Ooops

I really don´t know what happened today. After work I set off towards one of Stockholm´s shopping malls in quest for a new egg slicer. 20.00 I entered our flat with the following: one jeans jacket, one wallet, three vest tops, two short-sleeved tops, one shirt, one vest, a lot of socks, one potato peeler, one tea infuser and a bag of clamps for plastic bags. No egg-slicer.

But I am happy, because normally I can spend hours and hours walking in and out shops, in vain. This morning I said for the umptieth time: I have nothing to wear! With the spring coming and all. Now I do! That we cannot slice our morning eggs properly seems like a minor problem now, when I have my new clothes. (No, I am not rich - I just got my salary. And yes - a lot of sales going on! I got everything but one of the tops and the wallet on sale. And thank God, I don´t have to buy clothes for a long time now! I hate it.)

I will try to buy an egg-slicer again tomorrow. You see, I didn´t find anything for my legs (trousers, skirts, whatever)and maybe the phenomenon will happen again - that I set out for the slicer and actually find things.

When I got home I made an imropvised pasta with spinach, chorizo, onion and food yoghurt - quite good but nothing to write about. Cannot live without chorizo though! It is so good, real comfort food. Not that I needed comfort, but anyway. And now if you excuse me I am going to pick out a great outfit for tomorrow...

Cyberkocken

Sorry, I am posting this in Swedish since I participate in the Swedish edition of Paper chef, called Cyberkocken, hosted by Ilva of Lucullian delights. I will try to post in English about it too but don´t have time right now, sorry.
And now over to my mother tongue...

Hej alla, dagen till ära skriver jag på svenska även om det inte hör till vanligheterna här på min blogg...
Jag känner mig nästan lite fuskig eftersom jag har tillagat en rätt till Cyberkocken som jag gjort massor av gånger förut, men de givna ingredienserna passade som hand i handske. Dessa fyllda paprikor kom till en gång för rätt många år sedan när jag skulle bjuda en bunt människor på vårbuffé. En av vännerna var både laktosintolerant och vegetarian men jag ville väldigt gärna bjuda henne på något riktigt matigt och gott ändå. Lösningen blev att jag gjorde fyllda paprikor, men istället för den sedvanliga färsen inuti kokade jag en rätt tjock linsröra som jag fyllde paprikorna med. Jag kryddade med massor av örtkryddor och lagerblad för att få mycket smak trots frånvaron av kött och ost - och det blev SÅ lyckat. Alla älskade dessa paprikor, även de mest inbitna köttätarna. Så sedan dess har jag gjort dessa ett otal gånger, ofta när det kommer mycket folk. Paprikorna är lika goda vare sig de serveras varma, ljumma eller kalla och passar jättebra att servera på en buffé eller också som tillbehör till kött. Och eftersom jag inte är laktosintolerant har jag ofta lite smulad fetaost på - men som sagt är de precis lika goda utan.

För att uppfylla tävlingsreglerna uppfann jag en sidosallad med ruccola som får ett litet ringel av yoghurt smaksatt med lite citronskal, och överströdd med nyrostade osaltade pistagenötter. Och ser ni, ena paprikan är gul också! Jag serverade hela härligheten tillsammans med en kycklingklubba...

Kristinas linsfyllda paprikor med vårlig ruccolasallad
6 port på buffé och annars 3-4 personer

6 paprikor, gärna i olika färger, inte för stora
1 gul lök, finhackad
1 burk hela tomater eller 3-4 färska tomater som skållas, skalas och hackas grovt
1 stort lagerblad
2 dl röda linser
salt och nymalen svartpeppar, örtkryddor. Jag använder ofta herbes de Provence eller timjan
ev. lite smulad fetaost. Idag hade jag ett halv paket halloumiost som behövdes tas om hand...

