Sue's purchases and travels

This book is a favorite in Sweden and so many here were thrilled when it became available in English.  This book...with photos of each cake or cookie will get you in the mood for holiday baking. This book coupled with a Dala horse cookie cutter would be a "Swede Gift"  for your favorite baker.

Labels: Holiday shop Maryland, holiday shop Olney, klaradal swedish antiques, klaradal swedish gifts, swedish cakes and cookies, swedish gifts

and this calendar!  Right now I spotted this calendar and had such envy for the woman resting and reading on a bench.  Two days of cooking...one night of hand washing fine china and crystal and now.....off to the shop for Black Friday!  No rest for the weary!  But that's okay...I love the shop and hope everyone who visits us this weekend leaves with a happy shopping memory and a few perfect gifts!

Labels: black friday, carl larsson 2014 calendar, holiday gifts, klaradal swedish antiques, small business saturday

Yesterday we had snow...and today is one of the coldest Thanksgivings we have had in over a decade.  This is the last snowy Thanksgiving that I remember.  It was taken at my parents house in Lancaster PA.  They are both gone now and the little guy I am holding is now 6'4".  Times do change.   I hope everyone has a lovely Thanksgiving dinner surrounded by people you love.

Labels: Holiday shop Maryland, klaradal swedish antiques, swedish gifts, Thanksgiving snow

Klaradal now stocks these Sweet Cardamom Almonds.  Just another cardamom fix for those of us who aren't inclined to make a loaf of bread. Plus..don't they keep telling us that nuts are healthy?  So an apple a day along with 6 sweet cardamom almonds.  mmmmm

Back to baking before I head into the shop.

Labels: cardamom, holiday gifts, holiday shop, klaradal, Swedish Antiques, swedish antiques maryland, swedish candy, swedish treats, sweet cardamom almonds

Everytime I attend a Scandinavian bazaar I always buy a loaf of cardamom bread.  I cannot get enough of that spice which is why I was thrilled to find Cardamom Ice Cream in the local Organic Market.  It is made by a company called Three Twins and the ice cream is named Dad's Cardamom.  It's fabulous. 

Labels: cardamom, cardamom ice cream, holiday shop, klaradal, Swedish Antiques, swedish food, swedish gift, Thanksgiving, three twins

This year we will be serving spiced apple martinis prior to Thanksgiving dinner.  This recipe, from Marcus Samuelsson, Top Chef winner and well known Swede is a proven winner.  You can watch him make it on the Rachael Ray Show-link provided below.   We will end our meal with some of Marcus Samuelsson's Ambessa teas...available at www.klaradal.com


http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/recipe/13091_Marcus_Samuelsson_s_Spiced_Apple_Martini/index.html

Labels: klaradal, Marcus Samuelsson, Spiced Apple Martini, Sweden, swedish gifts, Thanksgiving Cocktails, Thanksgiving Teas

This Thanksgiving my mother-in-law will not be joining us.  She is 96 years old and though pretty strong is not capable (nor comfortable) coming to our homes and doing the long drawn out Thanksgiving feast.  We will, instead, join her at her assisted living location for an early brunch and then have a later Thanksgiving Dinner.  My own parents passed away years ago and so, it seems, that the table gets smaller each year-with no grandchildren in the very near future.  This long preamble brings me to the Swedish All Souls Day tradition of placing candles on graves.
There is no religious connection but rather all individuals gather, with candles, at local cemeteries and place them on the graves of loved ones AND on those graves that don't seem to have someone to visit.  It is a lovely way to remember EVERYONE who is gone from the life.  Not just war heroes, not just the famous, and not just those we loved but anyone who has been in our community.  It's quite special and the imagery is breathraking.  We were once driving through Sweden on November 1 and were told to look out for these and, sure enough, we would see lovely glows, every few miles, at the local cemeteries.

All of this has made me decide that this Thanksgiving I will have a candle lit for those who are NOT at our table...as a way of including everyone who has meant so much to our family.

