Email on holiday

On a private note I am really tired of people who DEMAND that I check my email and my phone when I am on holiday or think that they can EXPECT that I answer my private email or my private phone when I am at work. Sorry. Holiday is my time and work is my employer's time. I don't have to check email or answer private calls then.

No, also not from the bank or from insurance companies etc.

Especially since the bank are calling about the most stupid things; Selling music over internet, for example.

Seriously...

And sorry, if you want my involvement, you have to accept that I get involved when it suits me or those who I am with - work when at work, friends and family when I am with friends and family. It really IS that simple.

YES, I am a bit grumpy.

And NO, I haven't forgotten about the blog and I will update soon again, but first there are some other priorities to take care of.

Disadvantage with travelling

The only real downside to travelling is that one has to pack before...
I don't like to pack. Packing is boring. But it will be well worth the time, I know. Travel reports to follow :-)

Sad sad day for Sweden

We have a new party in the parliament in Sweden, they broke the  4 % limit. I don't have the energy or time to write about it right now but all I can say is: I feel sick. Really. I am so sad and so embarrassed, I was hoping we would have been smarter, but apparently not, we have allowed a racist party over the threshold.

Now we need to understand how it could go so wrong, and we need to think about how we can fix this. Education must be the first step, understanding what actually is going on. I hope knowledge will help.

I am an immigrant myself, but in Germany.

The cold winds blowing over Europe scares me.

Dreams

I am not going to blog what I dream about because someone may do some serious profiling is I do. I can just confirm that I am weird for real... ;-)

Also, I don't really have time to blog at the moment, have some other stuff going on on my spare time :-)

Winter already?

OK, it isn't exactly warm, got 16-17 degrees C today, which is about 61 F, and it is a bit windy. I know. But I still think it is slightly exaggerated to wear winter boots. It IS only September after all...

The blog

I have cleaned up a little bit. I don't want my blog to be a grumpy blog. It is not me. And when I do want to whine I can do that in other formats, in other forums. So I have cleaned up a bit, it is on purpose and not by accident.

Hotmail and spam

Hotmail's spam filters for email is a bit too efficient, it now blocks also things I want to see, mailing lists etc... So if you are trying to send things and I never respond, you may just want to ask...

Unhappy Hipsters - irresistable blog

Just had to tip you about this really entertaining photo blog - unhappy Hipsters! Great pictures with ironic comments.

Look at the details. Look at August 26 for example - or at the August 30:th one - look in the background, see the woman at the balcony?

Still being spammed

I am still being spammed but at least it seems like most of the spam gets caught in the new blogger spam filters. Some still come in to my mail box, but a lot are caught. Good. I will keep an eye open but if I switch word verification back on you know why, at least. Hopefully won't be needed though, as the spam filters improve.

Oh, and just for the record: Since most spam for some reason come in on older posts, I switched on the "approve comments" function for posts that are a few months old. It doesn't mean that I don't like comments there, I do, but I want real comments and not spam. When the spam filter gets better I may be able to switch it on again. But I really don't want a lot of suspicious products and links that will most likely take my readers to virus infected websites to be published on my blog...

Chosing the right model - or at least the right angle

Ulrika Good, a clever Swedish blogger, recently blogged about how a lion at a castle in Sweden served as a model for a drawing. The lion is from a time when people in Sweden didn't really know about lions, so the poor conservator had an interesting job creating the model.

I guess you can say that the pictures that Ulrika has published shows how important it is to have the right angle and how things can look totally different when you get another view on things...
From the side Mr Lion looks strong and fierce.
Not so much from up front.

A bit like challenges in real life - they may seem scary at first but then you just need another view on things and it may turn out that they are actually a lot of fun and not the least bit dangerous...

As you probably have gathered

As you probably have gathered by now I got my new device and can easily blog from the train, caffes etc again :-)

As requested. Special cufflinks

:-)

Cufflinks

Not that I am as extreme as Lindsay Lohan (who had a message on her nails while in court) but my cufflinks that I am wearing today says:

I tried being reasonable.
I didn't like it.

I love my cufflinks...

Trains...

I generally love taking the train, it's efficient, environmental friendly and relaxing, I can read, work, sleep, blog, or whatever I may be doing.

Trains are great.

When they come, that is... And they don't seem to do that very often at the moment...

Trains were cancelled and delayed on Sunday, yesterday again, and again today - and it's only morning!

In the winter they blame the cold, in the summer the heat and now it's construction work. Most frustrating. I don't wNt to have to get up at five just so that I have extra margin to get to work!

The ICE, Intercity Express, normally works, the Regionalbahn is OK, but the S-bahn always have lowest priority...

*Sigh*

But I am not giving up, I am not going to get a car, I am going to keep struggling because it's better to wait on a late train than in a a traffic jam...

Sweet potatoes and beetroot with goat cheese

Inspired by the blog "Om jag var din hemmafru" and the recipe "Sötpotatissallad med rosmarin och chèvre" (Sweet potato salad with rosemary and chevre).  I change what I cook slightly. I very often make things in the oven, it is practical with food that more or less cooks itself, and I have very often done different variants on what you see here, but I rarely add the cheese to the food while it is in the oven.

