christmas castle concert 2014 with rongedal

What a lovely way to spend a Lucia evening -

Christmas concert in Skokloster castle church
with the fabulous brothers Rongedal and choir.

Admittedly I did miss singing and outstanding moves like this, that would have set the audience on metaphorical fire!

Happy Lucia one and all ~

lussebulle 2014 comes with a warning

My private tradition of baking lussebullar aka lussekatter aka Lucia buns ala Swedish saffron buns on December 12 (the day before Lucia celebrations) has taken place - you can find the recipe in last year's post

I began with a vegan bake, which was a complete failure, the dough didn't rise and created inedible buns. I have never failed with my lussekatter. And I hate wasting good ingredients like that. But now there'll be animals in the forrest who can feast on my saffron buns.

Then I made my usual buns (oats milk but liquid butter/oil instead of rapeseed oil only but omitting the quark) and they were lovely as usual.

Also the bobbaloo named Lucia Bun wanted me to publish this picture to make sure you never ever eat someone like him instead of a lussebulle. If you look properly it is quite obvious which one is edible and which one is certainly not. Please pay attention, it's a dangerous time of the year for lussebulle-bobbaloos!

christmassy nails

Remember the fantastic speckled egg nailpolish from Models Own I got for Easter? With one broken bottle. I've been meaning to replace that bottle ever since, but the expensive postage has been off-putting. But now I went for it and made sure they packed it extra well. In fact they packed it so well it was quite a job to unpack it. Many thumbs up for that! And of course no bottle was broken upon arrival.

The delivery was also, just like last time, super-quick. Picked up late evening in the UK, delivered by FedEx 2 pm the next day at my door. Haven't used any of them yet - because I've just painted my nails a bit glittery christmassy, so I might as well enjoy that for the rest of the week


Opi Do You Think I'm Tex-y? + Gettin' Miss Piggy With It and China Glaze Running in circles

Seems like I have to deny the "to be honest (really) I pretty much use the ones I already have rather than oogling and buying new ones" thing from only a few week backs - oh dear, seems like there's a little politician living inside me trying to show her face... - but apart from that slightly embarassing bit I enjoy the purchase very much. Hopefully they'll look nice worn too, it was a 6 bottles deal so I'm not at sure about all the colours.

Two things you can always rely on though -
1) There is always a bobbaloo that colour match,
2) there is always a feline inspector aka snooperviser nearby.

on international animal rights day 2014

I may not care much about the Nobel Prize ceremony - even if the Peace Prize laureate this year is wonderful - I obviously care much more of the importance of animal rights. So the fact that we had a Yelp Social vegetarian/vegan lunch at an Indian restaurant was of course pretty perfect today of all days, on International Animal Rights Day.



We all opted for the vegan Thali and it was rather lovely and flavourful (though the plating could have been nicer...). As was the company. The only thing that was horrific was the miserable weather (yes, I will probably grow grumpy weather horns myself soon). But three of us had the most awesome of pink umbrella meetup - such a rare treat it had to be captured.



I wish Animal Rights Day wasn't necessary still. But sadly, even if it's a steady growing movement of veganism, vegetarianism and awareness, the world is still full of too many animal flesh eaters, zoo visitors and animal abusers of various kinds.

"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way in which its animals are treated"~ Mahatma Gandhi. 

Just keep in mind that the path to moral progress begins with each and everyone of us as individuals, from what we eat and wear to how we entertain ourselves home and abroad. That peace is only achieved once we begin to fully respect all earthlings and their right to a full and natural life for their own sake not humans'.

the grumpy weather cat 2.0

From one grumpy but sweet-faced weather cat to her slightly older lens louse half-sister who is even less impressed by my lack of weather powers.



Their father totally agree on the lack of impressiveness.

In fact the grumpiness over the sad state of the current seasonal weather has now evolved into a whole other level. The 2.0 version of the grumpy weather cat. The version who has developed clearly visible horns of scorn. This does not bode well for the months to come.

three magic wristwarmers on a string

As constant snoopervision or lens louse behaviour is obligatory in this residence you can never ever really get away from it. Like even if you hang things on a string to be photographed you can always rely on the feline inspector to appear where you least expect it. Please find one fault in this picture.

No, not even three perky wristwarmers get to bask in the glory of a blogpost of their own. Pesky paw inspection is a must.

