Uppsala i vintras

I really can't wait to be back here!

To Sweden!

Tomorrow I am leaving to spend a whole month in Sweden with my boyfriend and his family! So excited.  Weeks and weeks of kissing and laughing and relaxing and doing everything fun.  Plus I'm going to Edinburgh for a few days to meet some friends.  I can't wait I can't wait! The only terrible thing about flying so far is that I will leave tomorrow but it will be already fully Friday by the time I get to Stockholm, and already almost dark out! It's too long to wait!

I don't know how I do it

Oh future imaginary blog readers,


I'm drinking hot lemon water because - and I truly hope this isn't too much information - I have a canker sore, which I only get when I'm stressed.  I never seem to realise how stressed I am until, you know, I break down in the passenger seat of a car, need to sleep all day, my face breaks out in teenage-pizza spots and, well, I get a canker sore or a stye (ugh).

I'm really not sure that I want to be in school any longer.  But here I am.  I will return to write more on this when I don't feel so guilty for not writing a paper instead.

spots.

My skin and I are fighting again. What else is new.

Skin: ha ha! Another zit! and another! and a wierd reddish area! ha ha ha ha! You'll never stop me!

Me: give me a break.  Please.  Really, it's about time, isn't it?

Skin: Maybe if you took a little better care of me I'd be a little friendlier.

Me: Look, you're not a teenager, I shouldn't have coddle you any more with so many creams and potions.  Can't you just be normal?!*

Skin: Never!!!!!

*Foolishly using the exact line my parents gave me as a teenager which, if anything, made things worse.  I never learn.

Sleepy one

Today I was firmly reminded that despite all my efforts to the contrary, I am not, nor will I ever be, one of those people who don't need much sleep.

I slept about six and a half hours last night. The phone rang very early and woke me.  I'm sure that's plenty of sleep for a lot of people, but I was such a mess all day. I was a brat all morning and cried in the car the whole way home from the computer store, for no particular reason. Except that we were driving through a quiet neighbourhood by the lake with pretty country-side like houses that were all decorated for Christmas and I think this was making me upset somehow.  It might also be PMS.  Sigh. Anyway, I came home and napped for precisely two hours, without setting an alarm - i.e. the amount of sleep I missed last night - and now I feel fine! Oh, and I didn't get my new laptop yet. Shucks.

Time for sleep!

Why can't I convince myself to go to bed! After all, I have to get up early tomorrow so I can go and get a new laptop and run other errands before I settle back down to my paper again.

(My laptop died and the shop is going to replace it,  but they don't make the model I had, or anything like it, any longer - although it was only two years old - so I'm not really looking forward to choosing a new one.  It was such a good, good little laptop!)

the one where I get an andra adventsfika after all

I wanted so much to finish my paper today.  And I tried so hard, but it just wasn't working. So finally around five o'clock I gave up and made cookies, which I had been dreaming about doing all day.

I should probably rename this blog "Cookie Mountains." Or "Wierd iPhone Photos of Greedy Mounds of Baked Goods"

I used Underbara Clara's recipe here, the one I mentioned the other day, and they are so delicious.  I used a tiny bit more cardamom than the recipe calls for, on account of my cardamom addiction, and mine turned out a little rounder than hers - I forgot to flatten them out before baking. Ooops! I also made two batches because the first time around I was really not paying attention and accidently added an extra 100 ml flour.   Like all good recipes, this one can stand a little bit of screwing up by the chef and still give super tasty results.  I ate MANY of them.  Studying makes you hungry!

While eating many, many cookies I also finished the buttonholes for my pyjama top and sewed on the buttons.  I just need to get more thread and then I can finish sewing the pants.  Why do I always imagine that I can finish any project with just a single spool of thread?


The very important thing on my "to-do list" that I didn't get to today is finding my camera's charger! Meanwhile, you get a lot of instagrammyness.

Instagrammyness.  I told you I can't write today!

Projects in Process

I almost always sew and bake more the more I have to do at school.  It's the best way to procrastinate.  This weekend I've been working on a paper about blogs, which makes it much more difficult to unselfconsciously make a blog post.  But anyway, here we go, let me show you what I've been working on:


I've sewn lots of things to take my boyfriend when we see each other next week!  I love sewing and I love sewing men's clothes, especially.  They have all the nice sharp edges and neat details that I love to make but don't usually wear myself.

First I made a light blue dress shirt, something everybody should have.  I hand-worked the buttonholes because my machine, reliable as it is in other ways, makes terrible buttonholes, and anyway, it's a skill I wanted to pick up. This is, I think, the first one I made.  They got better as I went along.

