eat it right when it’s done. Risotto does not reward your patience with patience; it has a very short shelf life once it’s cooked. Let it sit for more than a few minutes and it will begin to turn soft and gummy.
Any type of fleshy winter squash will work for this recipe, including pumpkin and acorn squash.

8 cups Chicken Stock or Vegetable Stock
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and cubed
2 shallots, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups butternut squash in ½-inch cubes
2 cups Carnaroli rice
¾ cup white wine
Salt and freshly ground white pepper
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish
Freshly grated allspice

Heat the chicken stock in a stockpot over low heat. Cover and keep warm.
Heat the softened butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the shallots, garlic, and butternut squash and stir until softened, about 5 minutes (you don’t want to develop any color). Using a wooden spoon, stir in the rice, coating it with the butter and seasonings.
Continue to stir and toast the rice for about 5 minutes. Add the wine and stir until it evaporates.
Stirring the rice continuously, add the warm stock, 1
cup at a time, making sure that the liquid is completely absorbed by the rice before adding the next cup. The rice will start to release its starch and thicken into a creamy porridge, about 30 minutes. Depending on the texture of risotto you like, the grains of rice should be tender to firm, but not gritty. Season the risotto with salt and pepper. Remove from the heat and let sit for a couple of minutes.
Beat the cold butter and Parmesan into the risotto. Serve immediately. Grate a bit of allspice over the risotto with a nut grater or Microplane zester and any additional Parmesan over the risotto at the table if you like.

—From Bluestem: The Cookbook by Colby Garrelts and Megan Garrelts with Bonjwing Lee

I was also taken with this one for Beets with Whipped Blue Cheese and Candied Pecans, with an introductory comment from Colby:

 

Beets, whipped blue cheese, candied pecans
Serves 4

I can’t keep Megan away from beets when the gem-like baby ones roll in. Lucky for her, beets are readily available year-round in the Midwest. Although this salad can take on one of many variations, we strip it down to its bare essentials, focusing on the beets, whose sweetness seems intensified against the salty whipped blue cheese that we pair with it. Candied pecans give the salad some needed snap, and a few tendrils of baby frisée lettuce frame it all nicely with a frilly border.

This salad is particularly pretty if you use different-colored beets. Just make sure you keep them separated before arranging them on plates so they don’t stain each other.

1 pound baby beets, trimmed of greens
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 ounces blue cheese, softened
¼ cup Champagne Vinaigrette (recipe follows)
⅓ cup Candied Pecans, chopped (recipe follows)
Baby frisée, for garnish (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Tightly seal the beets, whole, in a large sheet of aluminum foil. If you are using different-colored beats, package the beets separately by color so that the red ones won’t stain the lighter-colored ones.
Bake the beets for 40 minutes. To test the beets for doneness, a knife should slip in and out of them without any effort. Let the beets cool. Peel the thin layer of skin from each beet. Cut the beets into quarters. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.
In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, whip the cream cheese on high speed until soft and fluffy, stopping to scrape the bowl as needed. Add the blue cheese and continue to whip, scraping the bowl as needed, until the two cheeses are evenly mixed and fluffy.
Season with salt and pepper to taste and whip a little more to incorporate.
Toss the beets with the vinaigrette. If you are using different-colored beets, toss them separately by color to prevent them from staining each other. Divide the beets among 4 plates.
Transfer the whipped cheese to a pastry bag and pipe the cheese in small mounds around the beets. Or you can simply spoon the cheese onto the plates. Garnish each salad with some pecans and frisée. Serve immediately.

+++

Champagne vinaigrette
Makes about 13/4 cups

With a nice balance of sweet and sour, this is an extremely versatile vinaigrette. At Bluestem, we find a place for it in every season.

 

1 cup Champagne vinegar

1∕₃ cup olive oil

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

1∕₃ cup honey
Combine all of the ingredients in a nonreactive bowl, adding the honey last to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the bowl. Whisk vigorously until combined. Tightly sealed, the vinaigrette will keep in the refrigerator for up to 1 month. Before using the vinaigrette in a recipe, bring the vinaigrette back to room temperature and rewhisk to combine.

