may angels lead you in

grandma decided to leave this world so that she could be with grandpa.
i treasure all our memories together and i will never stop missing them.
i love you grandma and grandpa.

happy birthday-weekend to meee :)

henrik and i decided that it would be way more fun celebrating my birthday all weekend than on MONDAY... we are both working on monday so it was way cooler opening and enjoying all my gifts already. a huge THANK YOU for all the gifts !!! i love all of them and i feel very fortunate to have so many people thinking about me. not a lot of people can say that they get birthday gifts from as far away as australia, thanks for making me feel special :)

MAXANDER

at the beginning of september alex came to visit. he loves sweden and we love when he comes over. i took a couple of days off work so that we could spend as much time together as possible and we came up with a million things to do. 2 of the highlights were the trip to älvsborgs fästning and the fiskhamnsfestival. maxander, when are you coming back ??

my first swedish wedding

henrik and i were invited to niklas and catrines wedding the other week. the ceremony took place on a boat, out on open water. the bride and groom looked amazing and the ceremony held by the captain was way cooler than the ordinary boring church stuff. all the best to the newly weds !!!

BÄRLAUCH !!!

thanks to the KULTURKALAS there are market stands from all over the world selling delicious things in town right now. yesterdays coolest purchase was without a doubt the dried bärlauch that i bought from a nice, old german man.
he gave me a recipe book with lots of bärlauch recipes, I LOVE IT !! i made my very first bottle of bärlauch-oil and half a pound of bärlauch butter so far.
in english bärlauch is called bear´s garlic and in swedish you say ramslök. try to get your hands on some - it´s healthy and delicious !!

THE REEF

for our 2 year anniversary i gave henrik a trip to denmark to stay and swim at the THE REEF hotel and resort.
his favorite part was the waterslide that we got to go down in a double-tube, i loved drinking a good pina colada on the sun deck. the pool area was fantastic !! we just wished the service and the dinner options in fredrikshavn were better.
the trip was such a nice break from work though. and now its only one and a half months left until we go on our real vacation to spain :)

the sweet taste of homegrown veggies :)

last week we picked quite a few ripe tomatoes for a spinach-bacon-egg-cheese-onion-tomato-mustard dressing SALAD. the salad is inspired by janice, she got me hooked on it while i lived in jersey. now we´ll have to wait for another week or two until the rest of our tomatoes turn red. a huge THANKS to my friend anna, who gave me the plant when it was still a baby :)

PINK CONCERT

on friday night henrik and i went to one of my all-time favorite concerts. PINK!
GOOD CHARLOTTE and TAKIDA were the opening acts and at 9.15pm PINK dropped out of the sky singing GET THE PARTY STARTED and FUNHOUSE. she sang all our favorite songs and the show was packed with stunts and special effects. henrik deserves a thumbs-up and a double-yay for getting us the tickets at the beginning of the year :)

WALL ART

TÅRTA

sunday afternoons call for cake :)
3 layers of sugar cake, one layer of raspberry-mousse, one layer of sugared blue-berries and raspberries and whipped cream, topped with strawberries and whipped cream. cake,done. henrik and anna, happy.

LUNCH

serve this with kebab-sauce !! yum-o !!!

ingredients:
10 frozen puff-pastry squares
350 gr minced meat
1 onion, chopped
2 dl creme fraiche, garlic flavor
100 gr feta cheese with herbs, crumbled
fresh parsley, chopped
salt,peppar,paprika powder

brown the meat and add onion to the hot pan. season with salt,peppar and paprika powder. take off heat and add garlic creme fraiche, corn, crumbled feta cheese and parsley. place 8 puff pastry squares on a baking sheet and put a pile of the meat mixture in the middle of each square. leave an edge to rise. decorate the squares with left over puff pastry.
bake at 200 degrees celsius for about 15 min or until brown. DONT FORGET TO SERVE KEBAB SAUCE WITH THE SQUARES :)

I´m in love with my plant

i can´t wait until i get to eat my first self grown veggies. the paprika plant isn´t showing any baby parikas yet, but soon it will be time to harvest the tomatoes :)

GREEN DAY

AWESOME CONCERT !!! 25.000 people at ULLEVI and green day played all our favorite songs. the fireworks were sweet,too !!

DÄÄÄNEMARK

our trip to denmark the other weekend was sweet. we got to spend a couple of hours shopping and we went to an irish pub and random restaurant for dinner. we seemed to be the only people from sweden that weren´t totally wasted :) lots of people started drinking on the ferryboat in the morning and didn´t stop until we were back in göteborg.
the ferry trip is super fun and affordable, this wasn´t our last trip to denmark, thats for sure !!

