Life@Home December 2013 by Times Union Magazines

December 2013

14 ways

The Best Holiday Party Playlist!

to improve your financial health

Need to

PLUS stress-free party planning

Expand? Consider your garage

Holiday

Magic

Celebrating a little bit of Christmas year-round

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Publisher George Hearst III Editorial Janet Reynolds, Executive Editor Brianna Snyder, Associate Editor Rebecca Haynes, Contributing Editor Genevieve Scarano, Editorial Intern Design Tony Pallone, Design Director Colleen Ingerto, Emily Jahn, Designers Contributing Writers John Adamian, Kristi Barlette, Steve Barnes, Caroline Barrett, Betsy Bitner, Valerie DeLaCruz, Melissa Fiorenza, Laurie Lynn Fischer, Jennifer Gish, Alistair Highet, Suzanne Kawola, Jayne Keedle, Tyler Murphy, Lee Nelson, Colleen Plimpton, Lucianna Samu, Cari Scribner, Megan Willis Contributing Photographers Paul Barrett, Vincent Giordano, Alistair Highet, Emily Jahn, Suzanne Kawola, Tyler Murphy, Colleen Plimpton, Mark Samu, Megan Willis

A beautiful trip A beautiful destination gift inspirations from a destination home store — giving handmade giving Vermont made giving American made come see your dishes being made just 30 minutes from Troy

Sales Kurt Vantosky, Sr. Vice President, Sales & Marketing Kathleen Hallion, Vice President, Advertising Tom Eason, Manager, Display Advertising Michael-Anne Piccolo, Retail Sales Manager Jeff Kiley, Magazine Advertising Manager Circulation Todd Peterson, Vice President, Circulation Dan Denault, Home Delivery Manager Business Ray Koupal, Chief Financial Officer TimesUnion.com Paul Block, Executive Producer Life@Home is published monthly. If you are interested in receiving home delivery of Life@Home magazine, please call (518) 454-5768 or e-mail magcirculation@timesunion.com. For advertising information, please call (518) 454-5358. Life@Home is published by Capital Newspapers and Times Union 645 Albany Shaker Rd, Albany, NY 12212 518.454.5694 The entire contents of this magazine are copyright 2013 by Capital Newspapers. No portion may be reproduced in any means without written permission of the publisher. Capital Newspapers is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Hearst Corporation.

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Contents Home

In Every Issue 10 12 14 20

Talk Back On the Web Editor’s Note Window Shopping

In This Issue 24 Among the Santas

Barbara Puig’s collections create a cozy home

32 Make the Most of It Turn your garage into something special

36 Can’t Take it with You So why not use all that “good” china every day?

Features December 2013

December 2013

18 Home Life

48 DIY Diva

38 10 Ways to ...

50 Dollars & Sense

Very Pinteresting

14 ways

Life@Home | Ideas and Inspiration for Living

The Best Holiday Party Playlist!

to improve your financial health

Need to

PLUS stress-free party planning

Expand?

... serve last-minute guests

42 Design Defined

Mastering the mix

Consider your garage

www.timesunion.com/lifeathome

Holiday

Magic

Celebrating a little bit of Christmas year-round

46 Problem Solved A broken-tile fix

 On the cover: Photo by Vincent Giordano

Hot and cold compresses 14 ways to improve your financial health in 2014

52 Living Green

54 Down the Garden Path The importance of fragrance in the garden

56 Tech Tips

Gadget gifts for the season of giving

Ways to make your holiday more eco-friendly

timesunion.com/lifeathome | 7

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Contents Life

In This Issue 70 Get the Party Started Picking the perfect holiday party music mix

Features 59 Help Me ...

... have the perfect real Christmas tree

61 Kitchen Crumbs

Tasty tidbits to brighten up your cooking

62 Dish

Cooking with Nick Ruscitto

66 Table@Home

Can the holidays be peaceful?

68 The Vineyard

A great wine value from a rising power in the wine world

73 My Space

LeGrande Serras’ best place

74 Photo Finish

Happy holidays!

timesunion.com/lifeathome | 9

 Talk Back

The story behind the story ... from our contributors Read below about how our contributors learned new things while working on this month’s edition of Life@Home.

Holiday Magic

Use That China!

Brianna Snyder Hanging out with Barb Puig at her gorgeous Loudonville home was a ton of fun. Though we shot in September, Puig was in full Christmas mode for us: trees and cookies and her ever-present collection of Santas. It was really interesting getting to know this quirky collection, which isn’t just fun and evocative of the holiday. It’s also historically significant and fascinating to see the evolution of Santa Claus over the past century. See Brianna’s story on page 24.

Sardine Dreams John Adamian I learned that a sandwich with sardines and boiled eggs on toast is way more awesome than anyone could have imagined. See John’s story online at timesunion.com/lifeathome.

Lee Nelson

Real Trees  Cari Scribner I always believed having an artificial holiday tree was much better for the environment, so I was aghast to learn how many chemicals, plastics and dangerous by-products are used and released with artificial trees. Living trees are replaced by new plantings and can be recycled into mulch. Plus, they have that great fresh fragrance! See Cari’s story on page 52.

Financial Resolutions Laurie Lynn Fischer This story put estate planning at the top of my 2014 to do list. It also taught me a way of detecting suspect investments. See Laurie’s story on page 50.

We asked ... you answered Join the conversation! facebook.com/ lifeathomemagazine

There’s always something happening on Facebook. Click to add your two cents and enter contests.

10 | Life@Home

• What’s your favorite thing about getting older? Jake: Getting wiser... Rebecca: Being able to slow down emotionally, spend more time enjoying my family and give away the stuff I spent years collecting, and I can volunteer time to help others.. Anika: HA! I like blasting my music as loud as I can in the car and screaming out “I can do this because I’m an adult!”

I admired my grandmother’s 100-year-old china with its tiny pastel flowers and gold rims even when I was a youngster dining at her home. I love using it just for a Wednesday night casserole, or sprucing up my table for a Sunday brunch. I think my grandmother would smile knowing I’m putting it to good use. See Lee’s story on page 36.

Fine Fragrances Colleen Plimpton Increasing fragrance in beds and borders is becoming easier as more gardeners pay homage to the elusive sense of smell. For too long fragrance has been an afterthought, but no longer. Plant hybridizers are finally paying attention, and winter is an excellent time to select delightful plants to delight the nose all next season. See Colleen’s story on page 54.

Here’s what our readers said this month on Facebook.

• What’s on your gift list this year? Laurie: I would like a turntable so I can resurrect my LP collection. As for giving? I’m thinking of giving my husband a turntable so I can resurrect my LP collection.

• Finish our thought: No room would be complete without ... Jake: a family Anika: throw pillows!

Amy: A beautiful vintage or antique treasure from Bliss on Jay Street in downtown Schenectady!! Richard: A View Carolyn: A dog. Janice: Art! Laurie: Dust. Virasmi: A comfortable bed... Michelle: Clutter

ONLINE

Find more at timesunion.com/lifeathome Explore more content — photos, stories, recipes, videos and companion blogs — all in once place.

VIDEOS PHOTOS Check out more photos online from this month’s @home feature (story on page 24)

Ever wanted to make shrimp-stuffed quail? We’ve got a video how-to with Chef Nick Ruscitto! (story on page 62)

STORIES Party Planning Tips to host stressfree holiday parties

Furniture Makeover Turning tired furniture into something fabulous

Food Trends Don’t be scared of these delicious little fishies

LIFE@HOME ONLINE Pinterest

pinterest.com/ timesunionmags Like our photos? Follow us on Pinterest, where we pin all our original photography and more! 12 | Life@Home

Facebook YouTube

youtube.com/ TimesUnionMagazines Want to go beyond the pictures in the magazine? Check out our behind-the-scenes videos.

Life@Home Blogs timesunion.com/lifeathome

Follow our 518 blog for great local finds and our House Things blog for gems dug up around the Web.

facebook.com/ lifeathomemagazine

Like us! Join in our conversations! Win free stuff! And stay on top of all our latest stories and news.

Photos: GettyImages. Drinks, Sheridan Stancliff; Sardines, Brad Wenner. Furniture Makeover photo by J. Aaron Green/Chronicle Books.

 Editor’s Note

Seasonal Sounds

hile the retail world has eliminated a bit of the holiday musical joy — starting to fill the halls with Christmas tunes the day after Halloween — we all still likely have songs that remain favorites, ones that can still evoke holiday cheer despite having heard a rendition of the same song rendered by some chipmunks earlier in the day. Some evoke our childhoods and the time when Christmas was pure magic. In my house the regular holiday albums — yes, I am that old — included Herb Albert and the Tijuana Brass Christmas Album, Ray Conniff and the Ray Conniff Singers We Wish You a Merry Christmas and Bing Crosby White Christmas. Getting those out as we decorated the tree and house marked the official beginning of the season.

I took those albums with me when my parents stopped hosting Christmas but of course they went by the wayside with our record player. Instead we created new musical holiday traditions. Today our family regulars include We Three Kings by the Roches, James Taylor at Christmas and — yes, I resurrected it — a CD version of Crosby’s album. This music is as much a part of our holiday times as the hymns we sing at church or the hymns we gathered around the piano to sing when my husband’s parents were still alive. Now my daughter has her own family and a new set of holiday traditions will begin, including ones filled with music. Some she will take from her past and some she and her family will create together. Here’s hoping your holidays are filled with music and light. 

Janet Reynolds Executive Editor jreynolds@timesunion.com

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Furnishings  Gadgets  Décor

Home 17 – 56

A cozy Christmas mantel. Photo by Vincent Giordano. Read more on page 24.  timesunion.com/lifeathome | 17

 Home Life

ick, tick tick. Do you hear that? It’s the sound of the time for holiday preparations ticking away and it’s running out faster than the spiked eggnog at your office holiday party. Not to put any more pressure on you than you’re probably putting on yourself, but you are almost ready, aren’t you? I said, aren’t you? Relax. I’m not ready either. And I’m not sweating it. Well, maybe I’m sweating a little, but I think that’s due to hormones. The reason for my laissez-faire attitude regarding the holidays is twofold. First, I’ve been looking for an excuse to use “laissez faire” in a sentence ever since 11th grade social studies. And second, I’ve found a secret weapon to help me get organized for the holidays: Pinterest. Pinterest is a social media site where people pin pictures of things they are interested in onto virtual pinboards organized by topic. Pinterest cleverly gets its name by merging the word “pin” with “interest.” A little known fact is that Pinterest was originally going to be called “Tuck,” which is the combination of the words “time” and “suck,” until their marketing people wisely nixed the idea. But you already know all this unless you’ve been living under a rock. And if you have been living under a rock, I’m not judging you. Pinterest probably has entire boards devoted to under-rock dwelling. Whether or not you are new to using Pinterest, here are some tips for using the site for holiday planning. First, start early.

