Day 13 - St-Leu

We're leaving Amiens' Cathedral now and heading for a charming neighborhood called St-Leu. The area is situated right by a stream and several canals. The houses there are adorable and some of them even have their very own bridges that you cross to get to their entrances. A great thing about this place is that there are many places where you can sit down to eat right by the water (second picture). We had dinner here on the evening when we arrived, right before the light show. The food was you would expect from a tourist hot spot - not your best choice - but the location was wonderful. The top shot is actually pretty much the view from where we sat, only I shot it the next day.

We're finally making some headway with my medical situation. I've been ill for over two years now, and now we've got a new find that is something that could finally point us to a "solution". I put the quotation marks there because I'm fairly sure this condition of mine is chronic, but nonetheless I feel a huge sense of relief! Having no answers for this long has been hard. There has been many times when I've put my hopes to different theories, but up until now, everything has been hopelessly inconclusive. Having, at the very least, one part of the puzzle feels like huge win! It means that I will finally get referred to the right department and meet the right specialist. So, tonight I'm celebrating! It might sound strange, celebrating that you've found out something is amiss with your body, but I am happy, oh so happy! Having part of the answer is such a win!

/MrsHjort

Day 2 - Martinikerk

Yesterday I was surprised to learn that a fellow Daggerian is from Groningen! I wish I had known before going. It would have been so lovely to meet her. We went there on a whim - booked a hotel the day before, packed our bags and went for it. I have always wanted to see the Netherlands and Groningen caught our eye - it's a city that is roughly the same size as my home town (not too big and not too small - the Goldilocks Zone of cities haha), it has pretty canals and those narrow buildings that are so typical of the country, and it also turned out it had really great places to eat.

Food is something we've really come to appreciate throughout our travels. Nowadays we travel as much for the food as for the sights. Sampling the local cuisine is a must, and Trip Adviser is a great way to find nice places. We arrived late in the evening (Hamburg... the traffic jam there added a couple of hours to our drive) and had the great fortune to find a nice place to eat just around the corner of our hotel. We tried to get a table at the top ranked restaurant at first - "De Betere Tijden" but it was full so we booked it for the next day instead. It turned out to be a great move! The food there was worthy of a trip in itself and it (and the prospect of getting to meet my photographer friend of course) easily makes me want to go back to the Groningen. We only stayed one day there after all, and since we were quite tired from our long drive the day before, we didn't have the time or energy to see much of Groningen.

One of the things we did do was to visit this beautiful church - Martinikerk - the oldest one in the city (completed in 1482). Well, we didn't actually visit the church per se; we went up the clock tower. It's almost a hundred meters high and you can climb all the way up to the clock face. I remember those narrow, winding and quite steep stairs with a dash or horror and a splash of pride. Horror, because I felt like I was going to fall down them and die if I lost my footing (yes, I know, I'm a bit of a sissy), and proud because I made it all the way up to the top (I'm chronically ill, so that was quite an accomplishment for me). The view from the top was beautiful! But I'll show you that tomorrow.

/MrsHjort

Day 44 - Castle Café

Higher up in Castel Sant'Angelo we found a cafe with a wonderful view of the city. Funnily we didn't even think about stopping there, I think we were too caught up in the experience to consider it. Apparently is got some very nice reviews... Oh well... maybe next time :)

/MrsHjort

Day 17 - Serenity

This is that same dome - the St Peter's Dome - that I shot yesterday, but this is shot from inside the Vatican. The dome was designed my Michelangelo himself who started the project when he was 71 years old. After he died, his student completed the work and it was finished in 26 years later, in 1590. The dome is 136 m high and 42 m in diameter. If you want to climb to the top, it's a whopping 491 steps to the top. Sadly, we didn't do that though. We ended up going the other way, climbing down to the tombs of the popes beneath the cathedral, and after that we were utterly famished, so we left the country to go get a bite to eat... 

What a strange thing to say eh? Leaving a country to go eat something... There are actually a few restaurants inside, but we're a picky couple when it gets to food. We travel as much for the food as for anything else and we carefully pick the restaurants we go to beforehand to avoid tourist traps and mediocre places. Apps like TripAdvisor is a great way to achieve that - it helped turn our trip into a wonderful food experience :)

/MrsHjort

Day 21 - Riva del Garda

Out of all the places we traveled in Italy this time along, this is my favorite! Riva del Garda is fantastically beautiful, gives you a lot of options in regards to activities and has some really nice restaurants if you know where to go. One of them, called "Sud", has the beat pizza I've ever had... Gosh, my mouth waters just thinking about it haha.

