Show & Tell: Find of the Month

As Petra also writes today this week's theme "månadens fynd" (the Show & Tell theme host this month has been Strandmamman) can be translated in two ways from Swedish to English; either as the bargain or the find of the month. I have chosen to interpret it as the find of the month because I want to show you the lamp we bought last weekend.

We've been looking for a ceiling lamp for our living room for quite a while and haven't been able to make up our mind (well, especially Peter as he's the most wavering person in the world!), but last Saturday we finally made a decision! And it wasn't necessarily a bargain so unfortunately I can't call it that. It's a pretty lamp - in my view - in goldish brown organza!

P.S. I'm still planning to write about my grandfather (last week's Show & Tell theme) as there is definitely a story to tell there, but not today!

Wednesday Recipe on a Thursday

Greek lasagne - 4 servings

Meat sauce
500 gr lamb or beef mince
1-2 yellow onions
olive oil for frying
1-2 garlic cloves
1 can of chopped tomatoes

1-2 tbsp tomato puré (according to taste)
1½ tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp basil
1 tsp thyme

Sauce
2 egg yokes
6 dl mild natural yoghurt
3 dl grated cheese
14 lasagne plates

Turn the oven to 200'C. Fry chopped onion and pressed garlic in the oil (or margarin) in a big frying pan. Add the mince and fry it until it's brown and crumbly. Add tomatoes, tomato puré salt and spices. Stir and let it simmer for 5 minutes.

Mix egg yokes and yoghurt. Add the cheese and mix well. Layer meat sauce, lasagne plates and yoghurt sauce in a ovenproof pan. Finish with yoghurt sauce on the last layer of lasagne plates.

Bake in the lower part of the oven for 30 minutes.

Image from Hemmets Journal

Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are

I use ClustrMaps to track where my visitors come from. Some of you I know - I read your blogs and/or you read mine. But some of you are "secret guests" and I'm so curious to find out who you are (unless you absolutely don't want to reveal yourself of course)!

I'm especially curious to know about the countries towards the end of the list, with one or two visitors!

Sweden - 229
United States - 132
United Kingdom - 35
Finland - 19
Norway - 10
Puerto Rico - 10 Petra, are you reading from 10 different computers?!
Egypt - 10
Italy - 9
Belgium - 9
Australia - 7
Netherlands - 5
Canada - 5
Denmark - 4
Turkey - 3
Greece - 3
India - 3
France - 2
Europe - 2 What countries are "Europe"??
Japan - 2
Malaysia - 2
Austria- 1
Slovakia - 1
Ireland - 1
Portugal - 1
Mexico - 1
Hong Kong - 1
Guam - 1
South Africa - 1
Argentina - 1
Taiwan - 1
United Arab Emirates - 1
Romania - 1
Spain - 1
Bermuda - 1
Israel - 1
Switzerland - 1

Awarded

Skolfröken has surprised me with a very nice thing, an award in the category "you have a cute blog"! Her motivation, which I really like, is:

On Anna's blog you can read wise posts about world politics and feminism and be inspired with delicious recipes, watch funny videos and lots more. Moreover, Anna likes "West Wing".

I could pass on the award to so many people but as I have to choose one person I will choose Petra's blog, Petchie's Adventures, because she catches the reader with everything from beautiful pictures from Puerto Rico and stories of her everyday life on the island to recipes from her grandmother and travel packing advice (space bags). She also makes me want to live abroad again and even makes me long a little bit for Brussels (even though I didn't like that city very much when I lived there).

So, Petra, here's your award!

Creative Finances

Read something interesting in an old Economist (from September) about the financial system spiralling out of control:

American politicians have a lamentable record of intervening in setting [bank] executive pay. In the early years of the Clinton administration, Congress imposed a salary cap of $1m, beyond which firms faced a tax penalty. Pay rose, as one set of executives, beneath the cap, realised thay were 'underpaid' and another set gained from an outpouring of creativity, as consultants invented myriad option schemes, perks and pension benefits to get around the limit. This only made it harder for shareholders to know what was getting what.

