summer dinner

This is my absolute favorite dish: artichokes with a french vinegar dressing. And for dessert, from the garden: rhubarb crumble with vanilla ice cream.

This is how I prepare the artichokes. One artichoke per person.
Break the stem off close to the base (hold the artichoke down on the kitchen counter with one hand and sort of lean on the stem with the other hand). Rinse them under running water. Cook in plenty of salted water for 45 min.

Vinegar dressing:
in a wide-necked bottle, mix:
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon french mustard (the strong kind)
1 pinch of curry
1 pressed clove of garlic
0,5 cup apple vinegar

shake shake shake!

Add 1,5 cup olive oil mixed with rape oil and shake some more. This dressing tastes more and better if it's done in advance, at least a few hours.

Eat the inner tip of the artichoke leaves dipped in dressing (prop your plate up by placing your knife under the top of your plate, this way the dressing stays at the bottom part).

Enjoy and have a great weekend!

worry bird

for Illustration Friday; worry.

moon shadow

We've been having lovely weather lately. Seems a shame to be indoors,
but the sunshine makes the shadows very intense and graphic.



A couple of nights ago the moon was full. I sat up and waited for it to climb over the treetops. My photo doesn't make it justice, but maybe these cool guys can add up for what I lack in technique.
Enjoy :)

good hair day

Asta has been to the trimmer. This is before...






...and this is after. Not much dog left.



But now she can see again! And we can see her.


I found a link on Camillas blog (some time back); how to repeat patterns.
That will come in handy, thank you very much Julia!

weekend away

Spot the seagull! (I didn't - until I enlarged the photo). I wanted a shot of the wonderful old sign for a textile company and got the gull residing on top of the d, just by chance.





We stayed with friends in the small village of Ljungskile, an hours trainride from Gothenburg. It's right by the sea. Their house is so special, I really, really like it. The ceiling is very high and the chimney just goes on and on...

Mattias did well in GöteborgsVarvet – his best result in this competition so far :) The weather was perfect for both runners and audience, the sun shone but it wasn't too hot. I had a lovely picnic with Mia, Rosa and Sophie, while Mattias ran around the city of Gothenburg, along with approximately 44 999 other people.
In the evening we had a party with good friends. It was great to see everybody again, some of whom we haven't seen since last summer, before our move. I'm sentimental, and I do miss all our friends :(

(It was quite good though, to get back and take that walk in the woods on Monday morning...)

wandering

I made this drawing some time ago, last year, when we were living in Gothenburg. And now we're going to there to visit for a couple of days. Mattias is running GöteborgsVarvet (half a Marathon; 21 km). I'm both looking forward to the trip, and not. It'll be great to meet with old friends, and see Gothenburg again, but at the same time there are things I want to do at home. I long to spend some time in the garden, it's been a while.

Oh well, the garden will still be here – weeds and all – when I get back, and it's always nice to get a change of scenery.

I wish you a nice weekend in advance!

electricity

for Illustration Friday.

Last week I enjoyed making an image of the actual word.
So I decided to make this weeks topic in the same manner.
Like last week, I've used a lead pencil and then gone on a photoshopping spree :)

seed

for Illustration Friday. I did a little last minute photoshopping here.
Still a bit unsure if I prefer it without the tone. But it's getting late,
so I'll stick with it.

Goodnight!

framed objects

Nature morte

Participating with these at a small local art show here in Sigtuna,
opening on Saturday. I'm so happy with the frames/boxes.
I found an elderly man in the neighbourhood who runs a B&B
– and a framing shop. He was not expensive and a real craftsman,
the good old kind.

I am amazed at what you can do with paper and a pair of scissors:
Patrick Gannon and Kako Ueda

May 5th

I had a wonderful birthday with beautiful weather. Greeting card and lovely papers for bookbinding Mattias bought in Switzerland (too bad he lost the card with the website).
Caroline gave me chrysantemums, they are very beautiful, so fresh and greeeen, they really stand out.

In the evening we had plans to go to a local restaurant down by the lake, but fortunately it was closed. Instead we packed a picnic and took our bicycles down to the "beach". I'm not much for winter bathing (bathing in Sweden in the beginning of May is quite early), but the kids are crazy about swimming so they jumped in. It couldn't have been that cold – they actually swam.

It was such a beautiful evening, we almost had to force ourselves to go inside and put the kids to bed. A great day.

happy birthday to us

We are born on the same day, J. and I, and celebrated a day early. We went on a 3-hour brunch-cruise in the archipelago of Stockholm. It was lovely day, and we had a good time...

turtle in hiding

I was invited to participate in a comic book project Pieces – Book '01. It's a story with a life of it's own, it's weird and surrealistic, and it took me a while to grasp (actually it's ungraspable)... Different artists are invited to illustrate a frame each, my frame is no. 70. Check it out!