Friday, December 24, 2010

merry christmas

Hope you will have a nice Christmas. Here it is cold and snowy of course and I am waiting to soon go and pick up my sister from the station. So we will actually celebrate Christmas at home this year and when that happened the last time I do not know. It might feel a bit weird since at this time any other recent year we have had breakfast and then head out exploring whatever town and country we would be in. On the other hand it is nice to stay here to avoid being stuck at some airport somewhere like many others are.

God Jul or Merry Christmas everybody!

Thursday, December 23, 2010

christmas sweets in abundance

I kind of went a little bit out there last weekend (and some this week) and made Christmas sweets like crazy. A few of the standard ones I made last year and then all of the new ones I wanted to try out.

























From left to right: candied almonds, fudge, knäck (Swedish Christmas toffee), chocolate coated liquorice toffee (last year's hit), toffee rice, and peanut brittle (discovered at Christmas 2003 in Florida). So that is six different Christmas sweets, but it is not over there. In the fridge we can also find: cake balls, white chocolate and saffron truffle (I absolutely love saffron!), and white chocolate and lime truffle (must be my all time favorite!).

To conclude, nine different types of Christmas sweets. And the perfect year to make all of this as well since my sister will leave already on Christmas Day and my parents will leave on Boxing Day which will leave me home alone with all these candies.

blackout

Yesterday we had a blackout for 7 ½ hours. Lovely... From 6 pm to 1.30 am we had no power whatsoever and with -23 degrees outside it was not the best timing. Thankfully we have a fire place as well as one of those old stoves, 'iron stove' as we call it in Sweden, that you have a fire in. I was the fireplace guard to keep the house warm.

So I sat in front of the fire place with candles lit and knitting on my hooded scarf. And with dads radio headphones. Perfect. So I had at least something to entertain myself with.

Friday, December 17, 2010

not that either

So I have been a little bit productive the last two days and have sent out a few applications. I even sent out one for a one month, part time, badly paid job and they called me and asked a few questions. She said that they would call me for a meeting on Friday (today) if they would be interested.

And I never heard from them again. I cannot even get a tiny, short time job to do something and get some money. They really would have gotten value for their money if I would have taken (and gotten) the job. Apparently it is impossible to get a short term job with my CV. 

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

excellent feedback

I wrote an email to my contact at Google that I wished, for future reference, to get a little bit more feedback regarding the debacle, a.k.a. the interviews. She wrote back and said she cannot give any more feedback than she gave me in the rejection email (my wording, not hers). The excellent feedback being:

"The interview team was impressed with your background and accomplishments, and enjoyed getting to know you. (...) we do not have a position that is a strong match with your qualifications at this time."

Thanks for the detailed and very helpful feedback. I will embrace it and keep it in mind for the next interview.

(Although it probably does not top the excellent feedback from the Washington DC company.)

last weeks debacle

So about the Google interview, just to make a a tiny recap of the whole debacle. I had the interviews on Monday last week and it was kind of exhausting since there was four interviews in three consecutive hours. As I was still a bit sick (still am...) with a runny nose and cough it was not the most pleasant three hours as I had to keep talking. But it went well and the people were nice. At least I thought it went well.

After that I was all happy with how it went and took a stroll around town and did a little bit of shopping. Of course 'a few' nail polishes slipped into my shopping bag. But since I was still a bit sick and did not have energy to walk around for so long I headed to the airport a little bit earlier. Then it was time for the next stop, which was in Copenhagen.

So I thought it went well. But I was wrong and that sucked. I had hoped for this one. It also sucks that I have been so close on several openings and been so close to the finish line but then it just stops. It gets frustrating. I have to admit that the last month I have been really bad as well, at applying for jobs. I just totally lost my motivation. I have a daily bad conscience for that, believe you me.

But today I actually sent out five applications so far so the bad conscience have gone down a little bit. Although a tiny little bit.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

good week, bad week

So I am back. Back here and back in Sweden. I managed to be in four countries in four days this week. It started off in Dublin then I made a stop in Copenhagen for two nights, then a quick stop in Sweden to repack and then continuing to Finland. A busy week.

