Have a Cup of Cheer
So for my final pre-Christmas post, I’ve decided to share my Christmas Spirit. This cocktail is named after one of my top three favorite Christmas movies, The Bishop’s Wife. It’s a slight variation on the classic cocktail, The Bishop, but with the addition of a little Cottage-style recycling.
After making Autumn Sidecars, I had quite a bit of spiced simple syrup left over. It has such a fall/winter flavor that I wanted to use it again but in a way that didn’t too closely copy the flavors of the A.S. Initially, I thought of using it in a wintry sangria (which still might be a good idea) but rejected the idea in favor of a cocktail I could make in ones or twos vs. in a batch for a crowd. The result is festive and cheerful and I love it almost as much a I love the dear movie for which I named it. Merry Christmas.
The Bishop’s Wife
3/4 to 1 oz. of Spiced Simple Syrup (recipe)
1/4″ lemon slice
1 oz. white rum
red wine (I prefer a zin or a cab, but really any will do)
In the bottom of a shaker, muddle the lemon slice with the Spiced Simple Syrup.
Add the rum and fill the shaker with ice. Shake madly.
Place a few ice cubes in a goblet or double-old fashioned glass. Strain the contents of shaker into the glass. Top with red wine. Stir and garnish with lemon.
That’ll warm your heart and soul.
Christmas Craft 3 - Shopping Bags
Make shopping bags for people for Christmas! Help the planet and give a great gift.
I’m pretty new to the world of sewing so when I decided to make shopping bags for my mom I asked the Internet for a good (read easy enough for a card-carrying curser of sewing machines to follow) pattern for a cloth bag. It was remarkably challenging to find what I wanted. (Once again, the basic black skirt conundrum.) There’s a lot of stuff out there for you folks who want to knit or crochet your bag. And there are quite a few options for pillowcase style flat bags. But I wanted something that could hold a reasonable number of items (gusset-esque, please) and looked kinda chic.
Finally, I found EXACTLY what I wanted at Film in the Fridge. Oh how I wish I could take credit for this tutorial. But I can’t. I can only say that this set of instructions was super easy to follow and I could not be more pleased with my results (as seen above). Ashley at “Film” totally earns her place on the “Nice” list with easy-to-follow directions-plus-photos. Even the one “tricky to explain” step becomes very clear once you have the actual parts in your actual hands.
Added bonus, if you need a “what the hell do I get for ______” gift, you totally have time to make these this weekend. Go forth and stitch.
Now we’re cooking with…paper
Like a lot of folks, I cook way more than usual around the holidays. I make normal stuff. I make weird stuff. I make stuff I really never, ever want to see again. Mostly though, I make stuff to give away. Co-workers, neighbors, the UPS man — no one is safe from the Cottage’s gift of food.
I’m also a wrapper. I am the exact opposite of Beth, whose idea of wrapping is to twist shut the bag the gift came in. I really shoot for creating interestingly wrapped gifts. (In fact, I loved this faux bois wrapping so much I almost stole it outright.) Anyway, my wrapping themes generally extend to the food gifts and this year, I got a big helping hand from these Italian paper bakers (apologies for the photo). I’ve been sitting on these since, like, July thinking that their festive-looking but kind of holiday-neutral design would be great for Xmas quick breads. I just tried them out (using the set of mini bakers) and could not be more pleased with the results. My pumpkin bread cooked up as advertised (with a reduction in time to account for mini-loaves, of course) and popped out of the oven basically pre-wrapped and ready to go. A little ribbon and bada bing, bada boom you gotta nice little gift. With the wrapping done I have that much more time to make candied orange peel, chocolate pecan toffee, cheddar shortbread, sausage balls, date nut balls, crescents….
Dinerware not dinnerware
original diner mugs
The diner near our house is a jackpot for two-tops. There’s a line out the door for parties of four and larger families but if you’re a couple, you can pretty much stroll past the line and take a seat like you’re a goodfella at the Copa. We love this diner. It was established in the 1920s but got a really unfortunate fake-fern-&-rag-rolled-walls makeover in the 80s. Tragically, THAT is the look that has stuck. (How does that happen?) Less tragically, a couple of old-style things are still in place. One, the original logo and two, their concave, white, thick ceramic coffee cups.
These coffee cups. Who invented these things? The design is so simple and yet nothing short of a thermos keeps coffee as warm and steamy. And while the diner’s plain white cups are perfectly serviceable, I get excited when I’m served in one of the remaining few that is printed with the logo. The logo adds charm and history and just plain ol’ coolness.
So last Sunday over waffles and fat, fried ham slices (shut up) I got this idea that I should get some of these mugs for home. Wrapping my perpetually freezing paws around a beefy ceramic mug would be a great way to help keep warm in the winter cottage. BUT, you know, being a designer and all I couldn’t settle for the plain white and had to find some logo mug options. The Camp Fire Girls one above is my favorite. I love the logo and, as an added bonus, it makes me think, happily, of my childhood summer camp. If that’s not your style though, P.O.S.H. Chicago also has pancake- and doughnut-themed options, both of which are supercute. And just so you know, even ONE of these would take up a good 1/4 of most Christmas stockings.
Christmas Craft 2 - Modern Record Bowls
Did you ever make oven-melted record bowls? When I was a kid, my family made homemade Christmas candy and wrapped it up to be delivered to friends and neighbors in melted record bowls spray-painted neon pink (yeah, no idea…but I guarantee the pink was my dad’s idea).
I wanted to create something a little sleeker and a little less free-form than the old oven-melted variety so I made these little low-edged tray bowls.
Materials:
vinyl record (i really love the thick ones from the ’60s and earlier)
sharpie
scissors
steel ruler
a surface that can withstand some heat from…
…a heat gun
Step1: Clip Lines
Mark clip lines: At 12:00, 3:00, 6:00 and 9:00 on your record, measure about 1.5-2″ in from the edge and mark it with a sharpie. (I just used whatever track line on the record was about 2″ from the edge) These are the short white lines shown above NOT the dotted blue lines.
With the heat gun set on low and held about 6 inches from your record, lightly warm up one clip line. You’ll see the surface of the vinyl start to change which will cue you that it’s getting softer. When it’s soft, use the scissors to clip the clip line. Be careful not to overheat and completely melt the record. The vinyl will cool and reharden quickly. If you don’t cut fast enough, just reheat until soft and clip again. Repeat for all clip lines.
Step 2: Bend the seams
Heat a general line (without the ruler in place) between the bases of 2 clipped lines along one of the blue dotted lines shown on the diagram above. When the vinyl is soft, lay the ruler down on the record and bend the vinyl upward against it. Hold the vinyl up for a few seconds until it cools and hardens. Work your way around the other bend lines.
Step 3: Tuck the Corners
Where the corners come together they’ll overlap a little like the above. Gently heat both the inside and the outside with the heat gun. When just cool enough to touch, use your fingers to bend them against each other into rounded corners that look like this:
End Result:
To protect the label, I gave it about 3 coats of ModgePodge as a kind of light sealer against major wear and tear. On a few later models I also filled the hole with a bead of hot glue which dries like a hard little plug.
Clean it with a wet cloth or a quick douse under the kitchen faucet but keep it away from any heat like the dishwasher or you’ll undo all your work.
