HOT HOT H.E.A.T

Well, it really was yesterday but we had a lazy day then and just watched TV like the New Year's concert from Vienna that we watch every year. A very nice tradition. Otherwise nothing much happened. We had leftovers from New Year's Eve. I made a cold Avocad soup with shrimps as a starter and to that I made rolls with Västerbottencheese. Main course was fillet of beef with potatoe gratin made of almond potatoe (I don't know if you have it in USA but it's a delicacy here) and of course Västerbotten ;-) and garlic and to that a green sallat. For dessert I made tosca pears with whipped cream. We ate slowly and enjoyed each dish and it took us around 2 1/2 hours to eat. At midnight we watched all the fireworks from our balcony. We have this amazing view and can see 360 and all the way into Stockholm. It was a clear night which made it extra special. But that was then and now is now and the new year began today with work :-) January is a month with lots of work sin...

  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...