I also made a pile of monogrammed handkerchiefs.

It might seem silly, but I've always wanted to monogram something.  I love things that are just a little too unnecessary, too detailed, too old-fashioned.

I took quite a few in-progress shots so that I can make a how-to post later.

Finally, I've been making pyjamas.  My pyjamas are starting to get a bit fall-aparty, and this super cute kitten fabric is just the thing to make new ones out of.  

And, finally, I made some jams for my partner, too.  We need to be able to have pyjama parties, after all! All the fabric I used was already in my stash: striped seersucker, soft white cotton, and some lilac cotton for trimming.

  Phew! That's all for tonight!

Första Advent

Dear Imaginary Future Readers,

yesterday was a day that is known in Sweden as Första Advent: the first Sunday of the four advent Sundays before Christmas.  Well, I dont know very much about advents, or any of that, but I do know about pastries and other tasty baked treats, so I decided to make some very traditional buns called Lussekatter, or saffron buns in English.  As you can see, I made a great heaping mound of buns:

It turns out its not a real great idea to make 50 pastries on a holiday-ish Sunday when you are home all alone.  You end up eating a lot of buns and feeling slightly depressed.  But it turned out alright, my mum dropped by today and I foisted a good lot of the remaining buns off on her and all is well.  Although I am totally, utterly failing in my resolve to eat very healthily in the weeks leading up to the holiday so I can blissfully indulge when I get back to Sweden.  Oh well!

I used this recipe which has both quark and an egg in it, and promises to deliver an extra soft and yummy bun as a result.  I think the results make good on this promise.  Shall I translate the recipe into English for you, Imaginary Future Leaders? Well, okay, I will.  Meanwhile, heres another picture of my little robot climbing Bun Mountain:

Saffron dough:

• 50 g yeast (for sweet doughs)
• 150 g butter or margarine (but butter is better!)
• 5 dl (500 ml) milk
• 250 g quark (fresh cheese?)
• 1 egg
• 1 g saffron
• ½ tsp salt
• 1.5 – 3.0 dl (150 – 300 ml) sugar
• 17 dl (1.7 l) flour

Glazing:

• 1 egg

Decorating:

• About 1 dl (100 ml) raisins 

Pre-Direction:

Preheat oven to 225 °C (435 F). 

Directions:

1. Break up the yeast in a big bowl
2. Melt the fat (i.e. butter or margarine) in a pot. Pour over the milk, stir and warm slowly until it reaches 37 °C (lukewarm).
3. Pour a bit of the liquid (i.e. milk and melted butter) over the yeast and gently stirr until the yeast is dissolved.
4. Add the rest of the liquid, quark, the egg, saffron, sugar and salt.  Work the dough with a machine or by hand, gradually adding almost all the flour, until the dough leaves the sides of the bowl and comes together. Cover the bowl loosely with a dish towel and leave to rise for about 30 minutes.
5. Get the dough out of the bowl onto your floured work surface.  Knead well (until smooth and satiny).  Separate into five pieces.  Divide each of these into 10 small pieces and make them into Lucia cats: i.e., roll each small piece into a narrow, long roll, then curl it up into a funny S shape (see photo for ideas).  Stick a raisin in each curly end. Lay the Lucia cats on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.  Cover gently with your dishtowel and let them rise until they double in size, about 20-30 minutes.
6. Whisk the egg.  Brush the top of each bun with whisked egg.
7. Bake in the middle of the over for about 8 – 10 minutes, until golden on top.
8. Let cool under the dish towel.  These freeze well but if you’re going to freeze them, do it the same day you bake them. That way they’ll taste very nice and fresh when you eat them later!

I hope my future readers are comfortable with metric in the kitchen!

I will probably not get any baking done next Sunday, and will more likely be hunched over my desk, working furiously on the 30 pages I need to have done by Monday.  But if I do, it will certainly be one of these really tempting recipes by wonderful Underbara Clara, especially the cardemummy chocolate cookies, which Im really dying to make! I do love cardamom.  Its my favourite spice, besides cumin.  In fact, I eat it every morning on my breakfast.  But you know, breakfasts probably deserve a post of their own, so I had better hold that thought.

Now, let me apologize for the Instamatic-ness of my photos, a feature that will be prominent over the next few posts.  I have made the grave error of letting the charger for my proper camera get out of my sight, and am paying the price for it.  Oh well.  Ive seen great iphone photos from lots of people, so I am inspired! Also, please allow me to apologise for the absence of apostrophes in this post.  My keyboard is being uncooperative.  

Tune in soon for a post about sewing! Ive been making a lot lately, and sometimes remembering to take photos! 