I'm usually optimistic but when it comes to the financial crisis I think that unfortunately, once this recession is over and we're back to happy days again, those finance guys (the same or new ones) are going to grease the same old wheel again.

Mr Boss

Continuing on the gender equality topic...

Read a report from the (Swedish) Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation (IFAU), which concluded "dads become bosses - not mums". According to their research, when men become fathers their chances of getting a managerial position increase while the mothers' chances do not change. In other words, the family situation affects men and women differently. Men and women without children have equal chances of becoming manager, but as soon as parenthood enters the equation things change.

One reason for this is that fathers maintain a stronger link to the workplace than mothers after they have become parents. But the correlation is also there when other factors have been taken into account; working hours, education, civil status (i.e. married or not) and whether the person works in the private or the public sector. The study is the first one that has showed a clear correlation between change in people's family situation and change in their management responsibility.

I think this report just goes to show that even if we have the best parental leave provision in the world, it can also be bad for women. As long as parents do not split the leave more evenly, employers will see women as more of "risk" and not promote them in the same extent as they would men. And in a way I understand them. If you are an employer and you are choosing between promoting a man and a woman who are equally good at their job, as ambitious, etc., but you know that the woman will stay home for a year once or twice or maybe more times and also perhaps take more of the responsibility when it comes to caring for a sick child (so-called VAB or temporary parental benefit), then it is natural to opt for the man. Sorry you women out there who take long parental leave, but it's true. And perhaps you do not mind, this is a sacrifice you are personally willing to make, but unfortunately your actions affect all women, women as group. This means it cannot be a choice for the individual or the individual family.

So, the only way to even start changing this situation is to split the parental leave allowance 50-50 between women and men. The leave entitlement is so generous anyway, 13 months (and longer if you count the 90 guarantee days paid at a much lower rate, but paid). That is minimum 6½ months per parents, and 8 months per parent if you include the guarantee days. Compare that to 2-3 months, often unpaid, leave in most other countries, and for just one parent. And the argument "but we can't afford that, my husband earns more", etc. is not a valid argument. Yes, it costs money to have children. If you did not know what you should not have had them in the first place. And in terms of the second argument, yes, then we have to go into reasons why many women earn less than men in the first place...

So, 50-50 by law is the only way to go! Now (today literally) even the usually conservative Moderate party is talking about earmarking more months to the father in the name of gender equality so maybe it is not such an unrealistic idea anymore.

Some facts
Despite the fact that Sweden is one of the world's most gender equal countries women are still very underrepresented in managerial positions. Over the last 30 years the share of bosses among female employees has increased from 15% to 20% while the share for men has been around 30% over the same time period.

Managerial positions are defined as jobs with leadership functions, i.e. that the individual has subordinates.

Wednesday Recipe: Shellfish Cakes

Peter made me a very nice dish tonight!

Shellfish cakes with dill and chili mayo (6 servings)

Fishcakes
150 gram salmon
200 gram shrimps, peeled
150 gram crabmeat (though we only used salmon and shrimps)
1 egg
2 tbsp dried breadcrumbs
3 green (new) onions, chopped
2 tbsp lemon juice
salt and pepper
rapeseed oil for frying

Dill and chili mayo
0,75 dl mayonnaise (though we used crème fraiche and just a little bit of mayo)
1 tbsp dill, chopped
1 pinch of cayenne pepper
fish roe, for garnish
salt and pepper


1. Remove the skin of the salmon, cut the fish in smaller pieces and put in a bowl together with the shrimp and the crabmeat. Mix with a mixer but not for too long; you'll want the fish mince to be a bit chewy.