Anyway, it has been a good and a bad week. It started off good with some time in Dublin and the interview at Google. Exhausting though with four interviews in three consecutive hours, but it went well. Then I visited friends in Copenhagen as my flight from Dublin made a stop there. I just booked myself another ticket back to Stockholm. Had a really good time and nice to get my mind of Google for a while.

Then it all became bad after that. The flight back to Sthlm was a little bit delayed,coming back I had three hours to get ready for the next trip and was completely stressed out. On the boat to Finland I checked my email one last time and I had received an email from Google. The subject was 'Thank you from Google' and reading that line before opening the email I could sense what was coming. And I was right.

'We carefully reviewed your background and experience, and though we do not have a position that is a strong match with your qualifications at this time, we will be keeping your resume active in our system'.

The standard answer. I was really wishing for this one but no. So that was the mail I got on my way to my grandmothers funeral. A not so pleasant weekend concluded this week with motions going on a roller coaster, from feeling good about myself and good interviews (so I thought) and happy seeing old friends to feeling bad about myself for the rejection and crying for mummo.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

better to be safe than sorry

I have arrived safe and sound in Dublin and have also reached the hotel and the room is really nice, staying at the Maldron Cardiff Hotel. Thanks Google. Luckily I could check in right away and did not have to wait two hours.






















I got a map from the reception and the plan was to head out and do the town. But now I am all freezing and still have a little bit of that cold left with all that it implies, the runny nose and annoying cough. I had planned to do some shopping and have dinner at one of the recommended restaurants I got from a friend. But now I am thinking that I might just stay in, watch a movie, and perhaps order room service instead. I do not want to walk around town for some hours in the chilly weather only to discover tomorrow morning that I am not feeling well.

So I am thinking it is better to be safe than sorry. Even though it is really boring when I am here in Dublin, and usually I am all about doing the most out of a trip even though I am sick. But now I have got this interview tomorrow to think about. Now I think I will take my computer and crawl under the cover and watch a movie. (Yeah right, I should also study and prepare for the interview tomorrow as well.)

By the way, I just opened my toilet bag to take a pain killer (I am going all out on the line 'it is better to be safe than sorry) and found a not so pleasant discovery. I brought my nail glue and discovered the nail glue bottle itself, my makeup bag, and my toothbrush all glued onto the toilet bag. I could rip of the makeup bag and the nail glue bottle, the tooth brush is still there, even the hair of the brush is all glued so I will not be able to use it. Yeay. Lovely.

off to dublin


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At the Arlanda airport right now waiting to board at the gate. i have always loved airports, the excitement and expctations in the air. Dublin and Google here I come.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

packed

I am all packed. And it is not even 11 pm. Usually I have a tendency to stay up all night doing everything in the last minute since I did not start early enough. But considering how little things I actually have with me it is surprising how long it took. On the other hand it takes some good planing to take as little as possible with you.

So. Tomorrow morning I am off to Dublin. I arrive around noon so I have some hours in the city to kill. I do not mind at all, then I get to walk around enjoying the beautiful city *cough* and perhaps buy some nail polishes (...).

Of course I have not prepared anything or read anything. I am saving it for tomorrow, I assuming they have internet at the hotel otherwise I am screwed, and going to feel lonely.

preparation

I guess I should start packing and preparing.

Friday, December 3, 2010

fazer salmiakki

This one is on my top five list of favorite candies. It is milk chocolate with salmiac filling, delicious! I really have trouble stop eating these and somehow this package disappeared rather quickly. I was happy to see a few years ago that they started selling it in Sweden as well. Only to discover that they sell only the chocolate bar and not these individual chocolate pralines. The salmiakki chocolate bar is not at all as good as these ones.

Finnish chocolate, Fazer Salmiakki





















On another note, Fazer is probably also one of my absolute favorite candy producers, they have so much good stuff. Unfortunately most of the really good stuff is not even sold in Sweden and can only be found in Finland. That is why I usually stack up when I am in Finland. The Fazer breads are delicious too, and that they also finally started selling here in Sweden some years ago.

