It's the little things

...that makes you happy...

Back at work for a short week because we will go to the local festival; Sabaton open air. The band list this year isn’t very good, too tacky power metal or death metal is not my cup of tea, but there is a few that I really want to see like Revamp, Sabaton and Amorphis.

It was a slow start at work and I don’t feel useful or important, so I’m happy to have a meaningful spare time.

I’ve been busy making wool dreads from wool received from a friend a few years ago. The wool is carefully washed in cold water, then dried. The wool isn’t combed this time and it works fine just by pulling the lumps apart, by that you get rid of the rest bits of grass and sand.

Arrange the wool in a thin row in the length you want the dread to be and spray with a mix of water and soap. Squeeze the wool together a bit before you roll it between your palms quite hard, add more wool to the thin parts or to the thickness that you want the dread to have.

Hang or put them aside. I usually can’t make more than three until the skin on my palms is too soft and slippery. When I have the amount of dreads needed I put on my rubber gloves and continue to felt(not necessary to roll at this step) and last wash them.

I dye the dreads with the cheapest hair dye I can find. If I have time to braid them in I will use them this weekend. Don't be afraid, it's not a tarantula spider, it's the dreads trying to crawl towards my hair...

The garden and the nature is very generous. I love this time when we can base our food on free vegetables and berries. All it costs is a little labor.

This soup throws me back to my childhood and my grandparents garden. Every year they made this soup. It’s called Ängamat, meadow meal (kind of translated).

The ingredients comes from the garden. Carrots, parsnip (instead of cauliflower that I don’t have) a few farmer beans, peas. What’s missing on this photo is parsley and a fresh onion. The stock is first made of vegetable stock and milk with a little flour as thicker. Cook the vegetables in the stock, don’t pour them all at once, carrots and parsnips first… When the vegetables are soft, whisk an egg yolk with a little cream and add along with chopped parsley and serve. Of course season with salt and pepper to your taste.

I have three promising head sized pumpkin growing. Miss Misantropia was so kind to send me some seeds of her. I guess that the dark green ones will be orange and the yellow will become beige or white when it’s time for harvest.