The Office

When the weather was nicer earlier this week I had by chance brought the camera with me. 
On my way to work I decided to take some pictures of my office. Isn't it funny how we become almost blind to the places and houses we see everyday?

I work for one of the departments in the University, and my group is housed in this building.

I like the entrance door much better in the house next door ....:

It looks very English with the red mailbox outside, doesn't it?

The house was refurbished when we moved in last year and they managed to keep the lovely tiled floor in the entrance area. A shame with all the fire safety equipment needed that spoils the picture, but that is health and safety, you know!

I wasn't sure I wanted to show my messy office, but here it is..!

Not much thought has gone in to the composition of this picture as you can see... I should have tidied the desk a little!

 I round off with a poster hanging on my wall with a very typical scene from the river.

Ah..., not even one week after the holidays I am wishing more days could be spent in the sunshine on a punt!
I know - I am always greedy for more holidays...

Friends by Chance

Some years ago we decided to rent out the house when we were going away for 6 weeks.

We have great neighbours who would gladly look after the house, but it still felt a little awkward leaving the house empty for a long period so we decided to look for somebody needing short term let.

Luck had it that a Spanish family with a girl a year younger than Our Boy was looking for a house in our town for the summer! 

They took excellent care of our house (I fear the house was even cleaner when they left than when they moved in...!). This arrangement repeated itself the next two summers even if our holidays were of a much shorter period then. By then the Spanish family also had a new member in their little son and also agreed to look after The Cat who had joined our family.

The last few years this arrangement has not worked as our holidays have not coincided. Also, the Spanish family decided to bring their caravan with them through Europe and found that being on a campsite was much more sociable than being in a suburban house.

But we have become firm friends.

They come to England every summer to ensure the children learn English and we all enjoy meeting up and getting together!

Last night we all went out with another mutual friend of ours and had a lovely meal in our local pub.

 

As usual they had brought generous edible gifts from Spain!

It was great seeing them and

we already look forward to seeing them again next year!

Recommended reading: The Shakespeare Curse

I just completed reading "The Shakespeare Curse" by J.L.Carrell. The story reminded me a little of a version of Dan Brown's book "The Da Vinci Code" linked by the ancient curse of "The Scottish Play" - Macbeth. From the streets of New York to the twisting corridors of Hampton Court Palace to a remote loch in the Scottish Highlands, the race is on to stop a deadly modern serial killer who will do anything to uncover priceless ancient treasures. Although, the suggestion that Shakespeare's genius was due to witchcraft is rather far fetched in my mind... ;-)

Apparently it is one of the most eagerly-awaited novels of 2010.

I am normally not one for detective stories,

but this was rather entertaining,

actually.

And as it was partially set in Edinburgh it was fun to recognise some of the descriptions of our new abode!

Confessions of a Kitchen Gadget Lover...

I confess:

I love my kitchen gadgets!

The Professor has (in vane...) tried to put a stop to my madness by saying that for each new thing that comes in to the kitchen - one old thing has to go out...

It proves that he doesn't do much cooking, doesn't it?

But, I kind of know it is madness.

The cupboards are full.

But in my defence, I do use them (at least most of them)!

After a summer in hotter climates than we normally live in and after consuming numerous bottles of fizzy water, Our Boy and I decided we needed a gadget to make our own fizzy water. Thankfully, Our Boy normally agrees with his mother in these issues and with two against one (The Cat did not count this time), The Professor had to give in. He had already heard about how my best friend in Oslo has had one for a long time and Our Boy and I have secretly been very jealous when she has been raving about it... Even further justification came when I saw that Fru Fly had also bought one the same day as we had and was very happy with hers (her pictures are much better than mine).

We all love it.

No more running out of fizzy water.

No more heavy bottles to bring home and

no more adding plastic bottles to the landfill.
And, we drink a lot more water! We don't really care for other types of fizzy drinks - it is the fizzy water that rules here!

I feel rather rightous about this purchase.

Another purchase I have been contemplating (secretly, of course) is an icecream maker.

Chance had it that my colleague has one and lent it to me before the holidays. We never got around to making any until today.

How great is this!

In 20 mins I had lovely creamy icecream.