By the way, Fazer is pronounced 'fatser' and not 'faser' if there is someone out there in unawareness. When I was on my exchange in Helsinki I had a friend taking a course in which they visited companies. She said they had been to a company and pronounced it 'faser', I interpreted that as Pfizer the medical company. Then she was all excited as they had received all these free products and my immediate reaction was: What?! Free products? Would that be medicine and pills and stuff?! Then she took out the candy bags and I realized she had visited Fazer. Then I had to teach all of them that they had visited 'fatser' and not 'faser'. What I cannot figure out is how they could have visited the company and not picked up that it is pronounced 'fatser'.

water marble

I stumbled upon My Simple Little Pleasures on YouTube when I was looking at videos of nail art (she has a blog to, My Simple Little Pleasures). I got really inspired by her water marbling with nail polish and I knew I had to try it out. Tried it out the first time some weeks ago and it was kind of a mess but fun to try. The other day I decided to give it a serious second try and ended up with a nice gold and green water marble. Yesterday I tried another on with beige/silver and teal-green colors.

The second try (first photos) is the favorite as I absolutely love teal colors, and I also liked the shape of the abstract pattern (I could say it was all intentional with the random pattern when it in fact was a little tricky to create a pattern with this polish...) I really like it, even though I got some bubbles in this one. I will definitely continue with the water marbling.

Second try with water marbling, H&M - French Smoke and Color Club - Rule Breaker

First try with water marbling, OPI - Bling Dynasty and China Glaze - Emerald Fitzgerald.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

ostkaka

A few weeks ago when mom and I was in the grocery store I spotted ostkaka and got a immediate craving for it. I have not eaten it since I was young. Some day ago mom bought another pack and tonight I had a piece again. It is really nice. It is a traditional dish and directly translated ostkaka means cheese cake, but it is nothing at all like the American style cheesecake. You eat it slightly warm and of course have to have drottningsylt (blueberry and raspberry jam) and whipped cream with it.

Ostkaka, Swedish cheesecake.

Looks not much to the world but it is really good.

The ostkaka of course have to be served with blueberry and raspberry jam and whipped cream.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

fresh and clean

Today I could finally take a shower so now I feel clean and smell good again. Not taking a shower was however not a voluntary choice. The heating stopped working on Sunday so no heating or warm water here for the last couple of days. Very well timed with the outdoor temperature of 10-15 degrees below zero. Good thing we have a fire place to heat up the house with.

Never would I have thought that we would get another winter like this. I am not really a fan of the winter wonderland.

Saturday, November 27, 2010

friday burger

Friday dinner was a yummy homemade burger. Actually the first time I am trying it out. It is really easy and fast to make and I love that you can pick whatever you want on it. My hamburger was with my homemade sourdough bread fried in a little bit of butter to make it extra delicious, salad, tomato, red onion, bacon, Heinz chili sauce, home made aioli (must be another favorite! Love garlic), and some mozzarella.

Friday, November 26, 2010

until then

See you in heaven mummo, or in the next life. Then I will speak Finnish fluently so we can have all kinds of conversations. And you can teach me how to bake your delicious sämpylä.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

dipped in silver

I feel like I have been switching my manicure almost daily the last couple of weeks since I am just so eager to try on all the new polishes. Yesterday I let my nails rest from the nail polish remover but instead did a new manicure on top of the old one. Experimenting a little with the gradient style that I have seen on other blogs and just love.

I had on one of the colors that I bought the other day and I absolutely love the color. Definitely well worth the 15 SEK I spent on the Kubiss Nail Polish. Then I just used a the sparkling silver color from the same brand and three(!) different glitter polishes to create the gradient silver/glitter effect. Actually really easy.



Monday, November 22, 2010

lonkero

To celebrate a bit I decided to have a lonkero, or long drink. It is a Finnish drink made of grapefruit soda and gin and I imported it from Finland and it is too bad they do not sell it here. I really like it, which is odd since I do not really like gin.

Now here comes the problem. We put all the cans in the cellar and I am all fine with that. However, some week ago dad discovered a guest in the cellar. A bat! As you might imagine I have been hesitant to go out there.

But today I did it. I really wanted my lonkero and you just have to weight the pros and cons.

The fabulous Finnish drink: Lonkero.

anxious

I have been nervous the whole weekend anxious to hear about the second interview I did with Google. I thought I did well but then that question came that screwed it all up. My friend had me prepared for an analytical question but I am not good with those kind of questions right up front. I am the kind that need to have a fem minutes or even longer to sit with the question and go deep in analysis instead of an quick surface analysis.

