Spring turned into summer....

And we relocated to our little summer home. We still wear wooly blankets at night, though.

I am working from my incredible super compact mini work space now, very busy with an interesting project. Outside my window, less than a meter from me, a couple of exhausted blackbirds are feeding their young, in their nest in the hedge. Let me tell you; being a new blackbird parent is no picnic!

Someone dear to me gave me a crazy Venetian glass bowl, and outside the garden is going wild. 

Our peonies exploded, as if on steroids, this year.

And this year I am managing to harvest a bit of rhubarb - last year they were out-grown by weeds, because we were traveling all of May. I will be making the world's best rhubarb jam, with vanilla and ginger, when I have a bit of spare time (not much of that right now). 

Jam recipe after the photos!

World's Best Rhubarb Jam - at least according to me!

From Swedish foodie, writer and tv personality Leila Lindholm - and since this particular recipe is not on her website, I will take the liberty to put it here. It is very easy to make, and you will love it.

About 500 grams of fresh rhubarb, rinsed and cut into small bits

About 30 grams of peeled fresh ginger, cut into thin, small slices

One vanilla pod (scrape the seed paste out and add that, but put the peel into the mix as well)

Juice of one lemon

Half a cup of water

1 kilo of sugar, perferably 'syltesukker' *

OR add a bit of starch for jam making. In DK I would use Melatin.

(*a product very common here in DK - it is ordinary sugar which contains just the bit of added starch needed for jam- and marmelade making) 

Mix everything, except the sugar, in a sturdy, large pot, and let boil with no lid, for about 15 min.

Add sugar, while stirring the pulp - gently and slowly. Let boil for a couple of additional minutes. If you use starch, it is usually added as the very last thing, and then the jam has to settle a bit. Read the instructions!

If you like, fish the vanilla pod peel out (or leave it - it has lots of taste and looks decorative).

Pour the jam into sterilized hot jars (this amount should make about four jars = about one litre).

Let cool and enjoy!

PS: if you can't make the jam right now, when rhubarb is in season, just rinse it, cut it, and throw it in the freezer. That's what I just did!

Saffron is a necessity

This is the most important purchase I have made for days. I am making 'Lussekatte' for 18 kids tomorrow, and this is the main ingredient that makes these delicious buns what they are. 

I have written about the holy saint Lucia and the saffron buns you eat to commemorate her kindness to the poor, before - and I posted a recipe for the buns as well. They are totally yum, and for some reason I haven't made them the last couple of years, so I look forward to them. 

Here is the recipe for Lussekatte, Lucia Buns, Lucy Cats - or whatever you choose to call them

The day of the holy Lucia is on December 13th, so this gives you a couple of days to get to it!

It's Lucia today

Here are my little cardboard Lucias - they are a Swedish pappersrad ('paper row'...?), and these
are a particular Swedish christmas thing (as is Lucia), I have never seen them of Danish origin.
They are zig zag folded little paper tableaus, to put in your window, perhaps,  or as a centerpiece
on your christmas table - and very sweet. I will get back to you on those later....

Do you know the story...? That, and the recipe for saffron Lucia buns, you can find right here.

They had a Lucia procession in my sons kindergarten yesterday. They didn't remember all the words
of the song, and didn't march very much in time, but the holy Lucia herself must have heard them.

Happy Lucia

Celebrating the saint Lucia, is not as big a thing in Denmark, as it is in Sweden - but there is one
tradition I do my best to follow every year, as I am a bit of a closet Swede: baking Lussekatte or
Lucia saffron buns. They are delicious and vaguely exotic with the sweet, musky saffron taste.
They are said to originally not celebrate the saint Lucia, but to be symbolizing the fight against the
evil and dark forces = Lucifer, hence the name 'Lussekatte' or, as I have seen them called among the
english speaking: 'Lucy cats'.

Download your recipe here

Update: I have tried this recipe, and it's better, I think. The dough is not quite as buttery rich, and rises better. It's in Swedish - but Google will translate, if you need to!

Here is what Donna G. Genzmer from the University of Wisconsin writes:

Background:

St. Lucia is an Italian saint who has been adopted by the Swedes. She gave her dowry to the poor. Her fiancee denounced her for this. She was blinded and burned. The flames didn't touch her so she was stabbed in the heart. The red sash represents the wound. It is said that she appeared during a famine in Sweden in the middle ages carrying food to the farmers across Lake Vännern.

 

She is associated with the idea of light. In the middle ages, December 13 fell on the shortest day of the year. (In Sweden, the sun is not up very long in winter. In some places it doesn't come up at all.) This holiday celebrates the fact that the days will now get longer.

Today:
On the morning of December 13, the oldest daughter dresses in a special long white dress with a red ribbon around the waist and white socks and no shoes. She puts a wreath made out of leaves on her head. The wreath has 6 - 8 candles on it. Nowadays the candles are usually battery powered light bulbs instead of real candles. Her sisters also wear special long white dresses but they have shiny ribbons around their waists and they have another shiny ribbon around their heads. They carry a candle in their hands. Her brothers wear a special long white gown with a shiny sash and a pointed hat with three stars on it. They carry a baton with a star on it. They are called Star Boys. 
The children serve coffee and special saffron bread to the rest of the family. They walk into the bedroom with the oldest daughter in the front, followed by the next tallest girl, down to the smallest. Then the boys follow with the tallest in the front. As they bring in the Lucia bread and coffee the girls sing "Santa Lucia" (in Swedish, of course), and then the boys sing "Stefan was a Stable-boy." The children then go to their neighbors and teachers and serve them the coffee and bread.

Significance of Symbols:
candles - light 
yellow (saffron) bread - light
bare feet - charity

(Traditionally, you can eat the bread until Christmas, but not before St. Lucia)