18 | Life@Home

In fact, you should have started a year ago yesterday. There’s just too much to look at on Pinterest to think you can pull off the holidays in a less than a month. And even though you’re already 366 days behind, don’t be fooled by those pins that claim to be great last-minute decorating ideas. They all require access to power tools, copious amounts of something called German glass glitter and a master’s degree in fine arts. Next, stay focused. Now is not the time to get sidetracked by pictures of kittens wearing Santa hats. You have gifts to buy and meals to plan. You’ll never get it all done if you start — Sorry, but I got distracted by this cute pin showing how to make cupcakes that look like melted snowmen. Which led to another pin demonstrating how to decorate the front of my refrigerator to look like a snowman. Which naturally got me looking for pins about making snowman ice cubes. Now where was I? Oh, right, I was giving you advice on using Pinterest to plan your holidays. So be sure to stock up on empty baby food jars. Apparently these can be used for everything from advent calendars to snow globes. The possibilities are limited only to your willingness to continue scrolling down the page of craft ideas. Don’t worry if you don’t have any baby food jars lying around. I’m sure there’s a pinboard for ways to rummage through your neighbor’s recycling bin without getting caught.

Be sure to exercise caution if you plan on using Pinterest to get recipes for holiday entertaining. Judging from Pinterest, the only foods people want to eat during the month of December are chocolate, marshmallows, chocolate covered marshmallows, and various meat products arranged to look like wreaths or trees. I have nothing against any of these food groups. Although I do draw the line at chocolate covered meat even if you stick pretzels in it and tell me it looks like a reindeer. But the holidays are hard enough on our waistlines without the Pinterest folks piling it on. It’s rumored that your Weight Watchers points calculator will explode if you use it on any of these recipes. And I heard Jenny Craig has put a hit out on whoever came up with the idea of the Dessert for Dinner Party. If all of this is making you feel a teensy bit stressed, you’re in luck. Pinterest has a pinboard for that. There you’ll find “10 ways to reduce Christmas shopping stress,” “9 tips to reduce Christmas stress,” “6 tips for a stress-free Christmas morning,” “5 rules for a stress-free Christmas day” and, my favorite, “Stress-free Christmas planning starts in 3 days. DO IT!!!” So consider yourself prepared to use Pinterest for your holiday planning even if you’re not prepared for the holiday itself. And if you take a detour while looking at holiday manicure designs and end up taking notes on ways to decorate your toilet, don’t say I didn’t warn you. 

Photos: GettyImages. Snowflake, milanfoto; Wreath, Eric Ferguson. Jars, © iStockphoto.com/Diane Labombarbe.

By Betsy Bitner

Very Pinteresting

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 Window Shopping

Shop Smart Shop Local In each issue, Window Shopping highlights interesting and unique items available at area stores. This month we take a look at some of the best in holiday shopping.

Wooden Salad Bowl Looking to add style to your tabletop? Each bowl created by Winchester Woodworks is designed to be both functional and beautiful, incorporating a variety of rich wood species into a

segmented, precision-cut pattern. Hand-made by a woodworking artisan based in North Carolina, the bowls come in a large range of designs and sizes. This one is $248 at Pearl Grant Richmans.

Story and photos by Tyler Murphy

Yoga Pillow Finding peace may be difficult without first being comfortable. This patchwork yoga pillow is hand-made in Vietnam. Its diversely decorated fabrics will add to an environment of beauty

and tranquility. The pillow is 15" across and can be used for meditation or as a comfortable place to sit. The pillow, and others like it, are $49. Find yours at Ten Thousand Villages.

‘Tree of Dreams’ Wall Hanging

20 | Life@Home

If you’re someone who enjoys changing your décor, then a well-placed wall hanging might be for you. With a wide selection available to reflect holidays, change of seasons, or just the desire for something different, these versatile

hand-embroidered decorations will spruce up any home. This one, made in India, is fashioned from dark-blue and gray silk with a cotton lining and features the “Tree of Dreams” design. 22" wide x 25" tall. $89 at Ten Thousand Villages. Bamboo rod used to hang the piece is sold separately for $18.

Holiday Lighted Glasses Sometimes a simple touch can add a lot of seasonal atmosphere. These lighted glasses might fit in well with the winter holidays, but a varying selection of other designs can be found at Lindsey’s Country Store. $19.99 each.

Chess Set Put your mind to the test with the time-honored game of kings, now enjoyed in living rooms all across the world. Created in India, this variegated green and black set is hand-carved from soapstone. The wooden board

is also inlaid with soapstone, and can be opened to reveal storage spaces for each individual piece. A perfect gift for those who favor games of skill over those of chance. $130 at Ten Thousand Villages.

Featured Shops Holly Jolly Christmas  With its own orchard and bakery, Lindsey’s Country Store makes fresh-to-order gift baskets for almost every holiday, celebration or season. This one, weighing 10 pounds, includes nine homemade muffins, nine pieces of fruit, a peppermint pig, three peppermint chocolate candies and a seasonal ornament. $47.99.

Lindsey’s Country Store 1537 Rte 9, Clifton Park (518) 371-3100

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Decorative Vase  A vase that is just as colorful as the flowers you’ll put in it. Made by the artists at Mad Art studios in California, it’s about a foot tall, though many other creations are also available in varying shapes, designs and sizes. $390 at Pearl Grant Richmans. continued on 22 timesunion.com/lifeathome | 21

 Window Shopping continued from 21

Our Bloggers Shop

ONLINE

To stay in our bloggers’ design loop 24/7, go to timesunion.com/lifeathome.

Are you a design and décor junkie? We’ve got your fix at timesunion.com/lifeathome. And check out this month’s picks from our local and national bloggers. There’s more where these came from!

Home Décor@518 By Valerie DeLaCruz

Glamour. Opulence. Combined with quality materials and functionality, here is design at its best, and don’t we all deserve that? Update your powder room with this elegant faucet set by Brizo. Whimsically called “Charlotte,” (Sex and the City, anyone?), the unusual blend of Cocoa Bronze and Polished Nickel will make this fixture a

House Things By Brianna Snyder

If you’re a person who likes 1700s-style renderings on your pillows, you are in luck. This lumbarwhale pillow is handmade from burlap; it comes in beige and cream. The design is stenciled on the fabric with nontoxic paint and the cover is removable and washable. $35 in the Etsy shop NextDoortoHeaven.

22 | Life@Home

focal point in any bathroom. Matching accessories including everything from a pivoting mirror to wall sconces and towel bars makes decorating easy. The rich sculptural effect of this item gives a modern twist to the traditional, and is available from Innovations by VP, located at 43 Round Lake Rd. in Ballston Lake. Call (518) 899-0049 or visit innovationsbyvp.com.

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Spectacular views of the Hudson River from this gracious Italianate Victorian home. Truly a rare opportunity to own one of the grandest historic properties along the river. Original architectural detail throughout and featuring 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, 2 fireplaces and spacious rooms for entertaining. Sun-drenched porch overlooks mature gardens and the majestic river. Easy access to the Capital Region, Hudson Valley and the Berkshires. www.141Barent.com

Historic Greek Revival on the Kinderhook Creek The Horace Peaslee House, a circa 1840 classic Greek Revival

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Maple Shade Farm

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Life

g n o m A the

Santas Barbara Puig’s collections create a cozy home

By Brianna Snyder | Photos by Vincent Giordano

ome people put up their Christmas decorations for a few weeks, maybe a month. Barbara Puig has a whole room of her house devoted to Santa Claus year-round. continued on 27

24 | Life@Home

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continued from 24

Puig is a historian and collector of antiques, and the 100 or so Santas she has in the Santa Room all meet specific criteria: They must have been made before the mid-1950s; they must be high quality, which usually means they’re from Germany. She also has to really love the Santa — its story, its origins, its quirks and its function (her favorites are candy containers) — for it to join her collection. Puig has always loved antiquing, something she did with her mother when she was growing up. In fact, her collection hobby has roots both in her academic background in history as well as in her family’s relationship with Christmas. “My mother used to say no matter what happens, don’t let anyone ruin Christmas for you,” Puig says.

Family, tradition and home are very important to Puig. The Loudonville home her family has lived in for more than 25 years is literally next door to the house she lived in as a child. (“Have you ever really lived out of the zipcode?” her husband teases.) The family of five — John, her husband, and three daughters, Kendall, 24, Jordan, 23, and Hollis, 21 — are happy in this small community. Everyone looks out for one another here, Puig says. Plus, “I wanted a good, sturdy home,” she says. “It’s big to have a good, grounded home.” Puig says her decorating style reflects her sensibilities. She clearly has a knack for interior design — her friends have told her so — but she says she couldn’t imagine dressing anyone’s home but

At right, a Christmas tree devoted to Steiff teddy bears.   Below, antique Santas — including a favorite: Santa riding an elephant.

timesunion.com/lifeathome | 27

“

For a little house, it’s not that little.

”

— Barbara Puig

28 | Life@Home

her own. “This is just me,” she says. “The patterns and colors blend so it’s timeless, whimsical, hopefully elegant, but fresh and approachable. ... It’s my personality and my love of [the things] I’m picking.” Those things include other

collections — juice glasses, Alices in Wonderland — as well as antique furniture and retrostyle curtains, tablecloths and other tchotchkes. She’s also collected Steiff teddy bears since she was a child. “When we were all little in my family,

Barbara Puig says of her collection: “I am picking up things that I love.”  everyone was given a Steiff teddy bear,” she says. She’s picked up many more over the years and now has a small Christmas tree devoted to the little ornamental bears. She calls it the Steiff tree. The Puig house is sprawling. (“For a little house, it’s not that little,” Puig says, laughing.) On one side is the “guest sweet” — one of the Puig daughters has autism and picked the homophonal “sweet” over “suite” when writing down the name of the space. They all liked it enough to keep the spelling, and the rooms really reflect their name: blues, yellows and

whites give the area a homey cottage feel that’s, well, sweet. Puig says this anomalous add-on used to be an office to a psychologist who had practiced at home before the Puigs moved in and converted it to a mini guest house. The home has “no dead ends,” Puig says. As you walk through the kitchen, living room, dining room, game room, den, foyer and, of course, the Santa Room, you notice the route winds around in a sort of loop. Also, almost every room has two entrances, Puig says. Since they bought the house, they’ve added more onto it with the help of Kurt King timesunion.com/lifeathome | 29

ONLINE

For more photos, go to timesunion.com/lifeathome.

of King Brothers Building and Remodeling in Delmar. They added screened-in decks, a pool, redid the kitchen, the ceilings, the upstairs and the library, and converted the doctor’s office to the Guest Sweet. Though the Santa Room is a year-round feature, Puig doesn’t start decorating until after Thanksgiving, she says. Her collection is not entirely about the holiday — which she does love, as her mother did — but it does make her happy and indulges her interest in the history of the objects around

her. “I’m not trying to have the collection of collections,” Puig says, referring to some academic or historical collectors who aim for a more comprehensive set of something vintage or antique, such as these Santas. (People are out there with bigger and more intense Santa collections than this one; Puig knows this because she loses out to them sometimes when bidding on Santas on Ebay.) “I’m not trying to do a scholarly collection,” she continues. “I am picking up things that I love and putting them all together. It’s whimsical but elegant.” 

