Bombs away! - Happy New Year :D

The little hens were a present from my daughter. She found
them in the Good S. but they are more my thing. The
heartshaped candle holders are Danish and were still in
the box. I like this type of simple Christmas decoration.

I finally made bath bombs.  I've wanted to do them for the longest time, but somehow it seemed too complicated.  It isn't.  It's really easy.  In fact it's almost too easy.  I used a very simple recipe from The Excellent Living Guide.  There are many guides and tutorials on the Internet and most of them are good.  Now I am not the greatest bath bomb fan, but my sisters really like them, so I thought I'd have a go at making them as presents.

I had managed to get myself some Citric acid and I found that to be the hardest part of the whole thing.  I am now the proud owner of 25 kilos of the stuff, so I can make them for years to come.  The most wonderful thing about the bath bombs is that they don't swallow up all my EO's.  The recipe that I used is:
1 cup Citric acid
2 cups Baking soda
2 tsp. oil (like Olive or Grapeseed)
1 tsp. EO

The real trick to this is to blend the oils with the dry ingredients and then have some water in a spray bottle and carefully spray a bit of water and stir well with a wire whisk.  It doesn't take much to moisten the mixture enough to be able to make the bombs.  And that is fairly easy.  Just scoop a lot of mixture into both parts of the mold, squeeze together very hard and gently release the bomb from the mold.  Tapping the mold can help with this.  Let dry for about a day.  Store in a dry place and use.  I read that they don't keep very well.

Now I have one of those plastic Christmas ornament types that I've seen used as a mold and I tried that.  I didn't like it.  Firstly it makes a very large bath bomb.  Some may like that, but I don't.  So I came up with using some plastic packaging from a type of coffee.  I don't use it myself (strictly Nescafé in this household) but my cousin has been collecting these as small soap molds, for which they also work well.  The resulting bombs are smaller than those traditional ones and they look a lot like the French Macarones that I like so much.

From this recipe I can make 8-9 bombs of that size.  I made a few batches, one with Lemongras and Annatto infused oil, one with Lavender and Alkanet infused oil, one with uncoloured oil and Peppermint EO.  The fourth was my failure, it had Palmarosa EO and a mix of Annatto and Njoli oil.  The mixture was a bit too wet, so that the bombs had sort of semi-fizzed after a day.  I haven't tried them in the bath yet, I think they'll work for me at home, but they are not pretty.

I threw in a bit of corn starch, maybe half a cup, into one recipe.  It can apparently aggravate yeast infections, so beware of that.  I have also read that milk powder can be used and I have that somewhere so I may try it one of these days.  In another batch I used about the same amount of Epsom salt which is good for sore muscles.

Those candleholders are very typically Danish and
are most likely from the 40's or 50's judging from
the box. I don't dare to have living lights on the tree
so I decided to hang them up on a thin wire circle and
hang them in the window. 

I thought it appropriate to end this year with a bang.  We do that here in this country.  On New Years Eve the population goes completely insane.  Everyone can buy fireworks and almost everyone does.  There are  several tons of fireworks fired up around midnight.  The noise is unbelievable, there are fireworks absolutely everywhere and finally a thick smoke envelops the city.  We have a fantastic view over the city, so we prefer to participate in the madness only as spectators with our closest relatives.

I wish everyone a happy New Year.  I am thankful for the year that is almost at an end and I thank you all for a most wonderful year of getting to know you, so many people all over the world who share an interest in making soaps.
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In the spirit of Christmas

The cookies jar is another find at the Good S, but the
candle thing (what is that called) is German, but bought
in York, UK when I was a student. My uncle has one that
is white and big. He must have bought it in Prague where
he studied, but this was the biggest I could afford.

Bluegras is the Icelandic common name for Geranium sylvaticum.  It alludes to the fact that it was used for centuries to dye cloth blue.  Sometime after 1780 an old woman died in Iceland and with her the knowledge.  She didn't share it with anyone and the art was lost.  Just before 1980 another woman in Iceland was the only one left who knew her craft.  She had just been diagnosed with cancer when she told me that she was going to teach me how to wash, starch and iron the traditional priest's collars.  It wasn't a request.  All priests in Iceland prayed for her partly, I'm sure, because they feared that the knowledge would die with her.  I also prayed fervently because I wasn't at all sure that I would be able to supply the collars as perfectly as my aunt had done for decades.  My great aunt lived another good twenty years and by the time she died in her 90's she had taught others.