That is why I was nervous. And of course I also came up with other things to be nervous about. Did I give enough of myself? I was told I should not hold back as much (ad I did a little on the first interview) and try to sell myself as their dream employee basically.

I had the interview on Thursday, Friday came and went but I did not expect an answer so soon. But then the weekend came. A long weekend, at least in my eyes. Today I checked the email as soon as I woke up. And then another time a bit later. But I guess the third time is the charm, there it was. The email from the HR woman I have been emailing with. I could not open it fast enough.

There it was. The verdict.

I am going to Dublin for the third and final interview!

Sunday, November 21, 2010

and six more

I just happened to buy some more bottles of nail polish this weekend. I promised myself to keep the nail polish shopping on the low key for a while as I have a whole box to go through. But when you find nail polish for 15 SEK (€ 1.5) a piece then who can resist? Well not me apparently.

So I bought six. Well eight, as two where a base and top coat. (It is Kubiss Nail Polish and if you are interested you can find it at the store In och Finn in Stockholm)


Thursday, November 18, 2010

creole

I made this Creole casserole last week from a recipe I found on a blog. I liked the ingredients and it all came out really good. Definitely a recipe I will save and make again when the time is right.

It contains pork tenderloin in pieces, bratwurst (it was actually supposed to be some spice sausage), cornichon, pickled onion (a favorite), bell pepper, black olives, cream and some spices. Served with rice. Simple as that.

food, baking, and nails

This blog has recently been all about food, baking, and nails lately. On the other hand that is my life now. Although I am going to try cutting down on the baking as I need to lose a few pounds that I gained as a consequence of all the baking and the massive amount of candy I bought in Finland. (Why do Finland have all the good candies?)

I could have made plenty of posts showing my nails. Yesterday for example, I had three different manicures. Three. That is mostly because of this amazing package I received on Monday from Dollar Nail Art. The last one, I promise. (Well at least for now...) A package filled with nail foils and rhinestones.

Below is a preview of what will come, you are warned.

Teel nail foil

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

studying

I am studying Google. Preparing myself for my second interview on Thursday. I am determined to have a good basic knowledge of their core product and company if questions relating to it comes up. At least I am studying everything in English this time, on the other hand the interview will probably be in Swedish as I will be talking to someone from the Nordic team. But that is fine by me as it is always easier to talk business in your native language when it is about a business you do not know so well.

Apart from that I have taken breaks watching 30 Rock, a comedy series I have come to really like. I am a fan of Tina Fey's work.

Monday, November 15, 2010

toffee pie

For Father's Day I of course also baked something. A toffee pie with Daim. A really sweet and kind of heavy pie, but still delicious. I found the recipe at one of my favorite Swedish food bloggers, Matplatsen.

Knäckpaj med Daim (Toffee pie with Daim)

Sunday, November 14, 2010

father's day and cornelis vreeswijk

Happy father's day father!

We went to Kista today to have some dinner and then see the new Swedish movie Cornelis about the troubadour Cornelis Vreeswijk. He have written many good songs throughout his lifetime. I liked the movie, but it is always difficult to make a movie about someone's life as it is impossible to fit everything in. The movie could almost have been a bit longer so we could have seen some more.

One of my favorite songs is Herr Fredrik Åkare och den söta fröken Cecilia Lind (Mr Åkare and miss Lind's ballad).



But another favorite which always put a smile on my face is Turistens klagan (Tourist Complaints).

Saturday, November 13, 2010

growing collection

I have a real weak spot for accessories. I cannot have enough. I have plenty of ear rings, bracelets, rings, and necklaces in all different sizes, big and small. The other day I got another ring to my collection. So pretty.

Pretty purple, golden ring from Glitter.

Friday, November 12, 2010

second stage

Got a long distance call from Dublin today. I have moved on to the second stage and have another interview beginning of next week. Good stuff.

The first interview with Google was kind of short, just 20-30 minutes, but it was still a good interview. She asked the right questions and not only questions that can be answered by reading my cover letter and CV.

