Linnea 'Ea' quilts...

Happy New Year everyone, great and small! Do you feel any different at all? Ah, "Death cab for cutie" says it all in their song "New Year". We here at home will be spending this last day of the year, as well as the first of the new, by sitting in the sofa/lying on the bed and resting. Micke's fever is an on/off thing, and he's coughing and nose dripping so much he's having trouble sleeping. Me, I'm mostly just tired. Major tired. Anyway, enjoy the fireworks you see tonight. We here will be gazing through the window and see half of what Turku city is shooting up into the sky. The other half will not show, since the home for the elderly across the street will block that out.

Oh dear, Micke apparently caught the flu someone was spreading around like crazy on the train back from Ostrobothnia. (read: someone was coughing ALL the time on the train in our compartment) Now he's got a such a sore throat I've told him not to speak. It's painful to hear him say even so little as " it hurts ". Awful. And on top of that, he's got a fever. He became symptomatic yesterday noon. And this morning, I started to feel awful too. I got up at 08:30, had to cancel my only morning-appointment, wrote an email to people saying "we might have to skip the New Year get-together at our place" and went back to bed. And slept until 15:00. While I slept, I dreamt a somewhat crazy dream about: My Mom celebrating her 70th birthday. In Sweden, at one of my aunt's places. Me coloring my hair, because Mom said I had too. I did it while being very pregnant, which meant it was a chore. While doing this, Micke came along and also wanted his ha...

... of which one is New Year. But that's a later blog post. Our Christmas was okay. Much more a 'real holiday' that last time we were in Ostrobothnia for Christmas. This time, instead of driving around in the car visiting various people, we got to spend quite a lot of time at Micke's mother's apartment. I actually managed to forget being stressed out over things. Some of the time. Most of the time. We visited relatives, and Micke's friend Joonas' family. I borrowed the car and drove to Kronoby to visit Sally and her family. Joonas cooked spicy meatballs when we visited, and even though he had totally forgot about my allergies it was okay. We played some games on their christmas present " Kinect " for Xbox. That was amusing, and what made it really funny was that the fact that the guys sweated like pigs when playing. It's a VERY athletic game console. It makes you exercise. A lot. While the guys were browsing through the Kinect-games on Xbox...

... even though I shouldn't. Because people on the paleo-diet don't eat bread, because wheat flour hadn't been "invented" back in  10 000 BC.... But, non the less, I will try to entice you with my magnificent (hah!) bread baking pictures. Behold! The foccacia! ... insert appropriate music here... Dough on tray. Wait for it... Fermentation done, thank you Saccharomyces cerevisiae ! Olives! Pirkka eco-olives :)  Plop plop plop! eco-Olive oil! Sea salt and dried rosemary! 200 degrees Celsius for 40-45 min! Saved from the fiery flames of the oven! Nom!

Last year, as well as the year before that, I baked truffle chocolate for Christmas. Mostly, because it was chocolate and candy and heck-it's-Christmas-can't-we-have-at-least-something-that's-not-healthy-to-eat. Both times, the whole kitchen was a MESS afterwards, and the whole 'event' took maybe 4 hours. Needless to say, I soooo did not wan't to see the kitchen looking like this again . And it's AMAZING how much just a simple pastry bag will help when doing this, instead of following the recipe and using two spoons (or hand and spoon like last year). Why (oh WHY?!) didn't Pirkka put that in their truffle recipe??? Yup, I'm also a Pirkka card user and a Pirkka-magazine reader. (For those of you who aren't, Pirkka is the 'loyal' customer club of one of Finland's biggest food market boutiques. Pirkka belongs to Kesko. The others are S-bonus that belongs to the S-group, and Ykkösbonus which belongs to Suomen Lähikauppa Oy). But, s...

I've read, that no one is happy when they check how much their weight is. People who are over-weight want to get a little lighter, and people who're under-weight want to get a little heavier. Me, I just want (and need!) new clothes, because by this rate my whole wardrobe will look like I permanently borrow my elder mommy-type sister's clothes. And I don't even have a sister. My jeans look like hillbilly-jeans, my shirts sag, my skirts hang waaaay down my hips, and the only things that are kinda okay are the T-skirts. Except, most of them are so old / used / ratty, not to mention "H & M quality", that I'll be needing new ones fast. Anyway, let's look at some pictures :) This is our IKEA-scale. To make using it more enjoyable, I've written "I like YOU anyway" on it. We have a pep-talk scale. Micke's mom copied the idea. Now she has a pep-talk scale too. These are my feet. There's many like them, but these are m...