Skär av ett lock på paprikorna och ta bort kärnhuset. Skölj dem och ställ i en smord form (skär av en pytteskiva i botten om det behövs för att de ska stå stadigt men skär inte hål i botten!). En del hävdar att paprikor ska förvällas men jag tycker det är förspilld kvinnokraft. Finhacka locken och löken
Fräs paprikahacket och löken i lite olivolja tills det börjar mjukna lite. Tillsätt de röda linserna och tomaterna tillsammans med salt, peppar och lagerblad och rör om. Låt detta puttra under lock tills linserna mjuknar, ca 20 minuter. Smaka av med örtkryddor och ev. mer salt och peppar.
Ta en stor sked och fyll paprikorna till brädden. Strö över lite ost om du vill ha det. (Om det blir linsröra över gör det ingenting, spä ut den med lite buljong så har du en god linssoppa!) Pytsa in i ugnen, 200 grader, ca 20-30 minuter tills paprikorna känns lite mjuka och osten har fin färg.

Salladen gjorde jag så enkel att det nästan inte behövs något recept: bred ut ruccolabladen på ett fat. Blanda ca 1/2 dl matlagningsyoghurt med 1 msk rivet citronskal (skrubba citronen noga om du inte tar en ekologisk) och droppa över ruccolan, det behövs inte mycket. Rosta pistagenötterna i het stekpanna i sista minuten så de fortfarande är lite ljumma när salladen serveras. Eventuellt kan du smula över lite gott flingsalt på salladen. Ursäkta den något suddiga bilden...

Nu ser jag fram emot att läsa alla andras bidrag! Och tack till Ilva som tog initiativet till detta!

Sweet and sour

Today I received a complaint. What about all these cats? I do have a dog in the family too. Let me introduce Sasha, my aunt´s and uncle´s Tibetanian spaniel. Sasha saw my latest post with yet another cat and got a little upset, so he sent me this photo for you to admire. And isn´t he a beautiful doggy? When I visit he sometimes sit down on my feet which is very nice on a cold day. Random facts about him: when he was a puppy he liked to chew on visitors´shoes, he spends lots of time by the sea and he has a brother with the intriguing name Body Rocks Lou Bega. So there. I hope you are more content now Sasha, and I also wonder which pet in the family will demand some blogging space next. Maybe my sister´s horse? I have no pets myself apart from the odd dust rat.

I stick to the Asian connection but change the subject to food. This Saturday I found a pork loin in the freezer I wanted to get rid of in a tasty way. For most Swedes Chinese food equals something in a sweet and sour sauce, but I have understood that this has very little to do with real Chinese cuisine. Nevertheless, it is yummy sometimes. The recipe is from one of my cookbooks, in translation The season´s food, Årstidernas mat, by Caisa Stenmark. I like it because you use quite ordinary staples at least I usually have at home. You also use what you want instead of pork, (chicken would be nice) and you use the veggies you have on hand. Next time I think I will play around with some more root vegetables, for example...

Pork loin in sweet and sour sauce
Serves 5-6 people

600 grams pork or chicken, cut in bite-size pieces
1 yellow onion in wedges
1 large carrot in toothpicks
1 red pepper
1 tin of crushed pineapple (mine was about 200 grams with juice)
about 20-30 ml plain flour
salt and pepper

The sauce
200 ml juice from the pineapple, and water if necessary
50 ml caster sugar
50 ml dark soy sauce
50 ml vinegar, I always use apple cider vinegar
50 ml tomato purée

Prepare the veggies and the meat. Put the meat in a plastic bag with the flour and shake it well. Mix the sauce in a bowl.
Use a frying pan and brown the meat in butter or oil. Salt and pepper. Transfer it to another pot and keep warm. Sautée the veggies until a little soft and put in the pot with the meat. Pour over the sauce and stir in the pineapple, bring to a boil and let simmer just for a few minutes until the sauce thickens a little. Check that the meat is ready, spice to taste and serve at once with plain rice and a good beer.

Happy Easter!

Easter is my favourite foodie holiday because I feel it is allowed to play around a little with the food. Christmas has more traditions (also delicious). We are going to A´s parents tonight and have a little Easter buffet. Our contribution will be some pickled herring, a delicious salmon paté with cloudberry sauce and some egg halves with (I plan) a dollop on each with a mix of yoghurt, dill, mayonnaise and dijon mustard and topped off with some fresh prawns. I also have a Janssons frestelse in the oven right now but we will keep it for ourselves. Besides, my father-in-law makes a great one.
On the menu from this kitchen for the Easter is also salmon, pork loin, asparagus and muffins with yoghurt and banana - stay tuned for recipes (now I am too hungry and will go and make myself and egg and anchovy sandwich).