Before the first interview she suggested I read about some Google products and I did. But unfortunately in Swedish as that is where I ended up automatically. That caused difficulties when I had to explain in English what AdWords was all about. From now on when I prepare for an interview I will read about the company and products in English.

But I did well and she sent my information on to the next person in line to interview me and I passed. So second interview coming up.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

ick-a bod-y

For the last couple of days I have been sporting China Glaze's Ick-A Bod-Y. An awesome glitter nail polish from their Halloween collection. I love it! Yesterday I realized it totally matches the pretty color on my leather jacket.

China Glaze Ick-A Bod-Y

Tried it with a matte top coat.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

feeling blue

This is what took place yesterday. Now I look pretty again. Well, at least my hair.


that time of year

It is that time of year. When a certain feeling appears. That feeling of disappointment mixed with dread. As the days go by you know that it will show its ugly face one day or another, you can sense it.

One morning you wake up and you can hear the wind whistle outside the window. Lying under the duvet cover all cuddled up and you keep postponing getting out of bed. You sense that this is the day.

Finally you get out of bed and you pull up the window shade and there it is. It is white. It is all white.

The dreadful snow.

mistletoe kisses

Got a package the other day filled with nail polishes from China Glaze. The first lovely color decorating my nails is Mistletoe Kisses from the Christmas collection 'Tis the Season to Be Naughty and Nice'. A lovely green color with plenty of silver glitter in it.

Mistletoe Kisses
 

All the China Glaze polishes I bought at Head2Toe.

remodeling

A little bit of remodeling going on here over the night.

Finally some color.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

google

This Saturday evening (slash night) I have spent watching some Friends (yes again another rerun) and answering some questions for my interview on Tuesday. Exciting Saturday night.

I have an telephone interview with Google. No further company description required.

Friday, November 5, 2010

all hallows eve

Mom and I went to the grave today as it is All Hallows Eve this weekend. We brought some plants and lit some candles as the Swedish tradition is. This time all the years are so pretty with all the new flowers, plants and candles.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

more nails

Yesterday I got another Ebay package. Yeay. This time it was my L.A. Colors Art Deco Nail Art Lacquers in six different colors. So now I can start making some nail art. Last night I decided to try something simple over my existing manicure. Now I can start experimenting and using my creative side painting nails.

L.A. Colors Art Deco Nail Art Lacquers


water is back!

We lost the water two days ago. No showers, no flushing the toilet, and no water in the sink. We had to get water from the neighbor. Really lovely.

Today I was supposed to meet a friend visiting Sweden this week, but he got sick so we canceled the lunch. When I got the news I was almost a little bit happy as I otherwise would have had a hassle washing my hair. I would have had to heat water up on the stove and clean only the hair.

But now they have finally figured out what was wrong and the water is running again. Now I can go and take a shower.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

husmanskost

Another dinner consisting of husmanskost: kålpudding (cabbage pudding?), a classic Swedish dish that I cannot remember when I had the last time. It consists of white cabbage and ground beef and is served with lingon berry jam and cream sauce.

When I was young I ate it but was never really a huge fan. Then the other day I saw a recipe in a blog and just felt that I wanted to have it for dinner. Today was the day.

The first time I have done it myself and it tasted really good. Together with lingon berries and cream sauce it was truly great.

metal

I kind of got caught up in an Ebay shopping frenzy last week. Of course it was all about nail polishes. As I have just discovered the endless possibilities of Ebay and as there is also so many beautiful nail polish collection for this fall it is difficult to resist.

One package came already yesterday (Tuesday) from the USA that was shipped on Wednesday last week which was a pleasant discovery when checking the mail. It was four nail polishes from the L.A. Girls Metal collection. Really nice ones!

L.A. Girls Metal - Chromium Green
L.A. Girls Metal Collection - Iron Red, Chromium Green, Deep Sea Mica, Alkaline Blue

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

tuxedo

Isn't this the cutest toothbrush? Of course I forgot my toothbrush in our cottage in Finland. Luckily I found all these cute designer toothbrushes in the store.

I am a sucker for all these everyday products that get a new and fun design.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

finance manager?

I am now sitting in the car on my way to the land of thousand lakes for the weekend. But I also had an interview today. Two weeks ago I got a call from a recruitment firm, this guy had found my CV in a database and wondered if I could be interested in a finance manager position. Double que?!