The “guest sweet,” as the Puigs call it, used to be the office of a therapist who worked from home. The Puigs converted it into this guest house when they bought it.  30 | Life@Home

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Make the Most of Your Garage

By Jayne Keedle

Turn this most neglected room into something special

hen most people look at a garage, they see stained concrete floors, metal lolly supports, drafty metal garage doors and think, maybe, about adding a few shelves to organize the garden tools. When Millbrook Architect Jim Crisp sees a garage, he thinks outside of the big box shape before him and sees potential for a family room, a dining room, a man cave or, at the very least, a mudroom. “So often, you go to someone’s house and the garage is in the best location in the whole house, often next to the kitchen and often it’s blocking some of 32 | Life@Home

Yes! This was once a garage!

the best views and light,” says Crisp. “I always look at a renovation with the idea that maybe it makes sense to do something with the garage.” That “something,” can be quite spectacular. Crisp did one renovation that transformed a bare-bones garage into a warm and elegant family room, with a large fireplace, French doors to let in lots of natural light, high ceilings with exposed wooden beams, and recessed lighting. Crisp admits that particular project was a little more elaborate than most; however, he says it’s not a giant feat to convert a garage into a living space.

“Usually, you have a good foundation, roof, and walls. Sometimes garages are not insulated but often they are,” he says. Most attached garages open onto the kitchen, the idea being that people should be able to walk straight into their home with bags of groceries. Its location makes

Garage transformation photo by Rob Karosis, ‘before’ garage photo courtesy Crisp Architects.

it an ideal place for a dining room, playroom, family room or man cave. “It’s underutilized space in a home and in a location of some of the best real estate in the home also,” says Crisp. By code, the floor of an attached garage must be a step or two down from the rest of the house, Crisp notes, which makes it fairly easy to install any plumbing, electrical wiring, or heating or cooling systems that may be needed, because you’ll probably want to add a new floor to bring the room up to the same level as the rest of the home. It’s not necessarily cheap, at perhaps $300 per square foot with new windows and nice floors, but it’s less than you’d pay to build a new home addition from the ground up. As you’re not expanding the footprint of your property, it shouldn’t affect your tax assessments significantly, and the planning and zoning permissions required are minimal. If you still want a place to park your vehicles, Crisp adds, it’s a lot less expensive to build a new garage than it is to build a new addition. “You have to start out with asking a question: What do you need?” says Crisp. “If what’s lacking is a nice big family room, I would say keep an open mind and you could end up finding some really easily convertible space, such as a garage, to use.”

MAKING THE MOST OF THE SPACE YOU HAVE OK, so not everyone is quite ready to take the leap from garage to home movie theater but Joy Rafferty, co-owner of California Closets of Albany in Latham, says she sees quite a

lot of demand for mudrooms and an even greater demand for storage to get the junk that’s on the floor out of the way so that people can actually park their vehicles in their garages. Garages are typically out of sight, out of mind, and the net result is often an unsightly mess that renders the garage unusable for either its intended purpose or for storage. No matter what you plan to do, you’ll probably have to start by cleaning out the clutter. Once you’ve figured out what you plan to keep, the next question is how to store it. Home Depot and Lowes sell all kinds of garage storage systems from open metal shelves to closet cabinets, but before you buy anything, you need to ask yourself one other important question: Do you want to park in the garage? “The crucial part of our business is the design process,” says Rafferty. “We talk to the customer about what their goals are. … Is it to get the two cars in?” Rafferty says a great many of her customers say their main goal is to be able to park their vehicles inside in the winter, but if you only have a narrow space to work with, you’re going to need narrow shelves. That’s why Rafferty measures the space and the vehicles to make sure that whatever storage system the client chooses will fit. One of the nice things about custom cabinets is that you can choose the depth of the shelving. “There’s a wide range of things we can do from open shelving to closed cabinetry,” says Rafferty. “We can build workbenches. We can do it as simple or as elegant as someone would like it.” continued on 34

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Rafferty says a lot of her clients prefer closets with doors they can lock. “Probably the most common thing people want are cabinetry to get things off of the floor to free up their space and to keep pesticides or paint cans so they can’t be accessed by young children,” she says.

simple as pegboard can turn your walls into a masterpiece of organization. Choose pegboard that is an eighth of an inch thick for hanging lighter items, a quarter of an inch for heavier power tools. California Closets also offers a range of hooks designed for specific items, from bicycles to weed whackers. If you want to go a bit more high-tech, a wall-mounted rail storage system, such as FastTrack by Rubbermaid, allows you to custom-design your own storage system. You can use these durable steel rails to attach hooks, brackets for shelves, even cabinets. When you’re planning where to put things, don’t forget to look up. Even if you’ve not got much floor area to work with, most garages have high ceilings. You can rig up a pulley system to hang kayaks from the ceiling or go deeper with shelves and cabinets if you hang them high enough for vehicle clearance.

STARTING FROM THE GROUND UP

 MAXIMIZE WALL SPACE Having a small garage can really drive a person up the wall — but if you want to find a storage solution, that’s exactly where you need to be. Something as 34 | Life@Home

To make a garage look like new, a fresh coat of paint can help and it doesn’t just have to go on the walls. Covering the floors with epoxy paint is a great idea if your garage is a home for your (messy) hobbies. Be warned, however, this is a fairly labor-intensive process and involves some powerful chemicals. You’ll need to scrub, clean, and rinse the floor, and fix any cracks with a concrete repair compound (use concrete patches for bigger

problems). If the floor doesn’t absorb water easily, you’ll have to apply a concrete etcher to make the concrete porous enough to absorb the paint, and then prime it before painting. You’ll have to give it plenty of time to dry and air out between each step and you won’t be able to drive on it for at least a week after you’ve painted it. The advantage of epoxy paint is that it’s water- and stain-resistant and easy to wipe clean. The downside is you’ll probably have to touch up the paint job every year or so. Another option is to put down a garage floor using modular interlocking garage floor tiles. These tough PVC tiles are made by a variety of companies, including Craftsman and Gladiator, and come in a range of colors — including Harley Davidson black and orange. Those were the colors of choice for one of Rafferty’s clients in Albany who was big into motorcycles, who had a special floor put down in the garage and painted the room black and orange. “In that particular case, he wanted a very modern look. We did the cabinetry in a black with an aluminum front,” says Rafferty. “It really tied the room together.” Rafferty doesn’t use the word “room” by accident, even though she’s describing a garage. “We’ve done a couple of gorgeous ones,” she says. “People really want to make the garage more than a garage. It’s an extension of their home and becomes another room in their home.” 

Photos courtesy California Closets.

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Take It With You So why not use all that “good” china every day?

By Lee Nelson

36 | Life@Home

can use your beautiful things all over the house to add beauty.” Some people say fear of breakage stops them from using these heirlooms. “We get letters from people all over the country every day telling us they are afraid to use the china their grandmother left them. They don’t want to break it or chip it, and they think it will take a lot of extra care,” says Keith Winkler, product marketing manager at Replacements, Ltd. The Greensboro, N.C., company boasts that it has the world’s largest selection of old and new dinnerware, crystal, silver and collectibles. They have more than 12 million pieces in nearly 400,000 patterns. “China was made to be used. Washing it makes the glaze stronger. And sterling silver looks better and shines better if you

use it all the time,” Winkler says. “And if you chip something or need a replacement, we are here for you.” He suggests mixing and matching modern pieces with the older ones for a unique tabletop setting. Put out the sterling silver with your everyday dishes. “There are so many options. You can add a crystal plate or a heavier plate underneath that is rustic that blends well with formal pieces,” Winkler says. “Making every meal an event doesn’t have to be tough.” Nor do the pieces have to be used for their original purpose. A serving dish or teapot makes a perfect holder for a unique centerpiece. Or float candles in the teacups at each place setting to pull the look together. “You can even hang a couple of your china plates in your bathroom,” Winkler says.

Photo: Susie Cushner/GettyImages.

anuela Broderick was surrounded by beautiful crystal, linens and dishes in her childhood home in Germany. “We didn’t put our china in cabinets to collect dust, and we didn’t get it out just for special occasions,” she says. “We embraced everything we had and used it each and every day.” Broderick now helps others do the same, surrounding themselves with their own fine china, crystal, linens, silver and more — and using it for more than just holidays and special occasions. The owner of the Professional Organizer, Planner and Stager in Saratoga Springs, Broderick believes every day should be a celebration. “I deal with a lot of people with so much stuff. It encompasses their life, their offices and their homes,” she says. “My premise when I help them is they either should use it or lose it. As a stager, I work with people who want their home to be the most beautiful it has ever been because they want to sell it.” But she wishes more people would get out those treasured dishes, goblets, silver trays and other finer items from their boxes, closets and basements and use them Sunday through Saturday. “Why are they waiting on a real estate showing to use their beautiful things?” she says. “I didn’t grow up with paper plates. And my kids are accustomed to sitting down with full china dinner plates. Americans perceive that you can only use those things with fancy meals. But it doesn’t have to be that way, and you

“

China was made to be used. Washing it makes the glaze stronger.”

Megan Barkevich helps plan events such as weddings and anniversary parties as director of special events at Total Events, a full service event, wedding and party rental company in Albany. “People need to remember that happiness is for everyday use. Are you putting off good things in your life because they seem too special for right now?” she says. Rather than store her china, Barkevich created a montage of different kinds of plates on her dining room wall. “It’s something special. We aren’t eating off of them, but I can see my mom and grandmother’s china, plus some other ones that I bought because I liked them,” she says. “Someday when I get tired of looking at them, I’ll do something else.” Not sure you want to get out the whole set of crystal? Start with using Aunt Mary’s crystal sugar bowl to store Q-tips or cotton balls, Barkevich suggests. “It’s a way of accessorizing your life without too much drama,” she says. “It’s a subtle look with items here and there throughout your house. You don’t have to make it a crystal palace.” Nancy Mach, owner of Mach’s Treasures in Albany, grew up with her grandmother and great-grandmother’s antiques and became fascinated with her great-grandmother’s pink Depression glass collection. Her favorite piece was a fruit bowl she received. “When I bought the house here for my store, I had the fruit bowl in the center of the table. It’s not for sale, but it just reminded me of my family and my past,” she says.