All natural ingredients (milk, cream, sugar, eggs and chopped up chocolate) and no additives (except for in the chocolate, perhaps).

Hmmmm... might still be harder to justify this purchase seeing that I am determined to loose some weight this fall...

Might have to leave buying this till next summer as a reward if I manage to loose the weight I want, perhaps???

Tried and tested: Old Fashion Chocolate Pudding

Weekend is almost here!

I find I often revert back to old dishes I ate as a child, but I had never made home made chocolate pudding. Chocolate mousse, yes, but not the old fashioned pudding.

I accidentally came across a recipe for home made chocolate pudding and it is super easy:

• 3/4 l milk (use whatever type you want - I used skimmed milk)
• 3/4 bar of cooking chocolate OR 3 tbs of cocoa
• 2 tbs of sugar
• 3 tbs of cornflour (Maizena)

This is the recipe as it was given.

However, unless your chocolate is very sweet (mine was the "healthy" version - really bitter), I recommend you add some more sugar either while preparing it or sprinkle som extra on top.

How to do it:

Mix the cornflour with about 1 1/2 dl of the cold milk,

Break the chocolate or mix the cocoa with the rest of the milk and bring to a boil (remember to keep stirring!).

Add the maizena/milk mixture along with the sugar and let it boil for about 2 mins while stirring.

Pour into your serving dish and set aside to cool.

That's it!

Traditionally we served it with a thick vanilla sauce on top:

(unless you want to skip it to save calories OR perhaps use plain milk...?)

• 4 1/2 dl milk
• 1 small tbs cornflour
• 30 gram sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla sugar (optional)
• 2 dl whipping cream

Mix the flour and milk and bring to a boil for about 10 mins while adding the rest of the milk.

Add the sugar and cool.

Add the crem right before serving

Roots

Since we live abroad, it is very important to me that Our Boy learns as much as possible about his two countries, Norway and Iran.

I therefore take him to Norway every summer to show him more of my country so he can learn about his roots, understand the family history and improve his Norwegian.

I made the fatal mistake of forgetting my camera at home, so these are either taken by kind friends or with my mobile..

Internet/Facebook and this blog has made it easy to reconnect with a lot of relatives, but I think Our Boy is somewhat overwhelmed by all the relatives that keep "popping up" ;-)

And, we still haven't been to Finnmark to THAT part of the family... ;-)


Last week Our Boy and I went on this year's trip which among other things included a very leisurely 12 hr boat trip from Halden to Stromstad (in Sweden) as well as to several of the Hvaler islands. Great to see my childhood summer paradise again! We also managed to squeeze in a visit to friends and family in Sandefjord, Oslo and Halden. 


Our Boy also had the good fortune of being invited by our friends to their cabin near Gol for a few days to go biking and hiking in the mountains with their two sons. The boys went on a 9 hour bikeride/hike alone in the mountains and just LOVED it.

The hike was so successful that the three of them are talking about biking "Rallarvegen" (The Navvies' Road) next year.

Grapevine Surprise!

One day during our holidays in France The Professor and I went on a short jolly to St. Paul-de-Vence, a lovely, traditional, Provencal village. We walked all over the place (as all the other tourists) and eventually sat down on a bench to have an icecream in the afternoon sunshine.

As we were sitting there enjoying the icecream and people watching, The Professor noted:

"There is a grapevine growing out of the wall"

I couldn't quite believe it, so I walked over to check, and yes
- it sure looked like the vine was coming out of the wall.

Always loving a mystery, I quickly went in to the wine shop and met a very friendly German lady who showed me that yes, indeed, the vine was growing through the wall!
She explained that there had once been a barn or stable where there was now a shop and since the vine is considered a gift from God, you must never cut it down so they had to build the wall to fit the vine.

She had recently started this shop and since the vine was carrying fruit for the first time in over 10 years, she hoped this was a good omen for the future of the shop.

Tried and tested: Summer salad

My cousin's youngest daughter cooked for us last night and with the lovely salmon filets panfriend with lots of Italian herbs she served a gorgeous salad and fluffy basmati rice.

I admit it - I wanted to lick my plate!

