Eidsfoss Jernverksmuseum

Recently we discovered a charming little place not too far from were we live.... we've been there a couple times, and if you come to Vestfold ( Norway ) it's certainly worth a visit.

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Eidsfoss is a village on the shores of the beautiful lake – Eikeren. 

The village was famous for the iron work factory - Eidsfos Jernverk. A foundry which produced cast iron ovens, and other iron items from 1697 – 1873.
 
In 1979 the Old Eidsfos Foundation was able to save some of the older workers houses from demolition. These old buildings now house the postal museum, and a small restaurant.

In Eidsfoss you can also visit the oldest Norwegian grocery shop still in use. 

Website:  http://www.jernverketeidsfoss.no/steder/eidsfoss-industrihistoriske-samlinger/

Old workers house in Eidsfoss

The old grocery store on the left hand side.

The museum with the lake in the background

A collection of iron ovens

Useful, decorative and beautiful.

Delicate details

These were the days when household items were designed to outlive you....

Bread baking in a traditional 'bryggerhus'.

    On Monday I had the privilege of helping with a bread baking day in an old bryggerhus.

    One my colleague at work lives on an old family farm where they keep some pigs, and recently renovated the 1850’s oven.

    Baking in a traditional oven requires a bit of time, but once heated, you can bake, and cook for hours on end. You must begin the day early by make a fire which will burn for some hours, when the coals are grey you remove them, clean the stones and wait for the oven to cool down to the desired temperature before you can start with your baking.

    There was place for some 30 breads, and when they were done, in went more breads, some pies and at the end pea soup that slowly cooked overnight. 

    Now I am pretty sure that my dream house will have a working oven…….

It got very, very hot in that oven !

 

 

 

 

 

 

The finished product !

First bread batch  is done, pea soup will go in last....

I'm not much of a pig person, but these pigs were well care for and rather cute.

At first they all ran, then they all came back to have their photo taken !

Antique finds in Strasbourg.

    When my husband and I were in France last month we took the time to visit a little brocante market in the old town center of Strasbourg.

    While my husband was keeping a look out for art deco items, I rummaged for antique needlework, and objects of daily life.

    There were some beautiful pieces such as an antique baby pram and some refurbished art deco settees, but of course they would never fit in our suitcase when we took the plane back home.

    Since we were in Alsace I wanted to bring home a local souvenir, and was happy to find a nice Easter lamb cake mold in perfect, sooty condition.

    I also found an interesting little crochet coin purse, with a metal ring that you can pull over to close. 

   To be honest I’ve never seen a model like that before, it‘s a bit of a cross between a reticule purse in shape, and a miser’s purse in the way it closes with a ring.

Easter lamb cake mold

Nice details inside. I wonder if those molds could be used in a regular oven ?

 

Antique crochet coin purse

A study in back and white- Toys.

    I have four children, so it is only natural that there are toys around the house.... so today I took my camera and decided to document what really goes on when the children are at school and the toys are left on their own.......

A knight defends the ledge from miniature dinosaur attacks

A large crocodile watches over my library

A dusty cowboy is ready to shoot whatever it is that is hiding behind the laundry basket.

I don't remember when that bear first appeared in my azalea plant, but he's been there for over a year at least.....

Legos, every home should have some legos left around... they don't actually collect as much dust as more ordinary ornaments do.....

A Diplodocus has eaten my tomatoes, and there seems to be a Pokemon ball in my onions.

A well worn mini monster sits on the bathroom mirror sill, and tells me later who brushed their teeth, and who wet their toothbrush only.

This pony has been accused of using up a whole bottle of shampoo in one wash..... or so told me her little mistress.

Fruit cookies - antique recipe

   Here is a little recipe I tried out from the Gleaners pride cookbook, it is not a printed recipe but one that was handwritten on the side of a page.

    Since the person who owned the book was born in 1895, I presume the recipe is from the 1920's-1930's, that is the time of life when young mothers are baking/cooking for their family and often collect recipes, especially favourites in books, notebooks, etc...But they could have also been written earlier, or later......

    See original post here :
  http://roland-designs.blogspot.no/2014/04/gleaners-pride-cook-book-1897.html

Fruit cookies recipe

 
  When you work from old recipes you can never quite be sure of how the result will be, but it is always fun to try.

   The recipe made a rather soft batter, so I decided to make the cookies as ' drop cookies' on a baking sheet. On the first batch I put too much batter and the cookies all stuck together, the second batch came out perfect as I put smaller spoonfuls on the tray.

   Apart for my 7 year old daughter who is very picky about food at the present, all the other members of the family really liked the cookies.

