Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Spring Fresh



No time for Wednesday recipe today as I was busy sewing and putting up new curtains in the kitchen/dining room. I haven't really gotten used to them yet but I like the pattern a lot so it should feel like home again soon! Recipes was still an ingredient in my evening however as we've been planning what hors d'ouvres to serve at our Walpurgis Eve (slash Peter's birthday) party tomorrow. More on that later!

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Blossom




The Japanese cherry trees are finally in bloom in Stockholm!

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Show & Tell: Abandoned




My reading chair for today at Peter's parents's summer house. Only abandoned for a minute while I was taking a photo of it. It's perfect weather - sun, completely blue sky, 20'C and a slight breeze. P.S. Mobile blogging sure is great!

Friday, April 24, 2009

We Meet Again




Ran into the well-behaved dogs again our my way to lunch. They were soaking sun by the water front but it didn't look like any of them were hot enough to jump in.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Socialism vs Capitalism

Thanks to Petchie for tonight's laugh! I can't wait to see the next episode!!

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c
The Stockholm Syndrome
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show
Full Episodes
Economic CrisisPolitical Humor

Best Thing I've Heard in a Long Time

Read on Johanna's blog that Crocs, the company that makes the horrible* shoes with the same name, may go bankrupt. Unfortunately people will probably keep on wearing and buying them since there are plenty of copies out there :(

The same Wall Street article says that Borders is doing bad too and that is a real shame though. Hope they pull through.

* Okay, you can wear them in your garden but that's really it. Kids up to age 4 are off the hook too.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Dog Meet




Time for another mobile post! Around where I work and live there are lots of daycares for dogs. I'm always amazed how disciplined they are! Each dog carer usually have 5-10 dogs on a lead and when they stop to rest in the sunshine like in the picture the dogs are so well-behaved and harmonious. But when their owners pick them up - believe me I've seen it - it's like they are completely different dogs! Like kids in pre-school vs home! :-)

Monday, April 20, 2009

Spring "Fika"




Yesterday I met a friend at Mälarpaviljongen and we sat in the sunshine with our coffees. It was nice but a stark contrast to last weekend's 20 degree temperatures. I think you can see that from our clothes! (This is my first attempt to blog from my mobile phone and looks like it's working!)


Fika is a Swedish word for having a coffee/cup of tea and cake/cookies/bisquits. Also a verb, as in "to fika". Great word.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

You Know that You Are Living in 2009 When...

I have seen similar e-mails before but I thought there were a few new items on the list and thus that it was worth posting.

1. You accidentally enter your password on the microwave - Haven't done that but I can see it happening...for some
2. You haven't played solitaire with real cards in years - Actually I have; I always bring a deck when we go travelling
3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of 3 - Haha, yes!
4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you - Yes! All the time! Some of my colleagues even call you from the next room. At least I take the opportunity to stretch my legs
5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that they don't have e-mail addresses - Haha, yeah, I'm at least worse at keeping in touch with those (though there are not that many of them anymore, I mean, without an e-mail address)

6. You pull up in your own driveway and use your mobile phone to see if anyone is home to help you carry in the groceries - Nah, but I do call Peter to come down and keep me company while we roam the streets for 15 minutes to find a parking space. Good thing we don't use the car on a regular basis.
7. Every commercial on television has a web site at the bottom of the screen - Probably but it's gone that far that I don't even notice it
8. Leaving the house without your mobile phone, which you didn't have the first 30 years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go and get it - It depends what I'm doing but half of the time the answer is yes. Not panic perhaps, but at least discomfort
10. You get up in the morning and go on line before getting your coffee - No, I shower and get my breakfast beforehand

11. You start tilting your head sideways to smile :) - Haha, no!
12. You're reading this and nodding and laughing - Yup
13. Even worse, you know exactly to whom you are going to forward this message - I immediately thought of posting on the blog!
14. You are too busy to notice there was no #9 on this list - Yes! I might have made it easier for you readers though since I divided the bullets in groups of five *lol*
15. You actually scrolled back up to check that there wasn't a #9 on this list - Haha, yes!

AND NOW YOU ARE LAUGHING AT YOURSELF

Show & Tell: Signs of Spring

Time for Show & Tell. Västmanländskan is still in charge of the themes and has chosen a very topical topic - signs of spring. I haven't had been that much outside in the company of my camera so I will use what I have, which is mostly photos taken over Easter weekend.

A yellow "princess cake" is a must during Easter and spring in general. Though I wish it had a little bit less cream and some jam instead.


