baby shower

This Saturday I put on my hostess shoes and held a baby shower here in our little apartment for my friend Sofia, who will be having a baby girl in November.

Grattis means Congratulations in Swedish.

Diaper cake. It's a bottle of shampoo and a bottle of body wash (for baby) with rolled up diapers to form the cake. Then I bought a very sweet etsy blanket and draped it over. Then adorned it with an etsy hat and etsy booties. Very easy but a cute way to present gifts!

Cupcakes, honey roasted peanuts and chocolate, cinnamon and sugar popcorn. Super easy but delicious!

I personally do not use paper plates when I have a party. This is one of my favorite things. I have a cabinet full of antique plates, all mixed and matched. For this party I got out the flowery, girly, pinkish plates. I also found the pink candle holders at our second hand store for 3 kr a piece! That's 45 cents!

This is one of my favorite things to do and it's really easy. If I'm having a themed party I always buy a package of paper that I want to use as the decorations, invites, etc. I made the invites with this cute pink themed paper, made the congrats sign, made the cupcake flags, these glass flags, and even switched out all my pictures in the living room with the paper. It's so easy and you can always save the paper and use it for other stuff later!

All I had to do was switched it out and it added a lot to the room!

These were for the lovely guests. Bought these cute 35 cent travel soaps from etsy. They made the room smell great, and added a nice decoration! The *tack* stamp was also bought from etsy! Buy handmade! It's the best!

Sofia opening all the lovely gifts every body brought her!

Now who wants the recipe to these gorgeous little cupcakes! This is my go to, never fail, always tastes delicious cupcake recipe. It's from http://www.joythebaker.com/. This is one of my favorite food blogs!

Vanilla Cake (or cupcakes)

preheat oven to 350

2 sticks softened butter

1 3\4 c. sugar

4 eggs

1 c. milk

1 Tbsp. vanilla

1 vanilla pod

2 3\4 c. flour

1 1\2 tsp. baking powder

1\2 tsp. salt

Cream butter and sugar for 3-5 minutes.

Add eggs one at a time beating for one minute after you add each one. This seems ridiculous but it really makes the cupcakes fluffy and light.

Whisk flour, baking powder and salt together in a separate bowl.

Combine milk, vanilla and vanilla beans in a separate bowl.

One low, start by adding 1\3 flour and incorporate. Add half the milk and incorporate. Add another 1\3 of the flour and incorporate. Add the rest of the milk and incorporate. And yup, you guess, add the rest of the flour and incorporate!

Divide into 24 cupcakes tins or into two 10 inch cake pans.

For cupcakes bake for 25-30 minutes. For cakes 35-40 and let them cool for 15 minutes in the pan before taking them out. Cupcakes can just jump right out into your mouth straight from the oven.

You can use whatever frosting you like. For the cupcakes above I used about 1\2 c. butter, 8 oz. cream cheese and uhm...some powdered sugar. I don't really measure when it comes to frostings. Just a lot of tasting!

For the cakes I think it's light, fluffy and delicious to simply use whipping cream for the middle layer and top and add fresh fruit.

This recipe is so great because you can add whatever you'd like. Chocolate, cinnamon, berries, the sky is the limit! :)

let's talk about pizza, fall and a baby.

This is an almost typical Swedish pizza. This is actually a "family size" but a completely normal pizza would look much the same. Thin, minimal cheese and sauce. Maximum grease. It doesn't look that appetizing, but oh man, it's delicious. I do miss our deep dish, super cheesey, monster pizza's, which are pre-sliced. Yes, in Sweden you have to pay extra to get your pizza sliced. What? Yea, I duno.

Swedish pizza shops have more toppings and options than any American pizza parlor. They have some weird combo's too. Kebab pizza. Lamb meat, salad, cucumbers, tomatoes and garlic sauce. Sometimes you can put french fries on it too. Yea...

My personal favorite is mozarella, parmesan ham and pesto. Yum.

Now this is a super easy pizza that I made myself. Puff pastry with spagetti sauce, cheese, oregano and basil. I usually just put whatever I find in my fridge that suits my fancy. Super easy recipe today! Try it, you won't be sad!

Onto cuter things. How adorable is this bundle of fall goodness. Spent the day with my 2 and a half month old nephew today. Lukas. I love him.

Mr. Josefsson loves him too.

And we love walks in the fall with our fancy Nikon camera.

I love updating my blog from our new fancy computer, too. So easy and goes much faster! Thanks Mr. Josefsson for letting me steal the computer for a few minutes every few days!

