Off to the US for a little road trip along the East Coast. Stopping in New York City, Dover (Delaware, where I'm visiting my old aupair family), Washington DC and New England (Cape Cod, towns along the New Hampshire , Massachusetts and Maine coastline, and Boston). Probably won't blog while away but will hopefully have some good stories to tell and beautiful photos to share once back.
Fellow blogger Saltistjejen gets a special mention as she and I have scheduled a little blogmeet in NYC, which is very exciting indeed!
See you soon!
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Wednesday Recipe: Sponge Cake... and Travel Preparations
I feel I have been neglecting the blog lately. To my defence I can say that I've been busy researching over one hundred B&Bs in Cape Cod (well, perhaps not that many but not far from it!) and recovering from a very bad cold I caught in Gotland (must have been all that shaking hands and kissing on the cheeks with the political elite at Almedalen). We're also having very nice weather at the moment so yesterday after work we went for a picnic in Tessinparken and today to the beach in Lidingö (though I thought the water was a little bit chilly so I didn't go for a swim).
Time for this week's recipe!
Fatfree Sponge Cake
4 eggs
3 dl sugar
1.5 dl flour
1.5 dl potato starch
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp baking powder
1.5 dl water
Oven: 175'C
1. Grease a baking tin and bread it with coconut flakes
2. Mix the yokes and the sugar
3. Slowly add the water and stir carefully
4. Mix flour, potato starch, baking powder and vanilla in a separate bowl
5. Add the "dry mix" to the egg, sugar and water
6. Beat the egg whites until you have a foam-like mix (like you would when making meringues)
7. Carefully add the egg whites to the batter. Don't stir!
8. Bake for 35 mins
I haven't actually tried it yet but it sounds very delicious with the coconut! It apparently goes well with strawberries!
Time for this week's recipe!
Fatfree Sponge Cake
4 eggs
3 dl sugar
1.5 dl flour
1.5 dl potato starch
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp baking powder
1.5 dl water
Oven: 175'C
1. Grease a baking tin and bread it with coconut flakes
2. Mix the yokes and the sugar
3. Slowly add the water and stir carefully
4. Mix flour, potato starch, baking powder and vanilla in a separate bowl
5. Add the "dry mix" to the egg, sugar and water
6. Beat the egg whites until you have a foam-like mix (like you would when making meringues)
7. Carefully add the egg whites to the batter. Don't stir!
8. Bake for 35 mins
I haven't actually tried it yet but it sounds very delicious with the coconut! It apparently goes well with strawberries!
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
Challenge
Another challenge is circling the blogosphere; this one reached me through Marit.
Rules
* Describe the rules
* Answer all questions
* Select 6 persons to challenge in turn
* Let the person who challenged you know that you have accepted the challenge
Five things on your "to do" list today
1. Go to work despite bad cold
2. Cancel dinner plans with friends (unfortunately, due to cold)
3. Calculate division of costs between Peter and myself for our summer travel
4. Book rental car for US trip
5. Blog and read the usual suspects (i.e. my favourite blogs)
I left work a bit early but managed most of the day with my little pile of tissues, cough drops, nasal spray and Savlon (to stop getting a dry and red nose) beside me. The rest is also accomplished except for the rental car but Peter is looking at that as we speak (or I write I should say).
What did you do ten years ago?
In 1998 I studied Political Science at the University of Uppsala for a term before moving to London to continue my studies (ended up staying for four years). I spent the summer in Darien, Connecticut (US) with the extended family of my 1995-96 aupair family and helped out hauling the kids around to different sports and other activities. I met a number of people who are still very good friends even if I don't see that very often these days.
Places where you have lived
--> 1995: Södertälje
1995: New Jersey
1996: Pittsburgh
1996: Södertälje
1997-98: Uppsala
1998-2000: London
2000-2002: Oxford
2002-03: Brussels
2003 -->: Stockholm (Hallunda, Hammarbyhöjden, Årsta and Gärdet/Östermalm)
Five things you would do if you became a billionaire
1. Pay off my student debts
2. Help my family with anything monetary they might need
3. Travel the world
4. Buy my dream house in Stockholm and a flat/house in London, New York and somewhere sunny and hot
5. Donate to charity
A lot of people have done this challenge already but I take my chances and pass it on to Fröken Johanna, Anne, Anna, Johanna, Petra and Nonna.