+++

Candied pecans
Makes about 1 cup

We always have candied nuts on hand to use as a garnish for everything from salads to desserts. This recipe calls for pecans, but you may substitute any unsalted nut, though the wrinkly ones (like walnuts) give the candied glaze something to cling to. Just make sure that you adjust the baking time according to the size of the nut so that you don’t burn them.

1 cup pecans (about 31/2 ounces)

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Pinch of cayenne pepper

Preheat the oven to 325°F.

Spray a baking sheet or pan with nonstick cooking spray. Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl, tossing to coat the nuts with the seasonings and corn syrup (use your hands or a wooden spoon to get everything evenly mixed). Spread the nuts on the sheet evenly so that they don’t touch (clusters will be hard to break up after baking).
Stirring or shaking the pan occasionally to break up clumps, bake the nuts until they turn a deep golden brown and the sugar mixture is bubbling (about 15 minutes). Let the nuts cool completely on the baking sheet. Gently break the nuts apart if necessary and store them in an airtight container for up to 1 month.

—From Bluestem: The Cookbook by Colby Garrelts and Megan Garrelts with Bonjwing Lee

 

 

Fish in the Garden

Written on October 18, 2011 at 3:51 pm
By Rebecca Christian

I sometimes toss press releases touting garden accents and statuary because it seems to me you can’t improve on nature, and isn’t that what gardening is all about?

Nonetheless I hung on to a flier I got from a place called Fish in the Garden in Falmouth, Maine. There artist Tyson Weiss creates schools of fish out of colorful high-fired glazed ceramics or shiny brushed stainless steel that surge through gardens and interiors in a way that is surreal and calming. I’m particularly taken with this Cobalt Koi. I find myself looking at it several times a day, especially when I’m fighting with my computer.

Grouped together, the fish appear to be swimming in a school.

You can group fish meant to adorn interiors with especially designed tabs that hold the fish an inch away from the wall, creating interesting shadows. Different species of fish are available for the sake of regional relevance—for example if you live on the Florida coast you can order a barracuda, or in Massachusetts, a striped bass or bluefin tuna. (Do you suppose he could make a whiskery river catfish for a landlocked Iowan?). Just as in nature, the fish are weatherproof. Prices range from $49 to $480. The fish are available at fishinthegarden.com.

Great Fall Soups

Written on September 26, 2011 at 10:54 am
By Rebecca Christian

Has cooler weather put you in the mood to make soup? A fun thing about editing our Cooking School feature is that I occasionally get to go down to our shiny  Test Kitchen and try the recipes we’re including in our stories. Here are a couple of  recipes for soup that I especially liked.

 

Sweet Potato and Green Apple Soup
Slicing the sweet potatoes into “planks” allows more surface for caramelization when roasting. Try this technique when serving sweet potatoes
as a side dish.

• 1 large sweet potato, peeled, sliced lengthwise into 1/2-inch-thick “planks”
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Kosher salt and ground white pepper
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup peeled, diced rutabaga
• 1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, diced
• 1 quart chicken stock or reduced sodium chicken broth
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1-1/2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
• 1 recipe Maple Cream (below)
• 1/4 cup croutons
• 1 tablespoon thinly sliced green onion

Preheat oven to 400°F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper; place sweet potatoes on prepared sheet. Drizzle with olive oil; sprinkle lightly with kosher salt and pepper. Roast 30 minutes or until tender.

In large saucepan melt butter over medium heat. Add onion, cook and stir 3 minutes. Add rutabaga and apple; cook 3 minutes more, stirring occasionally. Add chicken stock and sweet potatoes. Bring to boil; reduce heat and simmer, covered, 20 minutes.

