Paul Lowe - Sweet Paul Eat and Make: Charming Recipes and Kitchen Crafts You Will Love

Copyright 2014 by Paul Lowe Einlyng
Photographs Alexandra Grablewski
Illustrations Susan Evenson

All rights reserved

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 215 Park Avenue South, New York, New York 10003.

www.hmhco.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.
ISBN 978-0-544-13333-4 (hardcover); ISBN 978-0-544-13444-7 (ebk)

Book design by Joline Rivera and Nellie Williams

v1.0414

Dear friends,

This book is about the two things in life I love the most: cooking and crafting.

I was raised in Oslo, Norway, by two little old ladies: my great-aunt Auntie Gunnvor and my grandmother Mormor. Ever since I was small, Ive been obsessed with cooking, crafting, and decorating. Its in my blood. Both my grandmother and mother were excellent cooks and crafters with impeccable taste, but they were not perfectionists. Their cakes tended to be a little lopsided, and their craft projects definitely werent up to Martha Stewarts standards. But they always had such fun!

I wasnt the typical spoiled child. I didnt whine and beg for toys and games. My tastes were a bit more sophisticated. If I wanted to go on a picnic, we went on a picnic; if I wanted to bake a chocolate cake, we baked a chocolate cake. Mormor and Auntie Gunnvor doted on me, but they also allowed me to participate in all the projects that I dreamed up. I owe them so much for inviting me into the kitchen to help and for feeding my culinary and craft inclinations at the same time that they fed my belly.

I loved helping in the kitchen. I had my own knife and cutting board, my own set of bowls, and my own space on the counter that I could reach by standing on a chair. Mormor was of the old school, and everything was made from scratch. Her food was rich and full of butter and cream, and we all know that tastes best. When we werent cooking, we were always working on some creative craft project or another, finding projects in books and magazines and making our own versions at home in the kitchen or playroom. Whether it was a recipe from a cookbook or a craft project from a kids magazine, our creations never quite looked the same as their inspirational photos, but everything tasted wonderful and our crafts made us happy.

Now, as an adult, Ive adopted my grandmothers motto, fullkommenhet er kjedelig, which means perfection is boring, and Ive incorporated it and her sheer joy of creating into everything I do. Im quite sure that this is what allowed me to establish myself in my career as a successful food and craft stylist.

I started my blog, Sweet Paul , in 2008, and I would never have guessed it would grow big and turn into Sweet Paul magazine. I blogged about what I knew and loved: my food- and craft-styling work. Slowly but surely I started getting followers and fans from all over the world. By 2010 I had produced the first digital issue of Sweet Paul magazine, and because of persistent requests, we began printing the magazine and selling it across the United States, and then, in 2011, around the world. Im living proof that magazines arent dead.

I really dont care for visual perfection. I want the food I cook and the crafts I make to look like a real person made them. My philosophy is very simple: few ingredients, easy steps, and amazing results. With this book, you will always end up with something beautiful that will impress friends and family.

Sweet Paul

At least three or four times a week, Im asked, Why Sweet Paul? Well, growing up in Norway I had a godmother who married an American NATO doctor in the early 1970s and moved to Texas. After only two years, she divorced him and returned to Oslo, but in that time, she had somehow managed to completely transform herself into what Mormor called a tacky American, with big hair and tight clothes. A Peggy Bundy typenot at all like young women in Norway at the time.

Her look may have been questionable, but she was the best babysitter ever. She told me stories about living in Texas, where everything was huge. You even had to use two plates to hold a steak! I listened with big ears about rattlesnakes in the garden, huge cars, fast food, and plastic surgery. Im sure shes responsible for my appreciation of everything American.

Somehow, over the course of her two-year stint in America, my godmother picked up an American accent that stuck with her. She would pepper conversations with American words, and I quickly became Sweet Paul to her. When I started my blog and had to think of a name, there was no question what it would be.

Thanks, Auntie Tove.

When I was six years old, I woke up early one Saturday morning with an idea. I was very focused, even at an early age, and that day I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

I was going to bake cookies. By myself. I had an LP record with a cookie-baking song that I was obsessed with, a funny little ditty, Pepperkakebakesangensort of a cross between The Cat in the Hat and Sesame Street with step-by-step instructions on how to make pepper cookies.

I tiptoed down into the kitchen with my record player. It was still dark out. I grabbed a bowl and started playing the song over and over, singing along and completing each step of the recipe. What I didnt realize was that the song was nonsense and it wasnt a real recipe at all. After an hour of work and full kilos (a kilo is 2.2 pounds!) of flour, sugar, and butter and eight eggs, I gave up. There was a giant bowl of wet cement in front of me and flour was everywhere, even on the curtains. Thank god I didnt have the wherewithal to actually turn on the oven. Im afraid I would have set the kitchen on fire.

Worst of all, I was totally covered in a mixture of eggs, flour, and milk and I looked like Id been battered and readied for the fryer like a big batch of fried chicken.

Suddenly I heard loud laughter from the doorway. There stood Mom, Dad, and my grandmother Mormor. They had all been awakened by the song and wondered what the heck was going on in the kitchen. I told them I was making cookies for everyone but that I had run into a few problems along the way. After a few more giggles, my mom gave me a quick rinse in the tub, while my dad cleaned the kitchen and Mormor whipped up a batch of Norwegian pancakes with blueberry jam. So much better than any old cookies!