Mix

• 
  
  salad leaves (ruccola or other salad leaves with a lot of flavour)
• 
  
  toasted pine nuts (toast them in some butter to give extra flavour)
• 
  
  watermelon - chopped up finely
• 
  
  some Maldon salt and some pepper

You can add some olive oil and some lemon juice if you want, but I found it didn't need any dressing as the watermelon was so juicy and made it so fresh!

A real taste of summer!

Recommended viewing: "Inception"

We have this week been enjoying my second cousin and his beautiful daughters visiting from Norway.

In addition to seeing Shakespeare's play "Henry V" while picnicing in King's College Gardens, walking along the river, sightseeing, visiting London, a lot of talking and a LOT of shopping, we all went to the movies last night. We saw the latest film directed by Christopher Nolan: Inception with Leonardo DiCaprio. 

It was great watching it and discussing it with my cousin's oldest daughter who is studying to be the world's next great movie director (!) and therefore has more than a keen interest in film.

I realise there are so many films I still have not seen...

We all loved this particular film.

It is a phsychological thriller, very intense and it really challenges you to keep up with the story. If you need a toilet break - forget it. You will loose the plot.

I was rather exhausted after this "ride", but enjoyed it a lot.Very different to any film I have seen before.

Go and see it!

Summer memories...

Summer memories from Antibes we will remember for a long time...

From the farmers market...

Rambling aimlessly around the Old Town with not a care in the world...

Enjoying this little daily street music parade during the 50th annual jazz festival in Juan les Pins.

We even got to see Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette in concert by the ocean.

What a treat!

Here is a clip of them worth listening to...

18 years ago...

It was our 18th wedding anniversary yesterday.

As Our Boy and I spent the day travelling through France by train while The Professor flew up to Scotland, we celebrated in romantic style the night before watching the sunset over dinner on the beach in Juan les Pins.

18 years... it sounds like a clichee to say "where did the years go"? But honestly, where did they go?

It made me think about all the little things that happen in your life that you forget about. Perhaps that is why I enjoy writing this blog as it serves as a reminder about the everyday things that take place in our lives.

Hmmm...., I seem to have gone all philosophical for a minute ;-)

Yes, it is 18 years since we got married, but it is actually 25 years since we met and moved in together

(after knowing eachother for a mere two weeks, but don't tell my mother...!)

It seemed crazy at the time, but we just knew that this was "it"!

We are very different from eachother - he is the pensive, patient, careful, controlled type. I have a much hotter temper, am a chatterbox and tend at times to "jump first and ask questions later"....

Still, we must be doing something right...

His wisdom and advice means a lot to me. We have always shared the same dreams and outlook on life while respecting eachother and I think that is the basis in our recipe of a good life together.

Life has by no means been a "song-and-dance", but we have taken it all in our stride and enjoyed the good days and tried to learn from the not so good days.

I look forward to the next 50 years (or more!) together.

Summer adventure

We are living the good life in the south of France while Our Boy and a friend of his are attending a language school. It didn't feel right to let him go on his own, so The Professor and I are staying in a flat nearby... "just in case". So far, there has been no need for parental involvement except providing clean clothes and money.

This means that we have been rather free to do what we like. Not a bad thing when you are on the Riviera. However, being of a rather pale Nordic complexion, the beach is not the best place for me, so I like to explore!

At the spur of the moment one late Sunday afternoon, The Professor and I decided to take the train to the nearby medieval village of Biot. Without looking too much on the map we jumped on a train and got off at Biot.

Well, we were still by the sea and not up in the mountains as was expected from seeing the pictures in the guidebook. Something  was clearly wrong. After enquiring in my broken French it became clear that Biot VILLAGE was three kilometers away - up in the hills. Clearly not discouraged, with good shoes and a bottle of water we set off and found the beautiful village basking in the evening sun with hardly any tourists around. We decided to have dinner there and enjoyed a lovely meal as only the French can make it. 