— Keith Winkler

Mach uses almost everything in her home and in her antique store. “You can repurpose things such as the older linens and laces. I have taken the lace borders from a tablecloth and put it around the base of a lamp. It makes it a softer look for a bedroom,” she says. She also takes cups and saucers or old berry bowls and china plates, and secures them with strong glue to an iron rod to make a bird feeder she sticks in the ground in her garden. “Chenille bedspreads are another big thing,” Mach adds. “People are making pillows, vests, chair covers and purses with them.” She sets up her shop with different vignettes in every room as if someone was living there. The dining room is adorned with dishes, glasses and linens. The bedrooms, living room and kitchen also have furniture, items and décor to show customers how items can be used in everyday life. “I have a lot of people see the tables and rooms and say, ‘why wait for a special occasion?’ They only use their dining room for special holidays. But try getting out your best plates for no reason at all,” she says. Or how about asking your mom or grandmother over for a Friday night meatloaf dinner served on the dishes they gave to you? “Watch their faces brighten up as they see their things being honored at the table,” she says. “They will begin talking about all the memories they had with these precious items. It can bring people closer together to talk and listen about family history.” 

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10 Ways to … Serve

onstantly have friends and family popping by the house during the holidays? If you’re at all into being a hostess with the mostest, you’re no doubt always looking for ways to feed them — whether they announce their ETA the day before or 15 minutes before. Below you’ll find a range of easy ideas that require little time or ingredients, but are delicious and attractive, too. As my Sicilian nonna would say, “Mangia, mangia!”

Whip up a cider drink.

“Apples are the flavor of the Northeast, and this has been a fantastic year for our local crop,” says Colie Collen, education coordinator at Honest Weight Food Co-op in Albany. Her suggestion: “Make a quick, delicious, warming drink for friends and family by heating local cider in a crockpot with cinnamon sticks, cloves, nutmeg, a split vanilla bean — and perhaps a little bit of semi-sweet white wine, whiskey, or rum (if you want the extra warmth).”

Throw together no-cook kabobs.

Slide bite-sized pieces of ripe cherry tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and arugula or basil onto wooden skewers; then drizzle a little balsamic dressing (store-bought if you’re in a rush!) over them. Arrange in a glass vase and voila, instant Caprese salad kabobs.

Dish out mini pizza bites.

Got a few frozen pizzas in the freezer? Use a round cookie or biscuit cutter to cut out circles, top with whatever you have on hand — herbs, olives, oregano, pineapple — and heat. Your guests never need to know these mini pizza bites weren’t made from scratch!

Make a quick avocado honey dip.

This gluten-free, egg-free, nut-free dip from healthy food blogger Catherine

Last-Minute Guests

McCord (weelicious.com) is perfect for kids and adults alike. Place ingredients — 1 peeled and pitted avocado, ¼ cup whipped cream cheese, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and 1 tablespoon of honey — in a bowl and mash until smooth. “Serve with veggies, crackers, pretzels or even as a spread on toast,” says McCord.

Arrange an elegant cheese platter.

Break out your cheese board and select a variety of cheeses from the supermarket. Display handwritten labels next to each, and adorn the platter with some grapes and crackers.

Dress up pear slices.

Serve sugar-and-spice popcorn.

Prepare affogato in a pinch.

Add a dollop of blue cheese and a piece of arugula to each pear slice, then wrap each one up with prosciutto.

When it’s done, sprinkle on a little cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar. Keep popcorn all together in a nice bowl, or split it up into glasses for separate servings.

“One scoop of vanilla gelato or ice cream with a shot of hot espresso (or strong-brewed coffee) poured over the top,” says Vic Christopher, owner of Lucas Confectionery in Troy (lucasconfectionery.com).

Put together a pretty parfait.

In a medium bowl, mix 3 cups of nonfat Greek yogurt with 3 teaspoons of honey. Add ¾ teaspoon of finely grated lime zest, 3 teaspoons of lime juice and 1½ teaspoons of vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, mix berries — 1 cup each of raspberries, blueberries and quartered strawberries. Serve in dessert glasses, alternating between layers of yogurt and berries for a total of two layers each. Garnish with mint leaves. (Serves 4)

Have a pitcher of water on hand.

Perhaps the most basic one of all, but a nice, easy touch: If you really do expect a lot of drop-in guests this time of year, always have a pitcher of water flavored with cucumbers, lemons or limes ready to go in the refrigerator. 

Can’t work with any of these? When you’re really in a bind and need to only use what’s in your pantry, visit supercook.com. There, you can type in the ingredients you have and it’ll serve up a list of recipes that only require what you have.

Want to join in the 10 Ways fun? Stay tuned to our Facebook page for upcoming questions: facebook.com/lifeathomemagazine.

38 | Life@Home

Photo: sinankocaslan/GettyImages.

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Mastering the Mix

By Lucianna Samu | Photo by Mark Samu

sked to conjure up a concept for a master class in interior design, I looked to a column I wrote for Design Defined some time ago for inspiration. My working title for the piece — “Possibly, Maybe, Someday” — made the case that it could be useful to liberate the stash of treasures so many of us have stored in the attic or basement. The origins of these 42 | Life@Home

ad hoc collections are usually recalled with a fond memory, and the descriptions are told to me in a spoken cadence I’ve come to know as one rooted in heartfelt nostalgia. Why then is so much great stuff lining the perimeter of everyone’s attic? The response is the coda to the now familiar nostalgic melody; “Oh, all this stuff — it doesn’t match anything.” So to teach my master class, entitled “Refining the Prin-

ciples of Eclectic Mixing and Matching, I’d plan a field trip, and set out to reclaim anything and everything stored in what I call the banished kingdom of the American homeowner. While it’s a worthwhile dream to outfit a room with brand spanking new everything, a finer look can be created when we include something in the mix that has been around awhile. If that something reminds us of a place or a person that pleases us, it matter less that the something matches. And, if the something is tied to a fond memory of our own, it matters even less if the color, pattern, era or provenance is “correct” in the room. Both in practice and in principle, including objects or furniture or art pieces in a room design that tell a story or have a history will transform that room that looks good into a room that also feels good. Comfort is always derived from the familiar. Think of your favorite old sweater, or that odd coffee cup you can’t part with, or that one weird pillowcase you’ve been dragging around since college that al-

ways comes though the wash like brand new. These are the sort of comfortable and familiar things we hang on to that bring us a particular sensation of calm that’s worth having around.

here’s a design trend toward the use of reclaimed and repurposed objects right now, making it easier to find pieces that suggest a worn and aged look. Old tables remade into coffee tables, industrial or metal pieces with second lives, painted furniture, wire accessories and weathered wood of any type — all advance this style. But back in the attics, furniture considered finer (mahogany) or period (anything Louis), heavy brass lamps and foxed mirrors are being carried up or down the stairs. These pieces, from Grandma’s old settee to Mom’s diminutive wing chair, can have a new life with a little ingenuity. Recently, I installed a small mahogany breakfront to house trophies in a little boy’s room, and re-imagined a collection of truly fine tablecloths I’ve yet to brave putting the scissors to as a pair of long billowing patchwork draperies. Old furniture, sometimes the ugliest you can find, can be fashioned into a true statement piece when reupholstered with colorful oversized patterns or painted an over-the-top color. The deconstructed look, also a big trend right now, is an even bigger boon to any wellconstructed sofas or chairs you can’t quite part with. The appeal of this look is leaving the

inner workings of upholstery practices exposed, finishing off the sides or seating with only the simplicity of burlap, cotton duck or muslin. Stripped down to the basics — a practice good upholstery men call “ripping” — and merely making the piece serviceable by leaving it “finished” at the “core” of the upholstery process, (the burlap), may make your upholstery man gasp, but admirers of the deconstructed look will envy your exposed pristine webbing and upholstery tacks and super organic style. For lamps, (and I know everyone has at least one in storage!), re-fitting a lamp with both the Edison bulb and bare shades wrapped in rope, jute, beading or ribbon, is an idea even I’m willing to try. While I can’t say firsthand the bare wire that lies behind every well-made silk shade will please me, even if it is set atop the important-looking finial every quality brass lamp has, it’s still something I’d try. Extending the life of any good lamp is best accomplished with a new shade, and for that, nothing beats bringing the lamp directly to the store. I never concern myself with the mix when it comes to a new lampshade — burlap, colored shades, oversized, undersized. This is a good place to break some rules and have some fun. And, if curious shoppers look at your efforts with a quizzical frown, you can do what I do, and ask them if they have any forgotten lamps in their attic you can experiment with! 

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 Problem Solved

e h t f o e s a The C e l i T n e k o Br

The secret is to get creative!

By Brianna Snyder | “After” photo by Emily Jahn

PROBLEM When this Saratoga Springs homeowner moved into her new townhouse, she found the tile in the kitchen was cracked and the previous owners hadn’t left any extra tiles to replace the cracked ones.

SOLVED Mary Korzinski, of Custom Design Associates in Albany, says most tile cracks happen exactly where these were — in front of

BEFORE 46 | Life@Home

the sink. People spend a lot of time standing in this area doing dishes, especially, but cooking and cleaning too. The tile was ceramic, Korzinski says, which is a generally weaker tile than porcelain. So they went to the store and bought about six new tiles and “came up with a pretty carpet pattern,” Korzinski says. Now the space in front of the sink looks as if it has a colorful, built-in little carpet. “It’s not a problem if it looks like you planned it,” Korzinski says. 

TOP TIP: “If you have a chance to choose between [ceramic and porcelain], go for the porcelain. It has a lot more life and resistance to changes in temperature and it’s more forgiving if you scratch the surface of it,” Korzinski says. And if something does happen to just one or two tiles? “Don’t be afraid to pull up a few,” she says. It’s not as hard as it looks.

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(All-natural)

Hot or Cold Compresses Hand-sewn corn bags make great gifts Story and photos by Megan Willis

orn bags make fabulous hot/cold compresses without all that toxic gel (what is that stuff?). Play it simple with rectangular compresses or get your craft on to the max with Cat Womaninspired, elastic-banded eye masks. Keep in the freezer or pop in the microwave. The feed corn inside makes them a little heavy, like a bean bag. 

You’ll need

Tractor Supply is one of life’s pleasures.

• Soft, thick fabric scraps. Vintage 1940s tablecloths are great or any thick, soft fabric.

• Ric rac, pom-poms or other fun trimmings (optional)

• Feed corn. Purchasing a 50-pound bag from the

• Sewing machine

• 1" wide elastic (optional)

(A) EASY RECTANGLE HOT/COLD PACKS

(B) ULTRA GLAM, CAT-EYE COMPRESSES

1. Cut two layers of fabric to desired size (fold it over for less sewing). For a nice 9" x 12" bag, fold an 18" x 12" piece of fabric (printed sides in) and leave a 1 1/2" gap for filling with corn.

