An Eggcellent evening!

Last night was dinner and egg painting at Kix’s. Who knew we would let out our inner artists. Started by making us a green pea soup with parma bread sticks.

Actually turned out quite well…

Then Kix made us strawberry and youghurt dessert while we started planning our artistic master pieces

First I had to play some with the Ziglet, Kix said I sounded like a monster, Tompa like a super hero. I prefer Tompa’s version.

I also got a travel gift from Kix – a set of juggling balls. I know what i’ll be doing on the beach.

Then the painting could begin. Kix made a ‘classical’ one to get herself warmed up.  Good start.

Tompa was feeling the inner calm and looking for inspiration.

I missed Laxen and made an easter egg with Laxen as a salmon drinking vodka at Raffles. It turned out pretty accurate.

Ol was jealous and asked if i could paint him. It became a binnikemask (tape worm) in a green sweater and with a tiny bit of chest hair. He also had a weird lump on his head. Pretty spot on.

I then had to do a self portrait – owning at Raffles (i havent been hanged as Kix thought)

Eggsellent couple right (hahaha, best egg joke, so good that I will re use it in the title)

The end production of our creativeness. See Tompa’s awesome dragon, Kix’s version of Sven behind Laxen and her picture of her future kids. 

Dinner and blood

Had Tompen for dinner yesterday. Made the delicious lamb mince recipe from the post below and this time we almost nailed the eggs (they can look a bit unmade, they cook when you start mixing the meat and stuff for eating, like a bim bim bap)

We also drank chai (important that) and ate the new Marabou Black – milk chocolate with salty liquorice. Delicious weirdly enough. 

 

The boys. What men huh!

 

 

This morning Ol and me went and had our vaccinations. Oliver almost passed out after his warm blood made a squirt and sprayed all over the room. From a tiny needle. I didnt even bleed a tiny drip. Hope nothing happens when we are away if that’s how his warm (??) blood reacts. 

Cooking Middle Eastern style

Cooking for Tompa tonight. Making the lamb tahini me and Oliver love. It’s easy and yummy if you want to have a delicious every day meal or impress people coming over. We’ve cooked this a couple of times now and the trickiest part is getting the eggs just runny enough, I’m sure we’ll nail it tonight.

Here are the recipe

Braised eggs with lamb, tahini and sumac
Recipe from Jerusalem, by Yotam Ottolenghi, published by Ten Speed Press

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
6 cloves of garlic, sliced thinly
10 oz/300g ground lamb
2 teaspoon sumac plus extra to finish
1 teaspoon ground cumin
scant 1/2 cup/50g toasted unsalted pistachios
7 tablespoons toasted pine nuts
2 teaspoons harissa (Yotam used a store-bought tube but Jerusalem contains recipe)
1 tablespoon finely chopped preserved lemon peel (recipe in Jerusalem – essential ingredient that everyone should make up)
1 1/3 cups/200g cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup/120 ml chicken stock
4 large free-range eggs
1/4 cup/5 g picked cilantro leaves
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Yogurt Sauce
scant 1/2 cup / 100 g Greek yogurt
1 1/2 tablespoons/ 25g tahini paste
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon water (as needed)

Serves 4

Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a medium, heavy-bottomed frying pan for which you have a tight fitting lid. Add the onion and garlic and sauté for 6 minutes to soften and color a bit. Raise the heat to high, add the lamb, and brown well, 5 to 6 minutes. Season with sumac, cumin, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and some black pepper and cook for another minute. Turn off the heat, stir in the nuts, harissa, and preserved lemon and set aside.

While the onion is cooking, heat a separate small caste-iron pan over high heat. Once piping hot, add the cherry tomatoes and char for about 4-6 minutes, tossing them in the pan occasionally, until slightly blackened on the outside. Set aside.

Prepare the yogurt sauce by whisking together all the ingredients with a pinch of salt. In needs to be thick and rich but you may need to add a slash of water if it is stiff.

Add the chicken stock to the meat and bring to a boil. Make 4 small wells in the mix and break an egg into each well. Cover the pan and cook the eggs over low heat for 3 minutes.

Place the tomatoes on top, avoiding the yolks, cover again, and cook for 5 minutes, until the egg whites are cooked but the yolks are still runny.

Remove from the heat and dot with dollops of the yogurt sauce, sprinkle with sumac, and finish with cilantro.