Today´s picture is from another kitchen, my parent´s, where Nisse the cat celebrate the sun with a good cleaning!

Happy Easter, all!

Waiting for nettles

My fellow foodblogger Kinna is on Easter holidays in the very south of Sweden and picked nettles yesterday! Read her post about it (if you know Swedish) or just admire the nice pictures. So now I have nettle cravings but I think I will have to wait a while. My new nettle picking gloves lies on the kitchen counter, ready to go.

Just outside the barn at my parents´ farm was a large bush of nettles when I was little. They burnt, we knew that, and cried bitterly when we accidently stepped in them. But in early spring we also knew that Mum would soon come in in the evening with the first tender, delicate nettles in a bowl and make nettle soup for supper... Just thinking about it, dark green with egg halves...aaah! And it just doens´t taste incredibly good, it is good for you. Lots of iron, lots of vitamins. Just remember to pick very very tender, new shoots and rinse in many waters so nobody says tasting it: "these hard and crunchy things, is that the iron?"

I don´t have a recipe right now but use any recipe for spinach soup, that will work fine. My goal every year is to pick a lot of nettles and prepare them for the freezer so I can have nettle soup whenever I want and also try new ways to eat it (you can have it in bread, with fish, with eggs and so on). But I have not succeeded this far! Maybe my new gloves will help.

Snack time

What do you snack on?
Myself, I know I should be snacking on more things like carrots and stuff, but I tend to want to drink my snacks. Oh the joy to pop into the kiosk before I hop on the commuter train and buy a yoghurt or a fruit smoothie or some carrot (yes! I don´t mind carrots) juice... But it is too expensive to go on like that, so I try to restrain myself most of the time. This post, however, is on two snacks I like and one I don´t like but have to snack on these days.

1. The milky frothy thing you see in the picture is my very special milkshake, my own invention. You take a large glass and fill it to 2/3 with milk, to measure, then pour the milk in a mixing bowl. Add a banana in large pieces and a dollop of lingonberry jam and mix everything. Pour back into the glass and drink immediately...Yum!
2. My Japanese friend Maiko introduced me to something called Ocha-zuke when she took me on a guided tour in a Japanes shop here in Stockholm. It is basically flakes of seaweed and stock powder and some other things neatly packed in a little envelope. When you for example (often happens to me) comes home in the evening after a meeting where you have had sandwiches allright, but you crave something warm and more food-like, then Ocha-zuke is your friend. Probably (often happens to me) you have some leftover rice in a plastic box in your fridge. Heat that rice up in the microwave, then drizzle over the contents of the little envelope and pour on some Japanese green tea, or just water (didn´t have Japanese tea, often happens to me). And voilà, a bowl of warm, comforting, incredibly tasty rice soup in no time at all! So take a look after those little envelopes, mine are striped in red and black and yellow...
3. Whole white peppercorns has been a common snack for me the last 24 hours. A. has caught calici virus which - ah - affects your stomach in an awful way. Hence the peppercorns. The incubation time is 12-48 hours and so far so good. 24 hours to go before I am safe, and these peppercorns are helping me with that (I hope, it tastes awful). 4-5 white peppercorns swallowed whole with water at least three times a day - a great tip from my sister. Fingers crossed, please. The Easter is coming up and it is my favourite foodie holiday. It would be tragic spending it feeding on water crackers, chamomile tea and puréed carrots!

Polenta dinner

I am home alone this weekend, which caused me to indulge in Italian charcuteries - prosciutto and salami. Why eat boring just because you are alone? And also today I got the happy news that one of my best friends gave birth to a baby girl yesterday, so this dinner is also in celebration of little S.

I am trying to make something about my kitchen cabinets again, which are bulging with this and that. Today when I rummaged around for something to pair my salami with I caught sight of an unopened box of polenta and two tins of beans. I have never had polenta, but I bought the box because I liked the idea so much. Sadly the polenta didn´t live up to my expectations. It was good, but didn´t taste much though I had used quite a lot of fresh basil, salt and pepper. Next time I will cook it with some stock instead, and also next time I will have learned how to smear it out (with the back of a spoon which you dip in cold water). I don´t give the recipe here, follow the instructions on the box instead! I followed the recipe from a cookbook and all went wrong...

