Sugar sweet

Hear, hear, there's a new girl in town! Or at least in blogland. Her name is Lena, and she bakes. And she makes the most amazing cake toppers in sugar paste. She blogs in Swedish, but pictures are universal. So go have a look! Her site is called sockersött wich means sugar sweet. Her blog is brand new, but in the gallery you can see some of her beautiful creations. I clearly recommend this blog to swedish readers, since you can order toppers and take courses. Now, go see her!

In the future, you can find her among the Blogs I like to read, on the left side of the blog. Wish I could have posted one of her pictures too.

A little too much

Yes, I did a little too much yesterday. I should have known and stopped in time. I guess I got carried away. Today, I don't do much at all. Tired and aching. Trying to save what strength I have for tonight when we have our kid activity Royal Rangers (kind of like scouting) and for work tomorrow.
Felt the need to feel that I achieved something little, so I pinched the tops from the basil in my kitchen window and put them in the window. Not much, but at least something.
I won't be here tomorrow, too tired after work. Probably next week. So have a lovely weekend, everybody!

My blanket-cardigan :)

I have taken some pictures for you today. Not the best ones mankind has ever seen, but at least you get a decent understanding for what I'm trying to show you. I hope! ;) I find it terribly hard to take my own picture.

My blanket-cardigan (cape sounds too... fashionable?) is really one big piece of fabric, somewhat like a blanket in size. I cut it in half, only not all the way through. I stopped a little bit after the middle of it. Then I sat blanket stitching all day...

How to wear it is truly simple. Drape it over your back, with your head in the cut and the cut pieces over your arms.

Like this. Dead simple!

This is probably how I will use mine, just throw it over my shoulders before stepping outside. The fabric is wooly, which is really all I can tell you about it. No, that's not true. I can tell you it's itchy too! :) I bought it cheap in a second-hand shop years ago, and I don't know a lot about different kinds of fabrics. But it doesn't weigh a lot, and I like that. 

If I want to drape it, it's easy to just throw one of the side pieces over the shoulder. And maybe use a pin or a brooch to keep it there.

I already had a few crochet flowers hiding in a corner, so I didn't have to make something new.

Good to have options, right? To go with the mood of the day!

But I think I prefer to have it hang loose, wrapping it around me easily. I love the idea of this "cardigan", since it will fit me just as well if I wear another cardigan (or even a coat) underneath, or just a t-shirt. It won't feel tight anywhere! :) Perfect on a cloudy day like this, in late summer.

Pretty comfy, even if my girl thought it was too itchy to wear. :) But then I get to keep it for myself! I don't mind a little itching. 

I had a walk around the garden, trying to find a decent background or a good place to put the camera. Didn't find too much of either. But I did find this little one. Did you know you can it them? At least as long as they are firm and white (no yellow inside!). Slice them thin and fry them, and you'll find they taste like pancakes! My daughter doesn't usually eat mushrooms, but she loved this one.

We still have a lot of wild strawberries, big ones. I eat a bunch every day, would hate to see them rot away. Wouldn't eat this one though... Someone else beat me to it!

And finally, a glimpse of the latest project. I have some chunky knitting going on, but as usual I seem to have too little yarn for the project I planned. :( I must be overly optimistic, or why is this happening to me all the time? Hopefully I can work it out somehow, I will keep you posted. 

Drying

I was asked how I best dry my herbs. Well, this time I used my birthday gift, this marvelous machine!

It's a food dryer, with six layers to dry stuff on. It can dry anything, I choose temperature and time and moves the different layers around after a while to get them to dry evenly. It's great! This was an expensive dryer, there are others less expensive but I don't think one can change temperature on them all.

Before I had this wonder, I used to dry things in the oven. That is not so great for herbs though, since they burn easily and shouldn't be heated to more than 35 C. You can dry them in bunches, hanging from the roof in a ventilated area away from sunlight. Or on a net, spread out. I can't do this, since we have soooo many flies around, leaving there dirt on everything. Yuck! So I am very pleased with my dryer.