Påskliljor (Easter flowers or daffodils) are a very typical spring flower in Sweden - These were beautifully placed by Mum on the steps to my parents' veranda.


The winter vacationing birds return to Sweden and to their summer house :)


With 20 degree temperatures I spent most of Easter weekend on the veranda reading a good book or the pile of Economists I had brought with me (as they come every week I always fall way behind on my economic and political reading but I don't really want to end the subscription; it's such a good magazine!)


Back home in Stockholm... The only Easter decoration we had this year was a little collection of spring flowers I bought at my local florist.


Most of my orchids look pretty miserable at the moment but this one is shooting a new stem. That must be a good sign!


Spring is also a time for new purchases. Here's a new lamp we bought for the little corner between the couch and window.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Wednesday Recipe: Jerusalem Artichoke Soup

It's Wednesday and time for a recipe! Last winter - I think soup, hot soup, is mainly an October-March dish - we made Jerusalem artichoke soup at least 5 times but this past winter we've only made it once - yesterday, and it's not really winter anymore. Jerusalem artichoke is also called sunroot, sunchoke or earth apple if anyone is wondering.



Jerusalem Artichoke Soup with quorn - 4 servings
500 g sunchokes (12-14 chokes), peeled
1 yellow onion, peeled and chopped in big pieces
1 clove of garlic
2 dl white wine
6 dl water
1.5 cubes vegetable stock
2 dl crème fraiche or cooking cream
150 g quorn, cut in pieces
split peas or sugar snaps, cut in half
salt and pepper

Put sunchokes, onion and garlic in a big pot. Add wine and stock (cubes + water). Bring it to a boil and then let it simmer until the chokes are soft (around 10 mins or so). Mix the soup until it has a smooth texture and then add crème fraiche, quorn and peas. Season.

Enjoy!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

"Notice of Payment Before the Notification" - UPDATED

Apparently Peter never paid the fine and haven't heard anything more from the Italian authorities so I guess we're still waiting for the "notification"...

Did I tell you about all the trouble with the traffic police we had on our European travels last summer? We were able to add a speeding ticket and a fine for driving in a bus lane to our travel memories. And our rental car was towed.

The speeding ticket was pretty straightforward, our fault, no issue there. The car being towed, that deserve a separate post. That brings us to the fine for driving in a bus lane.

It happened in Florence (the towing was also in Italy by the way) in early June - we spent a long weekend in Tuscany with my parents. I remember that we were a bit lost in a roundabout around a station (can't remember the name, probably Santa Maria or something equally holy) and took two laps before we found the entrance to the parking garage underneath the station. We don't remember seeing any signs for bus lanes and we were just one of many cars in the the roundabout. When we checked the location on GoogleMaps afterwards there were mainly cars on the streets on the satellite photo. Anyway, we didn't think much about it when we were there; it was when we had been home for a few months and suddenly received a fine for 90 euros that we looked it up.

I have to say that the Italians are very organised when it comes to collecting fines. They are not really known for organisation, are they? But included with the letter was instructions for how to log onto a website, which had all details of the "case". And the information was in English even! On the other hand there is a thin line between organised and bureucratic...

As we wanted to contest the fine Peter thought it would be good to discuss it with someone in person. And surprisingly there was an English-speaking desk to call! The guy was really helpful and said he would e-mail Peter information on how to appeal.

So far so good.

Then we read the e-mail.

Please find attached all the necessary documentation to make an appeal to the Prefect of Florence. You'll find 3 files [attached]: "how to make an appeal", an appeal form in Italian and a English form for a better comprehension. You have to send the Italian appeal in a registered letter ONLY AFTER you receive the official notification, since the letter that you have received is only a "notice of payment before the notification". This notification will arrive approximately 2 months after the first letter. You need to wait for this letter, because if you appeal before this particular letter the Prefect of Florence will reject it. You have to enclose in the appeal all the documentation that can help you regarding this infraction (hotel or car rental receipt).

Okay, so we had not actually received the fine. Only the NOTICE of the fine. We have to wait for the official NOTIFICATION. We laughed and said that I guess we will just wait for that then.

But then we read the last sentence of the e-mail.

Please be aware that if the Prefect denies your appeal, the fine will be doubled.

Okay, so we can wait x number of months, do tons of paper work and then risk having to pay 180 euros instead??!! No, thank you! So we decided to just pay the stupid thing, even if we had only received the "notice of payment before the notification".