2. Add egg, breadcrumbs, onion and lemon juice. Season according to taste and mix thoroughly. Put the mince mix in the fridge for 20 minutes (we only left it for 10 minutes and I don't think it made a difference),

3. Shape c. 1-½ tpsp of mince to small burgers. Fry the cakes in a generous amount of oil for about 2-3 minutes in each side until they are golden.

4. Mix all ingredients for the mayo sauce in a smaller bowl. The flavours come out best if the you let the sauce sit for a while before serving it.

5. Serve the cakes with one pat of mayo sauce and one pat of roe. Garnish with fresh dill.

We also had some boiled potatoes and lettuce to go with it to make it a proper meal!

Image from Tasteline.com

New Chapter

Stole this from Skolis!

The Gender Constant

Time to write about one of my favourite topics - gender equality (my other favourite is climate change, as you've probably noticed).

Unfortunately last year, Sweden lost its no 1 position on the World Economic Forum's equality list, the Global Gender Gap Report. Fortunately we only dropped to place 3, after Norway and Finland (Iceland is no 4 and Denmark no 7 so the Nordic region sure dominates that list). The list compares 130 countries, covering 92% of the world's population.

The rest of Europe does pretty well; Ireland is no 8 and Germany no 11, while the UK occupies place 13 (I'm actually a bit surprised that Ireland and Germany do better than the UK; will have to blame it on my prejudices about Catholic pro-life Irish people and stay-at-home-mother-loving Germans). Don't move to Saudi-Arabia, Chad or Yemen if you are a woman.

The index is based on four main pillars: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, political empowerment and health and survival. The Nordics score very high in all those categories; Norway overtook Sweden partly due to its work on increasing the share of women in top management position (by legislating; Sweden has decided against that route - we'll see what strategy works best in the long term).

The USA is in 27th spot. One factor for the average position (towards the lower end for developed countries) is the limited maternity provision at childbirth. Here's an article from New York Times on this topic (from 2007 but it's still very relevant):

Paid Leave for Maternity Is the Norm, Except in ...
AMERICAN women sometimes joke that they plan to move to Sweden or France before they become pregnant, to take advantage of the generous paid maternity leave those countries provide.

In fact, would-be moms may not realize they have many more options than just those two: 170 countries offer some paid maternity leave, and 98 of them offer at least 14 weeks off with pay.

The United States is not one of them.

This point was starkly illustrated in a world map published in the August issue of National Geographic entitled “Who Gives Parents a Break?” The data was provided by the “The Work, Family and Equity Index,” a report released in 2007 by researchers at Harvard and McGill.

On the map, the United States stood out as an arid brown blotch, one of only four — the others being Liberia, Papua New Guinea and Swaziland — with no paid family leave.

Why doesn’t such a policy exist now, on a national level? There is no simple answer.

First, the 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act does require certain larger companies to give workers who meet certain criteria up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave. But as many as 40 percent of workers don’t qualify under the provisions of that law — because their employer is too small, or they haven’t worked for the company long enough. And a survey in 2000 by the Department of Labor found that 78 percent of workers who qualified for this leave said they didn’t take it because they couldn’t afford to.

Employees may want greater government involvement, but many businesses object to the idea of being required to give paid leave. The main issue is financial, said Marc Freedman, director of labor law policy at the United States Chamber of Commerce, which opposes government requirements for paid family leave. “Paid leave is widely provided by many businesses already,” he said.

“Employers are at least resistant if not opposed because of their fears of the cost impact of this mandate. They would have to find the money to pay for these benefits.”

While companies may balk at the cost of paid leave, many workers often do need time off for reasons having to do with health or family responsibility — and they can ill afford to lose any wages, let alone their jobs.

As the lawyer Joan Williams notes in her book “Unbending Gender: Why Family and Work Conflict and What to Do About It” (Oxford University Press, 2001), many people, and not just employers, are still influenced by the outdated ideal of the single-income household, in which a working person typically relied on someone at home to care for a new baby or a sick relative or cope with any of the myriad situations that families face.

