Last of June

This evening we went to the park and played beach volleyball. Well... I admit, those are my feet. I mostly sat on the side watching :) I did play a little though. While I didn't admire two of my favourite second hand bargains - the silver bracelets. The pearls were a gift from my sis-in-law. When we tired of watching the games, we went to an ice cream stand and had really good ice cream. There I spotted this nice vintage Volvo car. I'd like one of those :)

Then we went home to our place and watched Alice in Wonderland. Honestly, not so good. But a great night anyhow. :)

So looking forward to getting the things that I've ordered!!! :)

This + this + this! :)

Said about life

So, peeps, just do something! :) (from lazy me on the couch. well... I am going to do something. soon. + I just got home from working all day. ha!)

Let there be light. And warm and sunny.

Finally off work! Yay :) Here's the weather forecast for my city Norrköping in Sweden. How good? Amaaazing! ;) So looking forward to the weekend!

.work

need I say more? (it kinda sucks... Oh well. Still want the money. The worst part is that the weather is so flippin nice around here now! I wish I could just be out there enjoying it all! Evenings. I live for the evenings now :) haha!)

Oups!

I didn't see these before! Oh well, they, too, are now on their way! :) Same as these only a different colour. Bring on the flowers! :)

Rose Leggings by ClubL 29SEK/$4(!!) [direct link]

A good bargain

Between work and a, nowadays mandatory, trip to a nearby lake, I managed to squeeze in some shopping :) It's Nelly that has started their summer sale early for "facebook-VIPs". The official sale starts on Friday July 2nd. I clicked home a few goodies.

Click image to enlarge!

1. Brunge SS Tunic by Only - 59SEK/$8 [direct link]

2. Girl Chino by JeaneBlush - 59SEK/$8 [direct link]

3. Cavislong Dress by Soaked in Luxury - 149SEK/$20 [direct link]

Remeber the chinos? Good thing I didn't buy them at 199SEK/$27... :)

our awesome day

We arrived 11.30 am at J's and my favourite spot - all categories. :) At least my favourite spot. We had brekkie - vanilla yoghurt+muesli+fresh peaches/kiwi fruit/strawberry. Yuuum! :) Then we tanned, talked, had the most amazing bigarreaus/cherries, bathed/swimmed... just really had a great time. Then, time for bbq-lunch! Again: Yuuum! :) We had steak+sallad+feta cheese&water melon+carrot bread+baguette. So good! Sun aaaall day long! This is what enjoying summer to the fullest is all about! Flippin uh-mazing! :)

Then we left at like 8-8.30 pm. Could've stayed even longer as the sun was not about to set for at least another two or so hours. But hey, it's the Fifa WC...! All in all, one of the best days this summer - so far :) Thanks guys!

.bbq with style

A few days ago I bought this new bbq bucket - perfect for trips around. Premiere tomorrow! ;)

Lake trip tomorrow!

This is where we're going! :)

Muesli + favourite

I am now done with the honey roasted rolled oats muesli with cinnamon, I wrote about earlier. Here's a quick picture of it, in the jar I though fit for the job :) It tastes great. Will be even better with some greek or turkish yoghurt and some fresh fruit or berries - kiwi fruit, raspberries, peaches... :) While I was at it in the kitchen I also made a new batch of our new favourite bread - carrot bread (who would've thought??) It always seems to disappear so quickly. Anyways. It's 2.30 am here and I am not even tired. Maybe because I slept 12 hours until 11.30 this morning... I will try to get some sleep anyways, up early for a great day out tomorrow! See yous!

Still here. Still loving life! :)

Wow! Such great weather these days! This weekend Swedes celebrate Midsummer. Usually on midsummer, it rains and is not particularly good weather. Not so this year, however - it is nice with a bit of a change :) This time of year is absolutely gorgeous around here! We have looong days and short nights (sunrise at like 4 am and sunset at 10 pm), it's warm+sunny (hopefully) and the water in the lakes around are heating up to a comfortable temperature. The long "days" makes for trips to lakes, bbq's and hanging around friends. Blogging? When appropriate. Remember? :)

Anyways. After a long day in the sun I finally got home and am now planning for tomorrow's trip with bbq on the lakeside, swimming, tanning, reading... :) I just took a break to update the blog quickly and tell you that I just ordered these books. I've been longing for these, supposed to be, uh-mazing cookbooks for a long time and now I will finally have them in a few days! Yay! I am so ready for a new cooking era to begin! I will finally learn how to make my own sourdough and then bread and pizza crusts from using it. :) + heaps more!