As we started thinking about the return, we decided not to take the train back, but to find the bus. The waitress just laughed at us and said the last bus  had left hours ago... and the village had no taxi, but MAYBE one could come from Antibes? Our experiences so far with French taxis (or lack thereof) made it clear that the only option was to walk back to the train station. It would have been a piece of cake as it was of course downhill, but the disadvantage was that it was now dark. The road to the train station was a narrow country road with no streetlights and the cars drive like mad. Those who know me, know I am not a runner. However, it is amazing how fast and far you can run when you are scared...

Since I have been able to tell the tale it is obvious that we made it back safely. Although there is a lot to be said for spontaneity, we have learnt that there is something to be said for planning a little, as well!

Recommended reading: The Return

http://www.victoriahislop.com/

I decided to bring Victoria Hislop's second book, 'The Return' as my holiday novel even if we are not in Spain.

I enjoyed it more than her first book The Island even if her format of family secrets coming to light is wearing a bit thin (having said that - I suspect many families have some 'skeletons' in their closets worthy of a novel if we just dig deep enough).

More than anything else, the book gave a good insight to the Spanish civil war. My previous critisism of her simplistic and repetitive language does not apply to this book.

My only objections would be that the story was a bit long winded and the end a bit predictable. There were also some loose ends she could have explored more, but it was still, an enjoyable book and a good holiday read whether you are going to Spain or not!

Me Time

http://www.tomcousins.com/wp2/wp-content/gallery/melanie-review/032808-pedicure.jpg

I don't think I am very high maintenance.

I mean - I don't spend an awful lot of money on beauty products or treatments. I somehow just can't justify it to myself even if I know 

"I am worth it" ;-)

But once a year I treat myself to having a good pedicure before the summer holidays! Particularly when the treatment at Clarins is on half price offer... It feels like walking on clouds and my toes are ready for the sandals!

Water of Leith

I grew up on the coast and I always feel drawn to water, whether it is a river or even better a lake or the OCEAN!

I really miss it now that I live inland with only a small river to satisfy my need for water.

I think I see the water/lake/ocean as a way out - an escape route and feel calmer when I "know it is there"...

I was therefore delighted when I disovered this little pathway along  Water of Leith which is just a few minutes from the flat in Edinburgh.

The weather was not very inviting, but it didn't matter. So many plants were growing without any care and attention. And the bumble bee (can you see him?) was very busy!

This part of the river is not deep, but it still had a lot of force.

The "innocent" looking pigeon made me jump as I didn't see him until I was right next to him because I was too busy looking through the camera. He was quite tame and there were several of them sitting and looking at the river.

To be honest, I don't like pigeons too much, but up close he had really beautiful colors.

Scottish Projects

Here are finally some proof of our projects in the flat in Edinburgh! We had bought a cheap (and cheerful) table and 4 chairs from Ikea (before we fell out with them) with the intention of doing something more creative with them. I only had time to do two of the chairs, but perhaps The Professor will surprise me and do the next two on his own...? For those who are interested - I used Farrow and Ball's interior paint, color called "Pointing no 2003" which is fairly white, but not completely - a bit creamish I will also paint the legs of the dining table. I like this combination of colors and think it spruced up the plain looking chair.

This is the burau we found in Bobby Clyde's antique shop as well as the Tiffany lamp we got from Jenners. I would have liked to paint the burau, but I don't think The Professor will let me. The burau is in perfect condition, even the leather is undamaged.

We then got two old fashioned-looking suitcases (they are not old) which we put on top of eachother to use as the nightstand.

I think it works well and is a bit different.

They also give a little bit of storage - which is never a bad thing.

By the way - the Professor is very proud of the lamp (I think I would prefer the shade in another color) which he had bought on his own (!) for £3 in a charity shop...

"Freedom!"

I am back in Bloglandia after some days of silence.

To be honest, I am never so busy as when I am on my own...! Monday my former neighbour and a friend from Ireland came over for a simple dinner consisting of pizza and fruit salad. We hadn't seen eachother in months so it was lovely to catch up on their news.

The Ladies Who Dine gathered both on Tuesday and Wednesday  this week.

On Tuesday we had planned to go and see Shakespeare's "Love's Labours Lost" in the college garden, but the weather was not too inviting so we ended up with an indoor picnic at home instead. Lovely drinks and chats!

Last night was the opening of the new showroom of our friends in Crofthouse.