MOST families today are dependent on two incomes. But Debra Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women and Families, an advocacy organization in Washington, said, “Our policies don’t reflect the reality of working families’ lives.”

There have been changes at the state level. California has had a paid family leave law since 2004, and Washington State approved a parental leave law in April. Similar bills have been proposed in other states. Most of these measures are paid for entirely by employees.

In California, workers contribute a small percentage of each paycheck into a collective benefits fund; those who need a leave can take six weeks off at 55 percent of their wages.

At the federal level, Senator Christopher J. Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut, and Senator Ted Stevens, Republican of Alaska, introduced a bill in June, that would in effect become a financial supplement to the federal Family and Medical Leave Act. Unlike the California program, funding for the Family Leave Insurance Act of 2007 would come from a combination of employer and employee contributions, and general tax revenues as well.

Clearly, there are a lot of details to work out. But given all of these proposals, and the 170 countries with paid leave now, surely there is some solution for the United States. There are plenty of good reasons to go to Sweden or France, but paid parental leave shouldn’t be one of them.

Show & Tell: Furthest Below

Tricky topic this Friday. Strandmamman's theme längst under translates sort of "furthest below" or "furthest down". Not sure how to interpret it even once I have translated it! *hahaha*

Okay, I started by looking furthest down my drawers. I really need to throw out some clothes. There are lots of stuff far down my drawers which I never, ever wear. I need to simply reach down there and throw some stuff out. I do go through my wardrobe regularly but with all the cheap H&M tops I buy they quickly fill up again and some stuff I have a hard time getting rid of. "I may wear this again some time even if I haven't wore it for three years..." So since we're not getting any more closet space until we move, whenever that will be, I'd better throw some stuff out (or rather, give to charity of course). I won't take the stuff that's literally furthest down in my drawers but furthest away from wearing I guess.

I'm all alone this evening which means I can do whatever I want; blog, post photos, randomly, surf, watch chic lit movies, etc. Peter sometimes feels he's furthest down on my priority list (because I hang out with the computer too much) but that's not true! That said, I do have a bad conscience about it. Probably many of you bloggers out there understand the feeling. I guess I just have to tell him that the only thing that will pull me away from the computer is a new hobby, like a baby or something! ;)

When I googled 'furthest below', most hits were about the stock market and how low stocks have sunk in the financial crisis. But I also learned which point is the lowest point below sea level:

The shoreline of the Dead Sea, on the border of Israel and Jordan in the Middle East, is the lowest land area on Earth. The altitude of the Dead Sea shoreline is approximately 1,300 feet (400 meters) below sea level.

I think I remember that from school geography actually. Together with the Mariana Trench as the deepest part of the ocean.

You may remember that I wrote about my hometown ice hockey team a while back? We went to a game and for a while they were doing a bit better. But now they are furthest down the league again :( I think they are f*d this season. They'd better play better next year or they'll be stuck in the lower league.

What other "furthest below" can I find? Well, in my list of favourite bloggers both here on the blog and in my favourite folder in my web browser, which happens to be in alphabetical order, Vardag i kängurulandet, is furthest down. That's kind of funny since she's literally as far below one can get in the world too, at least from the perspective of someone living in a country which has land north of the Arctic circle. Anyhow, she hasn't updated for a while but I hope she does soon because I want to know about their last few weeks in Australia and the move back to Sweden!

Okay, I think I have run out of ideas now. Time to watch the new show Lipstick Jungle and see if it's anything to get excited about.

One Word & Wednesday Recipe

Stole this list from Skolfröken. Wrote it at work (over lunch so no colleagues or bosses who happen to read this can complain!) and posted it tonight.

The rules: When you respond, remember that you are only allowed to use ONE word! Just one! It is not as easy as it may seem!

