Garden days

My partner has start working and the kids are gone with their other parents, so I'm home alone. It is nice but a bit lonely in the long run. I like use my time for different projects and hobbies, gardening is one of them.

On the south side of the house, the sun and the houses creates a warm spot for plants like tomatos, lemons, lavender, etc. I bought seeds of a chili called coffe this year. The plant looks nice with purple flowers and fruits black as sin, or coffe. But the heat is missing, I can use it raw in salads and people will beleive I have used tiny paprika. The purple flower is Ipomoea Purpurea (latin), I saw this growing wild in Greece and fell instantly in love with it.

I have a box on the south side were I intended to grow basil and cucumber. Well I got a pumpkin instead. If you lift the plate sized leafs and look underneath, you find the basil.   

Let's take a stroll to the backyard were my vegetable beds are.

Under the net curtain (Jill from Ikea) hides cabbage and cauliflowers. This is the only way to grow cauliflowers without larvaes.

Zucchini is my every year staple. I grow them from my own seeds. It has become expensive to buy seeds and the number of seeds in a package are reduced. So if you like to grow veggies like me, learn how to grow seeds as well. You can se some short corn plants to the left.

This is my bed of roots. But the one first in view , under the compost fence is salad, parsil and dill. I have a couple of deers living nearby who think this is a buffé of delicasies. The bed behind is beetroots. Swedish people love pickled beetroots. 

I also grow garlic, parsnips, challots and carrots. As we don't have any water restrictions, I water my vegetables shamelessely. But I save water from the tap and rinse water from the clothes wash for my plants.

The sad part of my garden.

The apple trees are bending towards the ground with so many apples, but they are falling because of the drought. I have cucumbers, borlotti beans and pumpkins in this part. I also have covered a part with a plastic cover, because lack of time in the beginning of summer.

The cucumber plants might look small but they produce nice pickle cucumbers. I made my first jar a couple of days ago. These are to die for. They are very popular among my friends.

Here's the recipe

In a sauce pan, bring following ingredients to boil.

150 ml of white vinegar (12 %)

500 ml water

500 ml sugar

50 ml salt

Rinse and slice the cucumbers (the kind for pickling) and put them in a clean jar. You can add dill flowers and mustard seeds if you like. Try to fill the jar as much you can.

Pour the boiling pickle juice over the cucumbers and seal the lid tight.

If it is air tight, the jar can be stored for at least a year.

I rarely take the time to rest. But sometimes I need to sit down and think for a while. An old rattan chair, that I got from my grand father is to rattly to use indoors, but fits perfect for short rests for me.

Homework assignment: Dog days of summer, Slushie

This has become the warmest summer in 20 years. The drawback is record in drowning accidents, because people seek themselves to water for bathing. Oh I have taken baths too and been swiming, but I'm not as foolish as I was when I was young making bets to swim across the lake. I keep myself on shallow waters.
We don't have air condition in Sweden, most of us don't. Neither at work and it's not easy to be diligent and clever.

When we arrived at home from work I made something very soothing. A watermelon slushie. It's so easy and refreshing.

Cut watermelon in cubes, throw in a plastic bag and put it in the freezer. I buy whole melons and freeze the excess. If the cubes are deep frozen, let them soften for about half an hour. Put them in a blender and mix until you get a smooth slushie. If you like add water or soda.

My zucchinis are growing in a speed I can't eat. I have to be inventive when cooking. In my other blog I have posted a recipe of Zucchini Frittata I made today for dinner with a smooth basil sauce. Click the link if you're curious.

Garden report and poisonous plants in the jungle

Time flies when I'm busy like a bee. Well the hot weather came in time when I was going back to work, but it's ok to when everybody else are off. I can focus on my projects and get things done. 

Outside the hedge to the right is a field and between the hedge and the field is a strip of meadow grass. I cut the grass with a scythe, wich is unbeliavable heavy. The grass is put in a neat row at our lawn to dry to hay. This will be one of the bunnies staples this winter.