But if you want to dry fruit, vegetables or something like that, you can use the oven. Put it on low temperature (50-70 C) and leave the door open, just a bit to let the moisture out. If you don't have flies, you can do as I did last year with some mushrooms - spread them out on a "mosquito window", a wooden frame with a net, and leave them there until they are dry.

Herbs

Just a quick hello before my daughter returns and claims the computer. I sat down here as they were getting the mail from the box, and obviously she was in the middle of a game...

Last week, we spent in the caravan on the west coast. Pretty good weather, some swimming and playing on the beach, and then a weekend festival, filled with music and fun. We had a great week! Oh, and I did some more crochet, that I haven't showed you yet. It will turn up here, I promise.

Today, I have been taking care of some herbs that I dried before we left. I love the idea of growing my own food, I love harvesting, and I love to put the stuff in jars and make labels. Only thing I need to get better at is actually using my herbs and vegetables! :)

Well, I think I better leave now, before somebody gets upset! See ya!

Lilac

I've been picking lilacs today. To make cordial (saft). My arms are that tired again, after a period when I've felt strong and full of energy. So right now I have a break, between brushing the lemons and cesting them. Or what ever you call it... Using that knuckle buster on them! :)
It's always tough to go from "healthy" to aching and sooo tired, in just a few days. This cordial making is an attempt to cheer myself up. Hope it works!
By the way, if you still have lilacs you should really try my cordial, I wrote it down on the blog last year, think the post is called Shirt dress and lilacs. Bye then!

Spring is in the air!

The sun is shining, and as soon as I woke up today I could hear the birds outside the window. Lovely!

I like our house, but what I really miss is some kind of outdoor place with a real floor and sheltered from the wind. We have a porch at the front door, but it's facing north which makes it a pretty dark and cold place to be. Summertime is fine, the lawn is more than good enough. At least when the sun is shining... But a place to go when it's a little too cool to sit outside, or when it's windy. Which it is most of the time here.

So yesterday, when the sun was shining and the tree tops weren't moving at all, I made a quick decision that we would make supper outside. Didn't find any "real" outdoor food to be prepared in a rush, so I decided on fish soup on our little kerosene stove.

The kids love outdoor cooking, so they helped me with the preparations. Although one of them hardly tasted the soup, since I had put some "vegetables" in there. Carrots and parsnip...

The other one loved the soup, and asked when we could eat outside again. Soon? Maybe on Thursday? :)

Even if the soup wasn't acceptable to all, at least we had a wonderful time out in the fresh air together. I have to do this more often!

Goodies for Christmas season

 Hello there! Having a busy time now, with Christmas soon coming up? I wouldn't say I'm busy or stressed out, I do all the baking and such because I enjoy it. But I haven't been well this week, so I am a little after my schedule. But then again, I always am. Guess I am always a bit too optimistic about how much I will get done in one day, especially when it's all fun things to do. I have mostly been sitting on my bed, reading a good book and trying to get some knitting done. Have to finish that brain hat soon...

But today I have been feeling much better and have been able to shorten my to-do list a little. Much to my daughter's delight, we have now made our first Christmas sweets, white truffle with lime. Mmm, yum yum! One of my favorites! (I know the pictures are too dark, but I don't have a fancy camera and it's dark here most of the time now. )

 I also baked saffron buns. They should have been done before the 13'th when we celebrate the Lucia tradition, but I didn't have the strength then. We'll enjoy them just as much now! Usually, the saffron buns are made in quite a different shape than these, and are decorated with raisins. But I fell in love with their shape a few years ago and have made them "my" saffron buns. They are supposed to look like stars, but they really did rise this time and turned out like huge... buns. But at least I know they're stars. And it seems my kids like them just the same. Probably even better, bigger buns means more for their sweet teeth, right?

The kids prefer the stars you see, while I found a new favorite last year. I thought for a while that I had lost the recipe, but to my great joy I found it. In my book with recipes, who would have thought that? I actually jumped up and down with joy when I found them, that's how tasty they are. Saffron buns with a filling of almond paste, vanilla and orange. Soooo yummy! 