1. Draw cat eye mask pattern on paper 1/2" larger than actual size to allow for sewing.

2. Turn fabric inside out and use a funnel or paper roll to fill. 3. Hand stitch opening to finish bag.

2. Fold cloth with good side facing in. Trace cutting pattern with a pen and cut pieces. 3. If doing trim, turn fabric right side up again, choose mask fronts and sew on trim. 4. Place tops and bottoms with printed sides in. Trace 1/2" smaller

sewing pattern on one side. 5. To add elastic, measure to your head and sandwich ends between fabric, pinning in between at ear level. Pin pieces together and sew, leaving space for filling.) 6. Sew slowly and hold fabric tight through the turns; corners are tough. 7. Turn sewn cat eye bag right side out through the opening and fill with corn. 8. Hand sew the open hole.

Megan Willis has a life-long passion for turning trash into treasure. Her blog, The Davenport Chronicles, can be found at blog.timesunion.com/davenport.

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 Dollars & Sense

Resolving to Take

Charge 14 ways to improve your financial health in 2014

By Laurie Lynn Fischer

1. GET A FISCAL PHYSICAL An annual overview of your personal finances is like a medical check-up, says Chris McKenna, chief mortgage officer of Homeowners Advantage, a subsidiary of CAPCOM Federal Credit Union. “Homeowners should force themselves at the end of the year to look at their overall financial position,” he says. “Look at your life, your property, casualty and cars.”

2. CHECK YOUR CAR LOANS “Most people don’t realize that they can refinance a car,” McKenna says. “They may have gone to a dealer and gotten sold into a 5 percent rate. Maybe they can do better.” 50 | Life@Home

3. CONSIDER SWITCHING INSURERS “People should be shopping their insurance on a periodic basis, whether that’s every year, every three years or every five years,” McKenna says.

4. EXAMINE YOUR MORTGAGE DEBT “Your biggest monthly outlay is typically your mortgage,” says McKenna. “It doesn’t cost you anything but 15 or 20 minutes of your time to try and determine whether refinancing your house makes sense. You might want to pay it off early by taking out a 10-year home equity loan if you can borrow at a lower rate than you’re currently paying on your mortgage. There’s no one-size-fits-all. Some people want to go from a 30-year down to a 15, but as we talk to them, they’re not paying into their 401K, even though their company matches it. It might be better for them to focus more on saving for retirement.”

5. PLAN YOUR ESTATE “It’s cost-effective to talk to an attorney about a simple estate plan,” says Wayne A. Smith, Jr. of the Albany law firm Smith Hoke, PLLC.

6. DESIGNATE WHO GETS POWER OF ATTORNEY “The power of attorney is critical if you were to lose competency, so that somebody would be able to keep your finances in order,” Smith says.

7. SIGN A HEALTH CARE PROXY “The health care proxy is an end-of-life directive in case you find yourself in a position where you could be kept alive like the Terri Schiavo case in Florida,” says Smith. “The extreme cost of long-term care for an individual in a vegetative state could easily destroy a family financially, not to mention the emotional drain.”

8. WRITE A WILL “A will is important because it ensures that you provide for the individuals that you want,” says Smith. If you die without a will in New York State, the first half of your estate goes to your spouse and the rest is split evenly between your spouse and children, he says. “In theory, your spouse could end up owning the family home with your children,” he says. “This could pose problems.”

Photo: JGI/Jamie Grill/GettyImages.

ore than a decade ago, my mother bought Pilates tapes and made a New Year’s resolution to use them. “I still say I’m going to get them out and do it but I never do,” she confesses. Some New Year’s resolutions you can afford to break. Here are some to make if you want to strengthen your financial core. Resolve to:

pearl grant richmans presents

9. ESTABLISH A TRUST You can provide for your minor children by establishing a testamentary trust within your will, Smith says. “If it’s held within a trust, it can be managed for their benefit,” he says. “It’s never a great idea to give a 15-year-old $200,000. At 15, I probably would have wanted to purchase a Ferrari.”

10. DISCUSS A TRUST WITH YOUR PARENTS “The family home is usually your largest asset,” Smith says. “You could pass that asset on to your beneficiaries while still being able to live there through a Medicaid trust, which is the same as a grantor or irrevocable trust. Probably 70 percent of people face long-term care issues. Ideally, before you even need long-term care, go ahead and establish a trust. If you own your home and you need long-term care, the government will place a lien against your potential estate where they will look to recoup the cost of any long-term care.

11. SHIELD YOURSELF FROM FRAUD Reduce your vulnerability to fraud, suggests Pamela Wickes, director of forensic accounting services at Teal, Becker & Chiaramonte CPAs in Albany. “Prevention is more cost effective than being the victim of a fraud scheme,” Wickes says, citing tips from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.

12. BEWARE OF THE INTERNET AND ATMS Don’t use the same computer for online banking as the one you regularly use for the Internet, Wickes recommends. Also, watch out for ATMs — especially

standalone and mini-ATMs, she warns. Small devices that steal cardholder information could be attached over the card-swiping slot. “Carefully examine an ATM before you use it,” Wickes says. “If you detect something suspicious, like a discolored card reader or unresponsive keypad, use another ATM and report the matter to the bank or owner listed on the ATM. You should also check your bank statement activity regularly.”

FRASIER FIR b y THYMES luxurious home fragrance for the holidays

13. INVEST WISELY “If there’s proof of consumers receiving a product or service, an investment is much less likely to be a scam,” Wickes says. “If there’s an extreme lack of transparency, don’t invest. Such secrecy was a red flag in Bernie Madoff’s scheme.”

14. SCRUTINIZE YOUR HEALTH INSURANCE STATEMENTS In recent years, health insurance fraud — most of which is perpetrated by providers — represented an estimated 10 percent of all U.S. health care spending, Wickes says. “Ultimately, the cost of health care fraud increases insurance premiums, which impacts everyone who pays for all or part of their health insurance,” she says. “If you notice on your explanation of benefits from your health care provider duplicate charges, charges for goods or services not provided to you or charges for more significant and costly services than you received, you may have uncovered a fraudulent transaction.”  Bethlehem native Laurie Lynn Fischer is a regular Life@Home contributor who began her investment portfolio and launched her professional journalism career as a teenager.

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 Living Green

Have a Holly, Jolly Green Christmas By Cari Scribner

ere’s wishing everyone a green Christmas — green as in ecofriendly. If making your holidays greener is something you’re interested in trying, here are some ways you and your family can “green up” this holiday season:

ARTIFICIAL OR REAL TREE? Many families, mine included, opt for an artificial tree to avoid cutting a live tree. Before you decide to go that route, here a few other facts to consider: • 85 percent are made in China, i.e. not even remotely local. • Artificial trees contain non-biodegradable plastics and metals. Petroleum, used to make plastic, is a nonrenewable resource, as is lead, also a component of the trees. • PVC plastic, a large component of artificial trees, disperses dioxin, a toxic manmade chemical, into the air and water. • Fake trees can’t be recycled; once discarded, they end up in landfills. All of these accumulated trees are a burden to the environment indefinitely. • Fresh trees, on the other hand, are grown primarily by farmers in the U.S. and Canada. • Trees absorb carbon dioxide, a huge benefit to the environment, and don’t damage soil when they decompose. In fact, they add nutrients back into soil. • Used trees can be recycled in a wide variety of ways. Go to realchristmastrees. org for some tips. Another option? A live tree from a local nursery that you plant in the spring. • Real trees are a renewable resource, as more trees are planted every year.

SKIP WRAPPING PAPER. Instead wrap gifts with something more personalized. Use brown paper from a large roll and draw or write messages on it. Use construction paper, scrap cloth, old paper bags or even the used gift bags you’ve accumulated over time. Recycle 52 | Life@Home

Ways to make your holiday more eco-friendly

old holiday cards to use as tags. One year when my own children were small, I wrapped every present from Santa with sheets of the Sunday comics saved up for months. They didn’t even notice the difference between newspaper and shiny new wrapping.

CREATE YOUR OWN BOXES. Stores now sell “joke boxes” to trick recipients into thinking they’re getting, say, dog slippers when it’s actually something they’ll love, such as a lovely scarf. Make your own joke boxes by saving packaging from Pop Tarts, cereal boxes, toothpaste

ANOTHER OPTION: Go treeless.  Decorate your mantel with fresh greens (most fresh tree lots or farms selling trees will give you fallen branches if you ask for them). Hang decorations on a table top tree that lives year round, or decorate a ficus tree or peace lily that will live on long after the holidays. Make a tree of family photographs or your kids’ craft projects on the living room wall. Be creative and start a new tradition!

Quality Q ualit y o off Life is Our O ur FFirst irsst Priority.

boxes large enough to hold jewelry inside, microwavable popcorn boxes, you name it. The recipient will hoot and the gift exchange will be memorable. (The joke’s on you next year, guaranteed!)

Photos: GettyImages. Hearth, Gary Moss Photography; Cactus, Peter Landon.

GIVE EXPERIENCES, RATHER THAN TANGIBLE PRESENTS. Here are a few ideas: • Skip the gift and invite a family member for dinner, or tea and an afternoon of conversation. • Make a coupon book with coupons to be used for bringing someone a homemade dinner, shoveling a driveway, walking a dog, or anything that will make the recipient’s life easier. • Take kids for a long hike in the woods: Listen attentively to their questions and teach them everything you know about nature. Extra credit if you tell them stories about your childhood during the walk. • Bring your laptop or tablet to an older family member’s home and show them all the photos you’ve accumulated in recent years. As a bonus, you’ll enjoy the walk down Memory Lane, too.

sustainable. As an alternative, buy a Christmas cactus or cyclamen, which have pretty blooms in red or pink that come back every year.

LIMIT YOUR PAPER HOLIDAY CARDS. Instead try e-cards or post greetings on Facebook.

START A NEW TRADITION AND PUT UP OUTDOOR LIGHTS ON CHRISTMAS EVE TO LIGHT THE WAY FOR SANTA.

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The tradition of lighting up homes started in 1895 after President Grover Cleveland lit the first White House tree. True, the new generation of LED minibulbs uses far fewer watts than older bulbs. But the accumulated energy usage for millions of homes in America packs a wallop to the environment.