A good rule of thumb when looking for a place to eat in this city is not to go to the places where the hosts are all over you, trying to get you to eat at their restaurants, instead go to the places that don't need that sort of thing, and are packed anyway - that's where you'll find the really good stuff :).

Also, if you're a person who loves trekking, this is a great place to go. This is shot from a trek up a "hill" (much more than a hill, this is at the foot of the Alps after all) in the middle of the city, which starts right by the hotel we stayed at. So, there are plenty of walks that provide great photo opportunists, as well as some good old exercise :)

/MrsHjort

Day 15 and 16 - Picturesque

As you can tell by the top picture, this is a place that is a little crooked. Some buildings lean a little bit this way and other a tiny bit that way. It's unusual to work with, but what it lacks in straight lines it makes up in charm. So, since nothing is really straight here anyway, I decided to let it be that way and not correct it in post-ed. This feels more true to the real thing to me :)

There is only one main street in Manarola, and along it you'll find many small boutiques and shops. There are some nice places to eat too, and we were lucky to find an amazing ice cream shop a bit higher up, away from the main crowd. I'm sorry to say I don't remember its name but it was the best ice cream I had during our entire trip. I love cherry ice cream, but I often get disappointed since most of the time, it's really just vanilla with a bit of cherry jam in it. Not here though. This was the real thing! And they had really, really nice cinnamon flavored gelato too. Yum!

/MrsHjort

13 Hours of Christmas

So, as I was crazy enough to sign up for a 12 hour challenge on Daggerbay, here goes! Here's 12 hour of Christmas with our jolly, loud and exuberant family :)

8:24 
I wake up with my usual sleeping buddies, meaning Mr and this little lady, who continues to watch over my morning routines hehe. It's the morning of Christmas eve, which is when Swedes celebrate Christmas, and the family will come over in the afternoon - meaning, lots to prepare!

9:22
Rather than showing you a bunch of shots of me cleaning our house, I though I'd share this little Christmas favorite of mine - this knitted Santa my grandmother made me back when I was a child. She was a wonderful lady, who always knitted us beautiful things. I still get tear in my eyes thinking of how much love she pored into it all. I remember how she apologized for running out of the red yarn half way up the red coat of this wonderful creation. That was my Grannie haha,  I've always loved it... How I miss her!

10:06
Mr is the boss in the kitchen, he's so much better at it than I am and I'm very happy to let him run the show. He's a wonderful cook! I have to watch my weight with him around. It's way to easy to eat too much when everything he makes is so delicious. Here he is preparing one of the upcoming Christmas dinner dishes, and enjoying a Swedish Christmas drink - glögg (a sort of mulled wine, that we drink with almond flakes and rasens).

11:42
I've long since given up on trying to convince the rest of the family to restrict the Christmas prezzies to the children alone. Most Swedish families don't buy Christmas presents for everybody, you see, but do "secret Santa" or some kind of raffle instead, and some even do Christmas games where you have to win your presents. Not our family though, nope! We go above an beyond haha! This isn't even all of the presents, it's not even half of them! It's a big hassle to buy one for everybody - and I hate shopping - but I have to admit, nothing beats the atmosphere of antecipation and joy that they bring. The children can hardly keep their fingers away waiting, and we have to keep them from examinering the presents a little too closely.

12:01
Getting snow for Christmas in Sweden is more unusual than you'd think, or well at least it is where I live. I'd say the chance is about 50/50. You see, we live by the second largest lake in Sweden, and it helps keep the area warm in the winter. So, if you go up to the "highland" from where I live, you can go from this, to a whole lot of snow in a short distance. It's kind of nice in the autumn, because it delays the cold and keeps our streets free from ice a bit longer than everywhere else, but it decreases our chansers of a white Christmas, and it delays spring. Sometimes it even freezes over, and that's when you know spring will be unusually late. It's a very cold and deep lake... It's very rarely freezes though. Also, being so deep, it seldom gets warm enough for one to want to go for a swim in it - it takes a lot of time to heat all that water. It's beautiful though, and very clean. As you can tell, I have a bit of a love/hate relationship to it haha.

This is the view from our attic. The lake is in the distance, and, as you can see, we didn't get any snow this Christmas. There was ice-rain though, a lot of good it did us, ha!

