A Celebration - One Day Early

What can one do on a gorgeously sunny Saturday before Mother's Day? For starters, cut some vines and small shrubs down along a fence. Then dig a hole in the ground - a rectangular one. Hopefully there will be strawberry plants thriving there eventually. After that, a short drive in the car. I wasn't driving, my husband was, and that is the reason we ended up at Fazoli's, one of my favorite pasta restaurants, because he wanted to surprise me with a one day early Mother's Day dinner. I choose whole grain rotini with creamy basil sauce and broccoli. Don't forget about the breadsticks ... they are the best tasting in the whole wide world! I used to eat four or five with my meals there before I got a little bit older and a little bit wiser, so now I am only having two each time. I think.

Coming back home, I felt a desperate need to paint our mailbox-pole white, so I did. In the dark underneath a street light. Urges like that should not be denied.

Baking and Eating

The past week and a half I've started enjoying baking as much I when I first started baking. That actually says a lot. The only down side is ... someone's needs to eat it too and that responsibility falls on me. Not me alone of course, and that's a good thing too.

Things I've made lately:

Banana Cake with Vanilla Frosting

Blueberry muffins batter waiting to be put into the oven

Swedish Thumbprint Cookies

My Resolutions

For starters: Happy New Year to each and all and may love be ever present in your lives.

My New Years Resolution is the same every new year and that is to be the best person I can be every day throughout the year. This year I added some things that I would like to keep doing and that is to continue taking care of myself as best I can eating healthy and not too much, not too little - or "lagom" as in the ever present Swedish "live-by-rule". I've already lost a few pounds eating "lagom", drinking two cups of organic, green tea every day and using a new exercise technique that is as easy as it is simple: just do whatever exercise or movements you want with lots of effort put into it for ... 20 seconds at a time. Yup, you read it right, 20 seconds at a time is all. I'm doing that several times throughout the day so it adds up!

Whatever you promised, or if you didn't promise anything, may 2015 bless you with lots of dreams, goals and desires come true!

Favorite Places to Eat

Anywhere where I can get something Vegetarian. One of those places is Mellow Mushroom. It is so great to come to a place where you don't have to settle for a side salad and a baked potato ... and the pizza options are more than just a cheese or three cheese ... there are five signature vegetarian pizzas. Heaven. I'm already looking forward to my next Holy Shitake Pie.

Something warm for my cup

One of my previous posts was about what I missed having from my native country Sweden. That one thing was a Chinese dessert. Now I know of something else too after coming off from a flu: Rose Hip Soup and Black Currant Syrup. They are both loaded with Vitamin C and can be enjoyed hot or cold. Cold on a hot summer day and hot on a cold winters day ... or when you have the flu. It is very soothing and warms you up if you're having a fever or just feel cold. Unfortunately the Rose Hip Soup powder and Black Currant Syrup are hard to find and expensive so those aren't things I have as staples in my pantry. And the only time I have missed them, really, is in the past weeks. House remedies from our childhood are pretty good memories though about a mother that cared enough to give you something to make you feel warm and loved. Not too bad.

Rose Hip Soup and Rose Hips

Black Currant Syrup

Black Currant Berries

Cross culture thing ...

A co-worker asked me once what I missed the most from my old home country. My answer was "Besides my family, I think I miss a Chinese dessert called Fried Bananas the most". I think it puzzled him as much as it did me :-) It's kind of funny ... I live in the US, come from Sweden and miss a Chinese dessert!

In Swedish/På Svenska:

En arbetskamrat frågade mig en gång vad jag saknade mest från mitt gamla hemland. Mitt svar var "Förutom min familj, så tror jag att jag mest saknar en Kinesisk dessert som heter Friterade Bananer". Jag tror att han blev lika förvånad som jag :-) Det är ganska lustigt ... jag bor i USA, kommer från Sverige och saknar en kinesisk dessert!

Bananas, dipped in batter and fried. Served with Vanilla bean ice cream and syrup. Oh, it's sooo yummy!!!