CONSIDER ALTERNATIVES TO POINSETTIAS.  Yes, a holiday tradition and they’re live. But most of the plants are grown in California, which means they’ve been trucked all the way to New York State, using lots of fuel. Most are also tossed out after the holiday, which defeats the purpose of them being live and

CountryFolkArt.com

 Down the Garden Path

 TIP: Make sure lilacs have plenty of sun

The Nose Knows Story and photos by Colleen Plimpton

oes your garden need more natives, additional color or fewer annuals? How about some small trees, or bird-friendly plantings or deer-resistant perennials? Winter is the gardener’s opportunity to create a wish list for spring. And while we’re in revision mode, let’s consider fragrance. Where did the heavenly scents of Grandmother’s garden go in our hurly-burly new century? It seems that loss of fragrance is a side effect of new cultivars that admittedly bloom longer and are more pest resistant. But you can add scent to your beds and borders. With wise use of specific annuals, perennials, vines and trees, your garden can be a fountain of fragrance all season long. Let’s take a look

54 | Life@Home

The importance of fragrance in the garden at what perfumes our gardens from February to fall: Hybrid witch hazels often start blooming in late winter and can be highly scented. Large and vase-shaped, these shrubs desire ample room at the edge of the woodland. Seek out Jelena or Arnold Promise for intense, lingering scent. (A tip: when purchasing flowering plants, choose while in blossom and give a sniff test.) As the days lengthen and Old Man Winter loosens his icy grip, snowdrops emerge, often flowering through late snow. Plant them where they can be viewed and consider Sam Arnott for fragrance. Snowdrops are best divided in full bloom, which makes it a cinch to spread the wealth.

Unlike the sometimes cloying scent of paperwhites, many garden variety daffodils bear a light, essence-of-spring fragrance. Look for poeticus types such as Pheasant’s Eye, Actaea, or the double, Cheerfulness. Of course, among bulbs hyacinths are famed for their fragrance as well as their spectacular color range. They will often perennialize if the leaves are left to ripen and the plants are fertilized after bloom. Be sure to cut a few for the vase, but remember the stems will continue to elongate. Not every gardener knows that many crabapples are deliciously fragrant. Try Scarlet Brandywine or the good old-fashioned Sargent. These small trees are also beneficial for birds, which relish the fruits

and find shelter in the dense branching. Who could leave lilacs out of a list of fragrant garden plants? From the early-flowering Pocahontas to Miss Kim, which closes the traditional lilac season, most of these stalwart shrubs are floriferous and fabulous. New kids on the block are the reblooming lilacs such as Bloomerang. Be sure to give all of them enough sun, and if pruning is needed, do it immediately after bloom. When the weather warms enough to plant annuals, don’t forget such fragrant beauties as sweet pea, mignonette and heliotrope. All three were favorites in olden times, with good reason. Their floral bouquets waft over the ornamental garden. Sweet pea may be direct-sown in April. Look for mignonette (a favorite of Empress Josephine) in specialized seed catalogs (Swallowtail Garden Seeds is a reliable, helpful source. (swallowtailgardenseeds. com) Heliotrope is gaining favor and can now be found in annual six-packs, but be sure to give the aforementioned sniff test — not all heliotrope is equally fragrant. Dianthus Firewitch was awarded the designation Perennial Plant of the Year by the Perennial Plant Association in 2006. This low-growing cheddar pink blooms in a vibrant magenta and like most of its relatives, prefers well-drained alkaline soil and full sun. It’s highly fragrant; place it where all can enjoy. Peonies are also known as century plants. If placed at the proper depth and given adequate sun, they will outlive us all. Most are exquisitely fragrant, which makes up for the fact that, however trussed and hooped, they’ll flop if rained upon. For strong June scent, search out vibrant red Karl Rosenfield or pretty-as-a-picture Festiva Maxima. There are some non-fragrant peonies, but why bother? German bearded iris prefer decent, well-drained soil, regular fertilizer, and a sunny site. If granted these boons, this statuesque plant will reward the gardener with regal flowers on strong stems. For scent, choose cultivars such as Princess Bride or Blue Tide. Unlike most perennials, German bearded iris prefer division in the hot midsummer. Keep an eye out for the bright pink, sausage-fat iris borer, which has ruined many an iris patch. Moonflower is a summer-blooming

 Deliciously fragrant ‘Scarlet Brandywine’ crabapple  Snowdrops bloom even through late snow. vine related to morning glories and though I can’t grow them to save my life, they are reputed to be sweetly-scented in the evening. Their alabaster color glows in the moonlight, making it a must-have for the white garden. Several types of phlox provide scent. In May, low-growing phlox divaricata sends up fragrant 18-inch tall bloom stalks for several weeks on plants that wend their way through the semi-shaded garden. In midsummer, phlox paniculata is a mainstay of ornamental borders. Its stems can attain some four feet, and its blossoms, in almost every hue, send fragrance drifting over the August garden. But beware, deer like them too! Many hosta cultivars emanate a delightful aroma, especially those in the plantaginea family. These tend to bloom in August and September and are white and quite large. Look for Fragrant Bouquet with its variegated foliage, large, handsome Guacamole, or stunning Diana Remembered. If your garden boasts a damp, shady area, think of cimicifuga, commonly known as fairy candles or black cohosh. This tall, upright perennial sports airy

incised leaves and in September flowers white or pink on terminal wands that are incredibly fragrant. They are attractive to bees and late butterflies. Don’t deadhead, because birds relish the seeds. Cimicifuga can be an expensive plant to purchase, so if you let them self-sow Mother Nature will reward you in the coming years with a bevy of beautiful fairy candles. Gardening, like fashion, is cyclical. Despite horticulture’s long dalliance with flower particulars other than fragrance, it appears that gardeners are once again prizing the sense of smell. Plan to plant some of these carefree flowers, and give yourself the gift of fragrance.  Visit garden communicator Colleen Plimpton’s website at colleenplimpton.com. timesunion.com/lifeathome | 55

 Tech Tips

Digital Holidays I

Gadget gifts for the season of giving

By Brianna Snyder

HEADPHONES, $19.95-$10,000(!) True, nothing new exactly happens about headphones themselves, but headphone technology is getting better all the time. While you can spend up to $10,000 on a pair, Hazapis recommends Sennheiser headphones for the typical consumer. They run anywhere from $19.95 to $349, depending on what you’re looking for: super high-quality, high-definition audio? Custom fit? Do you want your ‘phones to go around your 56 | Life@Home

ears? Do you like earbuds? Do you hate earbuds? Sennheiser makes sports headphones, wireless, noise-canceling and DJ headphones. (They also come in different colors.)

THE DRAGONFLY, $199 Audiophiles know already the pitfalls of MP3 technology. Digital compression of song files make for bad-quality conversion of finely-produced and professionally worked-on sound. The Dragonfly, by AudioQuest, is a digital-to-analog converter (or DAC). About the size of a USB flash drive, it’s hooked up between your headphones or speaker and your computer and it “significantly improves the sound quality” of your digital files. Hazapis says the difference is unbelievable.

GOLFSENSE GOLF SWING ANALYZER, $130 If you have golfers in your life, you know

how obsessive they can be about their backswing or upswing or putting. This little clip-on tracker is a motion sensor that attaches to your golf glove. It analyzes your swing and reports, in real time, to your smartphone or tablet. According to digitaltrends.com, it has “some pretty amazing capabilities,” including a 3-D rendering of your swing along with pertinent swing data, speed and tips for improvement.

TAGG THE PET TRACKER, $99.95 Overprotective owners of dogs who love to run away might find a lot of comfort in this little GPS device that goes around Fido’s neck and keeps track of where he’s going. The tech-review site PCMag.com says that although it’s pricey — the nearly-$100 fee does not include an $8-a-month service charge — it’s useful for peace of mind and — big bonus!!! — it’s a fitness tracker too so you can make sure your pup’s getting enough exercise. 

t seems impossible that any new gadgets could possibly be invented. We’ve already got so many! But we couldn’t be more wrong: 2013 was as robust a year as any this century when it comes to gadgetry and tech. Looking for gadget gift ideas? Or just curious to see what else you might want? We put together this list of hot holiday gift ideas, with some help from Tony Hazapis, president of Hippo’s Home Entertainment.

Family  Food  Wine

Life 57 – 74

Beat this: curry salmon with gingered beets. Photo by Paul Barrett. Read more on page 66.  timesunion.com/lifeathome | 57

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Help Me … Have the Perfect By Jennifer Gish

Real Christmas Tree

h, the Christmas memories of childhood. It was a silent night until you heard your father cursing in the living room, having come home late and found that beautifully decorated blue spruce lying across the floor. It had tipped. Again. Those memories turned you into an artificial-tree believer. But you deserve the smell of fresh evergreen, the greeting card-worthy photo of your family tramping through the farm to pick the perfect Fraser fir, and that’s why the pros have tips on making it work.

KNOW YOUR TREES: “Choice of species is probably the most important,” says Chip Ellms, owner of Ellms Christmas Trees in Charlton. “And the two things to consider in species are smell and length of needle retention. Typically spruce do not retain their needles as long as the firs, and if you want the best-smelling traditional tree, those are the balsam and the Fraser fir.”

SPEAKING OF NEEDLE RETENTION … Match the species of tree you’re choosing to how early you like to start your season. The white spruce used to be popular 50 years ago when people would wait until a week or even days before Christmas to set up their tree, says Maureen McDonough, an owner of McDonough’s Farm in East Greenbush. But if someone chose a white spruce around Thanksgiving, “They usually had a Charlie Brown tree by the time Christmas came around,” McDonough says. If you’re buying weeks ahead of the big day, needle retention is key.

Photo: ZoneCreative/GettyImages.

KNOW YOUR DECORATING STYLE: “The blue spruce has needles that are almost like pins,” Ellms says, which can lead to some painful tinsel-hanging. “But on the positive side, the blue spruce has very stiff branches, so for the people who have really heavy, old-fashioned ornaments, they’ll try to find a blue spruce or white spruce with branches that are stiff.” And though trees with tightly spaced branches where you can’t see the trunk may look

beautiful bare, it doesn’t leave you a lot of room for ornaments to dangle. Dense branches force ornaments to hang at a slant, Ellms says, which won’t win you any tree-decorating contests.

THINK OF YOUR SPACE: “Pick the tree for

For more tips on making an eco-friendly Christmas, flip to Living Green on page 52.

the space you have to put it,” Ellms says. “When they’re out in the field, everything looks smaller. When you bring it into your house — boom — what looked small in the field is touching your ceiling.”

TAKE A STAND: If you purchase a tree stand at the tree farm, you’re likely to get a no-tip winner because the farmer doesn’t want you tethering your tree to your living room wall either. “You have to support the base from sliding out of place,” says Earl MacIntosh, who owns Weathered Willow Tree Farm in Altamont. “There are several different manufacturers that provide a tree stand that gives you a very firm base. There’s one that’s as simple as one vertical reinforcing rod in the middle and three horizontals on the floor.” The vertical rod goes into a hole you drill in the trunk of the tree and helps hold it in place, he says.