SWEDENS NATIONALDAY

yesterday was henriks nameday (gustav) and swedens nationalday. i got us the new almondy KALASTÅRTA. yum. the only thing yummier than that was the salmon we had for dinner, sadly there is no picture of it :(

PIZZERIA MUMS

yesterday henrik and i went to pizzeria mums for lunch. we were really lucky to get a table cause they were almost fully booked for a lunch party.
henrik had been talking about wanting to go there for a while now, cause the pizzeria won a prize for the best pizza in sweden.
their menue is awesome, with lots of unusual pizzas to choose from. we ended up choosing two completely different pizzas but they were both totally awesome. the pictures cant capture the whole yumminess of my chicken,bacon,shrimp,garlic,red onion, kebab sauce pizza... i can´t wait to go back for more pizza !!!

perfect collaboration

this thing is yummy. it is half pie, half quiche. it travels really well in a lunchbox and it pairs up well with a salad. i dont have a recipe to share, cause i threw together left overs. as long as you start with a pre-baked pie crust you cant mess this thing up...

Liseberg is open for summer season !!

there is nothing better than living across the street from a theme-park. we dont go on the rides there every day, but with our year passes we have free entry all year round and just pay extra for the rides when we feel like getting an adrenaline rush :) yesterday we went there just to hang out and enjoy the sun a little. we fell in love with a bunny pirate flag, had some ice cream and listened to the liseberg orchestra... a lazy saturday afternoon doesnt get any better than that !

apple crumbles

super easy, super fast, super delicious!
cut up 2 peeled apples. coat the small apple pieces with cinnamon and sugar.
spoon the cinnamon apples into 3 ramekins.
in a bowl mix together 60 grams of softened butter, 2 tablespoons of sugar, 1 teaspoon of vanilla sugar, 1 deciliter of rolled oats and just under 1 deciliter of flour. blend until crumbly and divide amongst the ramekins.
bake the apple crumbles at 200 degrees until golden brown (check after 20-25 min.)
serve with vanilla ice cream or vanilla sauce.

HENRIKS PIROGER

i love that my boyfriend enjoys cooking. that way i get to eat food i would have never thought about making myself. henrik will also make a huge batch of those for our pirate party on may 8th. yum-o.

DENMARK

YAY for a daytrip. Henrik and i will be going to frederikshavn in denmark on the 29. of may. we booked the tickets for the ferry-boat online a couple of minutes ago. we got a buy 1 get 1 free deal, because we used our lisebergskort discount. 26 euros for the two of us there and back !!
we are setting sail at 8 am and will return to sweden at midnight.
DENMARK, HERE WE COME :)

KÖTTBULLAR-MANIA

easter monday is the perfect day for making meatballs. henrik fried up about 60 of them, so guess what will be for dinner all week long.. :)
swedish meatballs are made out of ground beef/pork , chopped onion, eggs, bread crumbs, milk and spices. if you want the exact recipe email me.
tomorrow its back to work. yay. and in 16 days alex will come for a visit again. YAAAY!

HENRIK IS THE BEST

last night älsklingen took over the kitchen and made a super delicious dinner. lövbiff stuffed with blue cheese, red onion, garlic tomato puree and mustard...yumm! he also made hasselback potatoes and green asparagus. dinner felt like dining at a restaurant. henrik did such a nice job setting the table and serving the food. all i had to do was sit down and enjoy :) i think in return i will make him pizza tonight ...

martha would be proud...

of course i will never be as good at decorating cupcakes as martha stewart is, but she would probably be proud of my effort :) henrik and i made these on wednesday night,because it was his turn to bring cake to work on thursday. blueberry cupcakes with lemon icing and marshmallow flowers, very easter-ish :)

ÄGG

henrik and i blew out eggs and painted them. i can´t remember the last time i did that...must have been in primary school. i love the results :) we each created two masterpieces... i did a swedish-flag-egg,which i lovingly call SWEDENEGG and a yellow and purple henrik-anna-egg. henrik did a german-flag-egg and an egg with little chickens wearing sunglasses. too cute ! now meet my favorite egg, SWEDENEGG !!

thank you,nathalie :)

my new haircut.

a dinner to remember

ribs and criss cut fries, great dinner after a great day. i got my hair done yesterday and my hairdresser nathalie and i were talking about me waiting for a call for a job interview. the application deadline was yesterday so i figured they would start calling people either that night or next week. i met henrik in town after the hairdresser so that we could take the tram home together and then it happenend, i got the call. now i will go to the job interview on monday. i am super excited !!

a sweetness

the roses that i got from henrik yesterday are obviously too pretty for my camera to handle... in real life they are incredibly dark red. beautiful !! why did i get roses on a random thursday? - it´s been exactly a year since i moved to sweden to be with henrik.