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Show & Tell: Slow

Västmanländskan's second theme of the month is slow or långsam in Swedish. She presumably chose this theme because it was långfredagen yesterday, the Swedish name for Good Friday, which translates "long Friday". Traditionally this was a day of tedious waiting as one was not supposed to do anything, at least not anything fun, in order to honour Jesus who suffered and died on this particular day. Well until the 1970s Swedish radio only played hymns and there was a ban on public entertainment (until 1969), and shops were closed on this day. My mum, who is born in 1954, has told me that when she was growing up she had an aunt who was very religious and wanted the day to remain solemn. Luckily for my mum, her father was more of the secular kind and used to play cards with my mum and her sister when the aunt wasn't watching.

I had quite a slow day yesterday, though not necessarily boring. My dad didn't pick me up until 1pm (I'm spending a few days at my parents while Peter is skiing with the lads) so I had a lazy morning. And the afternoon and evening was mostly eating and hanging out with my parents and my grandfather. My dad and I took a walk with my grandfather - a very slow walk since he walks with a cane and must not rush.

Today the weather has been absolutely gorgeous and I have spent most of it sitting outside in the sunshine reading. My mum and I also took a little trip to a flower nursery which also has an antique shop (where I found a birthday present for a friend). This evening my dad and I took a walk, admittedly quite a bit longer and in a much higher pace than yesterday's walk but still very relaxing. While I'm writing this I'm sipping some camomile tea - the drink with the ultimate calming effect.

I think this is what Easter is supposed to be like. Christmas can be very hectic as there are so many things to do beforehand and people to see during, but Easter is a time to slow down, get some rest from work and catch up with yourself. Maybe a new start, in the way Jesus came back to life (except for his later ascension).

This weekend my thoughts also go the IT team at work who compared to me do not have a slow weekend. Instead they are working hard on deploying our new IT system. If everything goes smoothly (fingers crossed) the new equipment will replace the completely archaic and slow system we have now. The "future" has been delayed for several years - when I started working there three years ago, I was told we were going to get our new computers "soon" - but on Tuesday slow is no more! By the way, speaking of slow IT, as I'm writing this on my parents' super-slow computer I'm not able to upload any photos to go with the post :)

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Thursday, April 09, 2009

Annika Östberg Returns to Sweden - UPDATED

Annika Östberg is a Swedish-American woman who has been in a Californian prison since 1981 serving a sentence for accessory to murder, including that of a policeman. She has now been transferred to Hinseberg Woman's Prison in Örebro to serve the remainder of her sentence in Sweden. The transfer was kept secret until a couple of days ago when it emerged that she was in transit in New York. The case has been very politically sensitive in the USA because Östberg has admitted that she was accessory to the murder of a policeman, a crime which could have led to a death sentence if she had not signed an agreement with the prosecutor admitting guilt to murder. (The victims' families have also been very involved in the process, in line with the US system.) Östberg had been sentenced to between 25 years and lifetime and had appealed four times to have her sentence time-limited, without success. Swedish government officials have tried to negotiate for a transfer for a long time but have not been successful until now.

According to media reporting it's not clear exactly what the agreement between the Swedish government and California is but one would suspect that the Americans have not agreed to this without imposing conditions. That said, I think Östberg will not be wasting too much time at Hinseberg. Literally. My guess is a year or so. As soon as she is allowed to appeal for a time-limited sentence, she will, and in all likelihood she will also be granted a limit and/or a pardon.

Most Swedes would argue that she has already served enough time. 27, soon 28, years in prison is a loooong time. The Swedish justice system sees criminals rather as victims who can - not in all but most cases - regret their actions and be helped to a new and better life. Sure, there are persons who in plain terms are pure evil - such as the Fritzls out there - but most perpetators have fallen into crime due to drugs, wrong circles of "friends", etc. resulting in a vicious circle of bad decisions and actions. Östberg can never do what she did undone - and she has clearly committed, or helped to commit a horrible crime - but there are circumstances such as heroin abuse and a life situation associated with that, that in a Swedish context would have let her complete her sentence years ago. Especially since she does not seem the type who would re-offend.

Putting away people indefinitely does not bring loved ones back or stop crime. The US, with at least ten times as many prisoners per capita as Sweden, is not a safer society. The solution to society's ills is not that simple. We wish it were, but it's not.

I could write more about this, for example tell you about the American prison priest who visited the Swedish prison Hall while I was part of a church group which met regularly with the inmates. Looking out over the facility, he asked "so how many prisoners do you hold here? 2,000, 3,000?". The Swedish priest looked a bit shocked and replied "200".

But enough said today.