Oskar curiosly decided to go to confirmation camp this summer. Well I do think he was looking forward to some expensive gifts afterwards. I'm glad he did it though, because when you don't want to talk with your parents about serious things this group of kids and adults answer your questions. 

Cute brothers

I decided to go colourful to this event and combined my Fluevogs with paisly patterned tights that matched my newly bought dress from Gudrun Sjöden and a vintage bangle to match the shoes. 

One of the first working days, me and a friend from work went to explore a local jungle not far from my home. It's barely visible, you can't imagine what lies under the green mass. A small gully were a little stream runs through. The water is so shallow that you can walk in rubber boots without problem.

One of the nice plants you can find there is the climbing potato relative; Bittersweet, when I google searched bittersweet they showed pictures from another bush but this is a poisonous climber.

 Another plant that add to the jungle feeling is a massive growth of wild hop. This is one of the reasons this little gully is marked as nature reserve. There is also supposed to be the a habitat of wolfsbane another poisonous flower. But we couldnt find any.

 This is how almost all trees looked like. I wish I could take a plant but since it's a protected area, no.

An old birch covered in birch tickings. I found one on the ground huge as a frying pan.

Next expedition will be at a swamp nearby.

My favourit beverage this time is mojito, alcohol free. I tried one with rum but I missed the distinct taste of lime and mint. Just follow the ordinary recipe but skip the rum.

My snapdragons are in bloom in a vibrant burgundy red colour (looks a little pink here). 

I have three old rose bushes and this beauty is a moss rose called Henri Martin.

 View of one of my beds, not all the flowers are blooming yet.

Today was a perfect day to pick leaves for my garden tea. Black currant, raspberries, red clover and roses is the blend of this summer. I will dry these for winter teas but fresh brewed leaves are the best.

 Another photo of Mme Hardy, it has so many flowers this year. It has been a good winter.

Halloween treats

I tried to keep the treats simple this year, but after checking Martha Stewarts website I got lots of inspiration. For example for the welcoming drink and snacks.

The glass has black sugar frosted edge. Lime soda is served with eyeballs made of  rambutan fruits stuffed with blueberries. Not many dared to eat the fruits.

Caramel popcorn. For the first time I made them myself and damn they are dangerous, so tasty, I ate too much of it! I coloured the caramel with red food colour. 

I used the same candy bags I made last year, the text says "trick and treat".

I made simple cookie dough and used our new cookie cutters to make Halloween themed shapes and simple frosting with food colour to decorate the cookies.

I've been dying to try theese broken glass cupcake and after three trials I succeded to make some sugar glass I could use for the decoration. The blood is simple raspberry ice cream sauce.

 These ghosts are an idea I took from cakepops, but under the cover of sugarpaste I used chocolate balls, a very common treat for kids (and adults). 

Mr Bones is sitting on the porch to welcome our guests. I lend him my antique top hat and my welding glasses. A bow tie and a flower gives him the perfect Gentleman look. 

Here he is, sitting and laughing in the dark.

View of the porch in the dark.

I bought a pumpkin for the entrance and carved a smiling face. 

A few days later I made some delicious pumpkin soup of the meat.

Last week we had a little snowstorm , sadly it has all melted away now.

My childhood dream came true this Halloween! I always wanted a doorbell that played Bach ; Toccata and Fugue in D-minor and Johan made it come true. I'm so happy to live with an electronics nerd. Alfons wanted a face to appear the same time the doorbell rang and he achieved that as well. The garage was turned to a spooky house with different props installed; a slamming door, a monster coming up from a coffin, lightning and spooky sounds.

I'm glad that I worked half time, otherwise it wouldn't be a Halloween at all this year. The scedule for the day has been working, sleeping, eating, some decoration and sleeping again. I have noticed that I'm very confused and lacking short time memory. I have difficulties to read instructions and protocols and I had to take help from Johan to fill in the form for the health insurance money. But I started to do some technical drawings at work and that worked fine. My mood is better but not ok. I feel so stupid.