Rules
* Describe the rules
* Answer all questions
* Select 6 persons to challenge in turn
* Let the person who challenged you know that you have accepted the challenge
Five things on your "to do" list today
1. Go to work despite bad cold
2. Cancel dinner plans with friends (unfortunately, due to cold)
3. Calculate division of costs between Peter and myself for our summer travel
4. Book rental car for US trip
5. Blog and read the usual suspects (i.e. my favourite blogs)
I left work a bit early but managed most of the day with my little pile of tissues, cough drops, nasal spray and Savlon (to stop getting a dry and red nose) beside me. The rest is also accomplished except for the rental car but Peter is looking at that as we speak (or I write I should say).
What did you do ten years ago?
In 1998 I studied Political Science at the University of Uppsala for a term before moving to London to continue my studies (ended up staying for four years). I spent the summer in Darien, Connecticut (US) with the extended family of my 1995-96 aupair family and helped out hauling the kids around to different sports and other activities. I met a number of people who are still very good friends even if I don't see that very often these days.
Places where you have lived
--> 1995: Södertälje
1995: New Jersey
1996: Pittsburgh
1996: Södertälje
1997-98: Uppsala
1998-2000: London
2000-2002: Oxford
2002-03: Brussels
2003 -->: Stockholm (Hallunda, Hammarbyhöjden, Årsta and Gärdet/Östermalm)
Five things you would do if you became a billionaire
1. Pay off my student debts
2. Help my family with anything monetary they might need
3. Travel the world
4. Buy my dream house in Stockholm and a flat/house in London, New York and somewhere sunny and hot
5. Donate to charity
A lot of people have done this challenge already but I take my chances and pass it on to Fröken Johanna, Anne, Anna, Johanna, Petra and Nonna.
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Wednesday Recipe: Strawberry Salad
Since I'm busy mingling with the political elite in Almedalen I won't do a proper Wednesday recipe today, but I will tell you about an interesting fruit salad that was served at one of the events I attended yesterday.
Strawberries, melon and cucumber.
Sounds a bit weird but it was pretty refreshing actually. I guess the cucumber made it a bit more food-like instead of desserty (is that a word?).
Give it a try!
Strawberries, melon and cucumber.
Sounds a bit weird but it was pretty refreshing actually. I guess the cucumber made it a bit more food-like instead of desserty (is that a word?).
Give it a try!
Report from Almedalen
I'm spending a few days - for work purposes (though I'm quite happy I get the chance to go for personal reasons too) - at Almedalen, the political week taking place in Visby, Gotland, the second week of July every year.
This year is a bit special as it is 40 years ago Olof Palme started the tradition of political speeches, seminars and networking in Almedalen. This year is also special because all party leaders are here, which according to the official statistics has only ever happened before during an election year. The experts say that this is partly due to the fact that the alliance government (coalition of four parties) is faring very badly in the polls and partly because Sweden has entered a sort of permanent election campaign even though this year is right between two elections (last one 2006, next one 2010). They also say that it is because of some current high profile issues (e.g. the newly passed highly controversial wire tapping legislation) and that politicians have become more professional and more PR conscious (there are quite a few lobbyists here!).
My idea was to blog a little bit about the seminars I attend every day (this year is a record year with 660 seminars organised), about the political speeches (one political party per day) and about all the networking and mingling going on, but turns out that all of that takes so much of my time so that it is now 01.36 and I need to get some sleep (though the music from the nearby marina is pretty loud so we'll see how that goes). But I promise a longer report and perhaps some photos once I'm back home. I'm staying over the weekend to explore the rest of Gotland - Peter comes down on Thursday - but I will be back on Sunday.