13:02
The first guests arrive! My parents, always early and just as happy as you see them here. Sweden is like that. If you're expected to come at a certain time, people will show up right then, and not a moment later. Being more than 10 minutes late is rude, and it's better to show up 10 minutes early. Many of my friends from abroad shake their heads at that haha! But anyway, these are my parents. Swedish mother, American father. They met on a stroke of luck when on a holiday in yet on other country, and now here they are :)

14:10
I don't know how common these are outside of Sweden, but we eat these "prince sausages" every Christmas, along with loads of other traditional food, like meat balls, Jansons frestelse, herring, turkey and much, much more. It's where the word smorgasbord comes from - smörgåsbord. Since our family is kind of large, we do potluck. It would simply not work otherwise, and so each of the guests bring their assigned dishes, and, as hosts, we try to coordinate the best we can. That's where Mr comes in, and I'm very happy to leave all that stuff to him :)

15:58
This is Mr carving the Christmas ham. That's the super star of the Swedish Christmas foods and it's preparation is a science of its own. Mr has been experimenting for years to get it better and better. First you have to pick the right one, be it a pig or wild boar, then it has to be boiled and baked in so or so many degrees for this or that long. Mr has gotten really good at it - even I who don't particularly enjoy ham, like the way he makes it.

16:15
Tada! All the dishes are finally heated and ready! They're so many they don't even fit into the picture, that's not even mentioning the desserts. We actually forgot one of the dishes in the refrigerator this year - my mother's orange and walnut sallad. It's one of my personal favorites, yum! I cannot believe we forgot it.... eeeer well, okay then, yes I guess I can really, there are just so many dishes (and I've got a cold, so my head isn't quite screwed on right), so, it's a wonder it doesn't happen more often really haha. Oh well, it tasted just as good this morning as we ate some of the leftovers. That's a wonderful thing to have every Christmas day - lots of yummy leftovers when you're too lazy to make breakfast. We'll have leftovers for days, even though we sent all our guests home with food too!

17:27
After dinner things calm down a bit, and we all sit down, too tired from eating all the food to do anything sensible. Just like it should be. Food is half the spirit of Christmas in Sweden. At this point, we just sit down and enjoy each other's company, catching up about whatever and talking about nothing in particular. I really enjoy when the whole family gets together like this, both my side and Mr's. All the people I love under one roof, what could possibly be better? If the food makes up one half of Christmas, family makes up the other.

18:02
The Children's wait is over and Santa has finally arrived! It's all a bit weird though, as all the presents have been under the Christmas tree all day, haha, but luckily the children don't think of that. Mr was worried he wouldn't be able to fool them this year - the girl in this picture was a bit suspicious last year and suspected it was him under that white beard. So, he bought a better costume and though up a better cover story to explain why he had to leave all of a sudden. He was so happy when it worked! The magic of Christmas got to endure a year longer, yey!

19:19
It's desert time! After everybody has opened their presents, it's the perfect time for sweeties. In this picture you'll see two of the Swedish classics. First, there's the orange rice, which is not to be mistaken by rice a la Malta... seriously, don't! Or my father in law, who made it, will explain it to you, in full detail haha. That's actually also one of the traditions. Not a Christmas goes by without that particular lecture. He has also made the other sweet in this picture - the controversially named ball... Don't ask, I'll just leave it at that ;)

20:51 (bonus)
Our evening ends with Christmas quizzes. They're not usually about Christmas, or the same questions would pop up every second year or so, but about trivia in general. I'm the worst at that sort of thing! Mr though, won both of them, the brainiac that he is. Just don't tell him I said so ;)

So there you go! 12 hours of Christmas, plus one extra bonus hour. I've never made this challenge before, it was a lot of fun!

Merry Christmas everybody!

/MrsHjort

18:17 - Ceberations

This series ends with a nice glass of the bubbly. Mr and I have finally, finished renovating our house! Today! We've been at it for almost three years, but now it's finally the way we want it.

We've done it all, name it, we've probably done it! We've re-plastered the facade, changed the windows, redone one kitchen and torn out another (yes we had two), "bricked up" a door, torn down a wall and moved another, renovated one of the  bathrooms, painted everything, built sliding door wardrobes, changed all the floors and now, remade the washing room. And that's not even mentioning the garden...