A new vegetable. Bat fit challenge #6

Hi dear readers. At last I came up with a post about the new Bat fit challenge. This challenge was about vegetables and to cook and eat something new. Since I've eaten the most, I had to think a while before I got it. Scorzonera is something I've never tried. Poor mans aspargus is another name of it. I googled the internet for a kind of basic recipe were the base ingredient were the scorzonera.

Hej kära läsare. Så till sist har jag snickrat ihop en post om nya Bat fit challenge. Den här utmaningen bestod i att laga till en grönsak som är alldeles ny för en själv. Eftersom jag har ätit ganska mycket så fick jag fundera ett tag innan jag kom på svartroten. Jag googlade fram ett recept där jag tyckte att roten fick spela huvudrollen.

At the bottom of the plate is a mash made of boiled scorzonera and potatoes, mashed with a little butter and milk, salt and pepper. Half of the scorzoneras are boiled separately in 5 minutes and then fried in a pan with a little parsil. To that I served serrano prosciutto. So did it taste like aspargus? Well close to. Was it tasty? Yes it was tasty but very neutral in taste. Actually I believe there is more healthy vegetables than this root and in my opinion, nothing beats real green aspargus.

 I botten på tallriken ligger en pure gjord av kokad svartrot och potatis, mosad med lite smör o mjölk, salt och peppar. Hälften av svartrötterna är kokade i 5 minuter sedan stekta med lite persilja. Till detta serveras serranoskinka. Så smakade det som sparris? Nja rätt så nära. Var det gott? Jadå det var det, men väldigt neutralt i smaken. Faktiskt tror jag att det finns betydligt nyttigare grönsaker än den här roten och i min mening så finns det inget som slår färsk grön sparris.

I had to take a photo of the beautyful tulips Johan and his son brought to me last weekend. G had choosen blood red ones for me. Now when they are fading they got a deeper burgundy red hue, lovely!


Jag måste ta en bild på de vackra tulipanerna som Johan och hans son kom hem med till mig förra helgen. G valde ut en bunt blodröda åt mig. Nu när de har börjat vissna har färgen mörknat till en djupröd ton, vackert!

And last. A little picture of Venus and Jupiter side by side, but very far away from each other.

Så till sist en liten bild på Venus och Jupiter sida vid sida men ändå så långt ifrån varandra.

Enjoy the weekend! 

Ha en kul helg!

Natural beauty from the outside

Herregud så mycket text det blev. Om ni tycker att engelskan är svår, var vänlig att installera google translate!! 
Hursomhelst så ger jag er här receptet på min egenkomponerade ansiktskräm!


Today I will learn you how easy it is to make your own moisturizing face cream. It's like making a mayonaise but easier. I have a sensitive skin, gets breakouts and allergic reactions of  most creams. After a lot of reading and interests of healthy and natural living I searched and found Crearome, wich is a swedish company selling the necessary ingredients for makeup and skincare. From a book by the owner of this company, I learned the basics and from there I have been experimenting with recipes and myself to a formula that fits me and my dry skin.

When you make a cream, you mix water and fat to a stable solution (like when you make mayonnaise), but you must have an emulgating agent to make this happen. 

This is what you need for the fat phase: Ecological rape oil ,virgin, preferably local grown and made(do not use olive oil, it gives you brakeouts) . Another alternatives are almond oil  for dry skin or thistle oil for greasy skin. 30 ml of that ingredient. 

And here's the most important; beeswax! Why, you ask. Well I've come to the conclusion that the wax doesen't go through the skin, it stays as a protecting shield on top and help the moisture in the cream to stay by the skin. Use a 2 inches square piece. I got this from my mother when she was a beekeeper.

Some luxury; cocoa butter, this one is ecological pure and smells heavenly, take a spoon full. You can use sheabutter as well wich is very good for dry skin.

And last, the emulsifier, there are different kinds. This one I use now is not able to blend with acidic solutions so, I will change this one to another. All emulsifiers needs different amounts to emulsify. And be sure that the emulsifier is made from vegetable waxes.