Remove from heat; cool slightly. Process until smooth with an immersion blender (or blend or process mixture 1/2 at a time in blender container or food processor). Return mixture to saucepan. Add whipping cream and maple syrup. Season to taste with kosher salt and ground white pepper. Cook and stir until heated through.
Top each serving with Maple Cream, croutons, and green onions. Makes 6 servings.

Maple Cream:
In chilled mixing bowl beat 1/3 cup whipping cream on high speed of electric mixer until soft peaks form. Add 1 tablespoon maple syrup, and dash each of kosher salt and ground white pepper. Beat just until stiff peaks form.

 

Harvest Corn Soup
12 large ears of fresh sweet corn
1-1/2 cups chopped sweet onion
3 tablespoons butter
5 cups chicken stock or chicken broth
3 tablespoons whipping cream
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
2 green onion, bias-sliced
1 teaspoon canola oil
1 large fresh tomato, peeled, seeded, and chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
Sauteed scallops or shrimp (optional)*

Scrub corn with stiff vegetable brush to remove silks. Rinse under cold running water. Place one ear of corn at a time in shallow pan. Holding corn at an angle, use sharp knife to remove kernels. You should have about 8 cups of corn.

In 4-quart Dutch oven cook onion in hot butter 5 minutes or until tender. Add corn; cook just until heated through. Add 3 cups chicken stock. Bring to boiling. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, 20 minutes. Cool slightly.

In blender or food processor process corn mixture, half at a time, until smooth. Strain corn mixture through wire mesh sieve, pressing with back of spoon. Discard solids.

Return corn puree to Dutch oven. Add remaining chicken stock. Bring to boiling. Reduce heat; simmer, 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in whipping cream, salt, and pepper.

In large skillet, cook green onion in hot oil over medium heat 1 minute or until onion turns bright green. Stir in tomato. Cook and stir until just heated through. Serve soup topped with tomato mixture, sage, and scallops or shrimp, if desired. Makes 6 servings.

* Cook 12 small scallops or 12 medium peeled and deveined shrimp in hot olive oil 2 to 4 minutes or until scallops or shrimp are opaque .

 

 

Old House Gardens: heirloom fall bulbs, perfect for traditional gardens

Written on September 22, 2011 at 4:47 pm
By Rebecca Christian

An old house just cries out for old-timey flowers: brilliant upright hyacinths, peonies heavy with blossoms, buttery Wordsworthian daffodils. A great source for the heirloom bulbs that produce such nostalgic pretties is Old House Gardens (oldhousegardens.com), which bills its wares as “unique, endangered, and amazing.”

For an introduction to antique bulbs, it has a dandy offer of $35 worth of bulbs that can be planted in fall and will work well in your zone.

Frugal Fall-Planted Sampler

Read more

Classic Decorating For Fall And Winter Holidays

Written on September 2, 2011 at 1:55 pm
By Rebecca Christian

Have you noticed a slight nip in the air early in the mornings, and twilight time arriving sooner in the evening, bringing with them the feeling that it’s time to gather in and settle down?

I’m looking forward to autumn, my favorite season, even more than usual this year. What really put me in the mood is a book that swirled down on my desk out of nowhere one day last week like an autumn leaf, Decorating with Evergreens by Robert Waite, who is a floral designer in Utah. The pretty color photographs of Waite’s unstudied wreaths, swags, and centerpieces—created with natural materials like fresh fruit and locally grown greenery—are by Zac Williams.

I was especially smitten with this wreath of bay leaves, wheat, red and yellow apples, and cranberry-hued dried yarrow. Can’t you just imagine how autumnal it smells? I’m picturing myself hanging it on my door, then going inside and putting on the season’s first big vat of chili.

What I like about the wreaths and arrangements in this book is that they are both classic and doable, like this pretty and uncontrived door hanging of greens and baskets let’s the distinctive architecture of the door have its say.

The book is available from amazon for $18.99 in hardcover or $9.59 on your Kindle. http://www.amazon.com/Decorating-Evergreens-Robert-Waite/dp/1423622502

Keep Your Garden Gorgeous into Fall

Written on August 26, 2011 at 3:49 pm
By Rebecca Christian

This is the time of year when gardens are beginning to look a bit bedraggled. You can keep your garden alive with color and verve, though, with perennials that bloom into fall, some as late as first frost (depending on your zone).