They too did rise more then I expected, so my husband stated that we could serve them as a meal, or at least a decent snack. He didn't seem to sad about that, I have to say. The best thing is I don't have to bake as many kind of cakes and cookies for Christmas this year, a bun like this and a ginger bread and anyone will be full! A good thing, since we also have a birthday coming up (my daughter is born on Christmas day, which is alright since we celebrate Christmas Eve here in Sweden) which usually calls for a lot of baking. Just perfect!

From shirt to lamp shade

Hello there!  I'm finally sitting down again, giving you some glimpses of what I've been up to lately. Last week the kids were free from school, and we also had my sister and her three boys staying here for a few days, so there haven't been so much creating going on here. But last night I finished this lamp shade. Do you like it? I do. I don't know how well you know me, but I really, really love making things from old "junk". We visited my father-in-law the other day, and I found the remains of an old lamp, that is I found the metal skeleton of an old lamp. Had to have it, and he loves when we bring his old things home and it comes to use.

 I had some thinking about what to do with this lamp skeleton, but I didn't have to think long. I wanted to make a lamp for my boy's bedroom window. But how do you make a lamp like this cool enough for a ten-year old? Think, think, think... Then I remembered one of his old shirts that I found while sorting out outgrown clothes a little while ago. We gave most of it away, but I kept some for future crafting. And I loved this flannel shirt. So I got my scissors and got to it!

As I was still planning the lamp I had other treasures lying on my table that I brought home from my father-in-law. Or actually from my mother-in-law's old stuff. She died seven years ago and had been ill for as long as I knew her, but she used to be a really crafty lady. She sewed, knitted and crocheted, and tried all kinds of other creative things. Oh how much fun we could have had together! But as it is, I bring home the things she left behind and use it. I think she would have liked that. In this particular case, I had ribbons, and a wide, brown ribbon was just perfect for what I had in mind.

I simply cut the shirt to fit on the hight, and took it in a little in one side to fit around the metal. I attached the ribbon around top and bottom, but only on one side so I could use the machine. That way I got a more even and straighter seam than I could ever sew by hand. This was all done in a few minutes.

Then the more time consuming part begun. To fold the ribbon around the metal wire and sew it into place. The top was okay and not much trouble, but the bottom... Well, I kind of act without giving it too much thought when I create and there's a price to pay for that! This time, I had completely forgot about the feet on the shade. It doesn't show on the pictures, but in each corner the wire frame bend to make feet. So I couldn't just fold the ribbon over the frame! I hate redoing things so I found a way, only not the neatest. But no-one will ever see that, unless they turn the lamp upside-down. Hope nobody will! 

And by the way, I see some bloggers sometimes talk about the mess on their working space or any other table. I tell you - you have seen nothing! Consider me the queen of mess. I bring everything to the table when I'm trying out new ideas, and I truly don't put it back at once. This is actually almost as tidy as my table gets. Sometimes I get enough and tidy things up, but it never lasts long. So what? Really? It works for me. But it's hard to take a clean picture, I can tell you that! Hehe!

Aren't these booklets just lovely? Enlarge it if you can't see it properly. I found these too in my in-laws house. Old booklets filled with alphabets, names, tags, flowers and such to use for embroidery. Lovely! I think some of them belonged to my husband's grandmother, I found some small papers with her initials on.

Oh, and meet my new best friend, Evermat! At least I hope he is. This is a food dryer, the cylinders on top of the heater are six drying boxes on top of each other. This will save me so much time and space when I'm drying things! I got this on my birthday from my parents, grandmother, sister and brother. Thank you!

Oh, and this is me trying to take a picture of the lamp shade. Someone here is dying for attention right now, so I had to push her away to get the shot. Something, probably another cat, bit her on her jaw and the wound was infected so we had to take her to the vet. She has to stay inside for ten days, and oh my how she hates that! The wound seems to be healing well, although I keep smearing half her face when I try to give her the medicine... So I let the man in the house be in charge of that when he's at home. Well now, I seam to have a cranky girl to cheer up, see you soon again!