All the ingredients above are poured in a tiny saucepan or something that kan be used on the stove.

The water phase contains 200ml boiled water, or maybe rose water, herb infusion or something you like. 

Glycerine, very important because it binds water, but not too much then it draws the water from your skin. I use 5 ml. And at last a pinch of allantoin, wich is a powder made of comfrey root, good for sensitive skin.

You see on the picture above that the water is in a heat resistant crucible already. Now heat both the fat and water solutions to 70-75 C. And pour the fat slowly while stirring in the water solution. By now it propably looks like melted butter with milk or something. I use a childs wisk to stir. Stir while the temperature's sinking.

By 35-40 degrees you add more fun stuff for the face. Perfume, if you like. By the way. Have you tried a perfume free cream especially those cheap and felt the smell of mineral oils? Paraffin and other stuff related to gasoline. Vegetable creams always smell nice without perfumes (especially when you blend in cocoabutter). Well I use 15 drops of each, geranium and rose de mai (pure rose oil). 

1 ml of AHA-complex (moisturizer and vitalizer).

1ml silk proteine (for strenght and protection).

20-30 drops of proxyglycerine, a preservative that replaces paraben.

There's a lot of other nice products like vitamins that you could use.

Keep on careful stirring until the mixture is blended and pour on clean jars. This recipe gives you about 220 ml of lovely face care that lasts a long time. And the best of it you don't have to be sparse, because it's comparatively cheap. I use this for day and night cream. The skin stays moist and fresh all day long and I so clearly see how it improves the skin remarkably. Sometimes when I run out of it I use vegetable baby lotion (a cheap alternative) and clearly see how the skin dries. 

Now if you don't wan't to work this much by looking great and have the money I would recommend Dr Hauschka or Weleda products.

Last week I bought some white paint, too keep up with the pine transformation. This window had yellowish pine wood framing wich gave a dull light in the bedroom. I know it looks odd with flowery curtains in the middle of winter, but I need something colourful this time of year. I sew a throw for the bed with scraps in the same fabric but I had to remove it because it was too much of patterns. The curtains comes from Gudrun Sjödén my favourite artsy old lady. She makes designs in fuzzy and colourful floralpatterns, but she also have a darker more subtle collection, from were I buy comfortable but expensive clothes (god how I love her silk jersey, wish I could buy all of those pieces).

Have a lovely weekend!

Ha en fin helg!

Christmas day

Här är mitt alternativa julträd. Jag hittade ett lärkträd vid parkeringen utanför lasarettet. En stor gren låg på backen så jag knäckte av den lite över knät och slängde in grenen i skuffen. Så åkte jag därifrån från låg till glad. I grenen har jag hängt lite återanvänt pynt som jag gjort själv.

This is an alternative to a christmas tree. I found a larch outside the hospital a few weeks ago. A large one layed on the ground. I took it and breaked it to a size large enough for my little car and went away happy instead of low. There's some home made reused ornaments hanging in it. 

Jag gjorde min klassiska glögg på julafton. Jag gör min på äppelmust och i år hade vi must från mammas äppelträd. Den smakar underbart med några cl Dalwhinnie i.

Så här gör man:

2 liter äppelmust (ren)

En handflata stor färsk ingefära skalad och skivad

1/4 dl hela nejlikor

8 st kanelstänger

1/4 dl lätt krossade kardemummafrön

Koka blandningen och häll i socker så mycket du vill ha. Låt sockret lösas upp och låt blandningen kallna innan du silar ifrån kryddorna och häller upp på rena flaskor. 

Servera värmd ev spädd med lite äppelmust och några cl whisky i och skalade mandlar. 

Det här är en fantastisk medicin för ledsna eller frussna själar.

I've made some homemade spiced Glüwein, well it isn't quite the same but the closests to it. We call it glögg. I made mine from homemade applejuice. It taste wonderful with a few cl of Dalwhinnie in it. 