Late bloomers are often the most beautiful, right? Of course there are good old mums, but I find them kind of boring, and ever since I read D.H. Lawrence’s short story, “The Odour of Chrysanthemums,” they make me sad, maybe because when you see them you know winter is coming soon. Here are some fall flowers I find more cheery:

Below are asters (also known as Michaelmas Daisy), in shades of blue, white, pink and purple.

Read more

Crazy for Color (and Floral Designer Jane Packer’s yummy new book)

Written on August 19, 2011 at 4:47 pm
By Rebecca Christian

I love color — I have bright red patent leather ankle strap shoes, a baby blue bicycle that makes me think of Nancy Drew’s little blue coupe, and cobalt art glass displayed on the moss green “table”  behind my couch (it’s actually a worn frosted-glass door mounted on a couple of plant stands from good old Hobby Lobby) . Oh, and at the moment my toenails are painted Mattel pink. So you can see why I swooned over British floral designer Jane Packer’s new book, Color, with such deeply saturated photographs by Georgia Glynn Smith that they’ll knock your tie-dyed socks off.

available at Amazon.com for $14.84

(http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=jane+packer+color&x=0&y=0

Packer, who has designed flowers for clients from rock stars to royalty, approaches floral design with the imagination and assured eye of a fashion or interior designer, using color to evoke mood and  intuitively understanding how fashion color trends affect the world of flowers. She notes, “Green has singlehandedly reinvented the chrysanthemum and the much-maligned carnation, reinstating them as desirable fashion flowers. Roses, anthurium and ranunculus have benefited from this infusion of green, too.” (She’s right, I think. At my son’s wedding a couple years ago, the flowers were entirely green and white, and the effect was striking.)

Working her way through the rainbow, Packer offers gorgeous floral takes on red, white, green, yellow, pink, and blue, and gives step-by-step directions for ten eye-popping projects, including a three-tiered “cake” made of scarlet roses. Here’s a topiary tree project from the Green section:

It doesn’t sound too difficult. You’ll need a container, florist foam and tape, a bamboo post, sunflowers, hydrangea flowers, and some snake grass or glossy leaves. There are simpler suggestions in the book, too, like presenting a breakfast tray with egg cups into which you’ve put not eggs, but half eggshells, filled with enough water to hydrate a tiny bloom. In other vignettes, cherry blossoms burst out of a rubber rain boot, and in a ruby vase full of brilliant parrot tulips, Packer has nestled crystal brooches among the blooms to reflect the jewel colors of the flowers and the vase. For the project below, Packer painted tree branches pink and hung them with jars of pink flowers. She’s used alstromenia in the higher jar and nerines in the lower ones, but you could use almost any pink flowers, she says. Wouldn’t the pink branches make a pretty arrangement for Easter or a bridal or baby shower?

Packer has flower shops and floral design schools in London, Tokyo, and New York, as well as a flower shop in Korea  (jane-packer.co.uk).  You can also buy her designs from janepackerdelivered.com. I especially love this arrangement of roses in a turquoise hatbox, a variation of red roses for a blue lady.

a fun arrangement from janepackerdelivered.com

I, for one, can’t wait to try her autumn wreath with oak leaves and perry pears from her book. I’m already jonesing for toasty palettes, and I know the project will put me in the mood for fall.

Fun Finds for Dorm Rooms

Written on August 2, 2011 at 3:08 pm
By Rebecca Christian

I haven’t lived in a dorm room since 1974, but the finds at Deck My Dorm (deckmydorm.com) are (almost) enough to make me willing to risk flunking Biology 101 again — never did master memorizing all 208 bones of the human body, though I passed by a whisker the second time, when I took it Pass/Fail. The site has bedding, accessories, and trunks with stylish flair from vintage to shabby chic to classic.  Here’s a rhino sticker trunk, which the student can decorate with mementos and use for packing and as furniture. It comes in various sizes and colors from traditional to neon, starting at $134.95.