In terms of the person who is Annika Östberg it will be quite interesting to hear what she thinks of Sweden in 2009. She is now 55 years old and has not been back in Sweden since she was 13. She is bound to have a very romantic view of Sweden. Returning to Sweden has been her dream and struggle since 1981 presumably and that dream and that struggle cannot be separated. They are two sides of the same coin. Hopefully she will not be disappointed either side.

Update
According to Swedish Justice Minister Beatrice Ask, the USA has not set any terms for Annika Östberg's transfer and she will be treated like any other Swedish prisoner sentenced to life. This means that she can appeal to the Örebro District Court to have her life sentence commuted to a set number of years. The handling period for an appeal is four to six months. During that time the Swedish Prison and Probabation Service will help Östberg plan for life out of prison. Common procedure is to re-introduce prisoners to society in phases, via so-called halfway houses. After having spent a long time in prison, they are used to a very institutionalised, planned life where people are always telling them what to do. Suddenly being responsible to take all decisions on their own can be difficult and harmful without support. Many are also depressed over having taken the wrong decisions and missed so much of their lives and need help with dealing with that grief.

Östberg's wish is to work with dogs (which she has been doing in California) at the work co-operative Basta, which specialises in activities and work training for ex-offenders and former drug addicts. In the beginning she may have a probabation officer either from the Prison and Probabation Service or a voluntary sector organisations (such as Kris). They make sure she has somewhere to live and something to do. Some prisoners are offered a kind of foster family to manage the transition to a life in freedom and in society. Contact with family and other relatives are also important. Östberg only has her mother, after her son died in a car accident when he was 15.

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Wednesday Recipe: Kangaroo on the Barbie

"We like to warn viewers that today's show contain disturbing images..."

Vegetarians may opt to look away too.

Last weekend we grilled some kangaroo (!) for dinner. I noticed a few weeks ago that our local supermarket (Vi Sabis in Fältöversten in case anyone is wondering) had started selling exotic meats such as ostrich, springbok (both of which we saw live in South Africa), kangaroo, a variety of birds, etc. and this past weekend we decided to give one of them a try.

Here's the result:

No, it's not the kangaroo's tail (do they have tails?) or some other body part. I was also wondering a bit...

We marinated the meat for a couple of hours in a South African sauce we bought in the same supermarket (not on the same occasion but they should still have it on stock) (we didn't have an Aussie one, which would have been more appropriate I guess) and then grilled it for approx 10 mins (maximum) for medium. We had read that kangaroo meat can be very tough if you cook it for too long. I made a mushroom sauce by spicing up a Kelda mushroom sauce with some onions, chantarelles, garlic, soy sauce and salt and pepper (also had some terragon in it but don't do that as it kind of ruined the sauce).

It was pretty good actually! It was very tender - due to the long soak in the delicious marinade. That said, I probably won't eat it again. Now that I have tried it I prefer spending my carbon allowance - since this meat evidently had to travel quite far to get to Sweden - on trying something new.

Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Rockin' Girl Bloggers

AGES ago - August 2007 - Skolfröken presented me with a Rockin' Girl Blogger Award. I was supposed to pass it on...ehum... But better late than never, hey?


So here are my three winners! In no particular order.

1. Saltistjejen. You write amazingly well. You can put words on feelings and even though you usually write very long posts I never get bored! Congratulations, you're a Rockin' Girl!

2. Anne. You write about your thoughts and feelings with such honesty and high integrity at the same time. Congratulations, Rockin' Girl!

3. Petchie. I feel connected to your life somehow, maybe it's because we're both Brussels sprouts, though my time in Eurotown was ten times as short or fun compared to yours. I enjoy reading as much about life in Puerto Rico as about beach walks while you're home in Lund! You rock, girl!

So far I have met Saltis and Petchie IRL. Anne, when can I meet you?

Monday, April 06, 2009

Saturday, April 04, 2009

Keep Her Walking!

This woman walks around the world in the fight against breastcancer. Please send her on so that she can reach her destination and say a prayer for all those who are suffering from this horrible disease.

I found her over at Barbamorsan.

Great Commercial

At Liverpool Street station in London, T-Mobile did this great commercial unbeknown to the daily commuters. They practiced for 8 weeks and on 15 January 2009 at 11am, with hidden cameras and 400 dancers, their plan was put into action.

Friday, April 03, 2009

Show & Tell: Yellow

Västmanländskan has taken over the baton in the Show & Tell relay for the month of April. I couldn't think of anything interesting to write so it will be mostly show today. The theme is yellow.

