HOT HOT H.E.A.T

  So once again it's time to close a year and start a new and fresh one. What has 2011 meant for you?  For me one of my highlights was to visit my sister in California which happens far too seldom. Not only that I got to meet almost all the family during my stay even so my brother-in-law's family. I love being with her since it's not that long we have known each other. I feel I really want to spend as much time as I can but it's a bit far ;-) and also kind of expensive apart from the fact a big chunk of my holiday goes. If I could I would go there for Christmas/New Year/Summer as well. All the times I've been there has been in spring around Easter which is a wonderful time of year in California, just like our high summer :-) I won the cooking competition at work the second year in a row :-) Hasse and I spent a wonderful holiday in Helsinki and Stockholm and also took the time to stay in our favorite hotel in Stockholm several times during this autumn. What am I l...

HEAT 2012 Teaser of what is to come from H.E.A.T in 2012. Great stuff and I can't wait to here the whole album. I wish you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012!!

Tulips that I got from Staffan and Lena Yesterday was Boxing Day and we had a very dear visit from children and grandchildren from Gävle and also Jonas. We had a lovely Taco buffet and it was so nice to sit down and chat with them. It's not often nowadays we all get together since they are all over the place.  Alass Linnea wasn't here but it's a long trip from Thailand to us ;-)  Henrik is normally in Haparanda playing icehockey, Lisa and Micke attend the University in Uppsala and Malin the University in Sundsvall and Jonas is all over the place :-) Henrik, Malin and Klara Me and Malin in the kitchen We have had the most strange weather here in Sweden lately. It's been stormy and winds in hurricane strength which led to a lot of fallen trees, the railway hasn't worked for 2 days and many people (around 180.000) were out of electricity and some still are. This photo shows our flower we have outside our front door and it's blooming and even got buds on it if yo...

To you who celebrate Christmas today I wish you a very merry Day filled with good food, gifts, laughter, family and love. My 3 beautiful sons and some of the food As you know we in Sweden celebrate on the Eve so we had ours yesterday. I had the family here, me, all three boys, Hasse of course, my sis Helen and her 2 children Bianca and Antonio and we had Mom here. This wasn't obvious and we weren't sure she would make it until the last hours. Helen's husband who drives disabled worked yesterday and we had managed it so that he would fetch her and also Danniel went with her in the car. I think she liked it. She ate with good appetite and she even laughed a couple of times which makes me happy.   Mom and Helen helping her out We sang some corals and Jonas played the piano and Mom liked it so much that she clapped her hands :-)   Watching Donald Duck after Christmas lunch She is very tired so she can't stay up very long so after giving her the Christmas gifts she wa...

Today is the last day before the Christmas celebrations tomorrow (here in Sweden that is). I still have cooking and baking to do but I just wanted to write some before I do that. On Wednesday we had our annual Christmas celebration at work and we started in the afternoon with glögg, coffee, gingerbreadcookies and lottery. I actually won one price - a open fire place for table (indoor). Very nice and hopefully we will use it a lot to create a nice atmosphere. After that we took taxis to Cajsa Warg where we were divided into 3 teams - the one who cooked starter - me in the main course team and of course we had a dessert team. And off we went cooking and drinking some very nice wine. We had a lot of great fun and since one of our common big interest at work is food and good wine we had a great time. For starters we had scallops with roasted pancetta, cauliflowermousse and applesyrup. Delicious!!! OK as usual the photo is the wrong way and I can't turn it here!! It's the ...

the lunch I served at work today :-)  For starter I served a cold avocado soup with shrimps Main course was my favorite Lasagne served with salat and for the grand desert I had made a "julgodisbord" kind of Christmas candy table which consisted of toscacookies coated with chocolate, peppermintpastilles, Christmas toffée, fudge, candy cane and much more. Almost everything made by me (expect for the fudge and candy cane) We are normally 6-10 people but today we were 13!! and I wasn't prepared for that but luckily I always do too much so I had for everyone. It was harder with plates and chairs but as we say in Sweden if there is place for hearts there are also place for bottoms. Sounds better in Swedish actually :-) I also saw my doctor today about my head and he said it was a nasty big bump I had but not much to do but rest and it will hopefully go away soon. If I get worse I have to go to the ER he said so I hope not. I hope you all had a good Monday. I know I did a...

