Making vintage cooking tools from Christmas trees:

I’ve actually been making these for a while to use at medieval reenactments, since a friend of mine saw one in a medieval museum.  My clients are used to my bizarre requests by now (you have walnut trees? I need the  green ones!, for example) and the ones I’ve had for longer all know to bring me their christmas tree tops every year, so I was delighted to stumble across this in one of my vintage magazines.  This one is from the January1919 issue of Hilf Dir Selbst. If you’re wondering what that is, I’ve posted tea and mushroom recipes from it before (I now have a bunch of them!)

Click on the photos for a larger view:

the one on the left is finished, the one on the right is in progress

The instructions read:

“To Use a Christmas Tree

Before burning them, Christmas trees that have served their purpose  can be turned into kitchen utensils.  I find if you prepare the whisks in different sizes,you can completely subsitute them for the ones you can buy in the shop carved out of solid wood. They are especially good for taking laundry out of the pot.  You cut the top so that the only the teeth of the whisk remain, be careful that the wood doesn’t crack, see figure 2a.  Then each whisk  should be peeled with a sharp knife in the direction from the thickest part to the thinnest of the handle [if the wood is still green you can also peel it off with your fingers]. After peeling, leave the whisk for a while in hot, but not boiling water to soften it.  Then let it slowly dry in a mild temperature so it doesnt turn brown [I actually skip this step].  Then take sandpaper and sand it down until the whisk is smooth.”

I also rub mine down with olive oil to make it extra smooth.  These will beat eggs and cream like nothing else on earth!

Turning a Scarf into a Hood, 40′s Style:

So a few days ago I came across this post on Diary of A Vintage Girl and fell in love with her hood. I was even more excited to find that she got the idea from a collection of 1940′s fashion advice videos found here: British Pathe.  In addition to the headscarf video there’s advice on how to tie a turban, how to make slippers, tweaking your dresses from day to night, and making hats! The Day to Day frock video is my personal favorite.  Anyhow, I decided to try the scarf to hood idea and found a scarf I had that was wide enough to do so (it’s a little to wide, but this was only to test out). It took like 5 minutes over coffee at a friends house to stitch it. Also, I look like Little Red Riding Hood.

All you need to do is fold it in half (ends together) and stitch it down until the back of the “hood” reaches the bottom of the back of your neck.  With all the wind and rain it’s so useful, I’ve worn it every day since I made it!  Her’s totally looks better than mine, but next time I’m going to use a thicker and narrower scarf and see how that works out.  It would be great for my long-stretch hiking too!

I know all my photos are taken here, but it's got the best light in the apartment.

And to wrap up, two of the highlights from Christmas:

Learning how to salt a sheep's hide to prepare it for tanning at a friend's house in Franconia. There were also giant jello shots and a trip to a 6th generation potter, but this is probably my favorite moment

I was also gifted some 50's christmas ornaments by my friend's grandmother. I love them!

And in between Christmas and New Year's I was invited to celebrate Spanish style with friends here in Köln. There were tortillas. And sausages cooked in flaming rum. Awesome!.

And that’s that! Have a great week!

Köln Altemarkt

more at Altemarkt. There were so many people it was like walking in the ocean.

more Altemarkt

the new haircut

Köln Neumarkt

Gingerbread stall at Köln Neumarkt

Star shop at Neumarkt

There is nothing better on a cold day than warm, burnt almonds. Except for Glühwein.

Marienheide Forest-Market. This is my favorite of all of them! They had boar meatballs, smoked trout, bread baking in wood ovens and lots of mulled wine! It even snowed for us.

Clan Villani and booze

you could get trout straight out of the smoker. It was sooo good.

Cocoa with rum. It's nice to hang out with other bloggers, you're not the only one taking photos of random stuff!