Also, today one of my friends from childhood is getting married! Laura and Jake have been together since high shcool, through a long army stay in Germany and now they are going to be happily married! I love them both and they deserve an absolutely perfect, beautiful wedding day!

fine and dandy mushrooms

When I first moved to Sweden I said to my husband, I don't like mushrooms. I said to my husband's family, I don't like mushrooms. Then one day I was invited to eat mushrooms. I said, I don't like mushrooms. After that dinner, I liked mushrooms. But not just any mushrooms. Kantarell or chanterelle mushrooms. These are amazing, soft, rich, woody, golden pieces of sunshine hiding in the wonderful Swedish forest. Usually in a shaded area with lots of moss and flowers around it.

This is the time of year when these mushrooms are at their prime growth. It's cold, but not too cold and it's raining (a lot). We go out into the forest for a few hours and come back with liters of gold. When I say gold, that isn't exaggerating too much. These babies sell for quite a pretty penny (or krona if you are in Sweden). They are on the same culinary list as truffles and morels.

Not only are these delicious, but they are a joy to pick. What is better than heading out into the beautiful Swedish forest with your husband, his mom and dad and any other member of the family who might go along. It's lovely.

Yes, it is quite normal to go out looking like you just woke up. This is my father-in-law, Håkan. He can actually smell chanterelle. He's really good.

Can you see Fredrik? Ann, his mom, didn't hide quite as well.

Just some of the gorgeousness we see on the walk to the mushrooms. Which reminds me, it's quite a hike, up hill, both ways, to get to the best mushrooms hunting grounds. So it's a work out too!

The end result. How happy I was to find these huge chunks of deliciousness under a tree.

The best way to eat kantarell is to clean them very well, they usually have moss, dirt and spiders on them. Yes, gross, but that's what you are cleaning them. Boil them if you are going to freeze them, above are boiled kantarell ready for the freezer. If not freezing, you fry them in a pan until all the water is evaporated. Then you add butter, salt and pepper, garlic if you please and eat on a piece of bread. So simple, yet soooo delicious.

Now for my favorite.

Kantarell sås (chanterelle sauce)

1\2 liter chanterelle's

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour

2 cups heavy cream

2 table spoons soy sauce

salt and pepper to taste

Make sure mushrooms are clean and chopped to the same size. Fry in a pan with butter until water is evaportated. Over medium heat sprinkle flour over mushrooms and stir for a minute or so. This takes away the floury taste. Add cream slowly and stir. Add soy, salt and pepper and stir until slightly thickened. This doesn't take very long, but keep stirring. This helps it from sticking and you get a better feel for how fast it is thickening and how thick it actually is.

We usually eat this with pasta or in the later part of summer when the first mushrooms are popping out we eat them with grilled food such as chicken and oven potatoes. But really, it's delicious with almost everything!

If we ever come across these babies, buy them and try them out. You won't be disappointed!

Nanners

When your husband brings home 15 black bananas you might ask that next time he bring a dozen red roses. But if you are me, you get to work on 72 muffins, of 3 different types. I whipped (yes whipped) bananas into cream cheese brown sugar muffins, peanut butter and banana, and banana chocolate chip.

I hate when I'm actually baking the food and think if a great idea when its too late. Like a before and after of the black bananas into 72 muffins. I'll get better at the pictures while baking thing, I hope.





This is Mr.Josefsson's batch to take to work.

Cream cheese with brown sugar cinnamon banana muffins. (suggestions for a better name are welcome)

1 (8 oz.) cream cheese (softened)
1/2 c butter (softened)
1 1/4 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 c. Whipped bananas
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/4 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda

Topping
1 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400.

Whip banana and cream cheese until smooth. Add eggs, sugar, butter and vanilla.

Add flour, baking soda and baking powder and beat until smooth. (easy!)

Pour into buttered and floured muffin tins and top with topping (repetitive). Bake for 10-15 minutes.

Makes 24

In non-food related news, one of my best friends was proposed to on Sunday. Ashley Farley will become Ashley Landis. I have the honor to be a bridesmaid. My first time and what an honor. I am so happy to be a part of her day. Two of my other friends are getting married in October and November. How happy I am that my wonderful friends are finding such happiness!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A few months later

After a few months here in Sweden with no computer to call my own and only an iPhone, I've finally remembered (or got unlazy enough) to figure the iPhone/blog thing out.

