VALBORG

My supersticious tendencies are underdeveloped but my father is quite the closet pyromaniac, so I blame my genome for delighting in Valpurgis Night bonfires every year. But this year spring needs all the help it can get from the rest of you as well. 2013 is not the year to skimp on choirs and fires people!
IMAGE: SAPERAUD VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

NEAR THE END

I've felt all winter that this blog is limping without our photos and all that other content that still lie hidden in a crashed hard disk. Perhaps we'll call it quits a little sooner this year, the end of January instead of March, and return earlier in the fall.

STACK'EM

Whilst examining breadboxes at Clas Ohlson's I snatched up this rack on sale for 49 NOK. Hopefully our next cinnamon bun venture won't turn into a sliding blocks puzzle, as it usually does in a small kitchen.
IMAGE: CLAS OHLSON WEBSHOP

WIPE OUT

These are perfect napkins for our Christmas 2013. Yup, I'm stocking up. Turns out all the good looking napkins were sold out by the time Christmas came around and we had to chose between ugly and ugly in desperation on the 24th. Not making that mistake again.
IMAGE: CLAS OHLSON WEBSHOP

JANUARY PLAYLIST

  

If your holiday soundtrack is Michael Bublé, Frank Sinatra, and Diana Krall, try Lisa Ekdahl's Heaven Earth and Beyond, Silje Nergaard's At first light and the late Monica Zetterlund's Waltz for Debby. My January favourites. Click on a cover to preview in Itunes.
IMAGES: ITUNES

TAKE A WALK ON THE WHITE SIDE

Karlavägen, Stockholm 1922.
IMAGE: SWEDISH NATIONAL HERITAGE BOARD

CAN DO

"Oh mom, christmas has been wonderful! I want it to be christmas again!" The 4-year old was delighted over the holidays, enjoying the atmosphere, new toys, and the gingerbread house. And he's right, it was wonderful. The only thing we truly missed was Swedish Julmust, but you can't have it all. I think I may have found an all year round supplier of julmust-cans. Much easier to transport and store than glass bottles.
IMAGE: TOREBRINGS

THIS IS THE CASE

This is a great design for a throw pillow. It's linear but asymmetric and offsets other patterns more subtly than stripes or checks. Hegum by Sofie Sjöstrand, available from Designonline.
IMAGE: DESIGNONLINE

13 DAYS AFTER CHRISTMAS

Today we held a small julgransplundring for our 4-year old and his best friend. We sang and danced around the tree and looted it for goodies. Afterwards the kids ended up just running in circles around the tree, as kids always do, and for some reason our heir undressed to dance around the tree in his boxers and white dress shirt. Not our proudest moment as parents, but what a giddy and fun evening. Nothing beats a good "tree looting" filled with laughter.

GIVE US TODAY OUR DAILY CHARGE

Always on the look out for cheap family friendly storage solutions this bread box caught my eye. It will be perfect to gather all those ugly, but necessary, chargers in. We do love technological advances, but not the charger plethora they've brought to our homes.

It might also be perfect in the gaming corner for all those (ugly) little game boxes of Uno, Yatzy, etc. that keep falling into a jumble when a kid reaches for them. Available in black or white from Clas Ohlson.

UPDATE: This one wasn't exactly as nice as I'd hoped. The backside didn't look good and the handle ugly and sharp. The search for another one is on.
IMAGE:  CLAS OHLSON WEBSHOP

HMMMM.

Sometimes you come across objects that you can't decide whether you like or not. This is one of those for me. I kind of like it and kind of hate it at the same time. Lamp GAVIK from IKEA. 

IMAGE: IKEA

SHADES OF GRAY

Today we are dyeing our beige bedspread gray. If that project is successful we are moving on to the livingroom with dye in hand. I'm slightly apprehensive. Last time I attempted anything in the area of DIY our carpet disintegrated. Literally.

NUT CUPS IN LIEU OF NIGHT CAPS

Not a big fan of drinking out of paper cups, but a great fan of serving individual cups of snacks. A big bowl of nuts at an open house during flu season just isn't too enticing. Paper cups from Lagerhaus. Place a stack next to snack bowl with a spoon and a few pre-filled cups next to it. 

IMAGE: LAGERHAUS WEBSHOP

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS

I suspect this is what I look like when trying to cut out the sweets.
IMAGE: ERICA PARTRIDGE/THE SWEDESE VIA FLICKR

NYÅR FRÅN SKANSEN

The Swedish and Norwegian superstitions that were once part of New Year's Eve have dwindled into oblivion. Most Scandinavians attend a festive dinnerparty followed by fireworks. A TV-broadcast from the Skansen stage in Stockholm has become part of the modern Swedish tradition and can be viewed on SVT Play HERE.

Replacing ABBA's Happy New Year as my New Year's Eve anthem is this version of Sverige, (originally by Kent). With financial instability and extreme parties across the world winning supporters, it is not without anxiety that Europe greets 2013. The political climate in Sweden and Norway is also shifting.

Let us never forget that "the function of freedom is to free someone else" (Toni Morrison).



Happy New Year!

NOT REALLY UP FOR COOKING

Ingredients at home: Cod & Moose
Possible recipes:
Moose steak with honey & lingonberry (Rikard Näslin).
Moose roast beef with fancy on the side (Mat och Vänner). That's stretching justicia poética, I know.
Cod with horse radish and green apples (Mat och Vänner).
Cod tournedos with crayfish & horse radish (Fredrik Eriksson).
Needed: rocket fuel to stay awake past noon.

How trashy is it to eat frozen pizza on New Year's Eve? Just curious.