One pair of wristwarmers I've made to order the other two is actually for sale, because I couldn't stop knitting, more magic was needed. I might have to list them in my hibernating Etsy-shop. Feel free to give me a holler if you're interested!

second advent sunday sweden 2014

My second Advent Sunday was spent on the annual Christmas fair in Sigtuna. Nice breakfast at Tant Brun, pretty town as always. Awful weather, too much people and generally uninteresting things for sale. Still, it has become a personal December tradition to attend this. And a lovely thing just for that reason.

I resisted to buy one of the pretty Christmas wreaths (above in the third picture) because I wanted to support one of my previous clients, a gardener, who attended a fair at one local suburbian water hole. I happily settled for one of her cute wreaths which now adorns my front door instead.

Bought a saffron bun for an appropriate Advent Sunday fika. And enjoyed the third season of the prettiest-advent-candlestick-ever in my office - the Lucia parade all throughout December for me, not just on the 13th.

All and all, lucky me.

christmas tea 2014

Continuing on the seasonal theme. Now it's time for Christmas teas. Previous years there have been Santa swirlings, Gingerbread tea, Lussete (Lucia tea with saffron), Vete-kattenblandning and Little Heart.

This year I'm thoroughly enjoying the lovely rooibos tea Röda mulen (Red muzzle) - for which obviously a great big horned ursabob named Wilco was the perfect poster boy! - from Swedish coffee and tea merchant Johan & Nyström.

The black tea which name is simply Julte (Christmas tea, jul = Christmas, te = tea) comes from another Swedish tea merchant, Kahl's. Smells wonderful of lots of spices and orange, it tastes alright but not nearly as perfect as the Röda mulen.

Strangely enough, from being very anti rooibos I find that I most often chose flavoured red tea over my usual black teas (green tea I often find has a bitter tang even if you don't brew it too long and white tea tastes nothing). They're mostly very kind in taste and full of flavour.



Do you have a favourite winter season tea?

spelt hot dog buns

Since I found my favourite vegan sausages some months ago - from Swedish brand Anamma, who makes great, healthy and tasty vegan products - I've been known to succumb to the easy way out when it's time for dinner - sausage in a hot dog bun, mustard, ketchup and grated carrots.

But I really don't like the nastiness that's supermarket white bread hot dog buns with its useless sugar content (really...). So I decided to bake my own buns. And instead of wheat flour I used spelt only, for a healthier more satisfying meal. (This is by the way apparently a GI-bread, which doesn't interest me, but obviously some care.)

Here's the recipe. It makes for 40 hot dog buns and they are well worth the effort to make!

Healthy home made hot dog buns

6 dl almond or oats milk

50 g yeast

1 tsp salt

8 tbsp rapeseed oil

2 tbs treacle

ca 15 dl spelt flour 

Pour the milk in a pot and warm until finger warm. Add the oil. Blend the yeast with salt and a bit of the warm milk/oil in a mixer bowl until dissolved.

Add the rest of the ingredients and the spelt flour and let the machine do the work for about 5 minutes until the dough unstick from the bowl. Remember that the amount of flour is approximate, the dough should be neither sticky or dry. Let the dough prove under a cloth in room temperature for 30 minutes. 

Put the dough on a floured bread board and knead it. Cut the dough into 40 pieces. Shape the pieces into 15 cm long hot dog buns. Put them on baking sheets with oven paper. Let them prove for another 30 minutes. And heat the oven to 200C.

Bake in the middle of oven for about 10 minutes until they're a nice colour and baked through. remember that spelt flour doesn't need as much time in the oven as regular flour so keep a close eye on them.

Let them cool on a rack before you enjoy a few or freeze them all.

'tis the season of the lush fairytale soap

Another reason to adore the season (in parts!) is that the limited edition of Lush's delicious Snowfairy products are available in stores. I snatched myself a bottle of swoonworthy candy-scented shower gel and a big lump of fabulous soap.

I also got a little fine Charity pot with body lotion where 100% of the price (minus taxes) goes to worthy causes and organizations which align with Lush's ethics (environmental conservation, animal welfare and human rights). In my shop the money went to Doctors Without Borders. Every little sum helps.

Obviously my Fluffy Lens-louse and skincare inspector extraordinaire aka Little Snow (also known as Santa's Little Toppler) would be the perfect addition to a Snowfairy capture. Though by the looks of it she thinks I'm a bit tiresome with the "pose, pretty please".