PREPARE THE TRUNK: Like fresh-cut flowers the tree’s bottom needs a trim before you stick it into the water chamber of your tree stand. Dirt, sap and other debris can clog the trunk, MacIntosh says, making it hard for the tree to slurp up water. So take a half-inch off the bottom of the trunk before it goes into the stand.

AND LIKE FRESH FLOWERS … You need to water your tree — which is still a living thing — frequently, especially in the first week. Otherwise, you’ll have a tough time finding all those presents Santa left you under a coating of dropped needles. “If the water in the stand goes below the cut of the tree, with the sap or pitch within the tree, it’s going to seal the bottom of that tree quite quickly, and before you know it, it will not be able to take any water,” MacIntosh says.

AND KEEP IT COOL: “Don’t put a tree near or right on top of a radiator or a heating duct,” Ellms says. “That extra heat will tend to dry it out a little bit faster.”

MAKE FOR AN EASY CLEAN-UP: “We do have the Christmas tree disposal bags that are nothing more than a large white plastic bag similar to garbage bag but bigger,” MacIntosh says. Set your tree inside of that and roll it up to form a ring around the base of the tree that you can hide under your tree skirt. When the holidays are over, “Unroll the bag right up the tree and here you have a cocoon or wrapped tree,” he says. “All the needles are contained in that bag when you squash it through the door.”  Jennifer Gish is the Times Union’s features editor. timesunion.com/lifeathome | 59

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What if…

Kitchen Crumbs 

Tasty Tidbits

to brighten up your cooking

By Caroline Barrett

Scented Fireplace Start a fire, wrap in a blanket, grab a book. Cuddle up to the warmth and the cozy smell by adding whole cinnamon sticks to your fire. Simply layer in when you start the fire, putting 2-3 sticks in each fire. Creates a delicious, warm smell throughout the entire house.

Drink Up

Photo courtesy Amazon

Photos: GettyImages. Cinnamon, Carlos Gawrownski; Cocktail, YinYang; Curry, Floortje.

Scentsational Before you send the tree to the curb, make it last a little longer by creating a potpourri. Combine dry pine needles, cinnamon sticks and whole cloves with a few drops of pine oil. Place in a shallow dish and enjoy!

What is better than baking with, and for, friends? This lovely cookbook has some sweet sounding favorites: Macadamia White Chocolate Cookies and Chocolate Chip Layer Cake, along with a few surprises, like Maple Bacon Date Scones.

Soapy Goodness

breathe in the luscious fragrances. Makes a lovely gift for yourself, or a loved one. Try the Coffee Kitchen Soap for the cook in your life, or the Black Raspberry Vanilla Soap for people who just like to smell good.

Find this beautiful book, Tate’s Bake Shop: Baking for Friends by Kathleen King, at amazon.com.

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Serve up this pretty and festive cocktail before dinner. Muddle a spoonful of cranberries with a teaspoon of sugar. Pour in 1 /2 ounce orange flavored liqueur and 1/2 ounce vodka. Add ice and fill glass with cranberry-flavored seltzer. Garnish with cranberries on toothpicks.

Make Your Own Curry Powder Curry powder, like so many things, is better when homemade. Make this recipe and keep in a sealed container, or multiply the servings, scoop into small jars, and give as gifts. Be sure to list ingredients and ideas for using on tags.

Curry Powder 2 tbsp. turmeric 1 /2 tsp. coriander 2 tsp. cumin 1 /2 tsp. ginger 1 /4 tsp. crushed red pepper 1 /4 tsp. cinnamon Mix thoroughly and keep sealed in an airtight container. Use on chicken, seafood and in soups. Put a shake or two in salad dressing or in hummus. Stir into soup. timesunion.com/lifeathome | 61

 Dish

At home with ...

Nick Ruscitto By Steve Barnes | Photos by Paul Barrett

uail shouldn’t be a restaurant-only dish, says Nick Ruscitto, executive chef of the Wine Bar and Bistro in Albany. “It’s just like a little chicken,” he says. Quail has the added advantage of a much shorter cooking time, both because of its small size and because its breast meat tastes best when cooked no more than medium. But, says Ruscitto, home cooks, like restaurant customers, seem to be disinclined to try game birds or even poultry that merely sounds unusual. When he changed the name of a menu item from poussin to “baby chicken,” sales increased notably even though the former word is simply French for the latter term.

Shrimp-stuffed quail is a good dish for holiday parties, Ruscitto says, because the birds can be stuffed in advance and held in the refrigerator, and the “dirty” beans (or rice) he serves as a side dish can be made ahead as well and quickly reheated. Stuffing the quail with shrimp but no bread as a binder makes the dish gluten-free, and the butter in the stuffing adds fat that bastes the birds from the interior as they roast. To cook, quickly sear the birds on the stove and pop them into a hot oven for less than 10 minutes. An easy pan sauce allows you to get the dish onto the table with minimal effort and fuss. continued on 65

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Dish 

ONLINE

Want to see how this recipe was made? Watch our video at timesunion.com/lifeathome or scan our YouTube QR code.

continued from 63

Ruscitto may include shrimp-stuffed quail late this year as he entertains for his first holiday season in a new apartment in Troy. Over the summer he moved into the carriage house — well, former garage — of a palatial brick home near Washington Park in Troy. The 1,000-square-foot open space is all one room, with an interior door only for the bathroom, and the wall near his 8-foot, custom-built dining table is the (nonworking) garage door. He’s not sure yet how he’ll insulate the door for the winter, but the space was so funky, big, quiet and inexpensive compared to Albany apartments that he signed the lease, content knowing he had six months to solve the problem of winter drafts. In the meantime, Ruscitto has strung the rolling door’s overhead tracks with twinkly lights. It looks like a garden trellis, indoors. 

Shrimp-Stuffed Quail For the quail 4 quail, sleeve boned (see note) 8 medium shrimp, peeled and deveined 1 shallot, minced 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves 2 tablespoons brown butter, chilled and then brought back to room temperature 1 lemon, juiced 2 ounces red wine 1 tablespoon butter Method

 Heat oven to 400 degrees.  Dice shrimp and add shallot, thyme, brown butter and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper and mix.

 Form shrimp stuffing into four golf-ball-sized mounds. Lay quail on cutting board, breast side up, with the head end facing away from you.

Using a spoon, stuff quail. Poke a hole in the breast skin about ½ inch up from the opening. Tuck the legs through the hole and truss the quail with kitchen twine to keep its shape. Season the outside of the quail with salt and pepper.

 Sear the quail on all sides, starting with the breast side first. Place in oven for about 7 minutes. Remove from oven and keep warm on a plate.

 While quail is resting, deglaze pan with red wine. When reduced by half, whisk in butter. Note: “Sleeve-boned” quail, sometimes called part-boneless, have had the ribs and breastbone removed, but the wing and leg bones are intact. It makes the bird easier to eat but still able to keep its basic shape if stuffed and trussed before cooking. They are available from specialty butchers and purveyors that cater to restaurants.

ONLINE

For the recipe for “dirty” white beans that goes with this dish, go to timesunion.com/lifeathome. timesunion.com/lifeathome | 65

 Table@Home

I’m Dreaming of a

Calm Christmas I

Can the holidays be peaceful?

By Caroline Barrett | Photos by Paul Barrett

want to like the holiday season more than I do. I’d like to be the person who carries big shopping bags full of gifts through the shops with a big smile on her face. The one who sits in traffic, singing Christmas tunes. Or the lady who navigates through the crowded grocery store with plenty of time to spare, saying, “No, no, after you” when her cart bumps into another. I’m not that lady. I never have been. I do carry shopping bags full of presents, but it’s likely I’m cranky and scowling. My feet ache. The mall gives me a headache. It’s too crowded and hot. And the traffic! My father is the same way and I remember being in his car a long time ago and listening to him grumble something like this: “Everyone and their uncle is trying to find a parking spot at this store!” He might have inserted a few more

66 | Life@Home

descriptive words I won’t repeat here. It didn’t matter that it was Dec. 23. There was a ton of traffic, and he was cranky about it. I don’t blame him. The grocery store might possibly be the worst of all places for people who aren’t in the holiday spirit. I forget my list, which is long, and have to zig-zag through the store avoiding other people who are tired and cranky and who also forgot their lists. We smile politely at each other, but don’t bother with any holiday cheer. In anticipation of all this crankiness and busyness and bah-humbug spirit, I proposed a different kind of Christmas celebration to my family. I waited until we were eating dinner together, one cold and quiet night. We talked about the usual things: Zoe told us a long story about her science partner.

We talked about skiing, about ice skating and sledding. And then, before the conversation could turn to what gifts were on each child’s wish list, I threw it out there. What if we did something completely and totally different for Christmas? Instead of running around, part of a pack of crazed holiday shoppers, we could have a totally quiet and peaceful Christmas. We could rent a little cabin in the Adirondacks. All eyes were on me as I described a sweet and precious holiday together. We would stock up on food, lots of it. Wine and cakes and cookies and chips and nuts. We’d build fires and sit in front of them, reading and eating and snoozing. Then we’d take long walks through the frosty woods. After, we would stoke up the fire again and go back to playing games and eating. There, I said it. Sounds awesome, right?

I laid out the whole plan, put the entire Barretts’ Peaceful Holiday Plan on the table. Four pairs of eyes stared at me from across the dinner table. No one said a word. “Well?” I said. “Sounds wonderful, doesn’t it?” “Um,” Zoe said. “Is there cell phone service there?” Lucy asked. “Wait.” Elliot got right down to business and asked what they were all wondering, “You mean instead of Christmas?” Zoe thought about it, not saying much. I knew what she was thinking: three days, no friends, no television, lots and lots of family time. “Can we bring a friend,” was all she said. “Wait,” Elliot said again, pointing his fork at me. “Hiking? In the cold? Seriously?” Paul, smart as ever, just scratched his chin and didn’t say a word. Yes, I told them, still hopeful. A quiet, peaceful Christmas. Just us. Their looks ranged from shock to horror and I realized that I wasn’t going to get my family into a rustic little cabin in the woods. It’s all right, I told myself. Instead of go-

ing out to create a peaceful little Christmas in the woods, I would have a peaceful little Christmas here in our own house. I vowed to find joy in small, precious moments. I’ll bask in the glow of the usual holiday cheer: the cookies made together, the ornaments hung on the tree. But also just moments we spend together, like putting stamps on Christmas cards. And listing all the naughty things our dog has done over the year. Taking time to do things together takes the stress from the days leading up to Christmas. So I leaned forward and pointed my own fork at my family, striking a deal. No cabin in the woods, I told them. No hours and hours of family time in a little cabin. Cell phone reception, all the time. But, what I get is this: time. Time spent walking the dog on dark, shivery nights. Long, lounging afternoons in front of our fireplace. Just a little time, I asked. The truth is I knew they wouldn’t want to spend the holiday in a small cabin in the woods. My chances of getting my family of five to enjoy three days together in front of a fire were about as good as Zoe getting the iPhone for Christmas: it just wasn’t going to happen.

