Hygge in General
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This week the Ohio River Valley and the Cincy-Tri-State-Area almost had real winter cold. So I got busy seeing what all the Hygge hoopla was about! This scene is very hygge. Anything that involves “cozy,” smoked salmon, cheese, warm socks, book and cake sounds great to me! This space was designed to read under a warm blanket, enjoying a hot drink and beautiful scenery. It’s a hygge-place.
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I love mittens. I’m pretty sure mittens are hygge. At least these are. To me.
The source links to the knitting pattern. Knitting is way-hygge!
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It can’t be hygge without cute, warm socks. Wool. Too many too chose from out there. These are just a tiny sample of my faves.
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I have cats–mucho hygge points because 1) they pur, 2) they snuggle, 3) they purr. But they make candles a bit dicey. Candles are so tres hygge they’re off the charts. I don’t think you are allowed to breathe the word hygge without first lighting candles. Honestly. But I really love these candles. Naturally they’re from Anthropolgie–the North American supplier of all-things hygge. But who doesn’t love their stuff?
Hygge Comfort Food
Chai Spiced Winter Porridge
Hot cereal like Cream of Wheat or Oatmeal obviously hygge. This version looks scrumptious if you take out that gross banana. Recipe is linked above.
Smoked Salmon Smorrebrod
Smorrebrod (little Danish open-faced sandwiches on Danish rye bread) is hygge and I can clearly see why! Smoked fish is delicious–especially smoked salmon.
American-ized Hygge Food
Mint White Hot Chocolate
Hot drinks are de rigueur for hygge-ness. This recipe sounds so good! Creme de Menthe might work well, too. Recipe is linked above. I want to make this soon.
White Cheddar Beer Cheese Soup for Two
Soup, especially a creamy soup, screams hygge to me! This one, which only makes two servings, has that other hygge thing–beer (guy’s or students’ version of hygge). Carlsburg is the hygge-est beer ever. But is it hygee to slop it all over the table like that? Recipe is linked above. I think this needs big, soft German (sorry) pretzels with it, don’t you? Yes the bread bowl is cool, but a warm, soft, salty pretzel?And, of course, more cheese. Cheese could have invented hygge.
Slow Cooker Brownie Pudding
True American Hygge Goodness! I’m hoping to make it today.
A Hygge Monitor
I’m not a serious bullet journal-er, but I do use journals (you can read about that here). But I love mandalas. This is a Mood Mandala, but why not a Hygge-ness Monirot?! [ Youtube has all kinds of great mandala drawing videos, but I found this Mood Mandala idea (with full credit given to the Instagram above) in Boho Berry’s Plan With Me 13 video and she has a great video on drawing mandalas as well.] I dream of having a beautiful set of wooden mandala blocks to grace my huge coffee table! I think both the mandala monitor and the mandala blocks would be seriously hygge. Maybe you could have a color chart for hygge moments? I’m pretty sure coloring a mandala or assembling a wooden mandala with a hot drink while wearing warm socks and sitting swarthed in a warm throw blanket is uber-hygge. And, if it’s not then add cake. Cake is the secret ingredient of hygge!
Hygge for the Busy: Hygge in a Box or Postal Hygge
In the U.K. (aka “England” to those here in the Tri-State) they not one, but at least TWO, subscription box services to meet your hygge-demands! Here’s an article with a comparison of the two.
Hygge for guys….or what women wish men understood about hygge
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This is the guy and the bike I’d ride with! How cool are those boots! Jeremy Irons was made to wear these and ride this bike, I just know it! Jeremy Irons voice and Hygge were also made for each other. Cuddling and backrubs are hygge. Just sayin,’ Jeremy. That bike probably jolted your frame a bit….. Hygge…..sigh….
Beer is hygge when it is warm, dark and Danish and enjoyed at a hipster dinner spot or a cool little basement dive with live jazz. Wine is always hygge (well, you got me there–not when its in a box), but it’s espeically hygge served warm with spices and fruit floating in it. T.V. isn’t hygge. Reading and soothing music are hygge. Jazz is hygge. Acid rock is not.
Open-faced rare beef filet sandwiches are hygge. Beef jerky, even terriyaki or pepper flavored are not hygge. Too much gnawing.
Smoked salmon or sour cream-drenched herring on dark bread is hygge. Going fishing for for the fish, except on a luxury yacht, is not hygge. That’s just camping and nobody with a brain calls camping hygge. Not even glamping. Nope. Outdoor hygge is strictly walking hand-in-hand in beautiful snowflakes or in lovely crisp frigid air when the lady has her hair perfectly under control and is wearing very, very hygge socks and furry boots. Messy hair is only hygge if it is intentional messy, artfully messy.
Royal Copehagen is the official men’s scent of all things hygge. Stock up. If you’re a student, original Old Spice may be substituted for week-night hygge to save money.
Using hygge-stuff to get sex is un-hygge. You have to be SINCERELY hygge for that. Like you’d still hygge even if you were alone. You value hygge-ness that much. No, I’m not kidding. You’d have to be like Ross on Friends and want to put on Kenny G and take a bath with layered scents and oils and junk–when ALONE. Yeah. Now that is pretty darned hygge. And, you’d have had porridge for breakfast with chia seeds–that just screams hygge! Any woman would give in to a guy who ate chia seeds in public at a porridge shop. Trey-hygge. Uber-hygge to be manly enough to a) eat porridge, b) order it with chia seeds, c) look like you mean it. No, you can’t get bacon with that. Vanilla beans. Go with the vanilla beans. And a weird kind of fruit. Weird fruit is always a good bet for hygge porridge.
Back rubs are ultra-hygge. Couples massages by candelight, or by the fire, and always on a cashmere throw with mulled wine to drink and hand-feeding each other cake is so hygge it screams the Danish national anthem. Forcing “the pace” beyond that is borderline. Sweat is involved after those steps, remember? Ditto insincerity. Trust is huge in Denmark.So gunning for sex is not hygge. Got it, boys? Saunas are not hygge—they involve sweat. Those are for the Finns–the people who live in Finland. Yes, it’s a different country and no, they aren’t as big on hygge except in school. Their schools are the very definition of hygge.
But, if you roar up on that bike (above) in those boots and look and talk like are Jeremy Irons, ladies will hygge the heck out of you, but you didn’t hear that here, ok?
Now, my tea is perfectly steeped, my cat is purring, my blanket is nicely fluffed and my book beckons. It’s Hygge time now.
The Tea Dress
Hopewell's Public Library of Life 