This year is a bit special as it is 40 years ago Olof Palme started the tradition of political speeches, seminars and networking in Almedalen. This year is also special because all party leaders are here, which according to the official statistics has only ever happened before during an election year. The experts say that this is partly due to the fact that the alliance government (coalition of four parties) is faring very badly in the polls and partly because Sweden has entered a sort of permanent election campaign even though this year is right between two elections (last one 2006, next one 2010). They also say that it is because of some current high profile issues (e.g. the newly passed highly controversial wire tapping legislation) and that politicians have become more professional and more PR conscious (there are quite a few lobbyists here!).
My idea was to blog a little bit about the seminars I attend every day (this year is a record year with 660 seminars organised), about the political speeches (one political party per day) and about all the networking and mingling going on, but turns out that all of that takes so much of my time so that it is now 01.36 and I need to get some sleep (though the music from the nearby marina is pretty loud so we'll see how that goes). But I promise a longer report and perhaps some photos once I'm back home. I'm staying over the weekend to explore the rest of Gotland - Peter comes down on Thursday - but I will be back on Sunday.
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Wednesday Recipe: Mozzarella Filled Quorn Fillets with Basil and Thyme
Petra started a new theme day lately - recipe sharing on Wednesdays - and since I never got around to doing last week's Show & Tell theme - cooking - I figured today was a good time to start.
I have discovered a new dish - thanks to my cousin Patrik and his wife Johanna - and want to spread the word! I'm not a vegetarian and neither is Peter but we both try to eat less meat (do you know that one piece of meat provides protein to last you four days?) and eat quorn and other substitutes instead. My cousins are vegetarians though and are a good source of new, delicious recipes.
Mozzarella filled quorn fillets with basil and thyme
4 servings
6-8 quorn fillets
2 packs of mozzarella cheese
fresh basil and thyme
olive oil
1-2 cloves of garlic
salt
pepper
Preheat oven to 200'C
Use a blender to mix basil, thyme, olive oil, garlic and salt and peppar to a marinade. Slice a deep gash along the side of the fillets and paint the fillets with the marinade. Save some for greasing the oven tray or pan. Fill with thin slices of mozzarella.
Shove into the oven for 10 minutes or until done.
Serve with grilled potatoes or bulgur or whatever carb you fancy and a salad.
This dish can of course be made with chicken as well. Just remember that while the quorn fillets just need to be heated and get a bit of colour (and you want the mozzarella to melt a little of course), chicken needs more time. You may want to pre-cook the chicken fillets in a frying pan.
Smaklig måltid!
I have discovered a new dish - thanks to my cousin Patrik and his wife Johanna - and want to spread the word! I'm not a vegetarian and neither is Peter but we both try to eat less meat (do you know that one piece of meat provides protein to last you four days?) and eat quorn and other substitutes instead. My cousins are vegetarians though and are a good source of new, delicious recipes.
Mozzarella filled quorn fillets with basil and thyme
4 servings
6-8 quorn fillets
2 packs of mozzarella cheese
fresh basil and thyme
olive oil
1-2 cloves of garlic
salt
pepper
Preheat oven to 200'C
Use a blender to mix basil, thyme, olive oil, garlic and salt and peppar to a marinade. Slice a deep gash along the side of the fillets and paint the fillets with the marinade. Save some for greasing the oven tray or pan. Fill with thin slices of mozzarella.
Shove into the oven for 10 minutes or until done.
Serve with grilled potatoes or bulgur or whatever carb you fancy and a salad.
This dish can of course be made with chicken as well. Just remember that while the quorn fillets just need to be heated and get a bit of colour (and you want the mozzarella to melt a little of course), chicken needs more time. You may want to pre-cook the chicken fillets in a frying pan.
Smaklig måltid!
Haven't taken a picture of my new favourite dish yet so you'll have to make do with a similar chicken dish (however with spinach and tomatoes as well)
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
The Big Book List
In 2003, The Big Read (a BBC programme) compiled a list of Britain’s 100 favorite books. The program reckoned that the average adult has read only 6 of the books on this list.
1) Bold those you have read.
2) Italicise those you intend to read.
(Having seen the movie does not count, of course!)
