♥ blueberries

I myself got this pajama set (other piece is blue+white stripes) in size waaay-to-big, whilst thinking "eventually...". I just LOVE the pattern... reminds me soo much of somthing (a table cloth maybe?) from my own childhood in Stavsjö. I just had to get it and since there were only large sizes left there was little left to do than snatching one of those.

that time of year...

which holds such an amazing abundance of flowers and sun and wonderfulness. Mum and I picked lilies of the valley yesterday, at the best spot ever. The lovely scent now fills our apartment. Especially the kitchen. Oh. The kitchen which calls for some serious blogging :) All renovated and new. And perfect. Hang in there...!

Who needs sea view

when you can have flower view?? This is the view out from my parents' living room window. Gorgeous pink-white apple blossom in full bloom. Just amazing.

My Narnia

Went to my mom&dad's today. Amazing :) Premier walk on the frozen lake - love it! Other than that, just one great day!

Click to enlarge!

Swedish Cuisine #01

So I'm on this quest of learning how to cook proper-homemade-from scratch food within the Swedish cuisine. Stuff that my mother and grandmother would make. First out (at least here on the blog) is pannbiff/wallenbergare or Salisbury steak in English, which is not really the same thing but well, close enough. Publication of recipes can definitely be arranged for if there is any interest - give me a shout should that be the case!

Pannbiff/Wallenbergare with potato wedges, chanterelle sauce and steamed cauliflower+broccoli+carrot.

This is the kind of food one kan feel good about eating! And so yummy! The chanterelles me and mum picked during one of our walks earlier this autumn... :)

I love weddings!

The day before yesterday, me and J went to a wedding together with my parents. It was such a beautiful day and an amazing wedding! :) My friend E got married to her R. Here's a whole bunch of pictures!

I absolutely love the first picture! It's E's father keeping watch for his daughter out the church doors. Then I love the picture of the little girl - cutest ever! :)

Strawberries!

Yesterday I went strawberry picking with mum&dad. It was the best day, not too hot, not too cold, the strawberries we just perfect. And deliciously sweet. I got myself about 5 liters, they are now in the freezer. At least the 4 liters that were left when I was finally ready to put them in...

Ol' man's garden

click image to enlarge :)

Today Mum&Dad took me and J out for lunch at "Gubbens Trädgård" (=see title...) A real cozy place, like an oasis in the city - a garden with heaps of flowers and bushes and a fountain and a small second hand shop in one corner... just really my cup of tea! It's actually a café, offering , ice cream, pastries, tea, coffee (=fika) and more, but they also serve a lighter lunch. Thank you mum and dad! :)

Morning of Midsummer's Eve 2010

As mentioned earlier, last weekend was the Midsummer-weekend in Sweden. Here's how we spent the morning of Midsummer's Eve with my side of the family :)

Preparation of brunch picnic indoors at mum+dad's, then filling baskets with goodies and heading down to the lake (1,5 minute walk). We had our brunch in the sun on the lake jetty. We had delish subs+wraps, tea, yoghurt... Such a great morning! :)

My sis snapped a bunch of great photos of dragonflies. I'll post some of them later!

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? :)

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! ♥

Such lovely summer days!

Had a lovely day today, after work. :) Went to Sandviken (40 km from where we live) with J and had delicious ice cream, took a swim, and picked a huge bouquet of lilies of the valley. The lilacs+cow parsley are from my mum! Thank you... :) We finished the day with eating some food in one of our favourite spots. Beautiful view! (Well, in all honesty, we finished the day with cleaning and tidying our entire apartment... hehe)

I'm really trying to enjoy summer and life to the fullest, and loving it! :)

.second hand

Today I did some second hand shopping with my precious mum! :) She's the only one who will go with me on such endeavours... Well, we have fun and I guess that's the whole idea.

12 small side plates, 2 bowls and a necklace made out of tiny fresh water pearls. All in all, $8.

Lovely day yesterday

Yesterday after work, J and I took a drive out and enjoyed the beautiful weather. We also took the first swim of the year. It was cold but not too bad :) This is summer. Early summer. One of the most wonderful times of the year. Ha!

There will be SO much blueberries to pick this year (top pictures)! And flowers are from mum&dad's garden, cowslip + white and purple fritillaries.

Today in pictures (+words, it seems...)

Essentially, a G R E A T day! Oh, and for 10 days my brother and his wife is visiting from Mexico! Haven't seen them since my own wedding, 2,5 years ago. Soo good to see them!

As you can tell by the picture, I finally decided on the small cup with a blue line for mum's cake stand. It was the right decision, mum would have made the same choice, she said. She loved it, btw. :) Today was such a lovely day! Super delish food that dad made, a super perfect present, warm+sunny weather! We took a long walk, picking spring flowers, cowslips. And then we sat outside in the sun until the very last beams. ♥

I made a cake stand!

As I posted earlier, today is my amazing mother's birthday! This is what J and I made for her, a customized cake stand. My mum is a collector of vintage Swedish crockery. The cake stand is made of such. :) I still haven't decided what cup to use at the top, I guess I'll just leave that choice to mum. Which one would you choose? (Not that they're all that different, the one to the right has a blue line which connects to the rest of the piece. The left is of more similar in shape.)

Inspiration: crème de la crème via Ellas Inspiration.

I made this one in mum-colours but I will make one or two for myself, for sure. Turquoise, pink, blue, gold, silver, flowers, retro + awesome = what I set out for.

Today is my mum's birthday!

Do have a fabulous day! I have a great present prepared for you! You'll get it later today! This present, and DIY project, will, naturally, come up on the blog as well. Keep posted! :) xx

Cecilia's Easy Peasy Pizza

This is the pizza that I (read: my wonderful mum) made for my guests during my birthday party last Thursday. It was so appreciated, I only heard good words about it. And it is so easy! We made freshly baked pizza for more than 35 people during a party - that's how easy it is. With some preparation, of course.

It's actually my own recipes for the dough and the tomato sauce. And they are delicious! :) I did put together the toppings as well, but they're pretty basic so no need for a recipe. Just throw together all of your favourite toppings and finish off with grated cheese and some oregano and you'll be good on your way. The toppings I used are:

Left half: Smoked ham + mushrooms (butter sauteed) + fresh tomato

Right half: Taco-inspired minced beef + fresh tomato + fefferoni

Super delish! :)

I will make sure to post recipes for the pizza dough and the tomato sauce. Hang in there! :)

H A P P Y E A S T E R !

This is how we spent part of the Good Friday of 2010. At my parents' house, eating heaps of delish food, playing scrabble... In total, just having a really good Friday :) Next up: J's parents' house tomorrow + evening/night with friends. Yay!

Fruit Salad

Today, me and J went to my parents' for dinner. For dessert, we made the most gorgeous, lovely looking pink fruit salad. Unfortunately, I left my camera at home but as soon as I make one again, there will be pictures here! Meanwhile, the recipe, and you can all see for yourselves!

In my family, making a fruit salad is something of an art :) It takes tiny pieces of fruit in a perfect blend, just enough sugar and raisins and perfectly whipped cream. Like I said, it's an art.