Burkar - Jars

 Ni vet hur det är, ibland går saker fortare att göra än man tänkt sig. Och ibland är det precis tvärtom. I helgen har jag förberett en del torkat för försäljning. Stoppat på burkar, gjort etiketter och hättor. Trodde att det skulle ta en halv dag. Tog snarare tre! Visserligen med en hel del avbrott, men likväl.

You know how it is, sometimes things are done much faster than you thought. And sometimes it's the other way around. This weekend I prepared some dried food for sale. Put it into jars, made labels and bonnets. Thought it would take half a day. It rather took three! Surely with a whole lot of interruptions, but still.

Varje etikett är utklippt för hand, handskriven och fastklistrad. 25 burkar totalt. Låter kanske inte mycket, men det var det!

Every label is cut out by hand, handwritten and glued. 25 jars in total. Maybe it doesn't sound like much, but it was!
 

Särskilt som en del burkar har mer än en etikett. De flesta har tre... En där det står vad burken innehåller, en med recept på örtte och en som beskriver vad innehållet kan användas för. Som rödklöver, som ska vara bra mot hosta och kramp, som kikhosta.

Especially so since some of the jars have more than one label. Most of them have three... One that says what the jar contains, one with the recipe for herbal tea and one that describes what the content can be used for. Like red clover, which is said to be good against cough and cramps, like whooping cough.

Eller hallonblad, som sägs underlätta förlossningsarbetet och vara rogivande. Skönt med jordgubbar som man bara äter och därför bara behöver en etikett. Kan rekommenderas förresten, min dotter äter torkade jordgubbar som godis.

Or raspberry leaves, that is said to help during labor and to be soothing. Nice with strawberries that you just eat and so it only needs one label. Is highly recommended by the way, my daughter eats dried strawberries as candy.

Givetvis skulle det stå vad nässlor kan vara bra emot, och hur man använder torkad svamp i maten. Gissa om jag hade skrivkramp! Men nu är de klara, och det är en väldigt skön känsla att kunna fylla på hyllorna i min provisoriska monter i matsalen.

Of course the labels had to say what nettles can be used for, and how to use dried mushrooms in your food. Did I have cramps or what! But now they are done, and it is a very nice feeling to fill the shelves in my temporary stand in the dining room.

Fullt hus - Full house

 Dotterns kommentar: "Mamma, har du gjort hårband?!" "Ja, det har jag." "Virkade du blommor då, och sen satte fast dem på dina gamla hårband?" "Eh... näe, jag köpte faktiskt nya!"

My daughter commented: "Mum, did you make hair rubber bands?!" "Yes, I did." "Did you crochet flowers then, and put them on your old hair bands?" "Er... noo... I actually bought new ones!"
 

Hoppas att få sålt en del av dessa nästa helg. Gillar att sitta med alla mina fina knappar och hitta just den knapp som passar bäst till varje blomma.

Hope to get some of these sold next weekend. I really like to sit down with all my buttons and find just the right one for each flower.

Just nu ligger det mesta jag gjort på matsalsbordet. Jag försöker få lite ordning på vad jag egentligen har, och hur jag ska ställa och lägga allt på skördefesten. Maken kommer vara bortrest hela veckan innan, så vi kommer inte ha så gott om tid att ställa ordning på plats, så då är det ju bra om så mycket som möjligt är planerat i förväg.

Right now most of what I've made is placed on our dining room table. I am trying to sort out what I actually have, and how to put it all on the harvest feast. My husband will be away all week before, so we won't have so much time to put everything in place, and so I figure it's good to plan ahead as much as possible.

Här är det lite man tar vad man har, en klädställning av en tamburmajor, en gardinstång och en lampfot. Utan lampa. Ihoptejpat. Maken tyckte nog inte det så något vidare ut, för nu håller han på att ordna lite mer enhetliga saker åt mig. Bordet blir brädor på pallbockar med fäste för klädställning i trä. Blir nog kanonfint!

You take what you already have here, a dress rack made of a coat hanger, a curtain rod and a lamp foot. Without a lamp. All taped together. I don't think my husband thought much of it, for he is now fixing more uniform things for me. The table will be boards on jack stands with some kind of attachment for the dress rack. Think it will be super!