1 Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien (started it once but really not my thing, though I’ve seen the movies)
3 Jane Eyre – Charlotte Brontë
4 Harry Potter series – JK Rowling (I’m probably the only one who haven’t read them yet!)
5 To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
6 The Bible (well, parts of it)
7 Wuthering Heights – Emily Brontë
8 Nineteen Eighty-Four – George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
11 Little Women – Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch – George Elliot (Marian Evans)
21 Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House – Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy (started it, will finish some day)
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll (although I was a bit scared of it as a child)
30 The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis (also scared me as a child)
34 Emma – Jane Austen
35 Persuasion – Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – CS Lewis (see comment on Cronicles of Narnia above)
37 The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne
41 Animal Farm – George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel García Marquèz
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving
45 The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies – William Golding
50 Atonement – Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi – Yann Martel
52 Dune – Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon
60 Love in The Time of Cholera – Gabriel García Marquèz
61 Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
62 Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History – Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
66 On the Road – Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick – Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
72 Dracula – Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From a Small Island – Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses – James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal – Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession – AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
83 The Colour Purple – Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web – EB White
88 The Five People You Meet in Heaven – Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Magic Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
94 Watership Down – Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet – William Shakespeare (well, parts of it)
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables – Victor Hugo
I think that makes 25 read books! Pretty good I think considering the average is 6!
1) Bold those you have read.
2) Italicise those you intend to read.
(Having seen the movie does not count, of course!)
1 Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien (started it once but really not my thing, though I’ve seen the movies)
3 Jane Eyre – Charlotte Brontë
4 Harry Potter series – JK Rowling (I’m probably the only one who haven’t read them yet!)
5 To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
6 The Bible (well, parts of it)
7 Wuthering Heights – Emily Brontë
8 Nineteen Eighty-Four – George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
11 Little Women – Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch – George Elliot (Marian Evans)
21 Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House – Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy (started it, will finish some day)
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll (although I was a bit scared of it as a child)
30 The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis (also scared me as a child)
34 Emma – Jane Austen
35 Persuasion – Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – CS Lewis (see comment on Cronicles of Narnia above)
37 The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne
41 Animal Farm – George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel García Marquèz
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving
45 The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies – William Golding
50 Atonement – Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi – Yann Martel
52 Dune – Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon
60 Love in The Time of Cholera – Gabriel García Marquèz
61 Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
62 Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History – Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
66 On the Road – Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick – Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
72 Dracula – Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From a Small Island – Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses – James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal – Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession – AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
83 The Colour Purple – Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web – EB White
88 The Five People You Meet in Heaven – Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Magic Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
94 Watership Down – Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet – William Shakespeare (well, parts of it)
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables – Victor Hugo
I think that makes 25 read books! Pretty good I think considering the average is 6!
Friday, June 27, 2008
Young Shoe Lover
Peter took this picture when we were in Siena, Italy, a couple of weekends ago. The little girl didn't want to leave her seat* and she was pointing to a specific pair of shoes that she wanted. Her mum tried to lure her away but she had her eyes set on those shoes! Not even two years old and already a shoe fan! Or perhaps it's just two-year-old stubborness but I like to think the former! :)
* Eventually they left without buying any shoes .
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Show & Tell: 5 O'Clock
This week's Friday theme is 5 o'clock. When I read Victoria's choice of topic for 20 June I immediately thought of: leaving work at 5 pm. I'm one of the lucky ones working 9-5; actually only 7 hours a day as my working day includes a one hour lunch break (usually that's not the case in Sweden). And due to some access restrictions in my particular part of the building I have to keep these hours. I can come in at 8 or 8.30 but I rarely work beyond 6 pm because if I do I need to find a colleague with higher security clearance who can stay with me.
I'm actually most productive in the afternoon but at 4pm I start looking at my watch, or the work desktop clock. At 4.30 pm I start "closing up the shop", clearing my desk a little bit and making neat piles of paper instead of the regular 9-5 chaos, checking if I have done what really needs to be out of the way that particular day. Then I go to the kitchen and put all the glasses and cups that have some way accumulated on my desk during the day in the dishwasher. Peter usually calls and we talk about what we're having for dinner and who will stop by the food store on the way home, or where we're meeting if we're doing something else after work. I only have a 15-minute walk from work to home, so most days if I'm not doing anything particular after work I will go home and have a snack and watch some sitcoms and surf the Internet until Peter comes back around 6 pm. I like this time of the day, winding down after work, having some me- time before it's time to cook dinner and do whatever needs to be done that day in terms of chores - laundry, ironing, hoovering or what have you .