But I did get a little leverage. Lucy knew that a stroll through the farmers market was better than being disconnected from her friends for three days. Elliot bundled right up to walk the dog on a starry night. And Zoe, still hopeful for the new iPhone, was sweet to everyone, even her brother. So I got my holiday wish. And while rambling slowly through the farmers market one Saturday, I added beets to my basket. Lucy, with her hair messy and wishing she was still in bed, held the eggs and beets and a big loaf of bread and did it all with a bit of holiday cheer. I looked at her and loved her so in that moment. This dish is one we’ve made a few times on Christmas Eve, when we gather with friends for a seafood feast and plenty of good cheer. It’s hard for even me not to be joyous on this evening. The fish is simply prepared, leaving plenty of time for merrymaking. It’s delicious too, with just a touch of spice and the sweet, earthy tones of locally-grown beets. This holiday, I didn’t get the cabin in the woods. But I did get my family. And that was enough to keep the Christmas crankiness away. 

Curry Salmon with Gingered Beets serves 6-7 This recipe is at its most beautiful when prepared with an entire side of salmon. You can still find plenty of local beets this time of year. They’ll be trimmed of their leafy green tops. Find small, firm beets and, if you can, purchase a few in different colors. The dish will look even prettier.

olive oil for brushing 1 whole side of wild caught salmon, carefully checked for bones (about 3 lbs.) 2 teaspoon curry powder 1/2 teaspoon sea salt black pepper 1” piece fresh ginger, peeled and shredded olive oil 8-10 small sized beets, peeled 4 small shallots, peeled fresh spinach leaves, for serving

Method

 Heat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Lay the salmon on top and brush lightly with olive oil. Mix the curry with the salt and pepper and spread evenly over the fish. Slice the beets in half, and each half into 4 pieces. Slice the shallots into the same size wedges. In a small bowl, toss the beets and shallots with a bit of olive oil, and then the ginger.

 Pour the vegetables evenly around the fish. Roast for 15 minutes, until cooked through but still moist.

 Line a serving platter with the spinach leaves. Use a spatula to carefully lift the salmon onto the platter. Arrange the beets and shallots around the fish and serve hot. timesunion.com/lifeathome | 67

 The Vineyard

Washington State Merlot I

A great wine value from a rising power in the wine world

Story and photo by Alistair Highet

t’s fun — if not particularly fair — to deal in sweeping generalizations where wine culture is concerned. So here’s one for you: Last month I wrote about the pinot noirs from Oregon. Very special, nuanced, particular, gifted little wines. Think Portlandia. Think artisanal. The Willamette Valley in Oregon is perfect for the finicky, thin-skinned grape that is native to Burgundy. Not too cold or too hot, fog keeping the hot sun off the grape’s back. Cool sea winds moderating temperatures as they whisper in from the Pacific. The winemaking culture in Oregon, too, began with a hippy vibe, with a bunch of guys coming north from California in their beards and plaid shirts and buying some cheap land and making small batches. It’s a big deal now, but it retains something of that hands-on, DIY ethos. Not too far to the north is Washington, where a whole different winemaking ethos was at work right from the start. If you wanted to get to the vineyards of Washington from Seattle, you’d drive east through a bunch of pine forests, then over the Cascade Mountains, and down into a semi-arid prairie that is as suitable for wheat as it is for vines. This is agriculture country, and it stretches east towards the prairie, flat and dry — if not irrigated — and planted with wheat, soy and rye. This area in Washington known as the Columbia Valley — named after the Columbia River — has always done agriculture in a big way. Instead of a lot of little boutique wineries, you get big growers buying grapes in bulk from vineyards all over the area and blending them in the wineries closer to Seattle. Washington State is now the second largest vine-growing state in the country, and it seems perfectly suited

68 | Life@Home

with its hot, sunny summers to the grapes of Bordeaux — particularly Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. So let’s stick with the generalization: Where Oregon’s pinot noirs are gentle, ethereal creatures, the wines of Washington are a slap on the back. Big fruit. Generous and simple, they are as subtle as a basket of puppies. If Oregon wines are poets in coffee houses mumbling into a microphone, the wines of Washington are a bunch of cowboys, whooping it up at the roadhouse. But I’ve really taken to them, particularly the Merlots I’ve tried over the last few weeks. You know you’ve settled into winter when your body craves Merlot, don’t you think? I want to be nuzzled into deep, ripe flavors; I want the reassurance of loamy depths. I want ripeness, and richness, and Merlots can give you all of that. I tried four, all of which I thought were fine; in some cases, really terrific fruit and not muddy or mushy the way it can be when it is bad. All are recommended. 

14 Hands, Columbia Valley Merlot, 2010 ($14) This wine is named after the Mustangs that used to roam the area. This was my favorite — distinct, ripe blackberry, currant, and black cherry fruit, with a pleasing yeasty bread quality, loamy minerality, and toasty finish.

Slope sub-region, and it contains 16 percent Cabernet Sauvignon and some other grapes. Black currant fruit, ripe and inky, with lamb and autumn herb notes, charcoal, caramel and dried plum.

Millbrandt Traditions, Columbia Valley Merlot, 2008 ($15)

Chateau Ste. Michelle, Red Diamond, Washington State Merlot, 2010 ($13)

The grapes are from a number of vineyards in the Wahluke

Big and ripe, black currant and red berry, stewed meat and herbs,

vibrantly floral, with hints of tar, anisette, and peat. Chateau Ste. Michelle, Indian Wells, Columbia Valley Merlot, 2010, ($18) Blackberry, dried plum, sweet and delicious, rich and luxurious, with vanilla notes, hints of mint and sea breeze minerality.

Jingle Bell

Rock Picking the perfect holiday party music mix By Kristi Barlette

70 | Life@Home

can make your holiday mixer.” So just how do you go about creating the perfect playlist? Area event planners and radio deejays weigh in with their tips: Pay attention to the setting. If you’re hosting a family dinner or holiday get-together you’ll want to focus on a nice blend of traditional tunes (Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Mannheim Steamroller, etc.) and then snowflake in some Mariah Carey, Bruce Springsteen, Harry Connick, Jr., Michael Buble. “The best gift you can give your family is the gift of time, so music

that brings back memories and creates new ones works perfect,” says O’Hara. For an office holiday party, opt for fun holiday songs such as “Dominick the Donkey,” anything by the Chipmunks and “Grandma Got Runover by a Reindeer.” “The office party is all about fun and getting your co-workers to loosen up a little and wear the antlers for the Facebook memories,” O’Hara says. For a holiday party with friends, focus on hip, fun music that’s reflective of the season. You can’t go wrong with Michael Buble’s

Photo: Snowglobe, DEA / A. DAGLI ORTI/GettyImages; Tablet, courtesy Spotify; Albums, Creative Commons.

ou’ve picked a date, made the guest list and chosen the menu, but something is still missing in the bid for the perfect party — music. “Music sets the tone of any party, big or small,” says Jessica Herberger, owner of Experience Events in Loudonville. “Music also adds to the ambiance of the party and can set the pace of the party while designating when there are changes to what’s happening.” Softer music is best for dinner, for example, while upbeat tunes are great for dancing and socializing later in the evening. “When people want to get out there and dance, the music is the star,” says Brian Cody, co-host of the Fly Morning Rush on Fly 92.3. “At dinner, the food and conversation are the star.” And that’s really important. The wrong song can ruin the mood. “You can’t screw up dinner because the music is not the focal point, but once it’s the star, you can mess it up in a heartbeat,” Cody adds. The right music is as important to a successful event as having meat-free dining options for your vegetarian friends. Music puts people in a certain mood and can make them feel a certain way, says Cody. “Music is the soundtrack to our life, and you need to bring the life to your holiday party,” says Chad O’Hara, music director and afternoon host at B95.5. “The right mix

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ONLINE

Want some suggestions for a holiday playlist? Check out Life@Home’s holiday hits playlist from our staff and Facebook fans on Spotify. Go to open.spotify.com/user/timesunionmags

Avoid the radio. The pesky commercials are really a mood killer, says Herberger. A playlist is great, but you can also rely on Pandora or Spotify. There’s an app for that. Apps/ sites such as Pandora or Spotify can do the work for you. Simply select what you are looking for, or a favorite song and they will take it from there. If you are creating your own playlists you can go with the standards, all contemporary music or my favorite, ask guests to let you know their favorite holiday song when they rsvp. Have a back-up. Streaming iPods, smartphones, etc. are great but they can be glitchy, Herberger says. Make sure any playlist from an online provider is available offline as well. 

 Some of our favorite albums: Elvis sings The Wonderful World of Christmas, Nat King Cole’s Christmas Song, Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass Christmas Album

Joann Hoose photography

Christmas CD, Rod Stewart’s “Merry Christmas Baby” and Cee-Lo Green’s “Magic Moment.”

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Enjoy the Times Union magazine experience. Online. Flip through the virtual pages of our Times Union magazine titles, accessible from anywhere online. The same award-winning layouts. More photos. Links that take you where you want to go. All from the comfort and convenience of your own device.

www.tumagazines.com body. mind. spirit.

My Space 

e all have favorite spots, places where we feel most comfortable or at home. Sometimes it’s a favorite chair or nook in a room; other times it’s outside the house. Wherever it is, it is where we are most at home.

Story and photo by Suzanne Kawola

WHO: LeGrande Serras -- owner, Reel Seafood Co.

FAVORITE SPACE: Central Park rose garden in Schenectady

WHY: Serras loves flowers, though he admits he himself isn’t a very good gardener. But: “I’ve always loved flowers,” he says. For 35 years, he’s worn a fresh rose every day; he stops every morning at the florist. “We always hung out in the park when we were young,” he says. “We used to skate over there on the water.” Reel Seafood Co., which Serras owns, just celebrated its 30th anniversary in Albany, and Serras couldn’t be prouder. He’s been working in the restaurant since he was a little kid, and soon he’ll pass Reel Seafood to his daughter. She represents the fourth generation of the family’s more than 100 years in the local restaurant business. At one point, early in his career, Serras hit a rough patch. He says the rose garden helped him through. “This was the only place that I had some sense of serenity,” he says. “[I’d] come over and have a sandwich and a soda, which I do to this day. This [park] is a jewel for our community.” 

timesunion.com/lifeathome | 73

 Photo Finish

Happy holidays! Photo by Vincent Giordano. Read more on page 24.  74 | Life@Home

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