vegetarian summer barbecue

To have fresh grilled vegetables alongside halloumi or soy-sausages plus a nice salad, that is summer dinner bliss to me. Unfortunately I think our old-ish barbecue needs replacing, but it managed to produce - or at least make the final details happen - this on Midsummer. And all the bobbaloos who weren't with us last summer enjoyed a feast too.

Yes I may loath the concept of Swedish Midsummer, but I'm a sucker for a decent vegetarian dinner. Next time the veggies need to be marinated for a longer time, all that awesome garlic needs to get down to flavour business for real. But it was still a wonderful meal, and we had lots of leftovers to make nice dinners/lunches for the rest of the week.


soy-sausages and yellow paprika

mushrooms

courgette and halloumi

new potatoes

simple salad with only lettuce, cherry tomatoes, cucumber and radish

the last bottle of fabulous sangria in a pretty pitcher
plus lovely non-alcoholic beverages

to round the meal of nicely my mum had brought a lovely rhubarb sponge cake.
which i turned into cream cake awesomeness with fresh strawberries

It was such a vegetarian feast! We really need to make more use of the barbecue possibilities this time of the year. And try to grill fresh pineapple or other fruits too.

Which are your vegetarian favourites for a good barbecue?
Marinated, flavoured in some way or just as is?
I'd love to get some good tips!

a new passport kind of day

what would have been an overall lovely, splendid summer day spent in good company, matching food and a wee bit of shopping was sadly overshadowed by the horrific fact that the new passport photo was actually able to surpass the old one in nastiness;

the mad witch on speed with a generous portion of blotched mascara have been replaced by a conehead supersized hamster with mumps. a most degrading experience for which you actually has to pay a hefty sum.

under these circumstances it is, frankly, difficult to think grateful thoughts like 'i'm a citizen in a country where i'm allowed to have a passport and travel wherever i please' or 'i have a fine identity card, this utterly hateful passport i will never have to show other than at the airport to complete strangers'. because to be honest i'm not sure any country will allow such a creature over its boarders. gdansk will tell.

an overall most disheartening and mad experience really. i would indeed go as far as to say the police officers taking the photos probably fall into the category of sadist. something as basic and simple as allowing the subject seeing her/himself on the screen while photo is taken, arranging features, expression, tilt of head would make a world of difference.



sun, good people, a rather fab vegetarian lunch, a pleasant incident of the marimekko kind could only help soothe the hateful ordeal in a small way. sadly.

the good old days when you were allowed to take your own passport photo in a photobooth or at a photographer, oh how i miss you!

three blues at the vet's

today was the day of the second vaccination and id-chipping of three blue fluffs. they were very brave.

behold the faces of a couple of sceptical wee blue ones "no we don't think this is neither necessary nor a good idea".

åskar and årvar - as ågot is staying put - are in theory now ready to move to forever, loving home/s. with, as usual, stipulations and terms, thus until the right suitable buyer/s show up (who share my thoughts on the do's and dont's when sharing your home with a cat soul) they're happy to stay put too.

the beat

What I learnt today;

~ That I really should put my perfume bottles etc somewhere else than above the bags with paper recycling. I was looking in vain for my summer perfume bottle today and have to realise it has most probably fallen into the recycling bag. RIP little perfume, I hope you didn't mess up the paper recycling process too much...

Found another perfume bottle stuck behind the sofa in the entry hall though. Had forgotten about it. Will act as new summer perfume. The Beat.


~ That having extensive blood tests taken doesn't necessarily mean you're non the wiser when getting the results. My ESR is conciderably lower and nearly normal again, other blood counts are either normal or showing tiny too much or too little of whatever they're suppose to show, but that can of course be due to the indeterminable infection. Conclusion; find a good general practitioner - haven't been to one in ages, a few crappy ones, but not a good one for many years. Though happy I haven't needed one for any forcing issues. Touch wood - and get the tests taken again after summer.

Meanwhile let the nose drip continue. And the tiredness. Sigh. Or get well, one day at a time.


~ Finding a bottle of concealer doesn't mean that the dark cirles under eyes magically disappear. Instead it gives you a grand choice of looking like a panda with either dark circles or white circles under eyes. Did I mention I am so looking forward to the passport photo shoot on Friday?



~ Very small fluffs can find mysterious, still unknown hiding places to sleep in the kitchen and get locked in there all night. All alone. Without meowing. Two nights in a row. His you-have-to-make-this-up-for-me-fund is now enormous.

Such fluffs also love stealing food from plate and are very fond of such distinguished foods as garlic marinated mushrooms, grilled courgette and grated carrots.