Since I don't start work until 9 and I live only 15 minutes from work I don't need to get up until 7.15 or 7.30, which means that I'm very rarely up at 5 am. Sometimes I wake up around 5, especially this time a year when it hardly ever gets dark in Sweden, but I go back to sleep with a smile - another two hours of sleep, yes!
This feels like a very boring post but maybe 5 o'clock isn't very exciting! :)
I'm actually most productive in the afternoon but at 4pm I start looking at my watch, or the work desktop clock. At 4.30 pm I start "closing up the shop", clearing my desk a little bit and making neat piles of paper instead of the regular 9-5 chaos, checking if I have done what really needs to be out of the way that particular day. Then I go to the kitchen and put all the glasses and cups that have some way accumulated on my desk during the day in the dishwasher. Peter usually calls and we talk about what we're having for dinner and who will stop by the food store on the way home, or where we're meeting if we're doing something else after work. I only have a 15-minute walk from work to home, so most days if I'm not doing anything particular after work I will go home and have a snack and watch some sitcoms and surf the Internet until Peter comes back around 6 pm. I like this time of the day, winding down after work, having some me- time before it's time to cook dinner and do whatever needs to be done that day in terms of chores - laundry, ironing, hoovering or what have you .
Since I don't start work until 9 and I live only 15 minutes from work I don't need to get up until 7.15 or 7.30, which means that I'm very rarely up at 5 am. Sometimes I wake up around 5, especially this time a year when it hardly ever gets dark in Sweden, but I go back to sleep with a smile - another two hours of sleep, yes!
This feels like a very boring post but maybe 5 o'clock isn't very exciting! :)
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
List Fun
I always enjoy a good list and I haven't done one for a while so...
When did you get up today? The alarm went off at 07.25 and I usually don't linger for more than a few minutes
Diamonds or pearls? Both (conflict-free of course), but have neither if we talk about the real stuff
Last film you saw at the cinema? "Indiana Jones"
Favourite TV show? Used to be "Friends" but now it is "How I Met Your Mother" if we stick with the same category
What did you have for breakfast? Two pieces of bread with messmör, a cup of tea and some fruit juice
What is your middle name? Elisabet
Your favourite food? Pecorino cheese if that counts as food (I mean, it's not a meal)
What food don't you like? I like most things but I'm not too fond of cream based sauces
What is your favourite CD at the moment? Hardly listen to albums these days; I like to shuffle my iPod
What car do you drive? A Golf that we share with Peter's sister and her boyfriend although over the summer we have his parents old BMW. We were going to keep it but now we're thinking of selling both and buying a new less thirsty car
What is your favourite sandwich? Anything with pecorino cheese
What human characteristic do you simply not stand? Cynicism
What are your favourite clothes? I guess I have to say shoes considering my recent post
If you could go anywhere you wanted, where would you go? China (Beijing and the Great Wall) and New Zealand (and lots of other places!)
Favorite clothing brand? None in particular
Where do you want to retire? In a cosy house in the Swedish archipelago but not too far from the city. And apartments in New York and London and perhaps another little place somewhere hot and beautiful, in Africa perhaps. Gosh, I wish I will be that rich when I retire that I can actually live in all these places. Okay, I'm going out to buy a lottery ticket! ;)
Favourite time of the day? Either the morning when I can get ready for work in my own time or just after having got back from work and relaxing in front of the TV (or on the balcony this time of the year) before starting dinner
Where are you born? Södertälje, Sweden
What is your favourite sport to watch? Football (watching France-Italy in the Euro Cup as we speak)
Coca Cola eller Pepsi? Coke Zero, but I drink very little soda
Football or ice hockey? Football
Are you a morning person or a night owl? I'm both as long as I go to bed at a rather decent hour. Or not in the same 24 hours, as Skolfröken said
Pedicure or manicure? Pedicure. I like to get a foot massage and have my feet taken care of!