  Your pal,

Dawn

Dear Future Blog Readers

Dear Future Blog Readers & this Empty Blog:



I'm sorry I haven't made any posts yet! You see, I had blogs before but I always abandon them pretty quickly.  This has to do with not being certain about the blog - is the name right? the look? So I decided to give blogging a real college try this time, and have been carefully thinking over every decision before I make it.  This has led to a reluctance to finally make that first post - I want everything to be just perfect!  (Plus uni has been keeping me hell busy lately).  So, think of this post as a placeholder and an ice breaker, and soon will come a real proper post with photos and everything!

Yours truly,

Dawn

Things I have done so far in Uppsala:

Some things I have done so far in Uppsala this spring:
1. Played Easter in Gothenburg

2. Went to Germany

3. Celebrated Valborg

4. Saw creepy things in the grocery store

5. Played outside

6. Drank a lot of coffee

7. Made the University Building look very tiny

8. Hung out with Agrippina Minor

9. Brought home flowers

10. Smooched A LOT


To name but a few.

A brief history of bikes

Despite being a late bloomer as a cyclist (as in much else) I have a deep deep love for bikes and biking.

My first bike was a pink and purple one brought home by my dad from our neighbour, a nice round-bellied man who fixed and sold old bikes from his corner garage. His sweet kindness has coloured my opinion of bike-fixers and tinkerers ever since. Everyone who owns a bike shop is automatically the nicest person in the world. I think I must have been about 7 or 8 at the time, or maybe even younger. I was certainly at an age where training wheels are still acceptable. Eventually I became embarrassed by them and asked my dad to take them off, at which point I refused to attempt to ride the bike any longer. I had a distinct lack of faith in the possibility of such a strange, rail-thin, two-wheeled thing to bear me anywhere.
It took a long, long time for me to come around. At 16 (16! I know, I know), I finally felt ready and bought an old-fashioned green bike from the flea market, with a high seat and a sturdy metal basket (a rarity on Canadian bikes) as well as a fine, clangy bell. That summer I took it for a few slow, wobbly attempts on the sidewalk at the bottom of our driveway, but found it impossible to ignore the threat of car after car passing by. Finally one day I (or my mum) had the bright idea of partaking myself to the track of a school down the road where, after a trip into the ditch, I finally got the hang of it. I rode it to high school every day after that, my beloved bike, although not without the occasional learning curve (such as figuring out how to pass people without going into the hedge).
Discovering the speed and joy and freedom of riding high up on that sturdy green bike has been one of the finest things I have done so far in this life. I rode everywhere for the next two years, miles and miles up and down country roads, to neighbouring towns, past orchards, lakes and corn fields, and along the bike path in my hometown. This, my first and favourite bike, eventually developed a bit of a tricky brake problem I wasn’t able to fix, and currently lives in my dad’s basement. I have a bit more knowledge of such things now, though, so I hope I can repair it soon.
My next bike was blue, bought for twenty dollars in Montreal. I seldom rode it, though, as I soon moved to Toronto, and gave it to a friend before I moved to Sweden last summer. Unfortunately, she got into a mishap with it the first time she was out. She and the bike were both fine, more or less, but I never have had, nor do I now, much taste for riding in Toronto.  I’m so glad whenever I’m in Sweden, in this fine small town where the roads are bordered by both sidewalks and bike lanes, where you can get anywhere you need to by bike.


When I moved here I was a bit desperate for a bicycle and so I bought the very first one I could find, a lovely bright yellow machine with studded winter tires that was in fact much too big for me. It was extremely difficult to resume momentum once I had stopped, resulting in some tricky manoeuvrings wherein I tried to avoid braking as much as possible. Perhaps it was more luck than bad fortune that this bike was stolen after a couple of weeks. It had been quite expensive and I was upset, and went without a bike for the next week or two, walking everywhere, even as far as the IKEA, about 8 km through farmers’ fields, where, one fateful day, I stumbled upon several unlocked, abandoned-looking bikes. I know, I know. These bikes were probably stolen and left in the field. Perhaps I shouldn’t have taken one, but it seemed such a small chance that the original owner would ever find their bike again, and they might not even care to, since these were rather old and rickety looking. There was one nice one, though, a little turquoise Mustang with a white seat and handlebars that I took home, cleaned up, and have been riding ever since.

I love this bike and I love riding around Uppsala more than almost anything. This is an awfully long post, but part of my new blog-idea, in which I spend time writing longer things for this blog. I have some good posts coming up, about this little town, about recipes and things I’ve cooked and books I’ve read.
<3 Dawn