They are trying the new (old) tablecloth

Santiago and Greta tried it (since it was nice and clean). They grilled meat, I took pictures, and then I went to run my race. I made 7.5 km in 40:30, came back with completely wet shoes and feet. No good running terrain race in the forest after 20 cm rain. But it was fun!

The summer is here

It has been a warm spring. So warm that it is hard to beleive that the summer, actually, starts tomorrow. I am looking forward to picking Norwegian strawberries, they are way better than the imported one. Meanwhile, I recharge my energy with a raspberry and babana shake with hemp and raw cacao. The apple tree is beautiful, the redcurrant and the blackcurrant are full of little berries. Ans, I am goint to the kindergarten to pick up Greta. Later tonight, if I feel good enough, I am going to participate in a 7.5 km race. Half way uphill, and so downhill. I hope I feel better.

Less toys = more time (and space) to play

I am at home today with cough and headache. And it always happens to me that after some time laying in bed, I have to get up and do something. This time was the living room and trying to make it more usable. Since we spend a lot of time in this room, and Greta is always with us, it is inevitable to have toys here too. But I tried to reduce the quantity, so making it easier for her to choose what to play with. Books are not toys, so it is ok that we have lots of them. They are good books, and Greta loves them. One shelf is full of drawing, painting and crafting accessories, another with music instruments, one with stuffed animals (and a big part of them is moved to her bedroom), and one with puzzles of all sorts. And some lego and dolls kitchen in the boxes to the left. And most of the junk is taken out of the tent, it is just a cat, a bear and the spaceman who live there. Oh, yeah, the cat food is there too (plush fish for the plush cat).Whew! Looks like we have more space now.

An old tablecloth

It is old. But today it got a new use in the terrace. I think it is beautiful. Nice flowers. Sweet yellow colors.

My first needle brooch

I like these brooch needles almaPalma makes. So I decided to try myself. This is the first one I made to try. Not so complicated :-) I hope it is not the last one :-)
 

Memories: more Eilat

I am still not finished with the pictures from Eilat. So I will show just a couple of more.

1. Greta and Santiago enjoy the sun and the beach

2. Happy Greta

3. Greta enjoying the swimming pool

4. And the ice cream

Waiting for a better weather

Tha last day of May is rainy.
 
 
And I can`t wait for a better waether to go out and plant some flower seeds that I bought. And it is getting late... I hope I can do it tomorrow with Greta, since the kindergarten is closed tomorrow.
Meanwhile we are packing for out trip to Kriasiansand.
Little update about Greta. She is getting so big every day. Now she can put on her clothes completely by herself. Especially pants and trousers, and socks and shoes. Still some problems with t-shirts, so I have to help her a bit :-)

Focaccia: always a success

Yesterday I made focaccia once again. Every time I make it, I love it more and more. And it is so easy. Just try. The original recipe is from here, and this is the one I made:

You will need:

1 l flour

1 spoon salt

1 spoon sugar

1 pack dried yeast

1 dl olive oil

warm water

1 can sun-dried tomatoes

sea salt

herbs, like oregano and basil

Mix all dry ingredients add oil. Start adding warm water while you mix it. Mix in the sun-dried tomatoes, previously cutting them in small pieces. Leave for half an hour. Put the dough on the oven sheet and leave for another half an hour. Then, use some olive oil on top (or you can use the oil from the sun-dried tomatoes can), sprinkle with sea salt and herbs. Bake for 15 minutes at 200 C. Server with aioli (mix one tube mayonnaise and 2 cloves of garlic, and some lemon, put to the fridge until serving.)

Enjoy it warm!

The painter's cover and a new painting

Greta asked me this morning to sew something for her. She literally took the scissors and gave them to me. But what was I supposed to sew at 8 am? So I made a cover for when she paints. The same fabric as the tablecloth :-)


Well, she did not try it on yet, I don¡t know why, but she did paint today. This is "The horse". The red spot right top is the eye.

Owl and Glefsegompen

Do you hava an old wool sweater that you (or somebody else) accidentally wasged at 60 degrees and you can`t use it anymore? Than you can make Owl and Glesegompen (from the SikkSakk book). Greta loved them! Glefsegompen is a friend of Owl´s. Mine is not completely finished yet, because I ran out of the woof to fill the inside. But Greta already plays with them. They are so soft and cozy! I have never thought I would do something with those old small sweaters :-)
 
 
 
 

Tulip flower art

Greta brought home a flower today :-) A wonderful spring tulip. Now it is decorating our window in the living room,

And while she was talking on skype to her grandfather, she painted "I lay under the sun" ("Я на солнышке лежу")

Evenings

I plal tennis, and really enjoy it after a long time. Greta is just being sweet and nice girl :-) And then, before going to bed, she tells me to go to bed while she stays a while and paints. So look below how it ends.

Greta is the body art professional now :-)

A post without pictures

Right, no pictures today. But, today I just took Greta with me to the tennis court, and she liked it. She played golf with a racquet, football with the ball, we we throwing balls and having fun.

I read today about the Play and Stay Tennis 10 s program, and I think it is just exactly the thing I was thinking about children tennis.

Dresses, cake and good friends!

Scrapbooking evening, and here is the result - Greta´s second birthday with her friends.

Muffins for tomorrow

Tomorrow we have a last day at out music class and we are bringing this delicious muffins with vanilla cream and redcurrant. Yumy!

Oreo-Crusted White Chocolate Mousse Torte

This is the recipe of the cake we had this weekend. It is from the book "Chocolate American style" by Lora Brody.

You will need:
280 g white chocolate
560 ml cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or vanilla sugar)
3 spoons water
2 teaspoons gelatin powder
240 g Oreo
170 g cooking chocolate

To make the white part:
warm together in water bath 280 g white chocolate and 150ml cream until the chocolate is completely melted. Cool down. whip 300ml and a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Mix 3 spoons of water with 2 teaspoons of gelatin, and warm slowly up until the powder is melted in the water. Mix it with the whipped cream, and then together with the white chocolate cream. Pour the mix into the cake tin with some space over for the black part. Put inside the freezer.

To make the black part:
Break Oreo in small parts. Break the chocolate in small pieces. Warm up 110ml cream almost to the boiling point, put the chocolate inside and mix until the chocolate is completely dissolved in cream. Pour the mix over the cookies and mix together. Pour the mix over the frozen white part of the cake and return to freezer.

Before you serve the cake, put the cake tin in the hot water so that the cake falls out of the tin. Turn the cake upside down so that the black part is the bottom.

Enjoy!

The garden

I just cut the grass a few days ago, and checked on our "garden". The apple tree is in bloom, and blackcurrant, as well as redcurrant are full of tiny berries already. The raspberries are good, too. I remember, last year I thought that the next year I would plant many more things, but this year I did not :-( I wanted to plant rhubarb, but I did not. I sais I would plant sunflowers early so that we have seeds in the autumn, but I did not either....
Clematis was supposed to be a several year flower, but it died...
Ok, I guess, this year I will focus on cleaning the lawn from weeds and keep it green and happy. But maybe it is still not too late to plant something?

PS. Ok, I promise that I will take picture of the apple flowers and of the berries. And a better picture of the grass, not just focused in the central point and all blurred. :-)