Any exciting news you can tell us? Nope, I'm afraid not, except that my work beat the Swedish Foreign Ministry at football today with the rocking results 14-4 (or maybe it was 12-4?). Photo evidence below
What did you want to be when you were little? Lawyer
Best childhood memory? Oh, there are so many! Skolfröken wrote something about recording tapes and that made me think of a tape I made when I was around 7 years old. I sing songs and talk about my doll and how I had had a fight with my then best friend Elisabeth. I still have the tape somewhere (maybe I should digitalise it actually)
Been to Africa? Yes, South Africa last December
Ever been in a car accident? Just a very small incident in the US when someone ran into the side of us. A girl ran into the back of us in Italy last weekend as well actually but the car didn't get a scratch and no body got hurt
Favourite day of the week? Friday
Favourite flowers? Red roses or lavender
Favourite fastfood restaurant? One of the thai places nearby
Do you own a bike? Yes, my grandmother's old one from the early 1980s. The tyres need air and it needs a good cleaning though
Who was your latest e-mail from? A good friend, Frida, asking when we should get all the girls together this summer
Bedtime? Usually around 22.30-23.00 but sometimes after 23.00 which makes me cranky
Last person you shared a dinner with? Peter
What are you doing right now? Blogging and watching football. Wondering if this list ever ends...
Favourite colour? Yellow and pink this summer
How many tatoos? None, and that will remain the case
When did you get up today? The alarm went off at 07.25 and I usually don't linger for more than a few minutes
Diamonds or pearls? Both (conflict-free of course), but have neither if we talk about the real stuff
Last film you saw at the cinema? "Indiana Jones"
Favourite TV show? Used to be "Friends" but now it is "How I Met Your Mother" if we stick with the same category
What did you have for breakfast? Two pieces of bread with messmör, a cup of tea and some fruit juice
What is your middle name? Elisabet
Your favourite food? Pecorino cheese if that counts as food (I mean, it's not a meal)
What food don't you like? I like most things but I'm not too fond of cream based sauces
What is your favourite CD at the moment? Hardly listen to albums these days; I like to shuffle my iPod
What car do you drive? A Golf that we share with Peter's sister and her boyfriend although over the summer we have his parents old BMW. We were going to keep it but now we're thinking of selling both and buying a new less thirsty car
What is your favourite sandwich? Anything with pecorino cheese
What human characteristic do you simply not stand? Cynicism
What are your favourite clothes? I guess I have to say shoes considering my recent post
If you could go anywhere you wanted, where would you go? China (Beijing and the Great Wall) and New Zealand (and lots of other places!)
Favorite clothing brand? None in particular
Where do you want to retire? In a cosy house in the Swedish archipelago but not too far from the city. And apartments in New York and London and perhaps another little place somewhere hot and beautiful, in Africa perhaps. Gosh, I wish I will be that rich when I retire that I can actually live in all these places. Okay, I'm going out to buy a lottery ticket! ;)
Favourite time of the day? Either the morning when I can get ready for work in my own time or just after having got back from work and relaxing in front of the TV (or on the balcony this time of the year) before starting dinner
Where are you born? Södertälje, Sweden
What is your favourite sport to watch? Football (watching France-Italy in the Euro Cup as we speak)
Coca Cola eller Pepsi? Coke Zero, but I drink very little soda
Football or ice hockey? Football
Are you a morning person or a night owl? I'm both as long as I go to bed at a rather decent hour. Or not in the same 24 hours, as Skolfröken said
Pedicure or manicure? Pedicure. I like to get a foot massage and have my feet taken care of!