Labels: All souls day, ekelund linens, sweden tradition, Swedish Antiques, swedish gifts, Swedish holiday shop, swedish textiles., Thanksgiving

One of my favorite things about Stockholm is the abundance of flower shops in the city that have racks outside of wonderful blossoming plants.  The springtime always offers a profusion of tiny pots of  narcissus and grape hyacinths.  This original watercolor, in the shop now and priced at $65 brings back such memories.  It is of a group of crocus and brings with it the promise of spring on the coldest day of winter. It also makes me remember a house in our old town of Wayne PA that would have a front yard that read "wow it's spring!" in crocus.  (By the way...the painting is still available as of this writing...it is about 8x10 and we could easily ship to you.  Just drop us an email...klaradal@aol.com)

Labels: crocus, fine art, holiday gifts, holiday shop, Holiday shop Maryland, klaradal, Stockholm, Swedish Antiques, swedish gifts

Today is my 27th Wedding anniversary.  (No we did not purposely plan to be married on the anniversary of JFK assassination :(     though everyone asks!)  We were married in the chapel of Main Hall at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster PA.  My parents lived in Lancaster and I am an F&M graduate class of '78.  Shown in the photo is the Irish Catholic Priest (Father Sullivan from St. Leo the Great Church) and  Estonian Lutheran Minister Pastor Rudolf Kiviranna of NYC who married us.  Little did I know that about 10 years later Peter and I would be adopting a baby from Estonia (a country I knew little about until meeting Peter!) Nor that 10 years after that I would be running a Swedish Antique and gift shop! As to the wedding.... I remember that the Estonian Minister spoke of the fact that Peter's paternal grandmother and Aunt had survived decades in Siberia.  The catholic priest quoted "Fiddler on the Roof" with the line "Goldie do you love me?"  Very interesting mix of cultures!  At the reception the Estonians gave lots of toasts and my Mom's family did the mummers' strut.  (Still love the Mummers and every year Peter gives me tickets to the parade--did so again this year!)  Here's to 27 more!

Labels: Estonian Minister, F&M, franklin and marshall, Gifts, Holiday shop Maryland, klaradal, Mummer's strut, Old Main, Pastro Kiviranna, Swedish Antiques

This year for the first time in many years I am hosting Thanksgiving.  I always try to be a little creative with my place cards and want to do so now.  I usually use mini pumpkins but they all seem to be gone so I  headed to Michael's to see what ideas they might offer.  Answer:  None!  Thanksgiving was gone!  It was Christmas everywhere.  Klaradal has fallen to the pressures (economic) of starting Christmas early but we still have an area reserved for Thanksgiving decor and paper products.  We also, always have some Ekelund linen that while not specifically a fall item will fit the bill nicely.  When hosting dinner I need to use a large tablecloth but always use an Ekelund linen on my front hall table.  These two would be perfect candidates to indicate the joy of autumn.  The darker runner is called Mustiga and the lighter is Astrakan both are under $45 and available on our site.  (or will be, an Ekelund order is expected in the next week)

Labels: astrakan, ekelund linens, ekelund runners, holiday gifts, klaradal, mustiga, olney md, Swedish Antiques

Wednesday morning and the deer continue to eat and sleep in the yard but right now I have my thoughts on chess.  I just heard on NPR radio that a young Norwegian man, Magnus Carlsen has been determined to be the best chess player EVER.  That's pretty awesome....and he's pretty cute too!  So much for the image of a chess nerd.  Brains and Brawn and Norwegian...Oh My!

Labels: ekelund linens, free gift wrap, holiday shop, klaradal, Norway, Norwegian chess player, swedish gifts

 The photo on the right is a recent view from my kitchen window.  We live in the suburbs of Washington DC (just outside the much mentioned beltway) where deer are a quite common occurrence.  Some neighbors hate them because they eat plants BUT I just love to see them grazing and sometimes sleeping in my yard.  I guess that is why I love the Deer Head vase shown below.  It is just $20 an provides seasonless design.  This photo shows it with evergreen.  I show it at the shop with bare branches(lower photo)   It would be fun to hang a few small Christmas balls from the limbs of the branches.
It would look great in the spring with forsythia or cherry blossoms.  You also could, for Easter, add feathers to the branches as they do in Sweden.  Unlimited choices!

Labels: danish gifts, deer head vase, finnish gifts, god jul, holiday gifts, klaradal, norwegian gifts, Swedish Antiques, swedish gifts

Just learned that the game Candy Crush is by Swedish Gaming company King AND that King is Sweden's best workplace.  I first heard of this game when good morning America did a piece on how it had many women gambling.  I guess I should have vowed to avoid it but instead tried it right away.  The game is really addictive and you can easily waste an hour playing it.  The gambling part is that you are offered, for 99 cents, the chance to have 3 more tries or get a boost that helps you finish a level.  I am pretty frugal so was not about to spend any money but can see how easy it would be to do so.  I finally deleted the game from my kindle and cloud....no more temptation to chew up time.  It's the holidays!  There is no time to spare!