Knowledge and passing it on is what keeps civilizations going.  Traditions, recipes, ways of doing things, stories and wisdom is passed from one generation to the next.  I have a feeling that grandmothers have passed along the majority of the knowledge until there was printing and books.  Now the internet is this wonderful source of knowledge that one couldn't even have dreamt about before.

I am very grateful to the many women (and few men) who make soap and blog about it.  The knowledge that they share so generously has become a constant source of delight for me.  I eagerly wait for every new post and photo and I try to find new blogs every now and then.  And new countries.  I am also grateful for Google translate.   I know that the translation isn't perfect, in fact at times it makes foreigners speak the weirdest English, but how else would I have an inkling what bloggers in countries like Russia, Japan, Chile, Turkey and Spain are talking about.  As it is I have learned so much from so many people that I have never met, nor am I ever likely to.  I love that and I am grateful to every one of them.

I have a favorite recipe that I have never given to anyone (well, no one has ever asked so it's not like I said no, even if I would have wanted to).  It is my German grandmother's Christmas cookies.  My mother has made them every Christmas for as long as I remember and so have I ever since I had a home myself.  I usually make a double recipe because they are quick to go.  In the spirit of Christmas I would like to share it.

150 g. /5.3 oz. Hazelnuts (or Almonds if you prefer)
125 g. /4.4 oz. Dark chocolate
175 g. /6.0 oz. Icing sugar
2 egg whites

Grind the nuts and the chocolate in an almond grinder.  Blend the dry ingredients, siv the sugar if it is lumpy.  Whisk the egg whites stiff.  Fold the dry ingredients into the egg whites.  Don't stir.  It will look like it is impossible to do but it will get there.  Make little tops with a teaspoon onto a baking paper and bake for 7-10 minutes at 175 degrees C.  Let cool on the baking paper.  Store in a cake tin.
The cookies sometimes keep their shape, but sometimes they go flat.  Either way they taste wonderful.  Crunchy on the outside and slightly chewy on the inside and they are of course absolutely essential for reading comprehension during the holidays.
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Purple is (also) the colour of Christmas - Alkanet and lavender soap

The goblet is a favorite find that I got for less than a dollar.
The other mercury glass pieces are modern and not as nice,
but I felt it needed company. Mercury glass is called poor
mans silver in Danish. I think that is so neat.

The pretty purple or lavender colour that should come from Alkanet infused oil has eluded me until now.  I am very happy with this colour.  I used a lot of infused oil and I also used a decent amount of lavender, having recently received a large shipment of EO's.

I have had Alkanet root infusing in Olive oil for a few weeks now.  I figured it would be convenient to have it in a 1 liter bottle, ready to go when I feel like it.  I then just top it up since the Alkanet still has a lot of colour in it and keeps turning the oil a dark red.  I learned this from someone in fabric/yarn dyeing, just to give some credit to whose who deserve it.  I just can't remember exactly who to thank.

Lavender is a classic scent.  It's not one that is at the top of my list of favorites, but many people seem to like it a lot.  And "vive la différance".  I love the colour though.  The colour that the church uses for this time of the year is purple, so in a way it is a very Christmas-y colour and a very sophisticated one.  I have to admit that I stick to the traditional red, green, gold myself although I used to be more adventurous, way back in the olden days when I was hip and cool.

The recipe is similar to my recent ones, but with a little bit of soybean oil.  The oz are approximate and I did discount the water quite a bit.

Olive oil 40% 280g / 9.9oz   (out of this 75g/100g was Alkanet infused)
Coconut oil 25% 175g / 6.2oz
Lard 25% 175g / 6.2oz
Cocoa butter 5%  35g / 1.2oz
Soybean oil 5% 35g / 1.2oz

Water 30% 210g / 7.4 oz
Lye 99g / 3.5 oz

I did two batches, one with 75g and one with 100g of Alkanet oil.  I can't tell the difference between them.  I put Lavender EO in this and sprinkled some buds on top.  The soap turned a very pretty blue and seemed to stay that way for the longest time.  Then it started to turn lavender and a really nice one at that.  I'm very pleased.   I don't know if I can repeat that, but I'll be sure to brag about it if I do.

