New Camera

The Queen Anne's Pocket Melon on the Prowl - Highly Commended in International Garden Photographer of the Year http://www.igpoty.com/competition03/gallery_PlantPortraits.asp?parent=gallery



Sofie, our sweet little commander in chief.

Fastelavens Boller

So rose tea it is, together with "Fastelavens boller" - buns filled with cream, eaten on the last Sunday before lent.

Buns

1/2 litre soy, rice or oat milk ( I don't believe in pasteurized cow milk products and not pasteurized milk is hard to get here)

fresh yeast or a packed of dried yeast (fresh is nice)

some rapeseed oil

sugar to taste, possibly brown cane sugar (this is hard, I haven't used a recipe for years, taste the dough)

wheat flour or spelt flour until the dough gets nice and sticky (a little less than a kilo)

a little salt?

cardamom (half a teaspoon)

some seeds from a vanilla pod?

Warm the milk until 35C, mix with yeast (if dried, use a little 40C water and a little sugar to "wake" the yeast, leave until frothy and add to other ingredients)
Add other ingredients and leave to swell. Make buns on a floured surface, swell on baking plates before put into the oven.

Bake in 200C oven until brown

The buns tend never to taste the same. Use your instinct to try out a new taste.

If Fastelavens boller, cut the buns into two and put whipped soy cream in in between the halves.

Enjoy!

The Sacred Lake

It feels like a long time ago, but it is no more than 23 years, how time flies, when M and I went to see the movie made after E. M. Forster's book A Room With a View. We were romantic teenagers back then, and dreamt of a beautiful, intellectual hero sweeping us off our feet. The lovely actor in the movie fit the mould perfectly. We were enraptured. One of the funniest scenes in the movie was when the hero, the heroines brother and the reverend ran naked around the bathing "puddle" called The Sacred Lake.

There used to be a nice, little lake close to where I live, but it got drained a few years ago, possibly in the name of progress. Last year, though, my boyfriend and I went for a walk in the woods nearby and found the "lake" in the picture by accident. It's not really a lake, and it was by far too cold for bathing or running around naked for that matter, but it was secluded and the light was interesting. My boyfriend is very different from the heroes of my teens, thankfully. I'm lucky to get to know him even if our relationship does not resemble a romance novel. Life doesn't, and that's quite good actually. It would be too syrupy otherwise, but here is our Sacred Lake.

The Christmas Tree

Our commander in chief, Sofie, the hamster, climbed the Christmas tree yesterday, more or less demolishing the needles as she went along. Unfortunately she will have to wait for the climbing orgy until we take it down, otherwise there might be no needles left in say three days.




The tree is beautiful, but every time a needle falls off, there is a huge thud. It makes me nervous, but there are a few hundred needles, so the tree might last a few more days.

There are obviously trends when it comes to tree decorations as well. My mother came here with some new ornaments and they made the beautiful ones from last year look outdated. Well, the tree looks pretty fabulous anyway and has its own acorns.

All I want for Christmas is a squirrel obi

in addition to my my friends having a good time celebrating and resting.

(Pics found on www.tokyo135.com)

Vemund's Reindeer

As Christmas is approaching, the song "Grandma got run over by a reindeer" starts buzzing in my head. Quite the nuisance! But, my partner makes a lovely reindeer with apple and sour cream sauce. Here is the recipe:

Fry chopped onions and a pressed garlic clove in oil or good butter.

Add chopped reindeer meat, fry for a little while, add a finely cut apple.

Simmer in sour cream.

Add salt and pepper.

Works nicely with oven baked potato wedges with rosemary (potato wedges, oil, salt, rosemary
baked inn 200C warm oven until tender.)

Sofie - aspects on being a professional rodent

Our little darling, Sofie Amalie, is a professional rodent, and she never lets us forget it. She is the kindest little girl, climbing my skirt, resting on my lap to be petted, lying on top of her cage listening to classical music with her eyes partly closed, but she has an unhealthy interest in phone cables.

Thankfully she only chews on the old ones, the room where she exercises in the evening is full of cable salad and we need to keep a close eye on her little teeth. She also used to climb the curtains. One night, as I was doing some work on the laptop, I looked around to see if she were somewhere near. The the curtain moved. Soffs was climbing, and she was two meters above the floor. She is impressive, the curtains are not made of lace, they are solid linen. Thankfully she was an easy rescue. Lately she also discorvered how to get down, she uses a technique very similar to that of a human on a ladder. Impressive, but we try to keep her off the curtains none the less.

So, little Miss Pale Carrot Fur is quite a handful. Small and light, she is a fussy eater, mostly into organic vegetables and fruit, keeping her trim waistline and wellmanicured nails. She climbs on me as well. Preferably on the inside of my skirt. She feels like Miss Acupressue though, she has a healing touch.

These are her pawprints, after taking a dive into my teacup (not hot, and just a drop left).

Sofie