Dear Santa, Even though my dear mother was forced to "kill you" when I was still very young (I was 8 years old, and had Santa-trauma/depression every December) , I still hope that it's okay to write to you. You see, I think Christmas has become a bit like list-mania, and I need to get on the wagon. Like I did last year . Last Christmas, I wished for 6 things . Of them, I got one: the new frying pan I wanted and we so desperately needed. I also got this amazing filé knife, which I so love my Mikael for. The rest, I've bought during the year, so you're forgiven. And the chocolate I made myself, so that's okay too. But, this year I'll be monitoring your behavior again, so here is my list for 2010: I want my Micke to stop being a nicotine addict, and be free of it once and for all. This is not a selfish wish, because I want him to stop being so frustrated all the time. He's so stressed out, mostly because of his work, so please please please t...

... or then making a LOT of them. To do lists. Shopping lists. Wish lists. Christmas-cards-to-be-sent lists. It's a bit like list-mania. I at least have been using the shopping/to do list application on our Ipod like crazy.  It's nice not to have to have a thousands post-its in you calendar. Easier to edit on-the-go too. Anyway, I thought I should maybe also write a wish list. Even though I know that no one will adhere to it.

The -huge- Strömsö-dream catcher. During one summer while visiting Micke's family up in Ostrobothnia, I managed to scavenge a part of a spruce tree root on the Fäboda beach. The (original) plan was for it to become the skeleton of a dream catcher. Like the huge one they did in the Strömsö TV-program , which looked like this (picture on the right). However, I didn't get any inspiration to create it that summer, and so the whole project kinda went on hiatus... until now. We don't have many Christmas decos, mainly because when we moved in together Micke didn't have any, and the ones I had were hand-me-downs from my Mom and Dad. Only thing we've actually bought ourselves, which was last year, was an electrical advent candelabra (swe. adventsljusstake). One that was on sale after New Year came and went. Yeah, we're cheapos. But hey, we're students, so I guess it's okay. Anyhow, one thing I really would have liked us to have last Christmas, was a wrea...

... the Independence day ball at December 6th, I've bought a pair of real dancing shoes. That is, shoes made for just dancing. They're supposed to support and not chafe your feet. But... they're practical, not decorative. What to do, what to do? Well, run in to Tiimari (Finnish arts & crafts store) and Blingi (local dress jewelry store here in Turku). For 5 euros, I got enough things to make the shoes a little bit prettier. Tiimari + Blingi + shoe box with booring shoes becomes... ... some slightly prettier shoes. Tadaa! While I was at Blingi - I had Mimi with me, because I badly needed her advice on buying the dancing shoes -  I found they had these cute decorative shapes cut from wood. I bought a pair of black "butterfly"-inspired ones, along with some ear-ring-pieces. They turned out quite alright :) I might actually go back and see if I can get some in violet as well, because they hardly weigh a thing and still look quite elegant. At least, I...

... last Friday, and came back with tomatoes, books and yarn. Not to mention borrowing 2 x 10 liter stainless steel cooking pots, and lugging them home. Had a nice chat with friends at Biocity too, and got some glögg and baked goodies for "special price" (read: all the odd cash I happened to have in my wallet... 35 cents). This snowy quest took me from Biocity, to the open air market, to the library, and to Lankabaari . Lankabaari is one of my favorite LYS here in Turku. (For all of you non-knitters/crafters, LYS stands for l ocal y arn s hop...) But I still can't wait for Menita in Espoo/Helsinki to finally launch their web shop. So, it was a busy weekend. I think I spent most of my free time on Saturday in the kitchen, doing all sorts of things. While things were simmering on the stove, I opened one of the books I had borrowed from the library, and it started out just as silly as I had expected it to be. Even so, I read it until Micke went out with the boys to t...

... but when you bring it inside, it quickly turns your clothes damp and makes your just dried and straightened hair revert back to it's original curly form. You guessed it, I'm talking about snow. Today, it's been snowing like crazy. Quite nice for a Wednesday. The Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) actually issued a warning about snow squalls yesterday, for both people inland and out at sea. Still, the temperature ain't that low yet (only -7 degrees Celsius), and the wind here in Turku ain't that strong yet either, but I guess it's getting there. Yesterday, some (idiots!) were still brave enough to head outside without headwear, but today everyone has headwear and scarves on. And I'm glad that I have glasses, beacuse they allow me to walk with my eyes open outside. Getting snow in your eyes stings. Really, it does. You actually have to admire the suckers that go out WITHOUT mittens/hats/coats to stand 10 min in the wind and smoke their stupid ci...

So, this past weekend was a busy one. As well as a one filled with activities. And slightly aching muscles, with a side dish of sweaty feet. Tippsund is 65 km from Turku; about one hour by bus. The buss for the camp area in Tippsund, Taivassalo left on Friday at 16 pm., and we got back to Turku on Sunday at 15 pm. The camp is owned by the city of Turku, and they rent it out to groups/associations/schools who need a place for extracurricular activities. There's one big house, surrounded by 8 small cabins (with room for 6 persons each) and the sauna. The area itself is nice, sea and all, but we spent 90% of our time indoors in the big house, and I just about managed to snap some quick pictures of it all before the buss left (on Sunday). The theme for the whole camp was to learn foxtrot, cha-cha and bugg . Of those, I already knew a little foxtrot, but I must say I do feel more confident dancing it now. Cha-cha was fun (as well as easy to learn if you already know rumba), and ...