~ When one finally feel all prepared and excited about sewing those two pair of skirts for which one recently found two excellent pieces of odd fabrics one shouldn't rely on the amateurish fixing of gnawed cord on sewing machine pedal. Gnawing by unknown beast. It didn't work. Very upset and annoyed One.

Still love, love, love those pieces of fabric though! They will make fabulous skirts. Hopefully one can easily find a new pedal. And keep it away from gnawing beasts.


So. I'd love to know, what lessons did you learn today?

summer in a bowl

fresh strawberries teamed up with elderflower sorbet, mango sorbet and blueberry tofu icecream. delightful to look at, delightful to devour. summer in a bowl indeed.

bonus information; the ice cream scoop from zyliss has been on my wishlist for so long, finally i found the pink one i wanted. and really, its features for scooping up icecreams and sorbets are just... perfectly delightful!

meet viola, the open-toed shoes

Time to show and tell a bit about the latest delightful shoes.

Or well, delightful to look at, delightful fit but alas I found that they do lack the usual elastic verve me and my feet are used to with El Naturalista shoes. That special sweet bouncy walk which is a part of the brand's charm and ergonomical features. The sister shoe, the Cork Oak wedge - and I do not like wedges in general, terribly unflattering and difficult to walk gracefully in for most - I adore. They're comfortable for long city walks and have lots of verve.



But since I do, granted, prefer a non-wedge sole I was very pleased when I saw that the new for this season almost peep-toes - and I've been longing for a pair since last hot summer - were of a more regular cork oak heel.

I put them through a tough first test, but most El Naturalista shoes have passed such a test with flying colours. Though after walking all day on city streets on Åland I can say that they may be comfortable in the no-blisters-in-sight way but certainly not in the perfect-support-for-the-sole-of-feet-way. They are more like Swedish wooden clogs, the inelastic kind, and gave me that tiresome burning sensation under feet. It wasn't a lasting burning sensation, when I got home and slipped in to the slipper/sandals all was well in the feet-world again. And my feet were fine when I woke up the day after.



But for long city walks on tar, I will never wear again. The soles simply offer too little support and elasticity. And I never thought I'd say this; what a difference a wedge make!

I guess I demand a lot from the shoes I buy, perhaps too much, one would usually never wear a pair of high heels in the same way/to the same occasion as wellies or sneakers. But in the case of these violet beauties I expected the same excellenct performance as in the wedge-sister...



This particular pair of violet shoes will fill a purpose for shorter walks in the city and possibly longer walks on softer grounds. For festive occasions and little summer outings - quite the opposite to last year's light violet pretty ones, which are suprisingly comfortable to wear for longer city walks, despite their higher heels... - they're adorable to look at - I adore their chunky 1940ies-look! -, love the deep violet colours, and fit really well. Not to mention air the toes. Now I just wish this particular almost peep-toed Cork Oak would come in the more elastic and supportive wedge model too...



Have you purchased any new summer shoes yet?
Are you happy with them?

viva circus nails

there's just something irresistable with painting the (finger)nails in different colours. colour combinations are endless. perky and happy instigating. long live circus nails!

and having bought the crazy number of five nailpolish the other day i couldn't resist trying them all out at once.

from left to right above;
opi nlp16 planks a lot (pale violet) -
opi nlt31 my address is hollywood (oldfashion pink with a hint of shimmer) -
opi nlt26 french quarter for your thoughts (pale grey) -
essie 221A fear & desire (neon-ish orange) -
essie 67 meet me at sunset (deep orange).
they all match eachother very nicely i think. a sophisticated circus perhaps? some colours work well all year around, others are very summery.

what are your favourite summer colours on nails?
perhaps different colours on finger- resp toenails?

happy midsummer ~ midsommar 2012

This is the backside of the tunic that moved in a month ago, a proper Midsumer tunic. Love the embroidery on the back. Midsommar = Midsummer.

It is so my very least liked Swedish public holiday - hyped and drenched in alcoholic misery and addiction -, but the time of the Swedish year is a very pretty one.

We'll enjoy a veggie barbecue - drenched in garlic - and have an unpretentious lovely day. And cake. And strawberries.

