Simple dinner

Even though I'm all by myself at the moment, as my fiancée Tim is still on his business trip on Fuerteventura, I'm trying to have dinner with candles and to really sit at the table and no to watch TV. It's a typical thing I do when he's away that I turn on the TV. Mainly because it's really calm without him in our apartment, but also of course it's a way to relax after work. But if you want to enjoy what you're eating it's better to listen to music. I don't know if it's the same with you, but I'm never feeling full when I watch TV and I'm like a child I can't look away if a TV is switched on. So today I've listened to some Jazz instead, I can recommend it, it's also nice.

Tomorrow he's going to take the flight back home and I'm so happy. I've meet a lot of friends over the last 2 weeks, it was nice to meet them and talk. And I've visited my parents as you know, but I really miss him.

So have a really nice friday evening!

Kram,

Isabell

Ernst Kirchsteiger Christmas

Ernst Kirchsteiger is a Swedish designer and a host for the 2 Swedish TV series "Sommar med Ernst" (Summer with Ernst) in which he is rebuilding old houses or even turning an old saw mill into a home for a family. In the the second series "Jul med Ernst" (Christmas with Ernst) he's returning to the house and celebrating Christmas there. In these series it's a lot about decorating but he's also cooking delicious meals. Ernst Kirchsteiger is a person that has a lot of fans in Sweden but also many people that think he is strange. In the summer version of the TV series he likes to walk around barefoot and he loves nature so that's why a lot of people make fun of him. I must say I really like the way he presents himself in TV and I like both TV series. So therefore I bought his book "Swedish Christmas traditions". The pictures are so nice and show how to bring Swedish traditions to your home and a lot of recipes like mulled wine, red candied apples, crisp pepparkakor, lightly browned Swedish meatballs... The only part I don't like so much is the part with the flower arrangements in the book, it's simply too much and kitschy. So therefore I'll only show you the pictures I like ;)

Kram,

Isabell

Advent calendar - DIY

Do you remember my post about IKEA's Christmas and what I bought? Now I need it :). I've also bought white bread paper bags which I've decorated with stickers and the small things I've drawn. All you need are 24 paper bags, a cotton twine, a stapler and some pens. And of course the chocolates or things you want to fill the bags with.

Write the numbers from 1 to 24 on the paper bags and decorate the white ones.

Make sure to fold the paper around the twine and then staple it around the twine with a stapler:

Ready!

If you like it more colourful, then you can of course also use different paper bags with different colours and different patterns.

Hope you will enjoy your Advent calendar as much as I do.

Kram,

Isabell

ferm living Christmas

If you are looking for different, modern ornaments for Christmas, ferm living has some great thing I want to show you. ferm living is a Danish brand from the graphic designer Trine Andersen and has many Scandinavian design elements. I know many people don't like the classic red, green and white colours at Christmas, so maybe this is a good alternative:

Swedish Christmas stamps

Every year the Swedish post creates a new special edition of stamps for Christmas cards. They always have such lovely motifs that get you in a real Christmas mood immediatelly. So if you get a Swedish Christmas card from somebody have a look at the stamp as well, it is often as beautiful as the card...

Here are my favorite and best of ones:

1989

Photo: jultradition.se

1991

Photo: jultradition.se

1995

Photo: jultradition.se

2000

Photo: jultradition.se

2003

Photo: jultradition.se

2004

Photo: jultradition.se

2005

Photo: jultradition.se

2006

Photo: jultradition.se

2007

Photo: jultradition.se

and this is the first stamp I found for 2012:

Lovely hyacinth

Usually I always buy hyacinth together with my Dad later in december, but we are going to celebrate Christmas in Sweden this year and I'm already going there on the 21st of December. So I though why not buying some now and they will be ready by 2nd advent and enjoying the sweet scent of it earlier this year. You remember my post about living in 2 cultures ? I need to change our Swedish traditions a little bit, so here I am standing with the first hyacinth for this year already in november and enjoying it. :)

My Advent wreath is ready...

Yes! I bought the advent wreath today! Already when I bought the wreath and unwrapped the paper you could smell the nice flavour of the fir tree and you can smell it whenever you enter the room. For me that's the first sign of Advent and Christmas. This year I wanted to keep it as simple as possible, so I glued walnuts with a hot melt glue gun on it and added 2 golden fir cones that are fixated on a skewer that I bought in a flower shop, 2 wooden stars and of course the candles:

Kram,

Isabell

Swedish Sjömannsbiff recipe

There are some recipes which are traditional Swedish, but my parents have made it for the first time: Sjömannsbiff. After eating all the cookies dough you need something that tastes salty :). It's a great dish for this part of the year, when it's cold outside. I think it's called stew in English. 