The Ladies Who Dine (who also do other things) came out in full force to sample the champagne and nibbles while we admired  Tom's own beautiful kitchen and bathroom ranges in both modern and traditional styles alongside floors, lights, tiles, architectural ironmongery and many other superb items for the home. I have a couple of projects for later in the year I want to discuss with him, so it was great to see his ideas come to life. He is so talented and creative.

It was also a good occassion to catch up with many people we hadn't seen in a long time!

Tomorrow all this "freedom" will come to an end when Our Boy is returning after 10 days scout camp in Wales.

I expect he will be tired, happy, dirty (!), and a bit tanned.

And I will be a very happy mamma who has missed him sooooo much! ;-)

I will get the pictures from our adventure in Edinburgh ready and post later!

Antique shopping

We decided when we bought the flat in Edinburgh to try to furnish it with second hand and perhaps some antique furniture pieces.

It is great fun, but very tiring being on the prowl. 

The essential things are in place like sofa/beds/kitchen stuff - all new.

We are therefore now searching for the other little touches that makes it a home via charity shops and antique stores.

Trying to keep down costs is one issue, but mainly it is nice to see things being used again. 

We were fortunate when we got back to the charity shop yesterday as the little mahogany table we saw the day before was still there.

The Professor was still very sceptical and made me promise that we were not "married" to it. He has a hard time understanding I have a "vision" of what the flat should look like, so he insisted that it could go in the skip if he didn't like it...

"Yes, dear. (As if...!)"

We quickly got it in the taxi (great UK taxi's take a lot of stuff!) and brought it home. 

Needless to say, once in it's place, he fell head over heals in love with it and refused to let me paint it (pictures will come when I am back home as I didn't bring the converter with me).

We immediately went out and found a Tiffany style lamp from the shop with the best selection of lamps in this town, Jenners. It went great with the new table!

Today we have rummaged through the antique shops on the southern side of town. My God, there is a lot of rubbish, but also a lot of really nice places with gorgeous things.

We came across Bobby Clyde's place in Grange road with outstanding furniture and with the most reasonable prices ever. Prices are more fixed than other places we saw, but they were also so much lower so it just seemed more upfront and fair. I am not too good at haggling...We went home with a small bureau (skatoll) and it took over the place of the table bought yesterday.

However, it doesn't matter - the table fits nicely other places in the flat, too.

Particularly since The Professor loooves his table...;-) 

I will certainly make Bobby Clyde's a regular place to visit.

Many of the antique stores we have visited these last few days are full of rubbish and dust making it hard to see the gems. Bobby Clyde's place was also jam packed, but it was all nice and clean. It made such a difference. Apparently, his shop is being featured on BBC2 in the fall in one of the antique shows.

Procrastinating...

I am up in Edinburgh with the Professor for a couple of days to add some more touches to the flat.

We have spent the day trawling around antique stores and charity shops.

The plan is to find some small side tables, lamps, a desk, a night stand, a console for the hallway etc.

Well, it hasn't gone quite to plan yet.

So far, we have only got a laundry basket and a printer (both of them new)...
But this is a longer term project - we will wait till we see the right thing before getting it.
There is no rush.

I did see a table I liked in the first charity shop we looked in. I think it will be great after a lick of paint...

However, as it was in the very first shop we went to, we didn't want to make any decisions before seeing what else is out there.

But I can't forget it, so I am keeping my fingers crossed that it didn't sell today and will still be there in the morning ;-)

It was so cheap that even if my 'vision' for it doesn't work, it won't be a disaster if it is sent to the skip.

We also came across an antique shop that was a dream

(or a nightmare)

- jam packed of 'stuff' -

over several floors.

It was simply too much to take it all in in one visit.

It was rather overwhelming. But it gave us a couple of ideas for some individual pieces of furniture, but more thinking tonight and perhaps another visit in the morning again...

Tried and tested: Anita's Bomb!

Earlier this week I tried out Anita's chocolate cake and I tell you - it is a BOMB!

Very delicious and moorish, and very dangerously packed with calories.

I made it using only 1/4 of the measurements.
Not that it makes in any less calori rich, but at least there is less cake!