Now I need to stop making soap and start to bake the cookies for Christmas.  Eating cookies is necessary for me at Christmas, especially when reading the Christmas books.  I practically loose my ability to read if there are no cookies.  Books are a very common gift in Iceland and the bulk of all books that are published here come out in the month before Christmas.  We have plenty of time to read since our Christmas starts at six o'clock on the 24th and we then have two more day off.  The 24th is the main holiday.  It is when we light candles, all the church bells ring and we sit down to dinner in our finest clothes.  After dinner we open presents and there is always a book or two in there.  In addition I cheat a little bit and usually have a stash of my own that I have gathered just in case I don't get any for Christmas.

For this year I have 6 volumes of an old magazine, dating from 1907-1912.  I found them in a black plastic bag, sitting in the rain destined for the trash (what is wrong with people?).  I also have two books my husband gave me, one about medicinal herbs and one about dyeing with herbs.  I got hold of a book about kitchen cosmetics from the seventies and three volumes by Regine Deforge starting with "La bicyclette bleu", not in French though.  But now I think I'd better start baking those cookies.

Simple soap

That little enamel jar with a lid has holes in it, but someone
had put a sticky bandage on it.  I thought that was so sweet.

Simple soap is what got me started in the first place and here is one.  I wanted to do another milk soap and this time a soap that I could recommend for pregnant women and babies.  So no fragrance.  Kind of silly since I have been getting more fragrance and now have a lot.  But that is what I suddenly wanted to get back to.  A simple soap.  Very simple.

It is the kind of soap that I like to think my paternal grandmother would and could have made.  The ingredients would have been readily available to her even if they lived on an isolated farm in the north.  I like the thought that she made soap.  They had to be pretty self sufficient and it would fit with what I know of my grandfather who was very innovative in his farming.  In those days it was considered strange to have goats, pigs and ducks in addition to the traditional sheep and cattle.  But my grandfather was a very strong  character, intelligent and ambitious for himself and his family.  My grandmother... I wish I had known her.

I really think that it is such a shame that we don't get to know our grandparents when we ourselves finally reach an age where we start to be truly interested in our forefathers and mothers.  Or am I the only one?  Now I have so many questions!  I am fascinated by the past and how people lived then.  I know a little bit, but not the every day little things that interest me.

I love that photo of my dad and his mother and siblings.
She obviously sewed the dresses and probably the pants
as well. The sweaters of Icelandic wool were knitted
by her, but the kids probably knitted their own socks.

I never got the chance to know her.  She died ten years before I was born with her two youngest daughters.  She was thirty five and they were two and seven.  On December 12th 1948 an avalanche hit their farmhouse and buried it.  With my grandmother and her little daughters died also an old aunt, her daughter and the daughters son.  In all, six people died and one survived.  My grandfather was buried for four days in the snow.  The three older children were away at school.  My father was the oldest at fifteen, his brother one year younger and their sister was ten at the time.  The photo of the three of them with their mother is the only photo that exists of her.

So I made this soap to be simple and pure.  Something that she might even have made and passed the recipe on to me if things had turned out differently.
It is a small recipe, 500 g:

Olive oil        45% 225g / 7.9oz
Coconut oil   30% 150g / 5.3oz
Cocoa butter 10%   50g / 1.8oz
Sunflower oil 10% 50g / 1.8oz
Castor oil         5% 25g / 0.9oz

Milk 38% 190g / 5.3 oz  infused with M. maritime/chamomile
Lye 72g / 2.5 oz

I wanted to use some gentle herbs that won't harm a babies delicate skin so I put a few tablespoons of the Icelandic substitute for chamomile, Matricaria maritima in the milk and warmed it.  I then froze the milk and carefully put the lye in, a little at a time.   It turned a beautiful yellow colour.  I also added a bit of sugar water to the milk.  I like the way it increases bubbles.  I then put the soap into the freezer to prevent heating.  The result is a very softly coloured yellow soap that has no scent whatsoever.  There is a lovely simplicity in an unscented soap.  The absence of scent is the ultimate clean.  Pure like the country air and the bubbling trout river that runs through my grandparents land.