This is my version of the salad

Sweet potatoes and beet-roots in the oven, served with simple tomato salad

What you need:

Vegetables in the oven

• Sweet potatoes
• Beet-roots - pick small ones, that way you don't have to peel them, you can just scrub them and cut them.
• Goat cheese - I do not use chevre, if you by chevre mean the French goat cheese which has a thicker crust around it, I use white goat cheese that I buy in my Turkish shop, no need to go exclusive with French cheese, this one is milder but has as much or more taste.
• Walnuts
• Fresh rosemary
• Fresh thyme
• Salt and a bit black pepper if you want
• Olive oil

Tomato salad

• Tomatoes - one per person what was I used.
• Fresh basil
• A really good olive oil, like this one for example
• A bit of rocket, or ruccola salad, if you like.

How to:
Turn on the oven (200 degrees Celcius (390 F?)).

Rince the Sweet potatoe and cut it in pieces, I use 1,5-2 cm thick slices. You can peel the sweet potatoes but I never do, I buy the ones with thinner peel. Learned as a child that the most nutritions part of the normal potato is just under the skin and I suspect it is the same with other vegetables, so I am not going to take any risk. I need my vitamins.

Rince the beet-roots. In Swedish these are called "Rödbetor", basically red beets, and for a good reason. If you are peeling these ones, and I do unless I have found some really small ones with very thin skin, my suggestion is to hold it under cold water while you peel, as it stops the "bleeding" and doesn't stain your skin as badly. The juice from the beets is quite strong in colour... Cut the beet-roots in smaller pieces, similar to the ones you cut the sweet potatoes in.

The oven should now be warm. Take out an oven proof dish, i.e. a dish that you can use in the oven, pour in some oil - I use olive oil but not the luxury one, a more normal one. Put some fresh rosemary into the dish, as well as some thyme. I used about a handfull, with 80 % rosemary and 20% thyme. Put the dish into the oven to let it warm up. After 5-7 minutes, take it out, and put the slices of sweet potato and beetroot into the dish, add a touch of salt (I use sea salt most of the time, this time sea salt that had been stored with some herbs for a while), stir, and put it back into the oven.

Chop a handful of walnuts into smaller pieces. I am talking about seeds, they need to be peeled already; I always buy already peeled ones as it's not worth the effort to peel them myself.

Cut the cheese in little cube, 1x2 cm or slightly bigger.




Go and do something else for about 20 minutes - smaller slices cook faster so it doesn't take that long. Or prepare the tomato salad in the meantime, plus set the table. If you want to eat some meat with the food you may want to prepare that now as well.

When the sweet potatoes are almost done (use a fork to test, and don't worry, if they cook a little bit too long, that is OK too, and you can always lower the temperature if you need to), open the oven, add the cheese and the walnuts, and stir. Now you want to give it about 10 minutes to let the cheese melt a bit and the walnuts to roast.

Tomato salad:
Just cut the tomatoes in reasonable bits, put them on the plate, rince some basil - I use quite a bit actually - rip it into pieces, mix with the tomatoes, take some rocket salad or other salad with strong taste and do the same as you just did with the basil. Add a tad pepper, I always use freshly grind, and some salt - but VERY little, you can use rock salt or some other "fancy" salt, not the good old house salt. If you don't have special salt I'd just skip it. You can add a pinch later if absolutely needed. Drizzle a good olive oil over the salad. Tomato salad I normally mix directly on the plate, not in a separate bowl.

Take the veggies out of the oven, put them on the plate with the tomato salad, serve and enjoy.



Tip: I never ever ever cut salad. I always tear it. I don't know if it is true but I have a feeling that the salad gets more bitter when cutting, as if it is broken by force in the wrong areas. Yes, it is probably just me being weird but that's what it feels like. What can I say, I have strange ideas...

And I am pretty sure you can do this with tofu too, and get a great result, if you want a vegetarian version. You may also want to add some beans to the tomato salad for protein, I do that all the time, just not this time. Some leek is also nice, use the green bits. 

For the things in the oven: You can basically use any kind of roots, just be aware that the cooking time may vary, so you may not want to throw everything into the pan/dish at the same time. Suggestions on veggies to use: Carrots, suede, but also things like broccoli and cauliflower would work even though the taste would be slightly different.


PS! No, I don't have exact measurements, it depends on how hungry you are and how big the vegetables are. I always cook on feeling rather than following recipes, which I have mentioned before. So sorry if this can only work as an inspiration and not as an exact science... But really, use your confidence and your taste buds and it will be fine. Or you will have some leftovers for tomorrow, that's not half bad.

Olive oil - I have a problem...

There are many fantastic olive oils. I always have several different ones as different ones taste differently and can be used for different things. One of the oils I have is absolutely gorgeous, I bought it here in Germany and I know several places where I can get it again - "my" wine shop is just one of them.