Wishing you a lovely day,
hope you spend it wisely, kindly with
good food and company you enjoy ~

the fabulousness of finnish rye bread

i may have emptied åland yesterday on finnish rye bread. sorry. but it really is crazy delicious and good. sure, finnish rye bread is sold in swedish supermarkets too, i've ate them since forever, but i haven't seen this particular brand here. thus had to empty the åland food store's shelves of it.

four ingredients only; wholegrain rye, yeast, salt and water. in this age of all ridiculous and nasty additives i heart that.

top with butter, vegetarian cheese and lots of cucumber. finnish fabulousness.

three nailpolish and two heinies

i give you today's best buy and fav snap in one.

three miniature opi polish (have never seen them before, certainly not available in sweden, small bottles are so much more practical!)

and



two heinies. one bobbaloo, one male human. surprisingly alike. giggleworthy galore.

we have spent another brilliant day on åland. heart.

tuesday things

The randomness of this June Tuesday;

Admittedly I was too tired yesterday too, but today hooray, I managed to get out of bed early and have those blood samples taken. It was a slightly more painful story than usual, I had more close encounters with needles than I had anticipated before it worked, behold photo proof. *Poor me*



And yes, this round of samples will also have a look at possible thyroid disorder etc. Possibly the test answers will come before Midsummer.

As I had already treated myself to all sorts of nice things past weekend the treat of the day was a soy latte. To be able to thoroughly enjoy the flavour of one is an acquired taste, wouldn't you agree? The soy milk flavour in cooking and baking isn't distinguishable. But in coffee it is. And not in a pleasant way. But I feel like a kinder earthling having one. And it is kinder to my tummy. And after all, a latte is a pretty rare treat, the switching to no dairy tea is a far greater thing which has gone surprisingly swimmingly well, I'm sure this will feel just fine one day, if not today.



For some reason I lust after yellow things this summer - the, for me, least befitting colour I never wear in clothes - so I got me a couple of comfy chairs for garden, perfect to sit and sip lemonade in my white corner under the clematis, beside the mock orange. Still contemplating having one of these sunchairs - albeit uncomfy without a pillow support for the back curve - but since it comes in pink too it's a tricky tricky choice to make...

Next week I'm hoping a very special yellow nailpolish will arrive in the mail.

Do you have a special colour you lust after this summer?



Tomorrow will hold a most pleasant day trip to Åland with the mother. I love have you can always get a bargain price - in this case zero cost for the ticket - and have a change of scenery and air going to Åland. Lovely any time of the year, but of course, spending a couple of hours on deck soaking in the sun in the summer... bliss.

The six-ish hours we have in Mariehamn will be spent walking, browsing shops, having only very nice things to eat and drink. The perfect wee getaway. The sun is said to be generous and benevolent. I'm planning to in a daredevilish way inaugurate the new open toe shoes. In case, by the end of day, feet require a patch or two, I've (befittingly) packed Moomin ones.

I hope your week so far has been a good one.
And continue to be so ~

at the end of the weekend

I have to admit the overwhelming always present tiredness prevented me from rising early to get those blood samples on Friday. So it'll have to be an early morning meeting with needles on Monday instead. There's no escaping from the inevitable. It's just that EVERYTHING - and since I hate capslock you know I'm serious here - is a big deal and exhausting at the moment, every little (in the big scheme of things) setback is overwhelming. Whine whine.



The overall downpour this weekend in Stockholm and nearby has been of semi-epic proportions. Perhaps not uplifting for the mind and spirit, but it does make the world look grand in all its green glory.

Sadly not the weather for cork heeled new shoes, but I happily walked in my pretty Helsinki ones instead (which are quite comfortable I'm pleased to report).



I try to stay focused on good stuff right now, try not to dwell on the obvious setbacks of various kinds, so from this weekend some of the good stuff I take with me is the happy fact that after the three months search I found THE summer dress 2012 - yes it begun approx at the same time as the darn infection-of-unknown-kind, thus I'm thinking that with the finding of the dress the infection will say farewell, logical right? - I had two scrumptious pieces of raspberry toffee covered in dark chocolate.

There was the great fortune of finding the perfect umbrella - which I regreted not getting in Helsinki, worthy of a post of its perfect own - at the summer sales.



I enjoyed a very pretty cheese sandwich and last but not least, cuddled with the cutest of kittens.



How was your weekend?

tired days

the random flickers of energy and inspiration aren't enough to fill a (semi)witty blogpost. thus today, on yet another tired day - having some more, new, blood samples taken tomorrow, hopefully they will show improvement and answers - i will just mention a few recent happy things;



~ this year's first fresh strawberries (and a kitten)



~ the new shoes arriving and fitting perfectly (more in a post of their own of course)



~ before the rain poured down for hours, a lovely summer day in stockholm (with bobbaloos)



~ a pretty decent soy latte (and bobbaloos)



~ sleepy kittens



~ wearing my strawberry shirt

And of course, one of my roses simply outdoing itself this year. Every time I step out into the garden it welcomes me with an abundance of open, sweet fragrant flowers.