Fruit cookies

1 cup soft butter
2 cups white sugar ( You can also use brown sugar or 50/50 white/brown)
2 eggs
1 cup sour milk ( If you do not have sour milk, just add a tablespoon of lemon juice in the milk and let it sit a while )
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon cloves
4 cups flour
2 cups chopped nuts/ dried fruits ( I used hazelnuts, and dried apricots )

-Cream butter and sugar, add eggs one at a time.
-Mix in rest of ingredients
-Drop on baking sheet, and bake for about 10 mns in a 200 degrees oven.
-Let cool on wire rack

Chopped nuts and dried apricots

Drop on baking sheet

Hmmm !

Gleaners pride cook book 1897

     A few weeks ago I commented in an ETSY forum thread in regard as to whether or not  people are interested in old cookbooks.

     Anyone who knows me will answer that if you have a curious ( or rare ) item of Victoriana daily life.... I am most certainly interested ! To the point where I have received personal mail from total strangers inviting me to participate in online auctions of rare items... but alas, my purse does not stretch that far... just think about the import tax..... Norwegian import tolls are not collector friendly......

   Anyways, I was contacted by a lady who sells vintage on ETSY who had an old cook book in a terrible state and she was wondering if it could be something I would fancy.

   Here is part of her convos :

    'My mother-in-law was born in 1895 and I believe she had relatives in Fort Atkinson and obviously would have gotten this at a later time in her life. Bill's family moved to Whitewater in 1933 so maybe she got it then...'

    'I almost threw that recipe book out because of the condition, but glad I didn't....because as my husband says...it is going to a good home...'

  I purchased the little book from her, and received it very quickly. The cook book is a compilation of recipes from the Gleaner society congregational church, each entry has the name of the lady who shared it. But what I like the most in old books are the handwritten recipes, those are tried and proven, loved, and probably something that was often on the household menu.


     Sadly the pages are dirty, torn, and the recipes written in pencil are faded. But I did make out a couple of them and will be giving them a try, sharing with you my readers the results.

   Here are a couple ' Hints taken from best authorities'

- Do not put glasses that have held milk into hot water, as this causes the milk to penetrate the glass and can never be removed.

- A silver spoon put into a glass jar, will temper it so that it can at once be filled with anything hot, even to the boiling point.

- Nothing but silver or wood should be used in mixing salads.

- To improve flavor, add a dozen nasturtium buds to the vinegar in your vinegar cruet.

- Cotton batting is impervious to all life germs. Draw it carefully over a full jar of preserved fruits, and it will prevent mold and fermentation.


Be sure to visit  Edna's etsy shop for more fabulous finds :
 www.Ednascloset.etsy.com

Gleaners pride cook book, missing the cover.

Add caption

An odd to dining.

Hand writen recipes

Every spare space is covered in handwriten notes.

The back of the little book.

Vintage French knitting patterns, and more knitting.....

   More knitting practise for me, this time with a simple knitted lace scarf designed by Delorme Designs ( http://www.delormedesigns.blogspot.no/)

   I'll face up right away and admit that I had a couple false starts. I'm a little impatient and at times over confident, so here are a couple lessons I learned :

   1. When starting on a new project, especially knitted lace... do a quick refreshment of the stitches used. Some designers use slightly different terminologies and it can result in mistakes, and having to unpick.

   2. Do not start a new project when you are tired, watching a movie and sitting in bad light. Once again you are setting yourself up to a bad start, and probably will have to unravel the previous evenings work and start again.

   3. Everyone knits a bit differently. If the pattern is not for a ' tailored' fit, using a different size needles can make a big difference. I am using alpaca wool, and tried needles size 3, 3.5, and finally 3.75... I prefered the larger needles with this soft wool... a slightly wider scarf is really not a problem.

Simple lace scarf, the pattern will show more when it has been blocked.

    One reason I want to familiarise myself with knitting is that I have a growing collection of vintage/antique patterns just waiting to be ' revived' for the modern knitter.

   Recently I acquired a very old, and damaged French knitting/crochet album full of interesting patterns called : Les patrons Francais 'Echo'.

   The small magazine type album has about 100 pages of patterns, the cover is missing but I presume it to be from the 20's. Naturally some of the designs are outdated, but there are plenty of ideas for 'vintage inspired' knitwears that could be lot's of fun to knit and wear.

    If any of my readers are familiar with French knitting terminologies from the 20's, and would like to give a try at some of those patterns let me know and I can send you a scan.

Les patron Francais ' Echo'

Children clothes

The pattern on the right is for a knitted sport top in silk and wool. The description assures the reader that knitted tops in bright colors, are the most fashionable choice for the sporty lady.