Well. That's about all that I wanted to say. Now I'm off to the kitchen again :) I'm making a honey roasted rolled oats muesli with cinnamon. Yum :)

As it turnes out.

These are good. Really good! :) (yay!) I don't know the taste of traditional or store bought crackers well enough to make a comparison, but to me, these are awsome! Will make great s'mores!

making my own...

graham crackers! :) I made the dough last night, and let it rest in the fridge overnight. So far so good! Now to the rolling out and baking... wish me luck! Hopefully we'll have s'mores by tonight!

Shakira Waka Waka

This song's gooood! :)

.flowers flowers

I have totally forgotten about showing you my new favourite pair of leggings. :) They are flowered :) Love love love 'em! People tell me that they are so me. :) Appreciate it! Haha!

Now: Definitely time for sleep! See yous! ;)

mother-daugher time

This past Friday I had a (very well-needed) day off work. As J had work to do all day, I called mum to check if she was home, then hopped on the first best bus and went "home" to Stavsjö. Once there, we had a nice long brunch and then went out for a long walk. We went to a lake called Virlången, and on the trail along the shore, we found yellow chanterelles. The first ones of the season, and a lot of it, too. Love it! :) Yum! Naturally, a fika followed the walk. Hot tea, blueberry smoothie and also I brought rhubarb semifreddo. Mum loved it (dad too, when he got home from work in the evening). The pictures:

Precious mum! :) The chanterelles and the fika.

Gorgeous scenery, hey? :)

New header again...

Well... I just loved the picture I took of the lupines and so I used it to make a new header. It's all the same as before, really, only a new motif and a new scale of colours... one that I like better! What do you think?? :)

Here, you can take a look at the previous ones.

Another absolutely gorgeous picture of lupines

♥, now on my desktop :)

Midsummer's coming up!

And with it all these gorgeous flowers! :) I absolutely love them! Especially the pink ones.

The Dance

A Royal Wedding

Today is the day of the Swedish Crown Princess Victoria's wedding to her Daniel. A man of the people and now Prince Daniel of Sweden, Duke of Västergötland. Wow. What a fairy tale...! :) Loving all of it! I've been following the festivities in the Swedish capital city Stockholm. The wedding has got it all! Royalties from all over the world, glamour, magic, beautiful dresses, amazing flower arrangements, singing, dancing... and the greatest of these is love. Some pictures:

Awww...!! :)

lupine love

I was brought up to believe these flowers are weeds... not to bring into the garden because they spread so easily. Nowadays, I know better. :) They are gorgeous! :) These + more that I got the other day, will be just perfect on our balcony! They are so full of colour and shape!

And I did get on with those dishes and carrot bread! I love an effecient day! ;) (and a lazy one, too. Like today.)

Oh well, should I get on with that mountain of dirty dishes and then make some bread? I think so.

I was thinking carrot bread. Definitely a new favourite in our house! :) I really should make the dough first and then go ahead with the dishes, right? I'm off! See yous! ;)

.in my kitchen cabinet

Well, here's the cabinet in my kitchen that I open the most. I love the colour scale! From clear blue to deep + bright turquoise, to cream and white, to clear glass, and, naturally, pink. :) Click to enlarge!

Items are (from top to bottom, left to right):

Vintage tea cups by Finish Arabia | deep turquoise Collection Mugs by Höganäs.

White side plates, Dinera by IKEA + second hand bowls | Mugs M by Cult Design | cream + bright turquoise Club Mugs by Höganäs

White plates, Dinera by IKEA + pink bowl/pitcher by IB Laursen | White bowls, Dinera by IKEA | deep turquoise bowls by Höganäs | clear glasses + pitcher by Eva Solo.

Oh and by the way, I love Höganäs' new spring/summer shade Syren (Lilac)! Will have to get myself a bunch of lilac bowls + a few white ones. Sometime... :) Did you know that the tiles that cover the shells of the Sydney Opera House were made by Swedish Höganäs? :)

Love it all! ♥

ice cream / parfait

Whoa! I'm back (again). Work+nice sunny weather=not so much time for blogging. I've got some things to blog about though! Just got back from a swim with J at one of our favourite spots, this one.