All these things, and more, and for a moment or two, the tiredness isn't quite as overwhelming.

first hedgehog of 2012

yayness galore, today we had the uttermost pleasure to welcome this year's first hedgehog! the smallish one got fed with cat-food, as usual. hedgehog drop-inn has opened for the season - welcome ~

sunday thoughts

I've spent a lot of time thinking this past week. Which means I'm quite possibly feeling a bit better than the week before and the months before that and so forth. Some of the things I've contemplated are;

~ That too many people are narrow-minded due to cultural and religious backgrounds, that we all sadly are aware of, but that simply a certain lifestyle, a hobby or a passionate interest, can make people unable to take a step back, see the situation from a distance, think logical about certain matters, that still astonish me. And saddens too of course.

And when one has an interest in the matter there's really no point of trying to reason with someone who has already their mind set, since who am I to have logical arguments about the matter, I who have an interest in seeing things being resolved in a nice way. At least according to the person who has already had her/his mind set on things.


~ I wish the lilacs season would continue for a lot longer. They are pretty much overblown already. The rhododendron soon too, the peonies transient, one day here, next day gone, honeysuckle also. And roses already, isn't that way too soon?


~ When one gets the tax refund one should get a new pair of shoes, right? So that's what I did. Ever since I began pining (on a hot summer day) after a comfy pair of open toe shoes I've been in vain searching for the right pair, in the right colour. El Naturalista had some lovely new models/colours this season. I hope they will be a good match to my feet when they arrive this week. If not - touch wood - at least I don't have to pay any extra to return them.


~ We had our annual cab outing with friends last Friday - and even after all these years, the liberating feeling of riding a cab blows me away, love love its mind-cleansing, at least for a moment, properties - it was lovely and the weather was spot on.

But it also got me thinking about how many people who just accept things as they are, living their lives with no care whatsoever on their own impact on the rest of the world. And that I find appalling, when there are so many small things, with little effort and thought, we can do to make things better in the bigger scheme of things. When I point that out, in a nice manner, I'm always surprised at how either defensive or embarrassed giggly people get.

Seriously, why can't people just think that little bit extra when they make choices? And how come so many employees seem to accept the wear and tear-mentality with a total lack of CSR their employers obviously shamelessly stands for?

I strive to be a better earthling, when I make a decision that will impact others in a greater way I do it consciously, if it's a bad decision - we all make those - I am aware of that I could have made a more kind, caring one, but for probably selfish reasons I didn't. I was kind to myself, but it would have made less of a bad impact on others if I had gone the other way decisionwise. Sometimes we have to be kind to ourselves, treat ourselves. But admittedly, I always want to be a better person, so even if not today, next time I will make a better decision.


~ I think a lot about the collective sorrow of cows. When I think about what they have endured, are enduring, every day, all over the world, I weep.

I'm really very pleased I've given up having milk in my tea and, previously, in my cooking/baking. That's a huge step in the right direction to be a more compassionate earthling. Vegetarian cheese and organic butter I still use. One step at a time, one step at a time.


~ With Prosit business starting we said that this summer would be a no travel summer - oh I miss Berlin, I want to go back again and again and... I would also love to return to my home away from home Scotland and Yorkshire, it's crazy that it's been four years since... - just a day trip here and there. But then suddenly M said 'do you want to have a few days in Gdansk?', apparently there are crazy good deals right now and I (consciously made a decision and) said 'YES!'.

So in mid July, for a few days, I'll get to see the gorgeous place that is Gdansk again, yayness! Eat all that fabulous vegetarian food, which surprised me, walk the pretty streets, roam Sephora, visit adorable cafés and most of all return to Sopot and savour every minute of my must-visit to Jozef K...

The downside of the trip is that I need to renew my passport. These days we can only take the passport photo at the police station thus I can't control the picture like I could with the ID-card. I look like a mad witch on my current passport, still I'm certain the new photo can possibly get worse. I'm not sure if one's allowed to wear glasses on the passport these days, which is ridiculous if one is a regular foureyes of course, I'm addicted to my dotty pair. They're my safe haven. Before I found them contact lenses was a must, I basically wore glasses only when I was tired or ill. Now glasses, dotty ones, is a must.


~ When I changed to a new iPhone I had plus 5000 photos in the old one, I saved them and then one my one went through and erased so I was down to a reasonable 150 in the new phone. It now holds 2500 photos already. It may be the fact that I rarely bring the DSLR with me these days, if I'm not out on a photo excursion in a new place. I rely on the iPhone and its pretty awesome optics (given good light). But I hate that it's so easy to snap away, because getting down to the image processing, saving and erasing... well that's another story. Luxuary problem.


~ This is the first blog post ever written in pink office. Huzzah! Not sure what's taken me this long... Now when the natural light allows decent photos being taken I may even snap some to show the office properly. The calm creative space I call mine.