Saturday, December 24, 2011

Happy Holidays!

julkort 2011-eng

Wishing all my readers the very best this holiday season!

5 comments:

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

Happy Holidays!

Cheers,

Rosa

aimee said...

What a GREAT card!! Wishing you a Merry Christmas too and a very happy New Year!
Baked Swedish meatballs tonight--yum!
Blessings,
Aimee

Barbara said...

That's a wonderful picture and greeting card.

Thanks, and all the best to you and your family as well! :-)

Anonymous said...

Hi Anne,

I just wanted to take a moment and tell you how much I appreciate your blog. Frankly, it's just wonderful! I don't comment often, but I look for you every day.

Your Christmas recipes are particularly meaningful to me. I just loved having a recipe every day this year.

My grandmother was first generation Swedish American, but didn't really keep up with her Swedish roots. In the last few years I've tried to learn more about my heritage, and have made Swedish foods at Christmastime. Your recipes are a great inspiration.

For the last few years I have made Swedish meatballs, ham, and potatisgratine at Christmas. My husband and family just love this food. My other sides I think could be Swedish or American - green beans with bacon, cauliflower with cheese sauce, and salad with dried berries, almonds, and a honey mustard dressing inspired by Tina Nordstrom. For dessert I make dromtarta, mjyk pepparkaka, and something I found online called Grammie Miller's Swedish apple pie. Here is a link:

http://www.food.com/recipe/grammie-millers-swedish-apple-pie-84441

I have made this with apples, or rhubarb, or a mixture of apples and mince. It is always delicious.

Some years I have made Tina Nordstrom's Christmas cabbage and carrots, but didn't do those dishes this year. Tina was on my local public broadcasting station for a few years as part of a Scandinavian cooking program, along with Andreas Viestad.

I have made 2 batches of Swedish style cinnamon buns this week, using cardamom and putting them in muffin baking cups with Swedish pearl sugar on top. I use brown sugar and both cinnamon and clove with the butter when I roll them out. My adult son, who is living with us temporarily, is just crazy about these.

I really appreciated the information you gave me last year that the use of clove was indicative of southern Sweden, because that is where my grandma's family is from. My grandma always used some clove in her cooking, and knowing that this was regional made me feel closer to those in the past. Using clove in baked goods, "stewed" chicken, and yellow pea soup just tastes right to me.

I also formed the cinnamon rolls the way that you blogged, by folding the dough into thirds, cutting and twisting. It makes them look so pretty and fancy!

Thank you so much for all of the interesting recipes and information that you provide.

Also, I really, really love looking at the pictures of your beautiful little Titus. My grandchildren are similar in age. I hope that you had a God Jul! Sincerely, Eileen Humphrey, western NY state, USA.

Anne said...

Oh Eileen, I'm glad I've been able to help you bring some more Swedish customs onto your table :) I'll add some cloves in my next batch of cinnamon buns!