My father would have been 77 today had he lived.  He died on December 10th 2006.  I still think of him every day.

I like to remember them all at this time of the year.  I wish I had had the chance to know them.  But since that is not possible I like to give my thoughts to them around this time in an attempt to honor and celebrate their lives.  Not only my grandmother and her daughters, but also the little branch of the family that died with them.  My great aunt and her daughter and her brave nineteen year old grandson, who died after three days in the snow with the two year old in his arms.

December

This wonderful reindeer that I got from my colleagues. The
small candlesticks are so typically scandinavia. They
ended up in Afrika with some other stuff so our older
daughter she could get some Christmas spirit from home.

I love this time of year.   Or more specifically I really, really like December and Christmas time.  Not because I like cold weather.  On the contrary I dislike being cold intensely and am of the firm belief that being born here was a terrible misunderstanding in high places because I like sun and warmth and lush plants and animals running around and all that summer stuff.  So if it wasn't for Christmas I would wither away and die in the intense darkness that surrounds us at this time of the year.

December is a special month.  My birthday is today and my father had his birthday exactly one week later and a week after that it is my husband's birthday.  My husband and I had our first date in December and we always celebrate that much more than our wedding anniversary.  And then we have Christmas which is a three day holiday here and New Years is two.  And we always try to take the week between the two off if we possbly can to really get time to read and enjoy the holidays as much as we can.

I have one rule about Christmas preparation, to do only the things that I take pleasure in.  It used to be customary here to do a complete cleaning of everything before Christmas.  That included the closets and top of the kitchen cabinets and basically every nook and cranny.  I am blessed in that my mother wasn't much of a housewife and neither am I.  So this never made much sense to me.  When I was about twenty I had girlfriends who said that the scent of Ajax was necessary for them to get into the spirit of Christmas to which I replied that they should put some in a bowl, put it on the radiator, turn off the lights and light some candles.  Who is to see dirt in the dark of winter.  For those not in the know, Ajax is a particularly nasty smelling cleaning product.

I couldn't resist drying the leaves on the Japanese maple.
They were really bright red, but the colour didn't last.  I
used them anyway with the pretty larch cones I picked.

Like in many Nordic and European countries we start celebrating on the first Sunday of Advent which was last Sunday.  I always make an Advent wreath which has four candles that are lit on consecutive Sundays until Christmas when all four a are lit.  I think that tradition is German in origin.  I wasn't brought up with that, but started to make my own the first year I had my own home.  I always make a fresh one each year.  The look can vary, but this years is very simple.  I have learned one thing about making those and that is to get big and thick Church candles for my wreaths because they burn for a long time.  I have had two catch on fire, which probably isn't much for over thirty years.

This is always my first Christmas decoration.  Following that I put a green (fake) pine garland in the kitchen window and decorate it with lights and bits and bobs.  All sorts of strange stuff that has accumulated and doesn't fit anywhere else.  Some of it is my daughters handiwork from kindergarten, some is little gifts from people I care about, a lot of it is something that has been there for ever and I have no idea where I got it from.

I was going to write: But the point is..., but there really is not point to this post other than to get an excuse to sit down in our conservatory and watch the birds as they fly from one tree to another.   We have pond in the garden that we keep unfrozen so they can take a bath, something that is essential to their survival in winter.  The sun is about to set, exhausted after a five hour stint and I have lit a lot of candles.  I sit with my computer in my lap, one dog to my side and the other warming my legs, my husband in his easy chair reading.  I have a cup of coffee and some cookies and a stack of magazines that I didn't have time to read on my last business trip.  Perfect!  And of course this is the point.  To enjoy life.

Oh, and the soap!  But of course peppermint EO and crushed candy canes on a milk soap with a teaspoon of TD.  I just had to do it.  Christmas has to be full of clichés and a little bit corny.
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