... I'm gonna help Mimi put up the rest of her paintings. We'll have to drill a few more holes in the walls for that, though. My dear friend Mimi is currently living with two other girls in this huge apartment, and since they're going to celebrate her moving in this weekend, she's been a bit frantic about getting her room in order. I've helped her fix the curtain rods, and because she's been all "woe and whine" about her poor paintings never getting put up on the walls, I thought it high time we got around to do just that. I mean, if you're an Art-history major, and you can't get your own paintings up on the walls...? Luckily, it's pretty easy if you have a steady hand and a drill that can drill through concrete. - later addition -  The new curtain rods, aka the new room separators. Above the door are 3 of the paintings that needed to be put up. We put up these IKEA curtain rods last Saturday. Mimi's room has no "real...

   And I got both WIPs done :)

I have this "princess type dress", which I bought in February of 2004. I've used it on 6 occations, and taken it to the dry cleaners twice (second time because SOMEONE spilled vanilla ice cream down the front of it). Once upon a time, when it was new, I payed 280 euros for it. But, sadly, it doesn't fit me like it used to, once upon a time. Why? Well, I'm too tiny for it now. I requires a girl (or transgender person!?) that's a size 36-38 and about 170-175 cm tall (even when you're not wearing high heels). Me... I'm still 168 cm, and if I take a too wide step backwards I sometimes trip on the hem. And, I'm not a size 36 anymore. I'm a 34-36. So, if anyone of you knows someone who would like to borrow a slightly bigger dress for, say, the Independence day ball this year, let me know. I'll gladly dress swap, because otherwise I'll be going in this: Which is a dress me and my mom bought for me to use at at an event when I was stil...

It's been snowing! And much, if you ask my opinion. Sadly, nearly all of it will melt during the day and freeze during the night, so all the pavements will be horribly slippery. But, even if it's not snowing anymore today, I'll still show you some pictures of how it was yesterday. Turku market square Outside the city library

Extra time = more time available for making nom nom food in your kitchen I thought it would be possible, but... Sadly, but I didn't manage to find a whole turkey, so that we could have a "real" Thanksgiving dinner today. We had to make do with two chickens instead. What's this about, you ask? Finns don't celebrate Thanksgiving! Well... no, we don't - but I've always wanted to try to bake a whole turkey in the oven. For when I will need to know how to do it in the future, when I'll say "blah" to traditional finnish Christmas-ham, and bake turkey instead. And we celebrated All Saints Day instead.We lit a total of six candles. Before you scroll down to the photos, I must lamnent the fact that none of my food pictures ever look like those in the cookbooks. Thanks to Emmis, and her comment that Cookbook food is still raw and has stuff in it to make it look bigger. You would NEVER want to eat cookbook food! I'm confident that even tho...

I'm so glad I decided on giving up all those games! It really proved beneficial, as it enabled me to bake without stressing out. Now, I know this ain't paleo, so don't lynch me. The receipt is from Tina Nordström's lovely book, in the chapter about tapas and snacks. Anyway, I needed something to take with me to this dancing event, and since I needed something that was both cheap, yummy and relatively fast to bake, this was perfect. Only thing you need is: puff pastry (swe. smördeg) coumin (caraway) or rosemary seasalt one whisked egg One thing I decided to do however, is make them okay for vegans to eat too. To do that, I bought "butter dough" made out of plant oils. No lactose, no eggs, no milk. And instead of whisked egg, I coated them with rapeseed-oil. And they still tasted quite okay, even if they didn't look so yellow and nice as they could have. Ready to be put in the oven All done!

As of 11:30 a.m. this lovely Thursday, I no longer have the applications Farmville or Frontierville on my Facebook profile. I gave away all the tiny pixel things, or at least all the one that were gift-able, to friend still playing both/either game. I sent a last "gift" from both a applications to said friends, telling them sort of that "This is the last gift, enjoy it while it lasts". In Farmville, this was a "mystery gift", in Frontierville a "ribbon". mystery gift ribbon Now, I think I will reminiscence about these two application games a bit... Farmville, FV, or the game where "I'm gonna come to bed just as soon as I've harvested my crops" My avatar, or at least 'her' last incarnation. Personally, I would never be caught wearing these type of coveralls. I started playing Farmville ... close to 2 years ago, I think? I remember being semi-bullied into it by Sally and Daniel at a party at their place,...