Labels: candy crush, holiday shop, king gaming company, klaradal, maryland holiday shop, Sweden, Swedish Antiques

A customer hosted us for dinner last night.  She is a combination of Norwegian, Sweden and Irish.  The homemade meal was purely Swedish with Swedish meat balls (fresh made NOT from Ikea) and a great apple pie made with a batter rather than a crust.  Could be a future Thanksgiving staple.  Photo shows it with ice cream but we had it plain and it was fabulous!



http://www.food.com/recipe/swedish-apple-pie-44729

Labels: antiques maryland, christmas shop maryland, gift shop maryland, klaradal, Swedish Antiques, swedish apple pie

Ok...well from what I read she shopped BEFORE the masses which has ticked off some people but hey...she's a princess!  I think it's great that she wears clothes at a price point that is approachable for some of us.  $199 (actually might be pounds not dollars ) is a little steep BUT it is beaded!  Anyway...I still adore here...think she's grand -and not just because she is a royal.

Labels: Crown Princess Victoria, H&M, klaradal, Swedish Antiques, Swedish royalty

These socks have proven to be an incredibly popular item at the shop.  The green shown is a new color for us....red, purple and gray have been flying out the door!  They are, at under $15, a great holiday gift for the favorite nordic "sole" in your life.  Buy them at the shop or on line and we will gift wrap for free in our Tomte wrap or pine kraft paper.  They have a nordic style without the hefty weight of wool.

Labels: klaradal, nordic socks, nordic stripe socks, Swedish Antiques Bethesda, swedish antiques maryland

Cold has finally come to the East Coast!  Having spent all of last week decking the halls of Klaradal makes me more then ready for cold temps.  I must admit, however, that at home I just brought down my Thanksgiving decorations.  Turkeys, and Pilgrims, and pumpkins....oh my!  Holiday decorations have the same reputation as bunnies...they seem to multiply!  Yet.....I still can think of one or two Fall Decorative items at Klaradal that I really should have to round out my fall decor.  I always need fresh paper guest towels.  I love the water color feel of both of these.  The leaves and acorns are already out at my house.  The turkey will waddle into place this weekend.  (If you live locally these are now 25% off-and going quickly!)

Labels: guest towels, klaradal, Swedish Antiques, Thanksgiving

We recently received our fall delivery of Scandinavian foods.  We're happy to have Marabou chocolate in stock again.  MmmmmMarabou!   It is especially in demand ever since Ikea stopped carrying this classic Swedish chocolate and replaced it with their own label...made in Germany! What's up with that????
Anyway... I love, when we are in Sweden, to check out the chocolate aisle in the grocery store....there are so many varieties of Marabou...most not offered in the states.  There are so many varieties of every chocolate....yes the Swede Life indeed!

Labels: klaradal, marabou, swedish food

Monday we are hosting the DC SWEA group for a brunch at Klaradal.  I just prepared a smoked salmon strata to bake in the morning.  Klaradal is thrilled to have true Swedes visiting! In addition to SWEA we continue to recognize our Veterans by hosting a bake sale and Raffle to support Fisher House.  This wonderful organization that offers housing to military families undergoing medical services.  They also are the ones that would not stand by idly when the Government shut down stopped payments to families of fallen soldiers.  Shopping and sales are fun but we can't forget WHY we have Veteran's Day...to remember and thank those who fought for our freedom.  

Klaradal is dressed in red and green!  Yesterday we had the reveal of our shopp after decking the halls for 3 days.  We have 18 trees, of various sizes, all decorated with ornaments for sale.  There are lots of themes to choose from....fox hunt, chickens, and, of course, a classic Swedish tree with straw ornaments and tomtes.  It seems crazy to start this early but that is the world of retail.  It is never, however, too early to start shopping for the perfect gift....especially if you are looking for a vintage item.  The pieces shown here are classic Swedish items...mid-century Bersa pitcher and a Kockums red enamel candlestick. (Image is from on line...I didn't have a photo but I do have a pair of these!)  I'll take the next 6 weeks to walk you through more shop items and Swedish traditions.