This is how you do it:

2 litres of apple juice (pure)

a palm sized fresh ginger, peeled and sliced

1/4 cup of whole cloves

8 inches of cinnamon sticks

1/4 cup of crushed kardamom seeds

Boil the mixture and add sugar in the amount you like. Let the mixture cool down before you strain of the spices. Pour on clean bottles. 

Serve warmed maybe diluted with some more applejuice in cups with some whisky in it and peeled almonds.  This is a fantastic medicine for sad or frozen people.

Idag kommer barnen och vi ska fira en klassisk jul. I motsats till gårdagens pizza. Ha det så fint!


Today the children will be here and we will celebrate the christmas in classical way. Instead of yesterdays pizza. Enjoy!

It's all about tomatoes

Torsdagen vi åkte till Danmark var uttröttande. För att hinna med allting vi skulle så var jag vaken nästan ett dygn. Flyget ner till Danmark, åkturen till företaget och arbetet där gick smort. Men resan hem, stor suck. Ett inställt flyg, ett försenat flyg, ett ombokad flyg som vi missade och ett ombokat flyg som tog oss hem. Ovanpå det 2 obrukbara kreditkort. Tack och lov hade jag en kollega med mig med kreditkort. Man kan ju undra om de vågar släppa iväg mig ensam nästa gång.

Så tomaterna då, det blev massor. Här ligger de och lapar sol på fönsterbrädan.

 That thursday we went to Denmark were so exhausting. To be able to keep up with everything we should do I was awake almost a full day. The flight down to Denmark, trip to the company and the work there went well. But the travel home, sigh. One disabled flight, one late flight, one flight that were re-routed and missed, and at last another re-routed flight. On top of that two disabled credit cards, so thankfully I have a colleage with me with a working credit card. Will they ever dare to let me alone on a buissness trip after this?

Now on to the tomatoes. I got a lot of them as you can see. Here they are on the windowsill to let the sun sweep over.

Av de små röda tomaterna blev det låtsas-soltorkade tomater.

I made semi-sundried-tomatoes ( in the owen) of the small red ones.

De mer matiga rysska bifftomaterna fick bli krossade tomater. Dessa är bra mycket bättre än de man köper på burk. De är skinnfria och utan kvist och mindre kärnor. Jag gjorde min favvo tomatsoppa av en butt tomater. Man kokar dem tillsammans med en kopp grädde och en kopp vitt vin, finhackad basilika, en nypa socker och salt och svartpeppar. Efter 10  minuters puttrande så mixas soppan slät, enkelt och gott.

The chunky russian tomatoes was peeled, crushed and put in the fridge. These are far better than the ones you buy in can. No peels, twigs and less seeds. I made my favourite tomato soup with one bin of these.

Boil the tomatoes with a cup of white wine, a cup of cream, a tablespoon of minced basil, some garlic cloves, a pinch of brown sugar, salt and pepper, add more tomatoes or water if you feel. Boil for 10 minutes and mix the soup. Very simple and tasty.

Jag googlade fram lite grön tomatketchup recept och blandade ihop dem till ett eget. Det smakade gott ända tills jag hade i socker då en metallisk besk smak framträdde. Jag försökte rädda det med mer socker men det blev bara värre. Jag var på väg att slänga alltihop men testade med ganska mycket salt och det hjälpte lite grann. Nu har jag lärt mig läxan.

Imorgon blir det konsertdag. Vi ska till Stockholm och se Edguy, ett av Johans favoritband. Vi ska ha med oss vår goa kompis A-L också. Det blir kul.

I looked for some recipes on the internet for green tomato ketchup and mixed them all and made my own. It tasted nice, until I made the bad mistake to add sugar. A metallic bitter taste occured and got worse after adding more sugar. I was about to throw it all away but it was saved with lot of salt.

Tomorrow will be a concert day. We will go to Stockholm and see Edguy, one of Johans favourite bands, and we will have our lovely friend A-L with us. That will be fun.

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