Aaaah, it's nice to be done with it all. Now we'll just wait a few years before starting over again :P

/MrsHjort

17:13 - Friday Treat

I love Fridays, for obvious reasons. Each Friday I like to sit up late and tinker with stuff on my computer, whilst treating myself for having made it through the week. Ah, I love Fridays!

This is something that is very typical for Sweden - the "Semla". It's a bun filled with almond paste and whipped cream. You can find it in every bakery between November and March, it has even got a day of it's own called "Fettisdagen" which occurs the 9th of February this year - yey, an other excuse to get one, they're so yummy!


Happy Friday!

/MrsHjort

09:25 - Morning Fika

If you've ever been in Sweden, you know of our obsession with fika - sitting down together to eat sandwiches/baked goods while drinking tea/coffee. A work day simply isn't complete without it! It's part of the routine!

My workplace is no exception, and we're very fortunate! Our employer actually lets us buy the fika with company money. Fika has reached whole a new level at my office, advancing into full blown breakfast. Freshly baked brad, cheeses, salamis, and veggies are some of the standard features. Yum yum yum!

/MrsHjort

Day 16 - Scarf

It's sort of fitting that today's word is scarf... You see, I just got a cold and have been working from home all day. It's great having a job where you can actually do that! I've had a lot of soup, tea and have been dressing warmly in my comfy clothes (including a scarf).

Since I'm not exactly my usual energetic self today, this will be a bit shot, sorry about that! Now I'm gonna go huddle up under a blanket with the first cat I find, some more tea and a good book. If you're interested, it's "A Song of Swords - Steal and Snow", and yes, it rocks ;)

Catch you later

/MrsHjort

Day 10 - Lemon

This drink is very typical of Sweden, 10 points to to anyone who can guess what it is. We usually drink it around Christmas and Easter, it's a Swedish tradition and I used to long for the holidays just because I would get to drink this. I'll give you one more clue; it's made from juniper berries and it tastes sweet with a bit of a bitter aftertaste. Can you guess what it is yet?

It's Julmust! And not the ridiculously sweet soft drink version, but the real thing, made from real berries in a small "musteri" in Brunneby. Good stuff, I just love it with lemon :)

Cheers!

/MrsHjort

Day 9 - Vegetable

I thought of paprika from the very start, when this word first showed up in the random word generator. So, after work I went by the store to pick up the prettiest ones I could find. I ended up buying one of each color (except green) and laid them out on my kitchen counter as soon as I got home. The only thing was, it didn't really look that interesting... Sure they were nice looking, but something was missing! That was when one of my cats gave me an idea.

You see, our cat Morris has quite peculiar taste when it comes to food - he loves chilies! When ever we're coking, he lies down on a plate where we usually keep them and just rolls, and rolls around on them like he thinks they're catnip! Gosh, he's such a weirdo! Anyway, adding the chilies was just what my shot needed. That little extra spice to turn things up a notch

Thank you Morris, you may be weird, but you're
the good kind of weird :)

/MrsHjort

Day 8 - Cholcolate

Shooting this I used similar techniques as when I shot tea, and soup a while back. Shooting food is a question of speed and preparation (not just of the food itself). Therefore I set up the arrangement before actually pouring the hot chocolate in. I was a bit worried the piece of chocolate would melt against the hot glass though. That's when I figured I'd put a nut behind it to lean against, and it worked like a charm.

When all was in place, I poured the drink and snapped away. Though I soon realized I'd need an other light-source in front of the glass - the subjects got too dark against that bright background. I immediately ran upstairs to get my flash, but when I got back, there was too much condensation already. So, I poured the chocolate back into the pot, to reheat on the stove, and took out a fresh glass to repeat the procedure. It turned out much better the second time, and it was yummy too ;)

/MrsHjort

Day 7 - Measure

It's not easy shooting stuff like this all alone! There are lots of things to coordinate at once - the rate of sugar poring down, the position of the scoop, the camera angle and the focus.

I had a little whoopsie today as I pored the sugar with my left hand while trying to compose with my right. I have to admit, the mess it made had me a bit annoyed at the time, but, as soon as I saw the result, I realized it was the best shot of the session! Isn't it wonderful how things turn out sometimes? I just love how playful it looks - as if a child was poring, helping its mother with the baking. Let it be our little secret that it was really just a clumsy 20+ Mrs, with an itchy trigger finger ;)

/MrsHjort

Vistas of Madeira

I never sease to be amazed by the dramatic beauty of Madeira. It makes my heart sing. I wonder if you could ever grow immune to it, if you lived there. I'm guessing; no! My home is situated in a relatively flat area in comparison, and yet, I find myself marveling at the view quite often. Every landscape has it's own charm I guess, no matter where you are. Though, I've always preferred mountains and lush green hills. That's part of why Mr and I keep returning to Madeira I think.