Still, a big cake!

Below is the recipe in English

- you find it in Norwegian on her blog as well as a picture of it.

It never made it to a picture in our house... 

800 grams butter

16 dl sugar

8 dl flour
8 tsp vanilla sugar (omit if you don't have it)
20 tsb cocoa
12 eggs

Mix the dry ingredients, melt the butter and add the eggs.

Very simple.

Then chop up 4 packs of baking chocolate and poke it in the dough. This is a BIG recipe so ensure your baking tray is big enough.

200 degrees for 40-45 mins

Shades of Green

After having spent the morning running around town like a headless chicken trying to remember all the things Our Boy will need for scout camp I decided to relax a little in the garden.

That didn't work as I started looking at all the plants needing pruning and attention.

But I am sooo easily distracted...

In addition to the various crops coming along nicely, I started noticing all the different shades of green in the garden and had to get my camera out :-)

The tomatoes are coming along nicely, I see.

Won't be long now till we can pick our own!

The size of the rhubarb leaves always amaze me!

Nah, that was enough effort in the heat...

better save some work for another day ;-)

Summer Party

Last night was the annual summer party for my office.

True to tradition those who wanted started at 5 pm going punting.

I am ashamed to say that after almost 11 years in this city I have never punted myself. I have been punting maaaany times, but never had to do the deed myself... ;-)

We all felt it was hight time Our Boy learnt "the noble art"!

Our Australian friend taught him and Our Boy took to it right away and did a GREAT job.

Mission acomplished - still no need for me to learn the art of punting... hehehee...;-)

The second part of this summer party tradition is the BBQ in the director's garden. The director is the president of one of the old colleges and we are fortunate to be able to use the garden in the President's Lodge for our party.

The food was lovely,

but the real winner for me was a very simple and delicious

Mango Salad:

Chop very finely a mango with some red onion, coriander and the juice of a lime. Add sweet red chili sauce to the mix.

It is great with any BBQ meat

Fortunate mistake

Last night I had intended to make the Greek dish Spanakopita for dinner. I got this recipe years ago from my good friend in Canada (I will share it some other time) and we absolutely loooove it! It is a great vegetarian dish.

But nothing went to plan:

Firstly, I had no spinach neither in the fridge nor in the freezer, only a packet of green beans....

Secondly, I had by mistake defrosted a packet of puff pastry instead of filo pastry...

Thirdly, I only had one egg in the house...

With a hungry boy lurking around, there was no time to loose so I was forced to think quickly and be inventive:

(The Professor claims I am the Queen of super quick healthy dinners. I say you have no choice when you have hungry kids around your "feet")

• 
  
  I mixed a tub of cottage cheese with a good slice of feta cheese and the one egg.
• 
  
  I took half of the puff pastry and put in the bottom of a fireproof dish,
• 
  
  added the green beans, the cheese/egg mixture and some salt/pepper
• 
  
  before I put the rest of the puff pastry on top as a "lid".
• 
  
  It all went in the oven on 200 degrees for about 30 mins.

It wasn't Spinakopita, but something similar and very nice!

End of school year!

Today is the last school day of the year for Our Boy

- hence the illustration of the empty bench taken in Dr Bass' garden with my mobile ;-).

Well done to Our Boy for a great year! I look forward to not hearing his alarm clock going off at 6 am when he has been getting up to revise for exams... I think he will be appreciating some lazy days at home before he is off on the scout camp in Wales for 10 days.

The Professor is also coming home tonight for a long weekend (yeah!). It looks like it will be a busy weekend as we are all going to my company's summer party tomorrow afternoon which will include punting and BBQ!

So very English... ;-)

Challenge...

Just to be clear - I am NOT complaining!

This laidback raccoon from Shepreth Wildlife Park merely illustrates how we have been feeling these last few days (and nights) with the lovely summer heat we have been enjoying...

Although we are not really used to many days in a row with this kind of weather, and even if work and school is not quite over here yet,

we really appreciate the nice weather.

Now is the time to restore the strength needed for the cold winter season!

Just hope we have some rain tonight as the lawn is showing clear signs of going yellow....

Enjoy the SUMMER!