♥

a muffin a day keeps the doctor away

these muffins are incredibly easy to make and they freeze really well. whether you are craving something sweet or find yourself with unannounced visitors, put them into the microwave for 25 seconds straight out of the freezer and you have a delicious treat in seconds !
mix together 150 grams of flour,½ teaspoon of baking powder, 40 grams of sugar, 2 teaspoons of vanilla sugar, 50 grams of butter(melted),110ml of milk, 1 egg and vanilla/butter aroma to taste. pour into 8 paper muffin cups and add one teaspoon of your favorite marmelade or jelly to each muffin. using a teaspoon mix the marmelade in slightly. bake at 20 degrees celcius for 20-30 min.

CHICK-A-ROOOOOS

easter is coming up soon, it´s time to start decorating !! the birdy we got at the fleamarket is in good company. his two new friends are twin chickens :) we got the chickens from elisabeth and christer. TACK IGEN !

i love a good bread roll

here the recipe for 8 cheesy-rosemary bread rolls invented by ME ! :)

200 grams of aged gouda cheese, grated (use freshly grated parmesan if u can´t find the aged gouda)

500 grams of white flour

1 package of fresh yeast

200 ml milk , lukewarm

2 eggs

1 teaspoon of salt

100 grams of butter, room temperature

the leaves of 3 sprigs of rosemary, chopped up

add yeast to warm milk and stir until dissolved.in a mixing bowl combine flour,eggs,salt and butter.add milk-yeast mixture and mix with help of a hand mixer for 2 minutes. let the dough rise under a kitchen towel for 30 min.
add cheese and rosemary to the dough and mix in well. shape 8 rolls with help of some additional flour and put them on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. cover with kitchen towel and let rise for an another 30 min.
bake at 175 degrees celcius for about 20 min. serve slightly warm,freeze leftovers.

FIGARO

today henrik and i went to a huge fleamarket called "kvibergs marknad" , a 20 min tramride from home. it is part outdoor market where they sell foreign food and clothes and part indoor market where you can find anything from electronics to antique treasures. i am very happy about the little bird we bought for 10 kronor. we called him FIGARO. we also got two antique looking planting pots with a white rose border around the top. the prices at that market are great!

when i grow up i want to be like JAMIE OLIVER

jamie oliver is one of my favorite tv-cooks. i have more than a few,but he is probably the one i have been following for the longest time.
the other day they showed a re-run of one of the "naked chef´s" early episodes. the bread that he made looked great! i just altered it slightly, here is how i did it :
i mixed together 300 grams of all purpose flour, a palmful of dried breadcrumbs and about 50 grams of whole wheat flour. i added one package of fresh yeast to 200 ml of warm water and fed the yeast with 1 teaspoon of salt and one tablespoon of sugar. once the yeastmixture started to bubble i added it to the flour and breadcrumbs. i worked it with my hands until i got a nice,non-sticking doughball (you might have to add some more flour while you work your dough).
the dough rested under a kitchen towel for 30 min. then i paperlined and greased a large oven pan and pushed the dough into a flat rectangle,about 1,5 cm high.
then i got to use the mortar and pestle we got from henriks parents for the first time :) i crushed 2 cloves of garlic,1 teaspoon of coarse salt,some ground black pepper, the leaves of 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary and about half a cup of olive oil together and dumped that mixture onto the dough. then i worked it into the dough,kind of poking little dents everywhere, so that it looked like there where little puddles of oil all over the dough. i let the whole thing rest for another 15 minutes while i preheated the oven to 180 degrees celcious. then it went into the oven for about 20 min (keep an eye on it and take it out when it looks golden brown and almost all of the oil is absorbed).
cut into slices this makes a great side dish for a salad or a snack by itself.

YUMM-O

that´s what i call an easy cake... i threw together a couple of left overs, completely without measuring. i just made sure the batter looked like it had the right consistency. i knew all the talk about "baking is science" wasn´t true. as long as you make sure to use a good amount of nutella you can´t go wrong :)

my first PAJ is in da house !!!

guess what´s for dinner tonight?? RIGHT, PAJ !!!
i got the recipe for a feta cheese-olive paj from henriks mom this weekend and happened to have most of the ingredients at home today. i exchanged the paprika for broccoli and in stead of black olives i used green ones stuffed with sundried tomatoes. email me if you need the recipe.
today we got a new swedish cookbook from ICA. it was for free because we used our frequent shopper coupon :) i looked through it and it looks like i soon need to make a chocolate-nougat-cherry cake....