With the beans I made a simple but crunchy and flavourful salad, one of my own favourite recipes - made up by yours truly for an emergency lunch once upon a time.

Bean salad
serves 3-4
200-300 ml of mixed cold cooked beans, I used black beans and big white beans because I had them on hand. Chick peas and kidney beans are also great.
Mixed greens like cucumber, tomato, peppers, avocado - use what you like
A small handful of finely cholled or sliced onion, this time I used spring onions but red onion is good too
And now the secret ingredient: one peeled and diced tart apple. This salad is not nearly as good without it

Combine everything in a bowl and drizzle over a simple vinaigrette sauce. I made mine just plain today with olive oil, vinegar and a pinch of herbes de Provence - but use garlic or dijon mustard if you like. (Proportions? 2 parts vinegar, three parts oil (or two parts oil and one water). Spice to taste with salt, pepper, herbs, mustard or something and whisk together.)
Mix carefully and let it sit for a little while to let all the flavours explode

Serve (this time) with slices of fried polenta and Italian charcuteries. Enjoy your meal! I did. The somewhat bland polenta was excellent in company with the meat and the salad.

Direct from Paris!

I have participated in quite a few BBM´s and EBBP´s by now but this Saturday when I got to the post office something new happened. I immediately recognized the name on the box (no, not my own but the sender´s). Most foodbloggers know who David Lebovitz is, and in this fourth EBBP I was his "chosen one" to receive a parcel of goodies. In triumph I carried the precious box through the melting snow and mud and finally reached my kitchen table where I could open it and find this:

• First of all a nice letter and postcard explaining about the contents and his book The Great book of Chocolate
• Fleur de sel, a really really good salt from Brittany which I am not supposed to cook with, merely sprinkling it over vegetables, meat (or chocolate!) to feel the taste. I am such a sucker for good salt so this was very welcome!
• Gavottes, a kind of cookie (also from Brittany) which is served with ice cream. They are kind of thin, rolled wafers but I am trying to save them for a special occasion and hasn´t opened it yet.
• What I did open though is the next cookie box with Traou Mad, yet another kind of cookie from Brittany made with "lots and lots of butter". Well, I don´t mind. Butter is goood. In Brittany they apparently bake with salted butter which brings an extra touch to the flavour. David, I think you would like the Swedish cookie culture because we use salted butter all the time here! Unsalted butter is available but I have only seen recommendations to use it in some dessert recipes.
• Then I got a jar of the finest Dijon mustard, Edward Fallot. I really like mustard and look forward to use this for example in my roulades some time soon when I lay my hands on some good tender meat...
• Chestnut cream, this is intriguing! When I studied French at high school we buggered our teacher to make some cookie (I don´t remember exactly) with chestnut cream but it took him two years to get some and then we didn´t like it... I am sure my palate has developed remarkably since and cannot wait to try this! David recommends me to try it on crêpes or for baking. Maybe I should contact my old teacher and get his recipe?
• Finally some green lentils which are called "the caviar of lentils" in France, with a recipe on (I assume) one of many ways to cook them, with vinaigrette, goat´s cheese and walnuts. I think I will try this with some lamb chops, for example. Lentils is a favourite in this house.

Thank you so much David for these wonderful, hard-to-get-in-Sweden goodies! I loved everything and will enjoy it for a long time. Also a big thank you to Andrew for arranging this! You can read his round-up here for more parcel-stories!

Waffles

This Saturday I celebrated my birthday two days in advance just to get the chance to serve my friends lots and lots of waffles. March 25th is Waffle day here. I didn´t get to take pictures of those waffles so the one in the picture is made yesterday of a new wholemeal mix A found in the shop. Tasty and healthy (well, without the cream and the jam perhabs), but the home made I served on Saturday were better! With the waffles I served cloudberry jam (which is the perfect jam for waffles, really) and my own redcurrant/raspberry/vanilla jam (which is not too bad either), and whipped cream.
A special thank you to my mother and my dear boyfriend who helped out in the kitchen. It takes a lot of waffle batter, cream and coffee to entertain 14 guests!