Det börjar bli fullt i huset nu, med alla saker jag pysslar med. Matsalen är som sagt full, och i köket är det inte mycket bättre. Idag gjorde jag iordning några dukar som ska bli skålar, genom att doppa dem i lim och vatten.

The house is getting full now, with all the things I'm pottering with. The dining room is full, as mentioned, and it isn't that much better in the kitchen. Today I fixed some doilies that are becoming bowls, by dipping them in glue and water.

Skålarna står nu på tork på en av köksbänkarna, bredvid en del av min svamp som också står på tork.

The bowls are now drying on one of the kitchen counters, next to some of my mushrooms which are also drying.

 I köket torkar jag soppar. Björksopp och någon sorts apelsinsopp. Det luktar så gott! Tycker jag åtminstone, alla håller inte riktigt med om det. Jag fick lite torkad trumpetsvamp av mamma häromdagen, för hon mådde illa av lukten. Själv tycker jag att torkad svamp luktar mustigt och gott.

I am drying boletus in the kitchen. Birch mushroom and some kind of orange cap boletus. It smells so good! At least I think so, not everybody agree. I got some dried yellow foot from my mum the other day, since their smell made her feel sick. I myself find the smell of dried mushrooms spicy and good.

Jag och familjen tog med mamma ut i skogen i helgen. Till samma plats där jag var med mina föräldrar för ett par veckor sedan. Maken och barnen tog med håvar och hinkar och lekte vid en söt liten bäck medans jag och mamma greppade korgarna och stövlade ut i skogen. Oj, vad mycket svamp vi hittade! Vi plockade oss trötta.

Me and my family brought mum to the forest last weekend. To the same place where I was with my parents a few weeks ago. The husband and kids brought nets and buckets and played by a lovely creek while mum and I grabbed our baskets and stumped into the forest. Oh my, we found so many mushrooms! We picked until we were too tired.

Två skålar fulla med trattkantareller, en med trumpetsvamp och så lite taggsvamp. Hittade några få kantareller också, men de fastnade inte på bild.

Two bowls full with funnel chantarelles, one with yellow foot and then some hedgehog mushroom. Found a few yellow chantarelles too, but I didn't get a picture of them.

Jag ville testa att torka mer svamp än mina soppar, men hela köksbänken är ju full. Vad gör man då? Jo, man tar myggfönstren till barnens rum och lägger på soffbordet med lite extra luft emellan. Hoppas att det funkar bra, fick plocka bort lite trattisar idag som höll på att ruttna. Svarta och slemmiga, usch! Till helgen kommer två av makens bröder och ska sova över här, undrar just var vi ska få plats med dem? Nåja, finns det hjärterum finns det stjärterum! Och förhoppningsvis har svampen krympt en del tills dess.

I wanted to test drying more species than just my boletus, but the kitchen counter is packed. What to do? Well, you take the mosquito net frames from the kids' windows and put on the coffee-table with some extra air between. I hope it will work out, had to throw away some funnels today that were rotting. Black and slimy, yuck! Two of my husbands brothers are staying overnight here this weekend, I don't know where to put them? Ah well, if there is room in the heart, you can make room for the behind, as the Swedish proverb says! (Meaning you can always make room for more if you put some effort to it.) And hopefully the mushrooms have shrunk some by then.

Svamp - Mushrooms

I lördags åkte jag och barnen ut på äventyr. Maken var tvungen att arbeta lite, så vi tog tåget hem till mamma. Sen åkte vi ut i skogen, barnen, mina föräldrar och jag. Svampjakt!

Saturday, my kids and I went for an adventure. The man in the house had to work, so we took the train to mum. Then we went out in the woods, the kids, my parents and I. Mushroom hunt!

Jaktlyckan var god, och det var en riktigt härlig skog att gå runt i. Massor av svampar överallt, önskar verkligen att jag kunde fler sorter. Till att börja med regnade det ganska mycket, men vad gör väl det när man hittar svamp! Fast jag får erkänna att vi blev ganska rädda när åskan helt plötsligt kom väldigt nära... Men vädret blev bättre, och vi hade det riktigt mysigt.