Yes, finally it's snowing but it's not all good :-( I went to see my Mom yesterday and one enormous thing was that she recognize me and even said my name. That hasn't happened for ages. So I was happy. I Christmas decorated her room at the home and we had a good time listening to Christmas carols and Mom ate some chocolate I had brought. But then I went to see Danniel and that's when things started go wrong. Suddenly it had frozen, earlier it was kind of rain-snow but I wasn't prepared and as I went down I suddenly slipped on some ice, probably, and fell hard. I hit the back of my head on a stone pavement and it hurt like h..l. I think I even saw some stars. I didn't lose concious and I haven't been feeling sick but I have a huge bump on my head which is very very hurtful and I have a headache, I'm dizzy and the muscles on my neck are hurting so much it's hard to lie down (whiplash). But stubborn as I am I don't go to the ER. I hate it. And ...

 The guys when in Gothenburg recording but here they are in a store :-) On Wednesday the guys came home again after 5 weeks recording in the studio. The result is amazing says Jona but I haven't heard it yet, maybe on Christmas. Well, the recording is finished but now the mixing and mastering takes place and the release won't be until sometimes next year, maybe March. I'm so curious as I suppose all of you are too. I think we are in for a real treat with this one!   Jona laying keys, you can see his fingers ;-) The one by the computer is Crash Apart from that we had Christmas party at the Rheumatic association Stockholm district on Wednesday. Very nice. We served glögg, of course, with gingerbread cookies, Santa-porridge, ham, Christmas-cheese, bread, coffee with safronbuns and of course a "gottisbord" (candytable-it's not really a table but a big bowl of candies which you associate with Christmas like fudge, chocolate and much much more) We also had a man...

  Christmas candy   Chocolate and truffles  Christmas feels closer now Yesterday we had an Advent party here for family, friends, workingcollegues and H.E.A.T family. From the beginning it was meant to be a party to gather the H.E.A.T family who hasn't seen each other much this year because the guys haven't been touring but writing songs for the new album. We had calculated they would be finished in the studio last week but no. They weren't. So no H.E.AT members although several H.E.A.T parents came, at least 3/6th of them :-) I had also invited working collegues, friends and family members, all in all around 40 people. The very morning I had calls from 10 people who couldn't come and the days before had also been some cancellations so in total we were half the amount - 20! But we had a great time filled with glögg (of course) coffee, canapés with Christmas ham and mustard and also some with Skagenmixture, safronbuns, gingerbreads with blue-cheese/creme fraiche, safr...

  Some of the safronbuns. I make them like cinammon buns but with safron and almond icing. Delicious if I may say so myself :-) I know, I admit I have been a very bad blogger lately ;-) I don't know why I don't have or rather take the time to write down things even though they aren't that special. I know I love to read others who think their blogs aren't any exciting but I love to follow the day to day life even the boring days. We all have them don't we? Today for instance. I started out baking safronbuns for the second time in two weeks! We now have almost 200! No, we are not going to eat them ourselves. I think we would gain too much if we did ;-) No, we are having a 3rd Advent glogg mingle with H.E.A.T families, my co-workers, family from all over and if the guys get ready in the studio they will come too. I do hope they will but they now say it will take yet another week so not sure. I have also baked a lot of other things, of course :-) And we will treat ...

I have the last days found a TV-show on Swedish Television where Americans come to Sweden to find their heritage. It's a competition and they get to see many parts of Sweden and each week they compete and one by one is out until one is left. That person will meet with his or hers Swedish relatives. It's incredibly emotional, gives you a sence of Sweden and Swedes. It's called Allt för Sverige which means All for Sweden and here's a link. If you're interested you can click and watch (I hope) otherwise it's on www.svt.se/play -  Allt för Sverige . In this episode they are in a beautiful summer Stockholm. It's mostly in English so you will have no trouble understanding.