I thought it may be out of my league as I only have about one year of experience and told him that. He explained that they are looking for someone they can invest in and learn up and liked my education and experience background.

So today I went for a first interview. Got a little more information about the company and the job. Could be interesting. Definitely a challenge and a possibility to learn a lot. We will see what happens.
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Monday, October 25, 2010

simmer and shimmer

Had the most beautiful and bling nails this weekend. I got my package I ordered from Ebay a while back, it only took six working days for the nail polishes to arrive from the USA. Nice and fast. This is a nail polish from OPI's fall collection Burlesque, I want more polishes from that one because they look beautiful.

Here I am wearing OPI's Simmer & Shimmer a great glitter nail polish. You cannot really tell by these photos but it sparkles and glitters really nice when the light hits the nails. Beautiful! And I think my camera is not the best at taking up close photos as the color should be more blue and turquoise. (A little bit more like this at Scrangie's.)

OPI's Simmer & Shimmer

I have plenty of new nail polishes to try out, I want to switch color everyday since I have so many to try out.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

sourdough part two

The baking actually went quite well. The bread rose as it should (well, I had a tiny bit of yeast in it for support) and came out from the oven looking all brown and delicious. Really good when warm and some butter on.

Now I just need to keep the sourdough alive and kicking so I can make more bread and test other kinds.

sourdough

I have started with a new project: sourdough (surdeg). I have never worked with it before and trying to make my first sourdough bread today. But as I do not know how the the foundation of the dough is supposed to look I just have to try and see how it works out. I am guessing it will take a few breads until I have got the hang of it.

I hope that it at least will be eatable so we can enjoy a slice of warm bread just out of the oven with some butter on it. 

mamma mia what a mishap

Today I got to tag along dad together with my aunt and her husband to the musical Mamma Mia! Mom was supposed to go as she had to go to Finland this weekend I took her place for the evening. But quite a mishap took place as we entered the Globe Arena and realized that my aunt did not have our tickets! We realized then and there that we had actually forgotten them at home. As the tickets were a gift given some months ago we somehow thought they still had them.

Standing there we do not really know what to do. There is no way we can make it back home to get the tickets as the show would be over once we are back. We are about to ask someone for help when we realize we could easily slip in without anyone noticing. There are controllers checking the tickets but a passage by the wall is empty. My aunt's husband is standing there talking to us and when the closest ticket controller is not faced in our direction we casually walk in.

Easy as that. Thank god. Since we did have the tickets of course no one else would come and take our seats. We just waited until most of the people had entered the arena and then we could walk in and find our four empty seats on row fourteen (since we did not know our seat numbers).

So luckily the evening turned out great. The Mamma Mia musical was the International Tour of the London cast appearing in Sweden for 8 shows. It was really good as always and it was the third time for me. I have seen it once in New York and once in Stockholm before but then the Swedish version. And of course I have seen the movie several times. Just love it all.

The evening ended with a nice dinner at the cutest and coziest Italian restaurant in Gamla stan (Old Town).

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

getting cold

It is getting cold here. I am not happy. Which meant that it was time to take out and start using my down comforter again. Usually I use it through the whole summer but this must be the first summer I had to switch to something thinner. But with a summer of 35 degrees and record temperatures it is understandable.

Right now it is 5 degrees out but yesterday when I headed out at 7 pm it was only 2 degrees. I had totally missed that it had been getting that cold. This means that it will get below zero any day now. Horrible thought.

But being the eternal optimist I can see one good thing in this. I can start wearing layers and start using my lovely large, knitted scarf with dogtooth pattern that I bought at Muji in Tokyo.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

oh sandwich, oh sandwich

Apparently this is becoming a food and baking blog. On the other hand that is the exciting thing going on here on a normal day. (That and painting my nails in a new color.) But today I did not have the inspiration or energy to do something special. So I did myself a grilled sandwich. I love sandwiches of all kinds.






















