Midsommar

Hope you had a 'glad midsommar' weekend! We had some much needed family time this midsommar weekend. We had made plans to join in with the city's celebrations at 'Gammlia', where last year on arrival in Sweden we made floral rings for our heads and did the frog dance around the midsommar pole, but instead of mass we went micro – just us!  The sun was shining so there was lots of sunbathing, a little gardening, supersoaker fights, ice lollies, dirty clothes, no routine, children in pj's till lunchtime, long lies and casual good food…and some good football for daddy with a cold beer in hand.  Instead of wondering what happened to our weekend my husband and I were just reflecting on what a great weekend it has been - just enjoying our little family!

Watermelon Season

June and July is Watermelon season. We tucked into some juicy slices this lunch time - went down a treat with the children!  It is also great source of Vitamin C and A. Click this link on Watermelon to read more about this superfood!

Gammlia

'Gammlia' open air Museum opened for the summer this week and so to avoid cabin fever we spent the afternoon there. The kids got to see and old school house, farm house, long threshing barn, working bakery, machinery, a Sami camp and some farm animals. It’s a living museum so there are guides dressed up period attire doing a bit of role play. The kids got to take part in lassoing a pretend reindeer, stone painting, petting the animals and got to smell and buy some freshly made Tunna Brod from the working bakery.  I took in some traditional construction methods during the fun too!

Spot of Rainbow

Went for brisk cycle along the river tonight. It's been a hot day so it was nice to go out when the sun was a bit lower in the sky and get some fresh air and exercise. Took this snap on my phone on the way back...can you spot the rainbow 'spot'? It's been hot all day and no rain so it took me by surprise!

Visit to daddy's outdoor office

This weekend we took a day trip to daddy's outdoor office.  He's an
ecologist and monitors some fish comunities in some protected lakes
in-land.  When we go as the family we have a grill and then the boy's
go out on the boat to do some work and I hang with our youngest in
the woods. Last year she was in a carrier so there was so much to
explore this time! 

My wee man loves the novelty loo in the woods. We had the discussion
about only going if he needed a number 2 as there are spiders in there
that can bite your bottom. He said he definitely needed to go do that so
he went and guess what - he came back with a big smile after only
needing a number 1! 

Delighted boy after using the facilities and tricking mummy!

Some little pink bell flowers which I think are 'Bog Cranberry'. We will
harvest them in September/October.

Date night

Our happy faces at the prospect of going on a date! When we get a baby sitter it's often so we can go to a meeting or out with friends - very rarely just us!    

in LOVE

9 år gifte idag! We're celebrating our 9th Wedding Anniversary today!  
I am in love with my 'älskling'.  Yes, we have occasional disagreements but there is a rule that we never let the sun go down on those!  Yes, we rather fancy each other, sometimes He-to-Me more (usually down to ‘horses-moans’), but I know our love is and has become deeper and more complex in a good way since we got married. You have not arrived when you get married – you just start building something new which takes a lot of care, attention to detail and no short cuts if you want it to last.  After you’ve built it, it still needs regular maintenance and you might need an extension along the way to adapt to changing circumstances or growth.  But, with any building project it is vital to get the foundations right so that what you build cannot be shaken by the tsunamis of life that will rustle the nest now and then. When we started our build we invited a master craftsman and intergalactic investor to provide all we needed for our project and He knows all about Love as he invented it – we are still learning about this Love.

Lunch

For lunch today Sophie and I shared one of my favourite juicy salads - ingredients speaks for themselves!  Sophie had her's wrap style in a Tunna bröd and I drizzled mine with balsamic vinegar and olive oil.  Anything with Juicy tomatoes and avocado is a winner in my book.

Lovely Lemons

I love fruit and veg shopping. Of all food shopping it’s the most sensory - so many colours and you are allowed to touch and smell the raw product. Lemons are in season at the moment. They are tree fresh, twice the normal size and that lovely lime yellow colour. I went a bit mad and came home with 9.  I think they are as beautiful as a bunch of flowers and cheaper too. They ooze the colour and sent of summer and you can of course use them in countless ways!  These beauties were so big and juicy I almost couldn't grasp them!Tonight we squirted our juicy lemons over some Japanese, breadcrumbed, fresh strömming (herring) which has also just come in to season!

'Boorach'

The quiet that came after a busy week, accompanied by a 'boorach'* of a house, left me feeling lonely and frazzled today.  I skyped my Mum & Dad in Scotland and tinkled on the piano which helped lift my spirit for a while.  What really helped was My Husband - He came home early to rescue his frazzled wife and sent her to the sunny deck with a lager, shandy and lemon - so refreshing..and low alcohol!  He arranged the dinner, fed the kids, bathed them and tucked them in bed then I went out to my first Pilates class - which was really difficult but effective so I'm going to stick at it! When I came in my husband was hanging out the washing, cleaning and hoovering our room and he has just changed our bed sheets...all whilst watching the Sweden Ukraine game....it seems men can multitask when needs must! Feeling blessed to have such a man!