Yesterday (on my day off) I made 4 kinds of parfait. It's really just a double batch but 4 different flavourings. Above is: Strawberry, raspberry (to the top) and blueberry. The fourth kind was simply a mix of the three (not in the picture). Of these three that I have tried, I liked all, I loved the strawberry one. The mixed berry parfait has still to be tested. It's really not so hard and now that I've got the hang of it, I'll be sure to make more. But first - eat the ones that are in the freezer. Carolina, you are most welcome on friday if you can make it! ;)

Oh, and don't you just love my vintage tea cups?? :) I got them from my auntie Barbro and I really really love them! I've got a peak into one of my most frequestly used kitchen cabinets prepared. It kind of represents my style in a good way. :)

A bit of rhubarb+vanilla semifreddo

while watching England-USA in the World Cup. Yum! :) It's super nice to have a bunch waiting in the freezer! This time we had them with some kiwi fruit. So much better than After-Eight.

Picture: Me

Do you want it?

I won this SATC-box a few days ago (yay, haha), but have come to the decision that I will be selling it. This offer is primarily for my Swedish/Scandinavian readers, since the DVD-code is probably incompatible with "more foreign" dvd players. (At least I should think so.)

SEX AND THE CITY - The Essential Collection: Silver 19 disc collection. Every episode of every season + bonus disc. Box is completely new, in original packaging.

Price: 400SEK ($50) + shipping: 50SEK ($7).

Contact me by commenting on this blog post! First come, first served! :)

In case none of you readers are interested, I'll put it out for auction on Ebay, just wanted to give you the chance first :)

Contact me asap, but no later than Monday June 14th!

The box was sold just hours after I posted about selling it! Great! :) Maybe I should do more stuff like this, haha!

Carrot Bread Recipe

Upon request, a slightly modified carrot bread recipe! :) Originally from Underbara Clara. If you try it, you'll definitely love it! :)

Picture: Me, click to enlarge!

♥

Yesterday we went to UNITED at Cirkus in Stockholm, Sweden.

Home.

Evening Meal

"Filmjölk" with cereal+kiwi (a new passion of mine... along with parfait), carrot bread with ham and cheese. And a glas of cold milk. My cup of tea!

Last weekends festivities

Last weekend was all about party! :) On the Sunday, Sister's 22nd birthday + Mother's Day, and on the Saturday, my dear friend Elisabet's birthday party. Here's some of the pictures! First my little sister's birthday/Mother's Day. The whole family got together and gave her a laptop of her own. She was so so so pleased! :) ♥ I also wanted to give her something from just me and J, so we got her a bangle bracelet. We also had real good food, ovenbaked salmon, potatoes, creme fraiche sauce, peas and salad.

The Saturday offered, as mentioned, the celebration of a new 30-year old. Cake buffet with so many amazing cakes. Colour theme: Pink+turquoise. Such a great idea to cover the conuters with nice colourful gift wrapping paper! Note to self on that! :)

Thanks you all! I really enjoyed celebrating you, sister, mum and Elisabet! ♥

.oh so good

I want more. I need more! :)

friends+food+summer

As I mentioned before, our amazing friends came by for a visit yesterday evening. We made a bbq on the balcony and turned the windowsill into the perfect side table! How amazing to have such broad windowsills! And such great friends! :) We heart you!

And well, the food was just yummy! ;) ha! Pork fillet skewers (in my super delish marinade), wedge potatoes, greek style salad with feta cheese, tzatziki, baguette and carrot bread. I love food. I don't think I ever told you, but I really really llllove food! :)

Rhubarb+vanilla Semifreddo

My rhubarb+vanilla semifreddo. Yummy and delicious but a tiny bit too icy, would have preferred it more creamy, like the parfait (parfait = perfect in French). It was more fresh in taste though, containing Turkish yoghurt. Anyways, parfait it is, for me.

Semifreddo is an Italian dessert that literally means "half cold". It is supposed to be served semi-frozen. Ice cream-like.

Parfait perfect

So while I was making rhubarb+vanilla semifreddo, I also couldn't resist making a batch of rhubarb+vanilla parfait. We had it yesterday, as we had great friends over for the evening. We went to the park and brought the parfait with us. It. Was. Delicious. Better than the semi-freddo (which I just tried a few minutes ago), ha! :) Will make it again, with rhubarb and with other flavourings. Strawberries, raspberries, wild strawberries, blueberries... oh my. Can't wait!

Picture: Me

I served mine with a big chunk of kiwi, for the freshness. Would also go really well with any fruit salad.

I bought a candy thermometer!

So now I can make Italian meringue anytime I want! Plus other things, of course... :) One step closer to making those macarons. Today I used it when making rhubarb parfait. Keep posted!