But then there is another oil, a cold pressed unfiltered one, one that comes from the first pressing, and from the early harvest - the "Agourelation".
This specific one has a grassy taste, very distinct, but very soft. It is the very very best olive oil I have. I use it only for very special things, as this is not an every day oil.

But now the problem is: I am running out! And I have not yet been able to find it here in Germany... This gorgeous oil I previously bought in Sweden, and even there I only knew one or two places where I could actually find it (not that I looked very carefully, I knew where to get it so it wasn't needed).

I have emailed the company that makes it, Elaion, and I hope that I will be able to get an answer, because what do I do otherwise? I can't live without my wonderful oil, can I?

In the meantime, if someone happen to have heard about oil from Elaion, please please please let me know, even if it would be in Munich, or Hamburg, or Berlin. I am prepared to travel for this baby, but preferably not to Sweden, in Sweden I have to focus on getting cheese and "Knäckebröd" and other important things, and I also don't want to check in my olive oil, if I can avoid it. In Germany I'd take the train...

Yes. I am desperate! Food is my passion!

Confusing myself

I have always had very vivid dreams, and I start dreaming almost immediately after falling asleep. Sometimes the dreams are very realistic, sometimes less. When they are there are times when I am not sure if it really happened or not but often there is some detail that gives it away.
Last week I was out climbing mountains with an old friend. Except he would never actually go climbing. Nor would I. I guess I sort of have the physique for it, and I meant to try years and years ago but the instructor started to hit on me despite me being in a relationship so I backed out.

Yesterday I had a very livid discussion about art with another dear friend. That one could have been real except I couldn't for the life of me remember what we talked about thinking back o it and that's how I know it was just dream.

But I really think most if my friends have shown in my dreams at least once. It's actually quite nice, in a way I always stay in touch with dear friends and family - they just don't know it... What does confuse me a lot though is when it's people I haven't seen since we were in 3:rd grade that shows up in my dreams. What on earth are they doing there?

It's really quite fascinating how the brain works - maybe I should write a book, as some say - I certainly seem to have imagination enough for it...

About fashion

Don't worry, this is not going to turn into a fashion blog, not my style, I am way to uninterested. But here is anyhow a little tip...

My hair is dark, but yes, I do sometimes help nature a little, to get an extra depth and extra shine. But it works well, as it matches the rest of me. That is really the key: It matches the rest of me.

Poor guy on the train: All I can say is this: If you want the cool black hair rocker look you can't let your hair which is super light grow. Either you shave or you dye the beard too. Really. Black hair with really light beard (and blue eyes) - and it looks like the hair is a wig. Just a tip. But maybe that was what it was supposed to look like?

(And lose the cigarettes is my tip, but I guess that isn't cool enough...)

My tummy growls!!!

OK, this doesn't work any more, really. If I don't get proper food I am less efficient, it is that simple. The canteen, regardless of how sweet they are, this diet is really bad for me. I know, they try to be innovative from time to time - yesterday we could have what I would see as dessert as one of the choices for main course again - I am wasting away eating canteen food though. It just doesn't work. I am going to have to start bringing my own food again, don't want to vanish. I am only eating what I need to not be hungry, that is how uninteresting the food is on a good day. And the food is way to salty too.
On a bad day like today it is not even uninteresting, today there was absolutely nothing what so ever for me. Everything, including the soup, that was thinkable was full of milk (and I am lactose intolerant) and the only other option was basically French fries. With potatoes, if I wanted.

Luckily ONE of the vending machines in another building was not completely empty but had a sandwich I was OK with, so I got some energy at least.

What otherwise fascinates me is that there are so many German colleagues who basically never eat lunch. I don't understand how they survive, but I guess most of them have a wife at home, a wife who has dinner ready when they get there. But even so: How can they survive until then?

Naked men...

I am discussing photography with a friend and I mention Mapplethorpe. My friend didn't go and see the exhibition. He didn't want to see naked men. OK, some of Mapplethorpe's pictures are of naked men, but there are so many other things to see. I tell him. I also say that German men are too sensitive. (Goes for most Swedes too but I don't say that, there are no Swedes there except me).

And the I am told that I shouldn't complain.

"Is this the same woman who complain about naked people in the sauna"?

OK, I admit that. I don't like naked mixed saunas. And I especially don't understand how you can be naked in a sauna and then continue to address someone with family name.  However: It's not that I don't like naked men. It's just that I don't like naked unknown men staring at me while I am naked. Nor do I want friends to see me naked. It is way to personal. The no-mixed-saunas have got nothing to do with whether THEY are naked or not, even if they would be very unattractive (OK, if VERY It could be an issue), it's just the whole thing of naked men staring at me that gives me the creeps. It's sleazy. And yes they would. Stare that is, Germans stare at me all the time. Maybe because I am a strange Swede, maybe because they just stare. In this city one gets stared upon on a daily basis. Although the worst example yesterday was a taxi driver, which may explain that bit...

But main point: Pictures don't stare back.  I have no problem looking at naked people on photos.