Partying Mad Men style

Back in the office after an amazing weekend Mad Men style in Sthlm. Stayed with Julia and other than dressing like a man and following a beard around in Spy Bar (it was so luxurious), took long, sunny walks, laughed like you do with your friends, made new friends and ate expensive (phew) but very good food.

On Friday me and Jules sat up and talked for hours and Saturday I was up early-ish for a coffee with Bella in the sun, pizza with Julia at Ciao Ciao and then finally the party.

I actually found a dress in a lovely little vintage store that we passed (see the surprised look on my face)

But decided to go for the tux anyway

 Jules were Betty to my Don

I loved it. I cold smack all the bottoms I wanted and dance with high kicks without ripping my clothes apart

Sanna did however, her dress split right at the middle…

Peter looked well groomed in true Mad Men style. Sanna even got to trim his hair, he is a trusting man that one.

We tried to copy the famous Newton image. Went so so with the light but close enough

We sniffed flowers, hanged with each other, posed for photos and generally thought we were the best

We also missed Filippa and whatapped her images of us.

And, of course, took the classical toilet picture

All in all a very great night.

On sunday I woke up non hung over (win) after only drinking beer the night before and went to Orangeriet with Jules, Sanna and Mags. Easy flight home and got picked up at Victoria for ice cream with the Holms.  Perfect end to my weekend
.

Just to make me feel good

Today wearing black and my NY scarf from D&Y. Love it and it makes me feel a bit of the NYC magic (and I think of Sanna every time I wear it).

Talking to the girls about the weekend and getting very excited. Cant wait to go home and meet them.  And dress as a man. I’m worried I might miss out on the hair dresser action though so might go girl again just to be able to join in on that.

Yesterday Ol and me watched Paris, Texas. Or well, Ol watched it and I feel asleep after 20 min. I heard it was good.

I need you here tomorrow

In a matter of days I’ll be sitting in Julia’s new home and laugh about our crazy, wonderful, heart achingly sad and twirl around for hours happy last year.

Sweden booked!

First of all I’m going to Jonas 30th bday party in Sthlm on the weekend 15 – 17th of March with almost all the girls (yes, we will be dressed in Mad Men outfits) and then I’m going to my sister and her family for Nisses birthday on the 19th of march.

2 trips booked!!! Woohooo. Also Mum and Dad, Sanna and Maggie will be visiting before May. That is pretty amazing. At the moment im dancing weather dances to make sure its warm enough for the Magnolias to start blooming when my parents are here.

Rocking Monday!

Up east with the cool kids

It was frogs bday yesterday so Ol and me ventured up East for some beers which ended up being dancing until two w too cool for school fashion people. We fit right in. When i told people i worked in gambling they looked at me like i suddenly sprouted horns from my forehead. Unihorns!!
Elin and me walked around being tall and swedish. Or so they said. Fairly easy, we didnt need to do much.
Frog got well celebrated and around 2-ish we all looked like we had one too many so oliver took me to the kebab place, fed me and took me home. Win!

This is turning out to be the best Monday ever!!

Oliver sent me a picture from today’s mail.

Let’s take a second and contemplate this…

 

Its and image of a package with the name Godisboxen (sweetie box). This is, without doubt, the best thing any package can have on the front. 

 

On the back is an image of this lovely baby vampire. Sweeties, best friends and vampires… this is turning out to be one epic gift and i havent even opened it yet.

 

But I need to hold my horses and wait until I’m home. Someone apparently need to step up his game, this camera is working alarmingly well.   

Julia, love you. Today, tomorrow and forever. Not only for the fact that you are awesome but because you know me so well. I mean, sweeeties, for real!

To my friends (the longest post ever)

I’m warning you, this post will be long. There is so much I want to say on this subject that it will have to be as long as it have to be. No short cuts or snappy comments. Some things need their space because they are important, sometimes life sustaining.

So, if you dont have a couple of minutes over stop reading now.

Still here? Well then, I will tell you about my friends. The ones that keep me (somewhat) sane and for whatever reason thinks I’m worth all the love in the world. A girl cant say no to that.

There is ‘the girls’. Most girls have a group called ‘the girls’, I am no exception. Mine is my trusted warriors from Lund (and Maggie). Sanna, Filippa, Sussie, Bella and Maggie. We have lived SATC life in NYC, done the Inca trail, danced in the streets of Havanna and on the bar in T-bar, we have had tuesday dinners and talked about everything, we have supported each other through everything.