*Boorach - A boorach is a busy mess. Also known as a “guddle”.

'Möhippa'

Have been busy living the fast life!  To fill you in: we had 'Swedish National day' on Wednesday so I said to my husband that we should take down all our 'British bunting and balloons', after our Diamond Jubilee Party for the Queen, incase the neighbours thought we were making some sort of weird 'stand'....I don't know if a house would be 'egged' for that sort of thing...probably not...we have really friendly neighbours! A 'Gateau fest' street party had been organised on the day but it got rained off so we will do that on Saturday now! Hope it's sunny so we can get to meet some more neighbours!

Yesterday we had an end of term school grill at Gammlia, (outdoor/indoor museum of Västerbotten culture and Sami life) a lovely place, set in woodland with lots of things for the kids to explore.  After which I was deposited by my family in town for a 'Möhippa' (hen night) - my first one in Sweden. The bride to be got high jacked, dressed up in some colourful disco tat with a pink veil, then made to sing for money in the town centre to earn herself some ride money at the visiting 'Tivoli' in town. She is an excellent singer so earned enough money for all of us to go on the rides! Lots of fun and best wishes to the beautiful bride to be!

Gathering People

I organised a Tea Party to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee today. As I did my last minute shop this morning, accompanied by my 1 yr old, I thought this party is such a bad idea - I have no time and I'm inviting all these people round to messy, unorganised house, no bunting, no baking, no nothing!  Feeling quite alone and stressed with my 'to do list', before the 3 o'clock party, I put the TV on to watch live coverage of the Jubilee Thanks giving Service for the Queen.  I started my baking and listened to the calming voices of the BBC commentators filling me in on who's who, the outfits, the cars and the months of precision planning that go into days such as this. Still focused on my task I seemed a little less stressed and continued with icing cakes.  Everyone seated in St Paul’s where the service was held, the fanfares sounded with the Queens arrival and the service began. The theme of the service was to thank God for The Queen's humble, sacrificial service. The main Bible reading was Romans 12: 1-18. The verses talked about using your gifting to serve others. I was reminded why i was doing the task at hand. One of my gifts is hosting and gathering people for parties, fika whatever the event and The Jubilee was an opportunity to do this.  In the busyness of hosting I might not get to have meaningful conversations with everyone but, taking a step back and watching people, I see that others might be connecting and I think that's one of the main things that brings me Joy about gathering people!

   

"En God Kopp Te"

Bought and tried out this 'Kobbs Darjeeling' as the budget teabags that my darling bought, on a shoe string, at the end of the month were just not cutting the biscuit - perhaps like the taste of well used dish water.   I take after my Faroese Mormor - she likes a "Good cup o tea" that means well brewed, strong and flavoursome.  So I tried this, brewed as per the instructions on the back of the packet and it was indeed "En God Kopp Te", and you can taste the greeness of the leaf almost like green tea, but not sure about its claims to be like champagne though! 

'the weather'

As a rule I shouldn't blog about the weather but it was actually quite awesome this weekend. I'm not talking about baking sun - although we had minor, pleasant, spells. We did have the lot - but no white stuff (thank goodness!). Some might say terrible weather but I think priority was given to the 'flora & fauna'. Nature needed a drink and it drank. The trees needed a good shake to lose winter deadness and the wind swept through them. The sun gave warmth to sprouting seeds and dryness and safety to the animals, birds and insects for a short time to be busy doing what they do...and in our garden we were reminded:

 

Big & Beautiful

Some bread that I experimented with this week came out of the steamy hot oven big and beautiful! I sound like Gok Wan! My pet sourdough starter continues to bring good results!

White & Rye Sourdough bundt bread

White Honey and Linseed bread

Fina Blommor

Beautiful and unusual flowers that have sprung up in the garden...so I picked a few to look at, up close, in the kitchen. Can anyone identify them?

The pink stems are everywhere and have large plate-like waxy leaves.  The other a bit like anemone.

Honey, Pumpkin Seed & Oat Cookies

Needed some biscuits for little hands and big hands, and just to make our empty cookie jar look nice for a short while, so experimented with these Honey, Pumkin Seed and Oat Cookies. I am not usually very good at making biscuits but they turned out great - not too sweet and nice crunch:

 

Approximate measurements for about 12 cookies :

·         50g             butter

·         1 cup           Plain white flour

·         ½ cup         oats

·         1 tbsp          sugar

·         4 tbsp         runny honey

·         1tsp             Bicarbonate of Soda

·         some milk (to bring together a dough)

·         Some pumkin seeds to sprinkle on top

Melt the butter and sugar and honey in the pan or microwave then add the flour and the rest of the ingredients and bring together like a soft dough - adjust for texture and taste as you like it as the flour measurements might be slightly out!  Next, make little balls with the dough and put them on the baking tray and press down with your fingers until they are like little cookies about 5mm thick. Then sprinkle the remaining crumbly mixture in the bowl over the top of the biscuits, for texture, along with the pumpkin seeds. Bake for about 12 minutes at 180° or until golden brown then leave to cool on a wire rack.