PUT IT OUT IN STYLE

The last couple of years fire extinguishers have been made to fit the Scandinavian white homes, and I for one applaud the effort. The likelihood that this one will be stuffed in a closet is smaller than that for its bright red siblings. 

A great hostessgift on New Year's Eve, or to new homeowners or your childrens' families. If they already own one, place the old one in the garage. Available at Ica Maxi Hem & Fritid (199 SEK).  

IMAGE: ICA MAXI WEBSHOP

NOTE TO SELF

Next year, stock up on paper napkins before the holidays. We went through our single package in no time during our 4 days of  Christmas, even though we used fabric ones as well. 

IMAGE: SVENSKT TENN

LET'S GET THINGS CLEAR

I love the look of acrylic. It looks great when done right. Nomess Copenhagen are doing it right.
IMAGE: LÄNNA MÖBLER WEBSHOP

LET THE LOOTINGS BEGIN

Yet another reason to have a Scandinavian tree robbing party a.k.a julgransplundring for your neighbours instead of a pre-christmas mingle:  post christmas all treats are on sale.

Stock up like the French: en masse.

O SUN WHERE ART THOU

No, we're not depressed by the polar night yet, but it's sure difficult to wake up- and stay awake when this is the constant of a day's 24 hours. Every day the 4-year old wakes up and shouts: Is it morning? Because if we didn't tell him, how else would he know?
IMAGE: THE ARCTIC CATHEDRAL, TROMSÖ,  BY TOM VOOGHT VIA FLICKR

NO NEED TO ARGUE

Since I'm an herbal tea drinker of extraordinary proportions, I usually have a tea mug, ehm, make that a few forgotten tea mugs, placed around the house. Since this has been the season of insane colds my husband has taken to hot honey and ginger concoctions, resulting in a frequent " is this yours or mine" interrogations as we find white mugs around the house. This year I'll add a pink one to our Swedish Grace accumulations that will be all mine. 

IMAGE: RÖRSTRAND 

PLAN AHEAD

This price is unbeatable: 13 SEK (about 1,75 USD) each  on sale. Stock up with one for each window of your house/office/church/school etc (don't forget to grab a bunch of extra bulbs on sale). Adventsstake Ola available in white and red at Jula.

With prices this low I'd get one each for your kids, students, young women groups, etc. Let them decorate them as part of a christmas party or after school activity and take home for their own rooms. Very popular. Very easy to supervise. Very good. 

IMAGE: JULA WEBSHOP

CUTE LOOTERS

Julgransplundring, the mere fact that there isn't an English word for it says something about it's global popularity. Looting the tree for goodies and then throwing it out, by way of dancing around it, has been a Swedish tradition since at least the 17th century. The tradition remains strong with tree robbing festivities all over the country mid-January.

A christmas party after christmas? Wait, think about it. Kid-friendly, relaxed, the decorations already in place, no gift exchange needed and last but not least: budget-friendly.

The basics are easy: sweet treats for the children and some dancing.
The advanced curriculum involves some additional food, party games and smashing (and eating) gingerbread houses.

The museum of Swedish cultural history has published 5 pamphlets with traditional songs for the occasion. Simple notation and dance instructions (in Swedish) are included. Available as free pdf documents HERE. Or "cheat" with this playlist on Youtube.

If you are less inclined to join in such follies, resort ro reading about Pippi Longstocking's treelooting party.
IMAGE: PHOTO BY GUSTAV ANDERSSON, FROM THE COLLECTIONS OF JÖNKÖPINGS LÄNS MUSEUM

SONJAS SANG

COOKING UP A STORM

Yes, we've been through this before. It's a want, not a need per se. But dear husband, I would argue that I've improved in the kitchen the past 7 years (remember the exploded egg whilst engaged?) and great cookbooks have helped along the way. Perhaps we can consider these course literature?

Per Morberg, I'll admit it, his mannerisms disgusted me at first but now I'm a big fan. The Eisenman sisters have written a party food bible and it's been on my wishlist since it was released. Annas Mat is my all time number one cookbook, but the re-revisions and new editions annoy me. Some recipes are found in quite a few of her cookbooks. It makes me feel as though I'm paying for some chapters more than once. If this is the final version (with new recipes) I want it. Otherwise I'll stick with the ones I already own.

Preview of the books available at Adlibris, see links.
IMAGE: ADLIBRIS WEBSHOP

AF SWEDALA

One of the newcomers on the Swedish design market is af Swedala who combine folklore inspirations with an urban colour palette into family friendly home goods. I found them while hunting for new sheets, but their sizes didn't fit our bed. Instead, I fell in love with their beautifully wrapped soaps. Bonus points for the complimentary shipping (within Sweden) in their webshop.

View their latest catalogue here, but be warned, it may convince you (as it did me) that you've always wanted to live in a renovated barn, surrounded by children and great lamps.
IMAGE: PRESS IMAGE  BY PATRIK HAGBORG, USED WITH PERMISSION

PICKERS CHOOSERS

    

New year's eve dinner is drawing closer. I'm still trying to find the right addition to my clear, sand and gray Kivis (1,3,4). I'm pretty confident about adding pomerans (2), but feel strangely drawn to the purple one (5) as well. All suggestions or opinions welcome, or I might spend the whole weekend watching that belans video over and over again.
IMAGE: IITTALA WEBSHOP

HEARTFELT

Purnorsk is a souvenir and designshop with Norwegian contemporary design. I fell in love with these silicone trivets/potholders shaped as Scandinavian waffles. A fun gift. Easy to mail as well. Made by Bark Bazar and available in 10 colours.
IMAGE: PUR NORSK