The recipe comes from an organisation here in my hometown Södertälje which run the ski slope here. To make money to run the the snow machine and whatnot they sell these waffles. Thank God, the recipe is not a secret! They even have postcards with it! This batter is practical and keep well since it contains no eggs. I you want to make less waffles just half it, and if you want to serve the waffles with something savoury as a starter just skip the sugar.

Backstugans våfflor
20-25 waffles
1200 ml plain wheat flour, you can substitute wholemeal flour for some of it if you want
4 tbsp caster sugar
pinch of salt
1000 ml milk
250 grams melted butter or margarine (but I never use margarine)
400 ml sparkling mineral water, that is what makes them so crisp...

Whisk it all together and make sure there are no lumps. Let sit for 15 minutes and then bake away!

Here comes the sun!

I have coffee week this week and one of my responsibilities besides from emptying the dishwashers and clean the coffee machine is to buy something nice for the office fika on Thursday afternoon. I spent lunch in a dark sushi restaurant but when I came out on the street afterwards the SUN had come! And when I went up to Stortorget to get the nice thing for the coffee they were building up verandas outside the cafés. That is a really springy thing to do, building verandas! And the sun. Yesterday it rained, also a snowkiller but not nearly as nice as the sun.

Another thing I am happy about is that my EBBP parcel has arrived safely with Petra of Chili und Ciabatta in Bavaria, southern Germany. Now remains to get a parcel myself, still no sign of it but hopefully I will get it today or tomorrow.

By the way, do you know what I called spaghetti when I was little? My mother reminded me when she visited me. Sun sticks! I must have been thinking of how it looks when you draw a sun. A round in the middle and then the straight sunrays pointing out - I thought they looked like spaghetti. Rather cute.

Gooh!

Last Friday I tried a new place, Gooh! Behind this very very stupid name is a cooperation between one of the finest restaurants in Stockholm, Operakällaren, and one of Sweden´s cooperations for farmers, Lantmännen. The idea is to sell really good ready meals to people on the move - to bring home for dinner or to work for lunch. This concept is actually not very common in Stockholm yet, either you have to go to a restaurant to pick up a ready meal or buy something boring and fatty at the grocery store.

We were very tired after a busy week and the timing was right to drop by and pick up something to eat in front of the TV... A. chose tandoori chicken with rice and vegetables and I chose soup with lime, lemongrass, chilli, mussels and vegetables. And the verdict?

Prize: reasonable - not too much but not too cheap either if you know what I mean. I don´t like my food to be too cheap, makes me suspicious
Looks: very very good!
Smells: delicious, and A´s chicken was even better
Taste: great
Size: a bit too small for a mussel soup, the shells fill up quite a bit so really it looks more than it really is...
Recommended? Oooh yes, if you are in Stockholm and want good food to go. Also they have microwave ovens in the shop if you want to eat it on the spot.

Ginger green noodle salad

To those of you who are waiting for that cabbage pudding recipe: sorry, but I am tired of wintery food now so you will have to wait... I also have a lot of other things to write about, like it is my birthday today and it is (you wouldn´t guess, would you?) Snowing! Gah. I just waved off my mother who has been visiting all weekend, we have done lots of lovely things and eaten lots of other lovely things. We started out with this salad on Friday night. I have a lot of aunts, and one of them works on trains up north. Well, it is a long story but it finishes with her arranging my uncle going to Stockholm central and somewhere on a platform meeting someone handing him a bag of fresh prawns from Norway which he and his wife, my other aunt, brought to me, together with Mum who they picked up on the way. ("Oh, perhabs you´d better not write about this", my uncle said. "I am not sure it is legal to get prawns from Norway this way?") Well, I take the risk because it is such a good story and the prawns were fantastic. *Waving to the occasional customs spy who might read this*

Long story again. To accompany these possibly illegal prawns I made this salad. I got it on a buffet last weekend and after tasting it made sure I got the recipe! It has it all. It is fresh, it is soooo tasty (if you like ginger), it has a good combination of texture with both crunch and smoothness, and above all it is beautiful with all its shades of green. I also made a fruit salad with fresh mango, pineapple and finely chopped red chili, and the fantastic bread. For dessert we had Norwegian Römme, made from a jar which also was in that illegal bag. A very fat, smooth porridge served with cinnamon and caster sugar! An interesting cross over-dinner!