Rhino Sticker Trunk from Deck My Dorm

Read more

What is your very favorite bookstore of all time?

Written on July 27, 2011 at 10:03 am
By Rebecca Christian

What is your very favorite bookstore of all time? The closing of Borders last week reminded me of mine, and of how sad I was when it closed in 1992. Here is what I wrote about it in a column for the Telegraph Herald in Dubuque, Iowa, at that time:

It was a big event in our small world when we found out last week that Small World Bookstore was closing. It was a little beacon of peace and light in a television world. The best children’s book store I’ve ever been in, Small World crammed plenty into a tiny space: It had plump pillows to plop down on and a potpourri of books, toys, puzzles, games and cards selected with taste, an awareness of social justice issues and a sense of whimsy. Perhaps must importantly, the unhurried people who worked there knew books and cared about kids. The shop’s logo — “A bookstore of discovery for children and the people who care for them” — was no hype. The store was giving MTV and Nintendo a run for their money; that wasn’t the problem.

In a remarkable and moving letter sent to the store’s regular customers in February, owner Judy Essman explained, ‘Some of you may remember that in 1990 I was treated for breast cancer. The treatments were thorough, and 1991 was a year of vigor for me and Small World Books. This year brings the unfortunate news that the cancer has returned  and will slow me down considerably as I embark on new treatment. Because I need to conserve energy and turn to more relaxing activities, I will retire from the bookstore business.

“We have loved hosting your birthday parties, doing book talks for your mothers’ groups and classrooms, bringing in special entertainers and authors, and daily answering your questions about books for children.” Judy went on to tell about employees’ future plans and her own: “I will study seed catalogs in preparation for this summer’s garden, weave on my long-ignored loom, and spend more time with friends over tea.”

Ever the bibliophile, she concluded by suggesting books that help explain illness to children, and added, “When you see me in the store or in the community, don’t be afraid. Having cancer is not the end of the world. In fact, it can bring about changes that enhance our lives. Please let your children know that it is fine to ask me how I am feeling. Their direction questions and honest statements are breaths of fresh air!”

I remember seeing Judy with her head wrapped in brightly colored scarves when our family started shopping in Small World a couple of years ago. It crossed my mind then that she may have been through chemotherapy; but on Judy — tall, slim, elegant, coolly intelligent — the scarves seemed more a matter of style.

I caught up with her recently and told her with what deep regret I went to her close-out sale. I wasn’t the only one. Judy’s mailbox has been full of love. Customers young and old, some of whom barely knew her and some of whom are living with cancer themselves, wrote to tell her what the shop has meant to them and to wish her well.

Judy is less inclined to mourn the shop’s closing than she is to celebrate the joys it has brought her these last three years. Chief among them was the knowledge that she could run a business according to her principles and still succeed commercially. “I knew from the beginning I wanted a multicultural, multiracial, nonsexist store, and that I wanted to be small scale in how I used resources. We used donated bags and didn’t print anything we didn’t have to. During the war in the Gulf I talked about peace-making and conflict resolution in our newsletter. People responded because it really is a small world, and we really need to know each other.”

What about those life-enhancing changes cancer has brought her? There are many. She and husband Ray Makeever are closer than ever before, and despite having lost a breast, Judy says she feels more womanly, and more proud of being a woman, than she ever has. She’s physically braver, too, as she learned this past fall on a solo hike she took on a strenuous trail in the Cascade Mountains. “I do think by having to look death in the face I have become more willing to take risks. I decided I would rather die on the trail with a broken ankle or from an encounter with a bear than to miss seeing the top of the mountain.”

And most of all, she has realized how many people she matters to. “I have absolutely been surrounded by love and concern,” she says.

Ernest Hemingway’s definition of courage as “grace under pressure” means more to me now that I have seen the example of Judy Essman’s uncommon grace.