December 2021 – ingridericksonblog

It is finally beginning to feel like winter…

*whole grain loaf with barley, dill, and caraway*

I’ve been doing some late autumn/early winter bread baking. I made an einkorn bread with seeds and a wholegrain barley loaf with toasted walnuts and dill and caraway seeds. I baked a maple tart with an oatmeal crust and a nutmeg whipped cream to share with a friend for an outdoor park picnic. I also did my first batch of cookie baking to share—snowball cookies, Swedish horseshoe cookies, and my new favorites—rye and orange cookies.

We’ve enjoyed the first glogg (Swedish mulled wine with spices) of the season. I made 2 nonalcoholic versions—cranberry with star anise, orange slices, a cinnamon stick, whole cloves, and ginger, and a pot of blueberry with cardamom. It’s also a great time to warm the house with pots of soup. The latest was a batch of spicy pumpkin soup with homemade toasted rye croutons, lime, and fresh cilantro. Another night I made a side of Brussel sprouts with a dash of maple syrup, chili flakes, and toasted pecans.

*spiced berry jam with garden blueberries…*

My garden is a winter garden these days—just a duo of last late roses blooming somehow despite the deepening cold, and lots of dry stalks and sculpturally bare magenta raspberry canes. It has a spare beauty this time of year. I’m using the herbs I gathered before the frost. I made a spicy berry jam with my homemade vanilla, nutmeg, and the last strawberries and blueberries saved from our summer garden.

It’s also a great time for winter walks…

*Funny how the color palette outside sometimes matches the range I’m working on in the studio (see below)…*

As the soup simmers, I’ve been working away in the studio on my largest nest so far—actually, a whole colony of nests. You can see some of my progress on the Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonata) colony here. I’m cutting lots of small individual pieces for construction. I have about 800 so far.

*Cliff Swallow nest pieces awaiting my X-acto knife…*

*Cliff Swallow nest parts in hand-cut paper pre-construction…*I can’t wait to finally make it 3-D!

There will be over 1,000 sections when I’ve finished cutting. Then it will be time to build…Between making grains of paper “sand” for my scrape nests and the creation of these small sections of paper “mud daub” I am learning a new rhythm. I like the challenge of working in new ways.