And that’s that!  Part two, in which I learn how to salt a sheeps hide in Bavaria and eat Spanish style flaming rum sausages coming soon

I do realize my last post was ages ago and also had to do with hair and pastry, but other than work and getting sucked into Fallout New Vegas that’s what I’ve been doing  I’ll have more vintage sewing and cooking soon, but until then, last weekend I managed to make an amazing apple pie, completely in my toaster oven.  It took MAYBE 5 minutes of prep time and is the perfect size for one person.  This is important, because I’m the kind of person who will eat any amount of pie in front of me, regardles how full I am.

All you need is: two rammikins, flour, butter, a pinch of salt, 1 tbsp. brown cane sugar (or regular sugar, whatever), cinnamon to taste, and an apple.

First:  dice up the  apple, add sugar and sprinkle liberally with cinnamon (I like a lot of it), mix and put in rammikin one.  Put a few small pieces of butter on top.  Bake in the oven (on the highest heat) for about 30 minutes.   (If your apple was too much to fit into the rammikin, just sprinkle it with cinnamon and sugar and wrap it in extra pie crust and bake it separately)

Once the apples are in the oven,  make the crust:  Mix 1 cup flour with 1/8 tsp salt in a bowl.  Cut in 1/3 cup butter till just crumbly.  Stir in 3 tbsp water till just moistened.  Roll it out or just take a ball and press it into the bottom of the 2nd rammikin, making sure it goes up and over the sides a bit.  Bake for 10-15 minutes (just throw it in at the end with the apples).

Then take them both out, pour the apple mix into the pie crust rammikin, and use more pie crust to cover the top, using a fork to stick the edges together.  make a few slits in the top with a knife and bake for 20-30 minutes.  Done!

In other news a friend of mine got married last week and I got vintaged up for it.

I am insanely proud of this barrel roll.

From the front...

If you want to learn how to make a barrel roll, I totally recommend this video (I’ve posted it before but don’t feel like looking for it)

It’s really the best video for beginners I’ve found.

Have a great Sunday!

Today is one of the last nice weekends we’ll have before autumn hits, and I decided to use up some of the herbs from my garden to bake some bread.  This is THE best bread recipe EVER, and was devised by a good friend of mine, Nancy.  I’ve made a few adaptations (a handful of fresh herbs rather than 2 tablespoons of dill and only one tablespoon of sugar rather than two), otherwise it’s all hers.

I used red basil, gold oregano, lemon thyme and a bit of hyssop

Herb Batter Bread

3 1/4 c. all purpose flour or bread flour
2 pkgs. (or 4 1/2 tsp.) dry yeast
1 T granulated sugar
1 T dried minced onion
1 handful of fresh herbs
1 tsp. salt
8 oz. plain yogurt
1/2 c. water
1 egg
2 T butter or shortening

In a large bowl combine all dry ingredients, except 2 c. of the flour, and mix well.  In a small sauce pan heat yogurt, water and butter until it’s 120-130 degrees F.  Butter does not need to melt.  Add to dry mixture.  Add egg.  Mix until well moistened, then beat hard for 3 minutes until well blended.  Add enough of remaining flour to get a stiff batter.  Place into greased 1 1/2-2 qt. Casserole or deep pan or heat proof bowl.  Cover and let rise until doubled, approx. 1 hour.  Bake at 375 degrees F for 35-40 minutes until golden brown.  Remove from pan to rack.  Serve warm or cold.  Makes 1 loaf.

not the best looking bread I've made, but it tastes amazing. It's really hard to evenly bake bread in a tiny toaster oven. I'm going to have to make a few more loaves to see if I can figure out a good tactic.

Imade some lemon-garlic butter to eat with the bread, basically, butter, squeeze a bit of lemon juice into it, add some diced garlic, a bit of salt and black pepper.  I also added some hyssop leaves to it, because I have way too many herbs and need to use them!  I’d be more specific with the measurements, but it’s better if you decide based on how sour or garlicy you like things.