Green ginger noodle salad.
Recipe from Arla
Serves 10 on a buffet
200 grams egg noodles
2 tbsp neutral oil, like canola, corn or sunflower
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon ground ginger, I used fresh and a little more...
pinch of salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 spring onions, finely sliced
1 cucumber, cut in half lengthwise, deseeded and sliced
about 1 litre of mixed green lettuce - rocket, spinach, romain...whatever you fancy
I also added sugar snaps and green peppers. Zucchini might have worked too

Lemon dressing
300 ml plain yoghurt, I used turkish thick yoghurt
zest and juice from half a lemon
1 small garlic clove, pressed
small pinch of salt and black pepper

Boil the noodles according to instructions. Rinse them with cold water and let them drain off. Use a pair of scissors and cut a few times directly in the bowl, to make it easier to serve and eat... Pour in a big bowl and stir in the oil, lemon juice, ginger, salt and pepper. Prepare the veggies. Mix the dressing. All this can be made ahead. Before serving, mix the noodles carefully with the veggies and drizzle over some of the dressing, serve the rest on the side. Delicious with chicken, prawns, on its own... It keeps in the fridge for 1-2 days.

Unbelievable!

Unbelievable. U-n-b-e-l-i-e-v-a-b-l-e. It is snowing again, and not very little either. Aargh. This is the view from my window at work five minutes ago. I like snow, but not in the end of March. Please, stop.

The good news are that blogger seems to cooperate again. And aren´t the houses beautiful? I work in Old Town where many of the buildings origin in the 16th and 17th century.

Now back to work again. I don´t blog at work normally but I just had to let out some steam now. Snow. Really. Stop it! I want flowers and little birds singing. Chirp chirp. And warm winds. Sun sun!

I´m alive!

Sorry for my long silence, but life is crazy right now with lots and lots to do IRL. Sigh. Yesterday I wrote a long post on cabbage pudding though, but when I tried to upload a picture it didn´t work, and when I tried to publish it it didin´t work and when I tried to save as draft it all disappeared.
But well, I´m still alive and will get back with my cabbage pudding and more. Sorry. (And blogger should be sorry too)

Sweet potato baby soup

Sometimes it just doesn´t turn out like you thought it should, right? Like this soup. Let me give you some advice: don´t purée all your soup. If you don´t like baby food texture, that is... I should also have added some onion but felt lazy this Saturday evening. All I wanted to do was sinking down on the couch with some comforting soup and watch the Swedish semi-finals for the Eurovision song contest. Here in this country this is a serious, serious matter with four semi-finals and one final - accompanied by truckloads of shocking news about the artists, the artists´clothes, how the artists enjoyed themselves after the semi-finals and how those who didn´t pass sulked.

All in all the evening was a success. The soup was smooth and slightly sweet, the feta cheese crème adding some saltiness together with some parma ham to nibble, and some really good tomatoes. And Carola won. She is not my favourite, but at least she knows what she is doing and how to sing...

Sweet potato soup
serves 4

1 large sweet potato
4 potatoes
1 yellow onion, finely chopped, or some shalotts
500 ml chicken stock
salt, pepper
fresh herbs, I used chives but parsley or coriander would be nice too

Make feta cheese crème with 50 grams feta cheese and a splash of olive oil mixed together with a fork. Sometimes I also add some creme fraiche to bind it together.

Peel and cut the potatoes and let simmer until soft in the stock with the onions, about 20 minutes. Pour half of it together with some liquid in a can or something and purée with a handheld mixer. Then pour it back with the rest and give it a blast with a steel whisk or a fork until you get the righ texture. Spice to taste and serve with the feta and some nice bread.

Hot dogs

And who are these people? Who are the man shyly covering his face in the middle of the picture? What are they doing, poking around with sticks and even a whole tree branch, with sausages in the top?