1. Where is your mobile phone? Locker
2. Where is your spouse? Work
3. Your hair? Lot
4. Your mother? Incessant
5. Your dad? Restless
6. Absolute favourite in the whole world? Peter
7. Your dream last night? Nothing
8. Your dream/your goal? Balance
9. The room you're in? Office
10. Your hobby? Blogging
11. Your fear? Illness
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Enskede
13. Where were you last night? Mentor
14. What you're not? Productive
15. One thing you wish for? Baby
16. Where you grew up? Södertälje
19. The last thing you did? Lunch
20. Your clothes? Jacket
21. Your TV? None
22. Your pets? Colleagues
23. Your computer? Slow
24. Your mood? Indifferent
25. Missing anyone? Grandma
26. Your car? Dirty
27. Something you're not wearing? Suit
28. Favourite shop? Design
29. Your summer? USA
30. Love someone? Several
31. Favourite colour? Pink
32. When did you last laugh? Morning
33. When did you last cry? Row


And since it's Wednesday, a recipe! I don't have a photo but I wanted to share my favourite sandwich with you!

Ciabatta (or similar bread)
Slices of pecorino cheese (I've just discovered that manchego works almost as well)
Slices of tomato
Ruccola/rocket salad
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Salt & pepper

Pretty self-explanatory. Enjoy!

Best Right Now

From the Swedish Oscars, the Guldbagge Awards.

Show & Tell: Change aka 2008 Recap

Today is Show & Tell day aka Friday theme and Strandmamman is in charge of the themes this month (you can see the themes in the left-hand column).

Today's theme is change and what better way to illustrate change than to give you a recap of my 2008 together with my thoughts for 2009. In the same way a birthday does not mean you turn a whole year older from one day to another, moving from 31 December to 1 January does not mean much actual, immediate change. Instead change, not all but most, is gradual. Yet, a new year does feel a little bit special. It signals fresh, new start and relief and can be that event that pushes you to do or change something. Even if it's just a frame of mind, making you think in a different way or encouraging you to dream or plan something.

So, to my 2008. This year's...

Happening
Peter's 30th birthday party. Lots of hard work before and after but such a success!

Project
(Excluding various work projects) Peter's party and planning our US trip

Song
I usually don't have favourite songs - I move on quickly - but perhaps Coldplay's "Viva la Vida" or Leona Lewis "Bleeding Love" (which happens to be a Coldplay produced song). I also discovered "Dancing in the Dark" by Jessy this year but I think it's from 2007?

Trip
Our US roadtrip along the east coast of the US - New York, Washington DC, Delaware/Maryland and New England (from Connecticut to Maine)

YES!
I will have to say Obama's victory as well as some of the progress made at least in the EU to combat climate change. We're far from there but some important steps have been taken.

Person
Peter is the most important person in my life of course but if we talk globally or generally I guess I will have to be boring and say Barack Obama.

Slavery
At least two high-profile official visits at work where we were given abour 4 days notice that the person was coming. Chaos, stress and long hours, but fun!

Garment
All the summer clothes we bought for cheap dollars in the US and couldn't wear once back in Sweden as the summer was already over. Good thing summer comes back every year! And of course any shoes as I'm a shoe-o-holic.

Book
As I mentioned in my previous post I didn't read very much in 2008 and I don't want to pick a book I didn't read, so I will have to go for "The Big House" as it's very much associated with our US trip (it takes place in Cape Cod, one of the places we visited).

Purchase
Technically Peter paid for it, but our D-SLR camera (a Canon EOS 450). I have had so much fun playing with it and learned a lot about photography.

Happiness
Many little moments with Peter

Hardest
Seeing friends struggle with serious illness as well as infertility (luckily not in the same family). And something more mundane, frustration at some of the archaic practices at work.

TV moment
At least not watching the Olympics with a 10-hour delay in the US

Gadget
I'm still waiting for my Kitchen Aid! In the meantime I will say Spotify. It's not an actual thing but I think it qualifies as a gadget.