One of the other reasons we keep coming back is the wine. Madeira wine is quite unique in taste and ranges from rich (sweet) to dry. If you're ever on the island, make sure you taste a Bolo do Mel de Cana (a sweet kake). It should be accompanied with a rich Madeira wine, and it's an excellent way to end the evening.

Speaking of ends, as this month draws to a close, I'm getting more and more exited about the next. You see, next month the 30-day challenge is on again. I missed it last time, due to workload, but now I finally have the time to do it. I'll be shooting each day, and you'll see my top pick here, every day. Fun fun fun! I love how the intense shooting gets your creative juices flowing. The previous challenges have really helped me develop as a photographer, and, they've been a lot of fun too. I can't wait :)

So, see you Sunday for my first post.

Cheers

/MrsHjort

Lewisia - October's Rhodolite Garnet

Lewisia is my favorite flower, well, at least when it comes to the ones that grow in my garden. I love its sweet pink color and the way it grows in clusters. It blooms twice a year, both in the spring, and in the autumn. So, even though I ended up choosing other flowers this spring, I still got the opportunity to get it into the calendar last month.

My other favorite flower is the Lillie, especially white ones, even though some consider white flowers inappropriate. They say that they only belong to funerals, but I've never been the type to care about things like that. If they are pretty, I love getting them, no matter what color they are.

As you know, If you've kept up with my blog, it was a long time ago that Mr brought me flowers (since the cats usually either eat them, knock over the vases they're in, or in other ways annihilate them), but yesterday... Yesterday I came home to a three course dinner and candle light. Mr, you truly are the best!

/MrsHjort

Day 29 - Early Dusk

I shot this as I got home today. Sweden has reached the point when it's dawn as I go to work, and dusk as I go home. Daylight savings will end in a month... It feels like we're living in Mordor for 4 months each year.

Yes, the day's grow shorter now, and the angle of the sun becomes more and more acute. The lack of light causes the body to stop producing vitamin D3, and a lack of vitamin D3 can make you feel tired. Therefore, Mr and I try to think of what we eat during the winter.

Vitamin D3 can be found in a verity of healthy foods, like fish, egg yolks and various deary products - which isn't a problem for us, since we usually eat a lot of all those things.

For a long time Mr and I have been very strict with what we eat. Periodically we have not eaten anything sugary at all, nor any fast food or snacks. Stress, however has finally gotten the best of us, and nowadays we eat fast food far more often than I'd like (not to mention snacks, I have a thing for salty things). But at some point, I guess you just have to give in, and be "sloppy" for a while. I look forward to when things calm down and I can take the time to cook again.

/MrsHjort

Day 28 - Flavor

Autumn is slowly creeping into my green house. The last tomatoes have been harvested, and it's time to take care of the last herbs as well. This shot is of Thai basil. The leaves have a very aromatic scent, and I love going into the greenhouse just to smell them! The taste is a bit bitter sweet, but it adds a little something extra to whatever you use it for. We usually add it to soups or curries.

I love Thai food! In fact, if I could only eat food from one country for the rest of my life, I would choose Thailand, no competition! There's a lovely Thai restaurant here in town that we frequently go to, so often in fact, that we've gotten to know the staff. Last time we where there, I ordered something I don't usually eat, and our waiter went "Oooh, trying out new things today are we?" The friendly atmosphere is part of what I love about that place, not to mention the menu!

What's your favorite food?

/MrsHjort

Day 18 - Colorful Chaos

When the stress level is way, way high and you have so many things to keep track of that you feel totally confused. When your day has been an emotional roller coaster and you're so tired you're ready to drop. When life is crazy in general... Then it's nice to have a someone who'll dust you off and take care of you, and like usual, that somebody is Mr.

No words can describe how thankful I am for him, my second half (my better half). Today he cooked a two course dinner for me as a surprise. Nothing could be more welcome after a day's hard work, than to come home to the smell of tomato soup and roasted chicken :). Mr, you truly are the best!

/MrsHjort