Answer: this is my brother´s hot dog birthday party on the top of a small mountain just behind my grandmother´s house, very close to my parent´s farm. We are all trying to cope with the roaring fire to the right, but not visible in the picture. (My father got a bit freaked out when he still hadn´t got up there by 12.30 and the guests would arrive by 13. So he just rushed to the task and built a slightly over-dimensioned fire.) As you can see it was a glorious day with bright sunshine, and the temperature some degrees below zero. Perfect. Also, read about my brother´s party the night before, catered by me and Mum.

The man with his back to the camera and the very long barbecue branch is married to my aunt, and very inventive. This was his way to grill hot dogs for himself and his wife without getting smoke in his eyes. (Of course the wind came from the wrong direction, it always does when you have hot dog parties). Also the fire was *very* hot to come near.
My uncle, crouching in the middle and covering his eyes, not because he is shy but because of the smoke and the heat) frowned at his brother-in-law and called that barbecue branch the most cowardice way to grill a hot dog he ever has seen. As you can see, my uncle, as a hard core griller, uses a much shorter stick for his sausage.
Cough cough cough.

But the hot dog party was great anyway, we all got as much hot dogs as we could possibly eat and nothing tastes so good as something eaten outside in winter! Hot dogs grilled over open fire outdoors, with bread, mustard and ketchup and soda to drink is a real feast. As a tribute to old tradition I dropped one of my hot dogs in the fire (on purpose, of course! ;-) but fished it out again, brushed off the soot and ate it anyway. Just like when I was eight. A difference from the 80´s though is that my mother had bought wholemeal hot dog bread, which is very good. One of my aunts also made a hot dog for granny, who is 90 years old and couldn´t get up to the party. She participated later though in hot dog party part 2 when we got back to my parent´s for coffee and birthday cake.

"Australian" sandwiches

I was born in the end of March and demand flowers for my birthday. No, not in vases (even though it is nice of course). The main thing is they should grow, from the soil, together with the grass. Under the hot sun. Coltsfoot (tussilago) is most important for me, but also crocus and the delicate white snowdrops, I didn´t find the word in the dictionary so that is a direct translation. Well, well - the spring seem to be lurking somewhere faaar away right now and also for the upcoming weeks. The forecasts say at least one more week with degrees much below zero and lots of snow. And I don´t mind, it is absolutely stunning to see Stockholm in winter. But how will there be time for all the snow to disappear and the flowers to come in just a couple of days, in time for my birthday? I am just asking.

Until then I dedicate to the winter´s joys, like standing on the lake (yes, 30 cm of ice) in the blazing sun which just has begun to warm a little on my face and eat "Australian" sandwiches and drink hot chocolate. The quotation marks means I am not sure it is Australian with grated carrots in sandwiches, but I have never seen it since I was there. It is great, really, to substitute a little pile of grated raw carrot instead of using the boring tomatoes you get here in winter. It is cheap, tasty, crunchy and the sandwiches don´t get soggy. Our sandwiches (wholemeal polar bread) also contained smoked ham and cheese. Nothing special, but everything tastes so fantastic when you eat outside! We also got to try A´s new ice-drill and saw, which we used for making a hole in the ice. He has built a sauna by the lake, see, and we need somewhere to cool off! But that´s another story, cooking for winter-bathing...

P.S. Ice-drills are *very* sharp! Make sure you bring some plasters if you want to try exactly how sharp they are D.S.

Leftover beefs with quinoa, chick peas and coriander

I am trying to get better at using leftovers, and today I had some quinoa I had to get rid of before it was too late. Quinoa is really getting one of my absolute favourites. So tasty, still not "taking over" other tastes, and so very versatile. I have also found a brand which is not bitter at all, I still rinse it but I don´t think I really would have to...

My other mission, apart from leftovers, is to taste coriander and today I grabbed the last plant in the grocery store and carried it home in triumph! The smell is intriguing, I cannot figure out what it reminds me of. And it is NOT cat pee, like many people say! It is something else...like...hmmm... parsnips? I don´t know. But I am definitely going to try it out with root vegetables. Anyway, I ended up in the coriander/cilantro lovers group.

Over to the beefs. And hey, only two more days to go witout photos!