Once again a week has flown by and we are getting closer to Advent-time which is nice. This week I went to a TV-recording of the Swedish version of The Voice with 4 very well-known and loved singers. My "entourage" was my sister Helen, her daugther Bianca , her friend and Danniel. It was great fun but since it was very close to where my Mom lives it was a long way to drive and it's almost out on the country so when we went to fetch the car it was completely black! You couldn't see anything expect for a very shy moon. I did get to my car and drove home. On the top of this photo you can see Helen and Danniel with the spot on them.     Then Thursday night a friend of mine won the HMMA for classical song. This took place in Los Angeles and a big congratulation to Victoria Tocca for this achievement. The song is Dark Waltz. Click on the link and you can see and hear the song.  Victoria Tocca from the HMMA awards (Photos from Victoria's homepage) On Friday I ...

H.E.A.T has hit the studio and are recording. This is part one of their studio diary :-) Enjoy!

Magic numbers 111111. Think about it - it's 100 years til next time and then none of us will be here. Other than that nothing much happened today. Had a meeting and then I went to the opticians and my sight was not what it used to be so I will get new glasses next week. I have also cooked prime rib in red wine the whole afternoon and it's so tender and smells delicious. Danniel and Emil is coming over for dinner tomorrow since Sunday is Father's Day here in Sweden. Jonas is in the studio in Kungälv with H.E.A.T recording their first album with Erik Grönwall as singer :-) We are so excited to see and hear the outcome of this. I'm totally sure it will supergood!! Erik G in the studio The night before they went the guys and their girlfriends had goodbye-party in their rehearsalstudio (The photo taken by Mandy) Tomorrow I'm going to visit my Mom and then Danniel will follow me home for dinner. A special big congratulation to my niece Monica in Barcelona ...

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Friday I went to the Rheumatic association to get a view of the new homepage and it's looking very promising. After the meeting I went to my favourite chocolate store here in Stockholm: Kungsholmens choklad & Café on Fleminggatan 45 (which is opposite S:t Erik's hospital). For you who knows Stockholm :-) She has the most delicious chocolate and so good coffee. If you ever are in the neighbourhood, don't miss out on a visit.  (She's also a H.E.A.T mom) Then yesterday me and Helen was at Tyrol which is a restaurant at the amusement park Gröna Lund (which is closed but the restaurant is open all year round). We had a great lunch and then a supershow with Carola who is probably the biggest star we have in Sweden. She has a show where she sings Barbara Streisand and Elvis music. It was absolutely great! I have no idea why the photos are the wrong way and I don't know how to fix it. Advice please! After the show we went to a charity event hosted by Victoria...

 Rehearsing before the TV-show You just have to watch this. This is such a lovely ballad performed by Jocke Berg singer of Hardcore Superstar (a big hardrockgroup from Sweden) and Jonas from H.E.A.T. It was on this morning on Swedish TV4 and here's the CLIP . Enjoy it!

 Beautiful view of Stockholm early Saturday morning Back home after a weekend in Stockholm and you can never guess which hotel? Yes, right it's as always Elite Marina Tower although this time we weren't as pleased as before. The location is still great and this time we took walks along the seaside which was great. The weather really was on the right side, that is sunny and beautiful. Temp. around 12-13C which is very warm this time of the year. You could even see people on surfboards. I don't know what this sport is called but I bet it would be cold if they fell into the water. We had a suite this time, very pricy which I didn't know when I said yes to it. I show you some photos from it so you get the idea.   The big room with 180 view of the sea  The door into the bedroom And the bedroom We went for walks along the sea which was great. I just love the sea air! I wish I had the money to buy a flat here but I don't. They cost from 3.500 million SwCrowns up to 12....