I'm going to have this on baked potatoes tomorrow too

Then it was out to meet the fabulous Nina.  We decided to get dressed up and go for cupcakes, so I went with a 50′s vibe.  To do the hair, I roughly followed the directions of the second video here, and for the back I gave it a half twist, pulled it straight to the top and pinned the hell out of it.  It doesn’t take long to do and is pretty simple.  Just do not scrimp on the hairspray if it’s hot and humid like today!  It didn’t stay in place as much as I had hoped.  Here’s how it turned out:

sorry it's off center...it's not easy taking photos of the back of your own head

and then it was off to Royal Cupcakes

And finally, I was pleasantly surprised to find a bunch of tomatoes had finally ripened!  I definitely need some salad today after all the sugar.

cream sausage, green sausage and black from Tula tomatoes.

And that’s that!  I may finish a vintage skirt I’ve been working on, but then again, I might just lay around and stare at the tv.  A perfect Saturday!

Seriously, these are easy to make, and so much better than just dumping old electronics in the trash!

Tools: wire cutters, hammer (for weight), phillips head screwdriver, rubber cement

Materials: insides of two dvd players, 4 corner flower pot

step one: glue the panels on. Make sure to let the glue dry properly before moving onto the next side. Trust me on this one.

I used the wires to fill in the missing spaces. I recommend doing three at a time, taping them into place until the glue sets a bit, and then moving on to the next three

and done!

Peach Berry Jam (honestly the best jam I’ve ever made)

1 kilo peaches

a large handful of raspberries

juice from half a lime

1 kilo sugar (or a little less)

half a vanilla bean (or vanilla extract)

You make this just like the jam recipes I posted a few weeks ago, except this needs to be cooked much longer. Boil 10 minutes the first round, wait overnight,  then 20 to 30 or until it’s sticky.  I didn’t cook it as long as I would have for a thicker jam, as I was looking for something a bit more liquid to eat on cake.  The color is amazing and it tastes so good!  If you use a vanilla bean instead of extract, after boiling for the first time, put the vanilla bean to the mix for about 15 minutes and then remove.

I made WAY more than this...this is the extra jar. I love the color!

so once I had the jam, I decided I needed to use it to make some cake:

Whole Wheat Jam Cake

the smaller cake. I cut it in half before remembering to take the picture. Also, the cake is flipped upside down

(disclaimer…I’m not the most accurate measurer even when I’m baking. I’m a fan of the chaos cooking theory, so things might be a bit off…when in doubt, use your judgement)

Mix 200 grams of sugar with 120 grams of butter.  Beat two eggs and add.  In a separate bowl mix 200 grams of wheat flour with 8 grams of baking powder and add to the mix.  Now here’s the surprising bit. At the supermarket they didn’t have any small containers of regular milk, and I didn’t want a whole liter.  So I ended up using vanilla milk (Landliebe) instead of regular milk and vanilla and it was actually really good.  trust me on this one.  Anyhow, add 150 ml of vanilla milk to the mix, mix it all together and pour into cake or muffin forms.  So I made two cakes, one smaller that I added jam in the middle of (which ended up sinking through to the bottom and making a layer) and a big one that I marbled the jam into. Both were great so run with it!  for a normal sized cake bake for 30-40 minutes or 25 minutes for a smaller cake (my oven is a mini student oven with no settings for heat. If you’re a new baker, I’d go look at some basic cake recipes and follow their temperature and time recommendations.)  I strongly urge you to eat it warm. maybe even with ice cream if you’re feeling crazy.

After which I was desperate for something savory, so I went back to my post with translations from 1919 post-war recipes and decided to try the Mushrooms in Vinegar to Put on Bread, which is basically just pickled mushrooms.

I used minced garlic instead of horseradish and marjoram and hyssop from the garden instead of dill and they turned out AMAZING.  I also added some water to the vinegar (I think it was 1:1), which I strongly suggest.