Blog
Lullun in Greenland. Unfortunately she has stopped blogging now but for most of this year she taught me so much about Greenland, made me long to go there and in some mysterious way ;) got me an interview for a job there (which I didn't get but still, a fun coincidence)!

Community
Facebook and my blogging family

Change
Nothing dramatic. Only thing I can think of right now is starting to work with climate and energy issues (i.e. still with the same employer, just new policy areas)

Film
I don't know, "Batman" perhaps, especially since the late Heath Ledger was so good in it.

Personal greatest success
Various achievements at work

Memories
Our travels, especially the US roadtrip but also our trip to Italy with my parents and the long weekend in beautiful Gotland after Almedalen.

Forgot to do (deviance from normal behaviour)
As I mentioned in my previous post I didn't read as much as I normally do and would have liked to. I also feel like I didn't stay as healthy as previous years, especially when it comes to food (I gained a couple of kilos).

Mistake
As Anne said, no big regrets but lots of small ones

Greatest lesson
Living 3 minutes from the gym is not a guarantee for frequent visit. Need a proper schedule and no deviations and distractions!

Spending
Travelling

New people
Fellow bloggers and new nice and fun colleagues. New babies in my circle of friend, especially H's little Heidi.

Best weekend
The weekend between Christmas and New Year that Peter and I spent at the country house, just the two of us. The weekend in Tällberg with Céline and Diego was also very fun and relaxing. Probably we had fun evenings in the spring of 2008 as well but that feels like ages ago! :)

Most romantic of the year
A photo of a ring of pebbles shaped as a heart Peter made for me when he was in Prague with the lads and sent me in an MMS

Thoughts and wishes for 2009
I hope 2009 will be an important year, not just in terms of work (which is a given, considering Sweden will host the EU Presidency in the autumn and the world is scheduled to take some key decisions on the climate change front), but also for me personally. But I won't go into any details; if you say your wishes out loud they won't come true!

Read Books 2008

Before I start a new list for 2009 I thought I'd list the 12 books I read in 2008 - yes, I only managed one book a month, which is a pretty bad record in my view. I definitely need to do better this year! I love reading so it shouldn't be too hard but with the Internet (and blogs) as well as the daily newspaper and the Economist I don't have too much time left over, especially since I don't commute to work (normally a good time to read).

Anyway, here's the accumulated reading for 2008. I have put my favourites in bold.

"Vi i villa" by Hans Koppel
"Born on a Blue Day: A Memoir of Asperger's and An Extraordinary Mind" by Daniel Tammet
"The Big House: A Century in the Life of an American Summer Home" by George Howe Colt
"Kalla det vad fan du vill" by Marjaneh Bakhtiari
"Picasso valde också Kristinehamn" by Marcus Grahn
"Hey Dolly" by Amanda Svensson
"Om konsten att resa" by Alain de Botton
"The Undercover Economist" by Tim Harford (reading sporadically)
"The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir" by Bill Bryson
"Montecore: en unik tiger" by Jonas Hassen Khemiri
"Världens mått" by Daniel Kehlmann
"Bitterfittan" by Maria Sveland

Wednesday Recipe: Tomato Shrimp and Avocado

I thought I'd give the Wednesday Recipe theme another shot. I'll start a bit low-key, no fancy Martha Stewart or Delia stuff.

Shrimps in tomato sauce and avocado
1 avocado per person (or 1 for two people)
6-8 shrimps per person
Tomato sauce (I used sauce leftover from pizza making but you can use any kind, shop-made or homemade)

Mix the shrimps with the tomato sauce, slice the avocados and serve.

Very easy indeed.

I was supposed to post a photo but Blogger wouldn't let me *argh*. Will try to again tomorrow morning. I just realised this is my first post in 2009! Next time I post I will need to do my 2008 recap and tell you about our New Year's celebrations in Paris!

UPDATED with photo!