Any exciting news you can tell us? Nope, I'm afraid not, except that my work beat the Swedish Foreign Ministry at football today with the rocking results 14-4 (or maybe it was 12-4?). Photo evidence below
What did you want to be when you were little? Lawyer
Best childhood memory? Oh, there are so many! Skolfröken wrote something about recording tapes and that made me think of a tape I made when I was around 7 years old. I sing songs and talk about my doll and how I had had a fight with my then best friend Elisabeth. I still have the tape somewhere (maybe I should digitalise it actually)
Been to Africa? Yes, South Africa last December
Ever been in a car accident? Just a very small incident in the US when someone ran into the side of us. A girl ran into the back of us in Italy last weekend as well actually but the car didn't get a scratch and no body got hurt
Favourite day of the week? Friday
Favourite flowers? Red roses or lavender
Favourite fastfood restaurant? One of the thai places nearby
Do you own a bike? Yes, my grandmother's old one from the early 1980s. The tyres need air and it needs a good cleaning though
Who was your latest e-mail from? A good friend, Frida, asking when we should get all the girls together this summer
Bedtime? Usually around 22.30-23.00 but sometimes after 23.00 which makes me cranky
Last person you shared a dinner with? Peter
What are you doing right now? Blogging and watching football. Wondering if this list ever ends...
Favourite colour? Yellow and pink this summer
How many tatoos? None, and that will remain the case
Our team that beat the crap out of the Swedish MFA today! Granted we lost the last two years but now the trophy is back with us! I should have taken some photos during the match but first it rained and later I was too busy playing and this is even after most people had already taken off their shirts. We went to the pub afterwards so I forgot to stretch which doesn't bode well for tomorrow. In addition I have a very swollen bruise on my leg (didn't wear any shinguards), but it was fun!!!
Monday, June 16, 2008
Sad Day for the Jazz World
Very sad news today. Esbjörn Svensson, the lead in the Swedish jazz band EST (Esbjörn Svensson Trio) died yesterday in diving accident, age 44. I went to see them in concert five-six years ago and have enjoyed their music since. It's so sad that their won't be anymore of Esbjörn's excellent piano playing, and obviously, my thoughts are with his family a day like this.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Show & Tell: View
Thought I'd show you some views from Peter and my trip to Italy with my parents last weekend.
View from inside the dome.
Trying to get a glimpse of the oak trees on top of the Guinigi Tower, Lucca's most famous landmark.
View from the Leaning Tower of Pisa - people were really obeying the "keep off the grass" signs!
My parents, sitting by the fountain and trying to take a picture of Peter and me up in the tower.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
The Lisbon Treaty and the Irish
Please Ireland, vote yes today! Since you're the only ones having a referendum on ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, you're holding its future in your hands! The EU cannot spend another four years on a new treaty (we all remember what happened with the Nice Treaty)!
I have written about the benefits of the EU several times before, for example here, here, here, here, here and here.
Updated: an older post specifically on the EU constitution (that has now been renegotiated into the Lisbon Treaty).
I have written about the benefits of the EU several times before, for example here, here, here, here, here and here.
Updated: an older post specifically on the EU constitution (that has now been renegotiated into the Lisbon Treaty).
Monday, June 09, 2008
Best Right Now!
Fantastic Swedish commercial running right now! It's in Swedish but with English subtitles.
Show & Tell: Light
This month's Show & Tell themes come from Sunny Swede. Her choice of topics are:
6 June: Light (from ljus, as in illumination, daylight, bright, lightly coloured, etc.)
13 June: View (the Swedish word utsikt could also mean forecast or prospect/chance)
20 June: 5 o'clock
27 June: Cooking
Anyone is welcome to join the gang!
My take on this week's theme, light, is to show you the beautiful sunset I documented while in the Swedish eastcoast town Oskarshamn at the end of March. It was just before 6 am in the morning and so beautiful to watch it from my hotel room overlooking the Baltic Sea.
6 June: Light (from ljus, as in illumination, daylight, bright, lightly coloured, etc.)
13 June: View (the Swedish word utsikt could also mean forecast or prospect/chance)
20 June: 5 o'clock
27 June: Cooking
Anyone is welcome to join the gang!
My take on this week's theme, light, is to show you the beautiful sunset I documented while in the Swedish eastcoast town Oskarshamn at the end of March. It was just before 6 am in the morning and so beautiful to watch it from my hotel room overlooking the Baltic Sea.