And, as we’re looking for YET ANOTHER weekend of rain here in Cologne, I’m thinking about sewing some more vintage and doing something with my green tomatoes.  And speaking of tomatoes, my cream sausage and moonglow have put out a few ripe ones this week!

cream sausage and red basil

Moonglow. The color is the best part, it really is a pumpkin orange.

Enjoy!

However, today I managed to scrape together enough veg to make a small salad, which thrilled the hell out of me.  It’s the first 100% mine salad I’ve had this year:

8 ball zucchini, cream sausage tomato, monkey face peppers, red basil, lemon thyme, and gold oregano. For dressing I just used a bit of olive oil, black pepper and balsamic vinegar (I put it on after the photo so you could see the colors)

Now probably the best bit of my garden is the herbs.  If you’re thinking about starting a container garden, start with them. Most of them are hardy, last all year in a mild winter, and can be used all the time! Also, you can use them on just about everything.  And when the weather is this bad I find making things from the garden is a good way to cheer myself up.  So I also made rolls with herbs:

this takes 5 minutes to make. Toast a bread roll, add cream cheese, a bit of vinaigrette, fresh herbs (I used marjoram, hyssop, lemon thyme, red basil and hyssop flowers) and squeeze half a lime over the whole thing. awesome.

And of course you need booze so I made a sort of pimped out gin and tonic:

to make: a bit of gin, a lot of tonic, Spanish mint (from the garden), juice from a slice of lime. garnish with raspberries and half a slice of lime.

and here are some photos of the balcony now (we had exactly 11 minutes of sun today, so you might see a stray sunbeam now and again), you can see how pissed off my tomato plants are looking:

8 ball zucchini. They're small but it's the first year I've managed to get any zucchini to grow at all. I was starting to take it personally.

my sad-looking moonglow and cream sausage tomatoes.

the herbs and strawberries are looking amazing though.

one of my mystery tomatoes. I'm thinking it's a mr. stripey.

monkey face peppers, which I bought only because of the name. Turns out they're really good, hot, but not scorching and a good flavor. I totally recommend growing these!

two of the mystery tomato plants turned out to be green sausage. Seriously if you're going to grow heirloom tomatoes, make sure you have a few from the "sausage" family. They grow quickly, produce early and A LOT, so while you're waiting for your other tomatoes to give up the goods, you can always have some of these to eat.

another mystery tomato, I'm hoping it's a Black from Tula

the bees have been making sweet love to my dahlias and marjoram flowers all summer.

Happy Saturday!

Forest berry and red rose

125 gr. blackberries

125 gr. raspberries

250 gr. strawberries

the petals from one rose (MAKE SURE ITS ORGANIC! normal roses from the shop are covered in chemicals. you don’t want to eat that.)

500 grams of sugar.

put all the ingredients into a pot and stirring constantly bring to a boil.  Let it boil while stirring for about 5 minutes.  Take off of the heat and cover.  Let it sit overnight or about 8 hours.  Then take off the cover, and while stirring bring it back to a boil for 5 to10 minutes, or when the bubbles start to sound “sticky”.  Then take off the heat, put in jars, and flip the jars on their lids for 5 minutes.  done!

Blueberry-cherry with red rose

250 g. blueberries

250 g. cherries

the petals of one rose

500 gr. cane sugar

exactly as above.

My biggest tip is that when it starts to spit hot jam at you, put the lid on the pot so it’s at a diagonal, top facing you.  You can keep stirring the jam behind it, and it will keep the boiling bits off your face and clothes.  I’m also planning on trying some of the vintage preserving recipes I posted a while back, and if this weather keeps up I’ll have plenty of time

links to the photo stock I used can be found on deviant art, here: http://combray.deviantart.com/gallery/25983074#/d2vai6b

In the Summer

In the summer
I stretch out on the shore
And think of you
Had I told the sea
What I felt for you,
It would have left its shores,
Its shells,
Its fish,
And followed me.
—Nizar Qabbani

enjoy!