Spectacular speculaas

"If you would live a beautiful life have a beautiful farm," though not a precise quote from the Shakers, is certainly a concept they would have empathized with.  It is just as certainly a description of the world Carol Cordiale shares with her husband in their country acreage in historic upstate New York--as Carol describes it, situated "on a rise nestled between two hills with a brook flowing from East to West."  Together they have long cultivated an herb and cottage flower garden, raised sheep and goats, and even opened a little wool shop where, for a few years, Carol could sell the yarns she spun from the wool she gathered from her Nubian and Angora goats, and her llama, "Tommy-Hawk."

Painting Copyright by Elspeth Young

Shortly after receiving her copy of Heidi's Christmas (featuring Nancy's recipe for Anisbrötli made in some of our traditional Swiss cookie molds pictured above), Carol--an ardent cook, herself--sent us these wonderful images, below, of gingerbreads created from her family's spectacular speculaas-board collection.

Though we didn't get to share them at Christmastime, we thought we'd show off Carol's beautiful handiwork as Easter approaches, since a captivating chicken like the one below would make as charming a centerpiece for an Easter buffet as it would have at a Christmas Day dinner or a New Year's Day brunch.

To read more about Carol, see p. 21 in our 2004 Spring issue inspired by Sarah Orne Jewett's The Country of the Pointed Firs.

Copyright by Carol Cordiale

Copyright by Carol Cordiale

Tags: Vol. 4 No. 3, Vol. 12 No. 1, 2012, Floral arrangements, The Veranda