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
The Books Post
This evening I attended a book reading event at Kulturhuset in Stockholm (it was actually in the evening sun on the roof terrace - well done organisers!) and came back with a few reading tips for the summer. The theme of this week (I think it will be a weekly or monthly thing over the summer) was Swedish debut authors. Those that particularly struck my interest were:
- "Hej Dolly" by Amanda Svensson
- "Paris-Dakar", a series of novels by Jens Liljestrand
- "Picasso valde också Kristinehamn" (Picasso also chose Kristinehamn) by Marcus Grahn
I have written about books several times before. Previous posts labelled "books" (there might be more since I blogged before labelling was introduced and I haven't had the time to go through all old posts for labelling purposes yet):
- (unrelated to my reading but) about some new book about Ikea
- a book list from spring 2007
- five weird books I've read
- my "book nerd" level
- my book list from a few weeks ago
Those of you who use Facebook may be familiar with iRead and book recommendations. It lets you click either "I like it" or "I don't like it" and whether you have read it or not. They give you 25 recommendations at a time but I will just treat you to the 10 first ones. Today they are recommending me the following books:
- "The History of Love" by Nicole Krauss - Haven't read it but think I would like it
- "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson - Yes! A favourite! Read it and loves it"
- Joke" by Milan Kundera - Haven't read it but I have read his classic book and would probably like this one too
- "The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxfod Dictionary" by Simon Winchester - Read it! Excellent!
- "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed" by Jared Diamond - Another favourite!
- "Death in Venice" by Michael Henry Heim - Haven't read it and not that interested
- "Ett öga rött" by Jonas Hassen Khemiri - Haven't read it yet but want to (have read his second book "Montecore")
- "The Number Devil: A Mathematical Adventure" by Hans Magnus Enzensberger - Sounds interesting, want to read it
- "Turbulent Souls: A Catholic Son's Return to His Jewish Family" - No, doesn't strike my interest
- "Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenides - Haven't read it and don't feel like it
Sunday, June 01, 2008
Show & Tell: Shoes & Books
FINALLY! Time for my shoes blog. I LOVE shoes and I have a LOT of them so I had to post about them at some point!
I have purchased these really useful transparent shoe boxes from Inreda.com for my dressier shoes that I keep in my bedroom closet. Earlier they were just all over the place with some bags and purses thrown into the mix. The flip flops on the left are a new purchase - I always get blistards between my toes from flip flops but I'm hoping these softer ones will be different. The stripey Muji slippers on the right are a favourite.
I have purchased these really useful transparent shoe boxes from Inreda.com for my dressier shoes that I keep in my bedroom closet. Earlier they were just all over the place with some bags and purses thrown into the mix. The flip flops on the left are a new purchase - I always get blistards between my toes from flip flops but I'm hoping these softer ones will be different. The stripey Muji slippers on the right are a favourite.
This is my less organised shoes drawer in our hallway. I should say that these are my spring and summer shoes; my winter shoes are already tucked away in the basement.
Some more from the shoe shelf by the door. The shoes still on the shelf are Peter's - he doesn't have as many shoes as I do but probably 1/3 or even half of my collection and thus way more than the average man.
A recent purpose, well, actually a year ago in Hong Kong but I didn't get around to wearing them last summer. They are a bit hard and as I always get blistards I need to prepare my feet with plasters and Compeed before I'm ready to break them in.
Another recent purchase, this time from South Africa. It was summer when we were there in December but once back home in Sweden I had to put them away for a few months.
This is turning into an international shoe shopping post! I bought these slipper like shoes (with hard soles) in Hong Kong as well, but wore them quite a lot last summer. Especially since last summer wasn't that great and I often needed warmer shoes than sandals.
BOOKS - coming soon! :)
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Foul Taste
Looking for a house in Sweden? Look no further.
A little taster...
But seriously, what were they thinking??!! And now all of Sweden (and the world) will know about their complete lack of taste.
A little taster...
But seriously, what were they thinking??!! And now all of Sweden (and the world) will know about their complete lack of taste.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
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