Did you know that the colours of the Swedish flag used to be reversed once upon a time?


Comes out mostly green I guess but this South African bush has light-yellow flowers. Though the spikes are more interesting of course.


The cactus fruit prickly pear, which grows in Malta, among other places.


Lions are yellow in a way - this is taken on one of the most amazing experiences I've had, when I was on safari (or game drive as they call it there) in South Africa.


Fire is yellow (or orange) - this is probably the world's most recognisable flame, at JFK's grave in Arlington Cemetery in Washington D.C.


Beautiful rose in, if I remember correctly, Regent's Park in London.


Gold is a yellow of sorts - this is the gold doors to the bell tower next to the cathedral in Florence.


Yellow firepost in Newport, Rhode Island (USA) - don't think they come in that colour that often?


These cool little cactuses grow all over Fuerteventura, one of the Canary Islands.


Breakfast at a beautiful little B&B (Auberge Clermont) in the wine district in South Africa.


Lemons at the same B&B (and wine and fruit farm).


Yellow flower growing on the Swedish island of Gotland.


South African flower


Another yellow flower, this one from England.


View of a yellow hot air balloon over Stockholm, taken from another yellow balloon.

Sick Lessons

  • - A visit to Dr Sicking is very effective - quick appointment (45 mins after I called) and alternative prescription as a back-up if the first medicine doesn't help
  • - Constant coughing causes sore tummy muscles similar to post-workout pains
  • - An infinite supply of tissues is needed
  • - Wish I had my childhood puzzles
  • - My boyfriend can sleep next to me through anything, whether it is a choking cough or feverish sweats
  • - Daytime TV is pretty bad - The Bold and Beautiful is still on and Brooke and Ridge seem to be together but for how long?
  • - Savlon is a sore nose's best friend
  • - Being sick feels even worse when spring and sunshine have finally arrived

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

Tallinn in the Detail

You know, the poet.


The modern mailboxes weren't half as nice as this old-style one.


Lots of alleys in Tallinn's Old Town.


One of many restaurants with interesting names.


Old Hansa building.




Trying to be creative with the camera in the restaurant where we had lunch (Aed).






Church clock - Didn't go inside though as I saw in when I was in town the early 1990s.


I like gates and doors!


We didn't eat at this restaurant but I like the sign!


A very delicious meal on our return trip with the boat - I had the duck at the fore of the picture

Show & Tell: If I Won 10 Million

As I was away over the weekend (boat cruise to Tallinn, Estonia, with a friend) I'm running late with Show & Tell (again). But today I'm staying home from work (well, I went there for an hour but realised pretty soon it wasn't doable) due to a bad cough I have come down with (I always seem to get this very "chesty" cough when I have a cold and I don't want it to develop into a proper chest infection).

Since it's already Wednesday I thought I'd have a look at everyone else's 10 million post from last Friday and pick something I would do too if I won that kind of money (though 10 million in Swedish kronor isn't that much).

It's of course appropriate to start with Erica who was the hostess of the March themes. Hard to pick one but on Erica's list I liked:
- Set up a plan for the rest of the money [not spent on the below], i.e. save and invest some of it

Other things I would do - inspired from my fellow bloggers:
- Celebrate with champagne (of course), the expensive kind, and a party
- Go on a spur-of-the-moment trip to New York or some other cool city (maybe somewhere I haven't been yet)
- Buy a flat in Stockholm OR
- Buy the house we (well, I) have always dreamt of (probably in Enskede) and decorate it just the way we wanted
- If I was living in a house already when I won the money; invest in a green energy solution for the house (solar panels or the like)
- Buy an old house/building in Italy, renovate it and open up a B&B or just use it as a summer house (or maybe have some nice Italian couple run it and keep a couple of rooms for family and friends)
- Treat myself to four-day work weeks and three-day weekends (I like my job too much to stop working) but first I would probably take a sabbatical, i.e. buy more time in a way
- Set up bank accounts and start saving for my (future) children
- Help family and relatives pay off debts or in some other way
- Have more parties (like the one we had when Peter turned 30)
- Sponsor a child somewhere in the world (actually I should do that already; I don't have an excuse really)
- Donate to charity
- Travel a lot and often, maybe back to Africa to start with and maybe Zanzibar
- Buy a new computer, maybe a nice iMac
- Buy a car, an environmentally friendly one in the true sense (i.e. not just a FlexiFuel or similar one)
- Buy a summer house in the Stockholm archipelago
- Buy a lot of new clothes
- Pay of student debts, which many bloggers mentioned