Here is what you need, my parents used the recipe from the Swedish chef Per Morberg, but changed it a little bit.

600 g beef round (in 1 cm slices)
4 yellow onion
8 big potatoes
8 dl bouillon
4 dl beer
1 msk tomato purée
2 bay leaves
salt & peppar

Turn the meet in flour and brown the meat in a pan. Put a layer of meat into a pot together with the tomato purée. Peel and slice the potatoes and put them into pot as a second layer. Cut the onions into slices and brown them, Put a layer of roasted onions on the potatoes layer. Continue with the layers, the potatoes should be the last layer. Add the bouillon, the beer, the bay leaves and the salt and the peppar. 

Let cook for approx. 1-1.5 h until the meat and the potatoes are ready.

We had pickled gherkins together with it.

Kram,

Isabel

Plätzchen - My Mum's Christmas cookies

My Mum has made Christmas cookies today and she does it with such a passion it's so cute to watch her. She has done this since we were children and everybody is looking forward to eating the cookies on first Advent. It's a part of Christmas and it's like opening a window in the Advent calendar. 

But one of the best things is that the 3 of us (my sister, my brother and I) are together in our parents' kitchen, making "Punschtörtchen" (punch cookies), laughing and eating dough. It's a special thing that I wouldn't want to miss.

Kram,

Isabell

Weekend at my parents house

Actually it's a flower which I've seen at my parents' place, but it looks like winter and frost, doesn't it?

My fiancée is on a business trip for 2 weeks and I've decided to visit my parents and stay there for the weekend. It's sometimes so nice to be able to be a child again, that you don't have to worry about anything and to meet my sister and brother, who are coming tomorrow. Have been outdoor a lot today, I enjoyed it so much, as I'm in the office everyday from morning to evening. I helped my Dad to rake up the leaves that have filled up their entire garden. 

It's a special smell, it smells like moist soil and while raking up all the leaves it's always a strange feeling because you think about when the garden was full of flowers and green leaves and that another year has passed. It's always in November when raking the leaves that I have this feeling of leaving the old year and thinking about the good and bad things that happened during that year and what is going to be next year.

Kram,

Isabell

Advent wreath or Advent candle holder?

It's time to think about having an Advent wreath or candle holder this year. They are already selling a lot of different styles at the shops, some basic versions where you just get the wreath or the wreath with red or white candles. Or the complete version with candles and decoration. I will go for an Advent wreath and a candle holder this year, usually I have either a wreath or a candle holder.

These are the decorations I have as an inspiration:

Photo: tickytacky-marielle

Photo: solebich.de/deko-pipapur

Photo: styleroom/ullisan

Photo:styleroom.se/wilmis

I want to keep it as simple as possible this year, maybe I just choose a wreath that is made of different materials:

Photo: dawanda

I'll show you as soon as it is ready!

Kram,

Isabell

The "ask me" face

When I was a child it was already the same phenomenon: You can have a crowd of people waiting for the bus, but people ask me for the time, when the bus is going to arrive, the way or are even telling me the stories of their lives. I can wear headphones and listen to music or look on the ground, people will tap me on the should and ask for something even if there are plenty of people around they could ask instead. I often wonder if people feel that I like to help other people and see it in my face. Personally I think it's a strength to help others, but in the interviews I have ( I'm currently looking for a new job), the interviewer is often worried if I will be able to say "no" and to be tough enough when negotiating. I must say I'm a little bit fed up that you have to be egoistic and selfish to get what you want in business life. I can say "no" but I do it in a more comfortable way for both sides without being choleric and affronting someone. I have made the experience that if you treat people in a positive way and help them, they will also be willing to help you in a bad situation. And so far I have managed to get along quite well with this attitude and I don't want to change myself just because some people think that it's a weakness and I won't.

German Christmas Stollen

One of the best things about Christmas is that they have a lot of nice things you can eat here in Germany. Like the "Christstollen". It's a fruit cake with raisins, candied fruits and yeast and like in this case with almond paste.

This is the recipe from about.com:

Ingredients (dough): One vanilla bean, 1 kg flour, 100 g yeast [or 2 teaspoons activated yeast], 400 ml milk, 100 g sugar, 2 eggs, grated peel of one lemon, 1 teaspoon salt, 400 g butter, 200 g flour, 350 g raisins, 100 g shelled almonds, 50 g candied lemon peel, 100 g candied orange peel, 5 cl rum, almond paste

Ingredients (icing): 150 g butter, 1 vanilla bean, 100 g icing sugar.