You can fill them with anything you have at home and mix whatever you like. Today I made the typical one with cheese, plum tomato, some parmesan, and flaky salt. The other one, the best one, had brie, some parmesan, plum tomato, fresh basil, and some flaky salt. Yummy.

come package, come

I have always been a bit of a nail polish addict. Already in middle school I started painting my nails and could have hands with different color on every nail. It has consistently during the years been a passion of mine, although it has gone up and down in periods as with everything else.

I started to look for some blogs sharing the my addiction for nail polish and have how found several. So now I am reading all these old blog posts and yearning for all the fabulous nail polishes. But it is ridiculous how expensive all the nail polishes are in Sweden compared to USA.

Yesterday night I could not resist and ordered a bunch of nail polishes with hopefully fantastic colors from Ebay. Now I am just waiting and waiting for the package to arrive.

Being bored in the middle of the night and sitting in front of Ebay is not a good thing for the wallet.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

renskav

Apparently there is a theme going on here. Today I cooked another delicious traditional Swedish meal from the northern parts, renskav. This simple, one word description of the dish is translated in the Swedish-English dictionary as "slices of reindeer meat".

Today I fried the renskav with onion, parsnip, and celeriac. Then added some cream and a stock cube and spiced it all with a couple juniper berries, rosemary, and thyme. It is at its best served with mashed potatoes and lingonberry jam.

Really, really nice. 

Renskav

Friday, October 8, 2010

swedish hash

Today I made a version of Swedish hash for dinner. One thing I like about fall (since I mostly don't) is all the root vegetables you kind find in the grocery stores now. Today's hash consisted of what we had in the fridge, as that is how you usually make it, but without the meat. Leftover cooked potatoes, yellow turnip, and beetroot. And served with a fried egg. With the fresh beet root fried together with everything else it got a pretty pinkish color.

A version of the Swedish hash, pyttipanna.

cracked

I finally found one last bottle of the black Grafitti Nail nail polish from Isa Dora last week. So i tried it out on top of the turquoise nail polish from H&M (Bella's Choice). I really liked it.


Thursday, October 7, 2010

time to start

Just came home from the interior design fair in Stockholm and now I have 24 hours to write a 1 000 words summary of a chapter. No biggie.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

fried salt herring

Today it was served traditional Swedish food in this house. Fried salt herring with onion sauce and cooked, home grown potatoes. I think this dish is my absolute favorite of all typical Swedish dishes. The fact that I love salt may have a share in that. A really simple dish but really good. This is probably the only time I eat herring as I do not like the pickled herring, this I like when it is prepared, i.e. fried.

Fired salt herring

A traditional Swedish dish: fried salt herring, cooked potatoes and onion sauce.

you never learn

I am actually studying today. It is a distance course in tourism I have an assignment in. The course started about a month ago and I have had the book since then as well. But of course I have not read anything in the book until today. I had one month to do the assignment of writing a 1 000 word summary of a chapter, but start with it two days before the deadline.

Isn't that just typical. Always waiting until the last minute. I had the plans of reading a bit in the book but I guess I forgot. I remembered it again last week but then I had to write these job applications. And now here I am. Trying to figure out which chapter would be easiest to write a summary on.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

bleaching time

Spent some time with sis today as she made my hair pretty again. The damn hair grows so fast and it was time to bleach the outgrowth again. It took a little bit longer as I kind of ended up with a little too gray hair but it was fixed and now it looks good.

It will not be much fun if I move away from Stockholm and my own personal hairdresser as I then have to start paying full price for fixing my hair.

On the other hand, me moving away from Stockholm would mean I have a job and could actually afford paying full price as well. So that might not be so bad. 

Monday, October 4, 2010

the day of the cinnamon bun

Today being Kanelbullens dag, The cinnamon bun day, and all I of course could not let that go unnoticed. But I did not feel like making the traditional cinnamon bun, so I was a little bit unpatriotic and made American cinnamon buns instead, so called Sticky Buns javascript:void(0)(although I made them as separates instead of a 'cake').

I loved the filling although I had to switch the pecans for almonds this time as I did not have that at home. So definitely have to try it out with pecans later. The filling consisted of butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, walnuts, and almonds. Then the buns were topped with chopped walnuts, almonds and a creme cheese glaze.

I think I might have found a favorite cinnamon bun receipt.

Cinnamon buns, or Sticky buns, with creme cheese glaze.