Quinoa/Chick peas/coriander "beefs"
Serves 4-5 people if you serve it with some other things too...
200 ml cooked quinoa
200 grams chick peas, home cooked or from a jar
a small bunch chopped fresh coriander
1 small onion, finely chopped and sautéed until a little soft and shiny
optional 1 garlic clove, finely chopped and sautéed
good pinch of each salt and pepper
optional a little lemon zest, but I really couldn´t find the lemon in the ready product ;-). Remains to be experimented with...
1 egg

Start with mashing the chick peas, I used a handheld mixer. Then stir in quinoa, onion, coriander and spice. Finish with the egg and stir until you get a smooth mix that holds together nicely and can be formed in neat little beefs or patties. Mine were maybe 5 cm in diameter.
Fry them in butter or oil on medium heat until they are golden brown. Serve at once with for example chicken and a dollop of thick yoghurt and mango chutney.
I didn´t have it, but I would guess a salad with avocado, different green leaves and a light lemon dressing tastes fantastic on the side... (Hmm, perhabs that´s where the lemon should be, instead of in the beefs)

Friday fun

Haha, I found a link to this - quite fun to play with on a Friday afternoon! This is what I found out about myself.

Ten Top Trivia Tips about Clivia!

1. Thirty-five percent of the people who use personal ads for dating are Clivia! (Clivia comments: hmmm... no comments)
2. Clivia is often used in place of milk in food photography, because milk goes soggy more quickly than Clivia. (Clivia comments: Oooh yes, I am so pale)
3. If the annual Australian Clivia crop was laid end to end, it would stretch around the world seven times! (Clivia comments: Am I that tall?)
4. The fingerprints of Clivia are virtually indistinguishable from those of humans, so much so that they could be confused at a crime scene. (Clivia comments: Hmm, that can come in handy some time)
5. Clivia can fly at an average speed of fifteen kilometres an hour! (Clivia comments: Flying would be cool. But the commuter train seems to be faster)
6. The moon is 400 times closer to the Earth than Clivia, and 400 times smaller! (Clivia comments: Are you insinuating something? Humph)
7. Humans have 46 chromosomes, peas have 14, and Clivia has 7! (Clivia comments: What´s that supposed to mean?)
8. Neil Armstrong first stepped on Clivia with his left foot! (Clivia comments: Ouch!)
9. You share your birthday with Clivia. (Clivia comments: Congrats, not even a month to go...)
10. If you toss Clivia 10000 times, she will not land heads 5000 times, but more like 4950, because her head weighs more and thus ends up on the bottom. (Clivia comments: Never been god at statistics, but are you talking about my physical state on Monday mornings?)

I am interested in - do tell me aboutherhimitthem

Mediterranean mince beefs

Today I felt like cooking for the first time in days and to celebrate this I made an old favourite of mine, "Mediterranean" mince beefs in tomato sauce. Very easy to prepare, and very reviving with strong colours and lots of flavour. I guess you can find similar recipes almost everywhere but this is my version. I like it because it is not impossible to pull off even if you have had a hard day at work...

Serves 3-4
400 g lamb mince, you can use other mince if you don´t like lamb
2 schalotts or half yellow onion, very finely chopped
optional 1 very finely chopped garlic clove
1 egg
good pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper
some dried or fresh herb, today I used dried mint
50 g fetta cheese

1 packet of crushed tomato or peeled and roughly chopped fresh tomato
optional some more chopped onion, I never use it because I have to go easy on onion when I am cooking for A, whose stomach doesn´t agree with this veg...
salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar
more herbs, today I used a big bunch of fresh parsley, roughly chopped

Mix the mince with the onion, egg and spice. Shape it into six rather big, flat balls and dig in some fetta cheese in the middle.
Brown the beefs some at a time in oil or butter and put aside. I just do this for the colour, they aren´t to be done! Fry the onion for the sauce if you want onion, add the tomato and spice. Put in the beefs, put a lid on the frying pan if you have one and let te beefs cook in the sauce for about 10 minutes until cooked through. Add a little water if the sauce gets too thick. Spice to taste with salt and pepper and serve with rice, quinoa or maybe potato wedges.
An idea I got today but didn´t try out is to add some chickpeas in the sauce, to make it more filling - maybe I´ll try it next time instead.