We are officially a food blog.



To start off, our 2pm Sunday breakfast. 2 liters of orange juice were consumed and quite possibly a whole package of bacon. And when I say quite possibly, I mean most definitely.



This is Mr.Josefsson's birthday cake love.

Swedish sokerkaka (sugar cake)

6-8 people.

75 grams butter or margarine
2 eggs
1 cup milk or cream
2 ½ cups sugar
2 tsp ground cardamom
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
3 cup flour

Grease and flour a sockerkaksform of about two liters. (which is a basic cake pan. I obviously used heart shaped cupcake tins.)

Whisk sugar and eggs until fluffy, preferably with electric mixer or food processor.

Melt the butter and stir in the milk in butter.

Mix the flour, cardamom, and baking powder thoroughly in a bowl.

Stir together egg and sugar mixture with butter and milk mixture.

Add the dry goods and stir smooth.

Spread batter evenly in pan and bake at 400 degrees about 30 minutes. Feel with a stick if the cake is firm in middle.

Sprinkle with sugar immediately when you take it out of the oven and let it "melt" before you turn it out.

Turn out and let the cake cool on a rack.

Don't forget to eat it with a strong cup of coffee, a fantastic Swedish man (or whatever nationality you tend to love) and remember to call it "fika". Cake and coffee always deserve a special name.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Fyrkgången,Göteborg,Sweden

no more snow!

Now, since I wrote this, it's definitely going to snow tomorrow. ;) But finally our snow has almost completely melted! It's SO great! Spring is definitely in the air (sometimes) and I can't get enough of it! It's already day light by 6am and getting dark at 7pm. We spring forward the last Saturday\Sunday night this week, and then we will get a lot of light at night. I can't wait for the Swedish summer and sun.

Not A LOT has been going on. Had our house warming party on Saturday and that was fun. Thank god for Fredrik. I had a terrible fever and sore throat on Friday night, and he helped me so much on Saturday to get everything done. But the sore throat ended up in a terrible cold\ear infection. I stayed home from work today and am definitely feeling better.

Although staying home from work because of illness isn't the best thing, I did get to spend some much needed time with Freddie boy. He worked late last week and is working late this week. When we don't see each other at night I feel really sad and disconnected. I miss him! So we got to lounge around all morning untill he went to work, and that is something I really needed.

Now it's onto getting into this baby shower. I have a lot going on with it. Sent the invites out and everybody RSVP'd, 17 people! In our little apartment! Haha! I have the decorations all thought out, the gifts for the mom's to be, the menu, the games. Now It's time to go shopping and getting going on all it! Whew!

The Swedish word of the day is 'kalas' which means 'party'. This is more of a birthday party or a baby shower. The word for a regular party would be 'fest'.

bazinga!

I have been the worst blogger ever. I wonder how many times I've said that on my blog. Without my own computer though, and always using my iPhone, I forget so easily to update! I'm sorry all!

Things are just things here. Working, making food, getting paid, spending money. :) The job is going well still, can be difficult at times, But I'm a grown up, so I'm working through them.

Our apartment is still wonderful and slowly being filled up with things I love! It's so exciting how it's all coming together! We take lots of trips to IKEA!

Right now I have 2 visitors from Kansas. It's fantastic! They have only been here about 20 hours, but I never want them to leave! Or at least when they leave some more visitors come! It's so fun to be informative about a place that is so new and exciting! Makes me feel kind of....well, cool! ;)

Last night we ate 'halv special' with them and my American friend Ellen and her fiance Anders. It was a blast! Halv special is hot dogs with mashed potatoes on top with some fried onions and grill spice. YUM! It's not really even a Swedish thing, it a Göteborg thing! Tonight we are all gonna eat at a Swedish restaurant called Karlsson's Garage. I've heard great things about it!

Speaking of Ellen. I met her at my work place about a week and a half ago and now we have become inseparable! She is from Georgia and met a Swede while she was living in Hungary about 3 years ago. She moved to Sweden, they are engaged, and in 4 weeks, unfortunately, they are both moving to the US. It's just so cool to meet other Americans who are doing cool things with their life and have a lot in common with. I think Ellen is one of the most interesting people I have met, and it's so cool because she thinks that about me! :) I really do not want her to go!

Well I better start attempting to make some Swedish pancakes for my visitors! Yikes!

The Swedish word of the day is 'gäst' which means 'guest' and is pronounced 'ge-ehst'. 'gäster' is 'guests'.