1. Soak the raisins, almonds, candied lemon and orange peel in the rum. Mix a pre-dough out of 1 kg flour, 150 ml milk, a pinch of salt and yeast. Let rise. Mix the sugar with the pulp from the vanilla bean. Mix half of the vanilla sugar, the rest of the milk, eggs, lemon peel and salt into a dough and knead. Let rise for 30 minutes. Knead butter into 200 g flour and work into the yeast dough. Let rise for 15 minutes.

2. Form 2 rolls (30 cm long) and put some of the almond paste in the center, pound into stollen loaves. Place on a greased baking sheet, let rise for one hour. Bake at 200° C for about an hour. 

3. Coat with melted butter, cut the vanilla bean in half lengthwise. Scrape out the seeds with your knife and mix with the icing sugar, sprinkle over the stollen.

Enjoy!

Kram,

Isabell

Cosiness

It's really cold outside in Munich right now and it starts to get dark very early. Still 11 days until I can finally start to decorate for Christmas! I'm longing to put the candle holders on the window board, to get fir branches from the little forest where my parents live, to play Christmas music, the baking... but until then I have to be patient. I try to reduce the waiting time with magazines and to get some inspiration:

Photo: skönahem

...can't wait to finally start !

Kram,

Isabell

Swedish Advent calendar from Aina Stenberg-Masolle

Do you remember the excitement every morning to be able to open a new window in the advent calendar when you were a child? And when you held it against the light to be able to try to see what is going to be in the window the next day? Even though I'm grown up and I still have an advent calendar.  Actually it's 2 advent calendars: One from my Mum with chocolate and one with pictures like the one shown below. The one from my Mum is showing a winter landscape and Santa Claus, my Mum made it and I love it, it has been there since I was a child. ( I will show it to you once I receive it, as it is refilled every year ;))

But I also like advent calendars with pictures. My grandma used to come to us from Sweden around the 13th of December and she always brought an advent calendar from Sweden with pictures and rimes. Can you imagine how happy I was to be able to open 13 windows all at once? And every morning before kindergarden or elementary school she would read the rime for me and we looked at the pictures together. So that's why I still buy an advent calendar with pictures. It's hard to get one from Sweden here in Munich but I got one from Aina Stenberg-Masolle last year at a Christmas market from sophias-bokhandel, which is a book shop that offers Scandinavian books. Sophia will have her next Christmas market on the 25th of November (14:30 – 18:00,  St.-Paulus' church hall, Sebastian-Bauer-Straße 23, Munich [Altperlach]).

Photo: scoutvaror

Lazy sunday afternoon.

Sundays are great, you are relaxed from saturday and you can start the day very slowly and easy. Go to the museum, read a book or a magazine. As I've been out with some friends yesterday in the evening, it's a day with a cup of coffee and a nice magazine. And as we don't have snow for snowboarding at the moment I don't have a bad conscience to do just nothing but reading.

Have a nice lazy sunday!

Kram,

Isabell

Upstairs, Downstairs

My cousin in Sweden likes to watch the remake of the series "Upstairs, downstairs " which is called “Herrskap och tjänstefolk" in Swedish (The German title is "Das Haus am Eaton Place"). She gave me the 2 DVD boxes and I just started to watch the first episode of the first season. Already know that I will watch the next episode immediately :)

Photo: amazon

I like the fashion style of that time and I'm curious about what is going to happen next... :)

Kram,

Isabell

Mjuk pepparkaka recipe - soft pepparkaka recipe

I just made a really delicious cake, you're going to love it! This is a nice recipe if you like spices like cinnamon and clove. In Swedish it's called "mjuk pepparkaka" which means "soft gingerbread cake", it has the same spices as if you bake gingerbread.

This is what you need:

100 g butter
2 eggs
2 dl sugar
1.5 dl sour cream
1.5 tsk ground ginger
1.5 tsk ground clove
2 tsk ground cinnamon
2 tsk baking powder
3 dl flour

For the measuring cups mentioned here like dl etc., please refer to my post about Swedish measuring cups.

Preheat the oven to 175 °C and butter a cake pan and put some breadcrumb in it :

Melt the butter and let it cool down. Use a mixer to cream the eggs and the sugar together until light. Add the sour cream, ginger, clove, cinnamon and baking powder and stir with the mixer. Now add the flour and the melted butter, stir until you get a smooth consistency and everything is mixed.

Fill the dough into the cake pan and put it into the oven for approx. 45 minutes.

Test to see if the cake is ready by putting a skewer into the middle, If it comes out clean, the cake is done. Let the cake cool down a little before you remove it from the pan.

I've put some icing sugar on top of it.

I can tell you our apartment has this nice flavour of cinnamon right now. I love the nice smell when cakes get out of the oven...

You can eat the cake with whipped cream and lingonberries, it's delicious!

Kram,

Isabell