Sanna is the eternal dreamer of a better life. Whether it’s a farm with cows or high heels in Paris doesnt matter as long as you can dream away. Since we met in Chamonix 13 years ago she have been by my side through ups and downs, through ghost stories and long walks around Djurgården and through dinners of ‘clean the fridge’ pasta. I know she’ll be there for another set of stories and always help me dream of the best life there is.

Filippa – the only one of my friends that can make me as pissed off as only a sister can. Love can do that to you. She is strong willed and always have an opinion as well as the most loyal person I know. The same way she will challenge you if she thinks you are wrong she will also challenge any one having a bad word to say about you. My crazy party friend that will turn any night into laughter and that will also open her home without a question if you need her.

Sussie is the groups smallest but biggest person. Being near her is feeling home. It’s knowing that whatever blows outside the window she will always take your hand and listen. Really listen to what you have to say and try to understand you whatever you are thinking. She goes her own way but turns around and give you a smile whenever you call her name. She loves to laugh and you cant help laughing with her.

Bella, my little Bella. We became friends the last year in Lund and I understood that here was someone to keep. No matter what its someone to keep fighting for, you want a place in her heart because she makes you feel special. Fiery temperament and a never stopping mind makes every conversation interesting and her concern for you makes you feel that there is someone out there that cares. Always. She will listen to you, she will come to you when you need her and she will look into your eyes and see you.

Maggie – we shared the heartache of the one of the hardest times of your life. Looked in the mirror and asked ourselves why but knew in our hearts its because we were forming memories and a never ending friendship. Maggie always want so much, she wants to do everything and the same goes for her friends, she will run around the world with you because if she loves you she wants you by her side always.

My girls makes Sthlm a hard place to leave but a wonderful place to come back too.

Talking about Sthlm I cant forget my Julia. The blond, over achieving, always talking, singing, dancing wonderful little Julia. So much has happened to her and all of that she turns into something good, something to make her even cooler and better. I love her for that, for making me feel like I want to be an even better person and for being a better person in her eyes. And for dressing up as a cheerleader vampire and dance with me for hours.

The last of my friends I need to mention (that doesnt mean that the rest of you dont mean the world to me) is Chrisse and little Malte. My two friends who fell in love and became my best couple. Chrisse who will take care of my mind by educating me in fantasy and like a true Gandalf help me in my path of life as well as making sure I could drink endless amounts if liquorice shots when my heart needed it and Alexandra who knows how it feels when the world is too much for you and who always remembers you when you need it. They make me feel that I have somewhere to go whenever I need it.

What about London? My home. Yes, I have managed to find people here that makes my life the best. Except for my boyfriend there are some extraordinary people.

Kix – crazy, wild, party child kix and caring, motherly, loving Kix makes up the perfect combination that I love so much. She took my hand when I needed it and helped me do the things i needed to do. Believing in me and making me feel in my heart I could do it because she felt it. Gathering her family around her and letting me be a part of it. With Robin by her side that makes everyone around him feel that he is there no matter what, Tompa, the sweetest man there ever was with a love for tipp dancing and chai tea, Lisen, living out the dreams you forgot you had and ziggy, kissing my face when it’s the only thing I need.

Ben, my frog. Anyone who’s ever sat up at 5 in the morning listening to the frog song och realizing this is the stuff friends are made off know what i talk about. That somewhere in this big city is someone who can always, no matter what, make you feel better.

Elin and Tom. The sweetest couple there is. The friends that live in my heart even if I dont see them. The two people who held me when i cried and whispered that everything would be ok. Elin, who sent me little gifts to showed me that I was loved and who made me a home I could relax in when life was too hard out there. Tom – my window smoker friend who danced with me liked there was no tomorrow and always made me feel that the world is good.

Dani, welcomed me to London, took me under her wings, invited me into her life and showed me that even if you come from different countries you can soul mates in the true sense of the world. Every time i see her I think that we are meant the be friends, it’s part of who i am supposed to be. This beautiful girl with the love for vodka and late night partying as well as long talks in the ski slopes before throwing her self out in the snow with joy is part of me.

Lat but not least, the man across the seas. Laxen. A colleague who became a friend. The guy who loves a party more than anything but also will see when you are sad and offer to watch girly movies with you all weekend if that makes you happy. The one you’ll dance the night away with in Paris chasing the decadence and that will also take you out for lunch on your birthday and make you feel like a princess. Shame he is living in Aussie – a win for them but a loss for me.

With all of these people in my life I am blessed and then I havent even mentioned my family. People that are so close that I can barely think about them without tearing up because they are not where I am.

(Told you it would be long, how can it not when Im talking about the most important thing in life)