The hunting fortune was good, and it was a lovely forest to walk around in. Lots of mushrooms and toadstools everywhere, I really wish I could recognize more edible species.  We had a lot of rain coming down to start with, but who cares when you find mushrooms! Though I have to admit that we were quite freaked out when the thunder suddenly got a little too close... But the weather improved, and we had a good time.

Givetvis plockade vi lite kantareller. En ganska blygsam hög i min korg, men vi plockade även en del som vi skulle njuta av redan till middagen.

Of course we picked some yellow chantarelles. Not that big of a pile in my basket, but we also picked some to enjoy for dinner that same day.

Trattkantareller har jag bara plockat en gång förut, men ätit desto fler gånger eftersom svärfar har gott om dem i "sin" skog. Här visade det sig att en hel del av dem egentligen var rödgul trumpetsvamp, de sorterna är lika men båda är goda matsvampar så det gör inte så mycket om man blandar ihop dem.

I have only picked funnel chantarelles once before, but I have had them for dinner a lot of times since my father in law has a lot of them in "his" forest. Some of these turned out to be yellow foot, these two species look very much alike, but since they both are good edible mushrooms it doesn't really matter.

Taggsvamp brukar jag plocka varje gång jag är ute i skogen. Det är inte så många andra som plockar dem, till skillnad från kantarellerna som alla är ute efter. Här ser ni både blek och rödgul taggsvamp. Vanlig som blandsvamp, men vi äter den lika gärna för sig själv.

I pick hedgehog mushrooms every time I'm in the forest. Most people don't pick them, like the yellow chantarelles that everybody is looking for. Here you can see both common hedgehog and the terracotta kind. It is common to mix it with other mushrooms, but we like it on its own too.

Röksvamp plockade jag för allra första gången. Så länge de är helt vita och fasta inuti så är de ätbara. Tyvärr blev jag sängliggande med huvudvärk och hann inte ta rätt på just dessa, men jag hittade en här hemma igår som vi stekte i smör och kryddor. Smakade pannkaka! Dottern som vanligtvis inte ens tittar åt svampen vi serverar pillade i sig nästan hela svampen.

I picked common puff-ball for the very first time. As long as they are entirely white and firm on the inside, they are edible. Unfortunately I spent a day in bed with headache and didn't manage to take care of these, but I found one at home yesterday that we fried in butter and spices. Tasted like swedish pancake! My daughter who usually doesn't even look at the mushroom we serve, ate almost the whole thing!

Normalt brukar jag gå ut i skogen och leta svamp, men när dottern kom hem från skolan igår tog vi med oss svampkorgen och gick ett varv i vår trädgård. Några björksoppar samlade vi ihop. Dessa har jag nu skivat ganska tunt och lagt på tork. Ska bli kul att smaka, har inte ätit just björksopp förut. Nu längtar jag ut i skogen igen, hoppas på att kunna gå en vända senare i veckan.

Normally I go to the forest to look for mushrooms, but when the daughter arrived with the school bus yesterday, we brought the mushroom basket and took a stroll in our garden. We got some birch bolete together. I have now sliced them and put them to dry. Will be fun to taste, I haven't eaten this bolete before. Now I long for the forest again, I hope to get out later this weekend.

Väntar - Waiting

Väntar på att maken ska börja med middagen. Det blir kyckling stekt över öppen eld. Till efterrätt äppelpaj, också över eld. Här växte bara nässlor förut, men maken har gjort fint. Själv har jag mest planterat. Flyttat på vinbärsbuskar, smultron och kryddor. Men även en hel del nytt. Återkommer en dag när jag har mer tid för datorn!

Waiting for my husband to get started on supper. We are having chicken, fried over open fire. And apple pie, also on the fire. There used to be nothing but nettles here, but my husband has made it look quite nice. I have mostly planted. Moved current bushes, wild strawberries and herbs. But also some new plants. I'll try to be back soon, when I have more time for the computer!