7QT: swedish, and jumping on trees, and posture

1. I think these are the most important Swedish words I know. First, fika. Second, lagom. Third, jantelagen. These mean, approximately and respectively: coffee and sweet treats, everything in moderation, and don't try to stand out above any others.

So pretty much Sweden suits me just fine(:

2. Just two short weeks ago I wrote that I really wanted to make an effort to just speak Swedish at school. I just have to be honest and say that is not really happening. I am doing a good job of hearing Swedish, but I am starting to develop the habit of responding in English. I'm really slow at formulating things to say in Swedish, and I also find it nearly impossible to express myself in Swedish. So for now, English dominates. le'sigh

3. I think it is safe to say that making friends at folk dance school is pretty much nothing like making friends at the office of a job in academia. Guess which one shared this link on fb and which one shared this link. And to be honest I didn't even read the first article, but definitely enjoyed watching the video from that second link. (And apparently 50 years is not enough time to change the fact that NASA is dominated by white men with moustaches…)

Anyhow, I didn't start this intending to go that route. I intended to make some comments about how unusual it is for me to feel so close to people that I haven't known for very long. For one thing, we are physically close because we spend all our days dancing together (and also, that general strong affinity for hugging). But there is also an emotional closeness that comes from spending all day, every day interacting with the same small group of people. You quickly move on from discussions about the weather to topics with a little more heft, which suits me and my introversion just fine.

4. Greg and I were laughing about how our facebook feeds exploded with halloween costumes on halloween. I commented about how strange it was that there were at least four alligators, surprised that this was the most popular costume choice of the year. He kindly pointed out that I was probably looking at mostly dinosaurs. Good point, my friend, good point.

5. I really like this video.

Ever since watching it, I've been thinking about how I'd like to be able to jump onto a tree like that (go ahead and skip to 2:30 if you don't want to watch the whole thing). So the other night I just tried it out. My tips for those wanting to try this: choose a tree with no low branches, and just commit!

6. Apparently posture has become such a central concept in my life that I am now dreaming about it. My posture needs improvement, and now I am just thinking about it all the time. Plus maybe we all read this already, but I am coming out of ten-ish years of being hunched over a computer screen full-time. So I've got some correcting to do.

7. The other day Greg was watching some MJ videos. I commented that Smooth Criminal was probably my favorite song of his. But then I had to quickly correct myself, because that and the song from Free Willy are both favorites. Just so good!

Fun fact: I've gotten into the habit of writing these posts over a timespan of… weeks maybe? So every time I would open a yet-to-be-finished post and read the takes I had already written, I'd find that I wrote a reference to 'yesterday' almost every time. For example "yesterday Greg was watching some MJ videos." So I'm trying to learn to just type "the other day" because it keeps things more honest around here.

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The End!

7QT - mostly on food/beverage

1. Sometimes it is the perfect day for sushi, and you spend most of your day thinking about dinnertime, and then it is time to leave the office, and as you pull your bicycle up to the sushi place you realize things are looking a bit dark. The sushi place is closed for summer vacation! Why??

2. Then it took me an hour to decide egg salad sandwiches would be a suitable replacement. I almost never eat egg salad sandwiches, but I don't know why. I made this with hard-boiled eggs (I used to start the eggs in cold water… shameful), an avocado (makes the color questionable, if you care about that sort of thing), a scoop of mayo, a scoop of mustard, some shakes of hot sauce, salt, pepper, and paprika. On a sandwich with some cheap-o lettuce? Super tasty.

3. Speaking of mustard. I bought a new mustard the other day. I was trying to twist the lid off of the jar when I realized it was just a pop-off kind of lid. And then I realized that the 'jar' the mustard was in was eerily similar in size/shape to our drinking glasses. And I now I am 99% convinced that our drinking glasses originated as mustard jars.

4. Lemonade-Beer. I did a quick check to see if I had written about this gem of a beverage before and I was led to this post. I am definitely wearing the same exact shirt as I type this, but I am not located in France (no worries, I like Sweden better).

5. I have a small obsession with beer in cans. I just love been in cans, okay?! Sometimes I pretend like I am a beer snob, but really I think this makes me the opposite of a beer snob.

6. Yesterday I made the perfect dinner to accompany beer in cans - nachos! Greg thought I was not being serious when I suggested nachos as a meal, but I was as serious as a thing that is incredibly serious. I even made some nacho cheese, loosely following this recipe, which was super delicious!

7. I have just returned from a little city walk with my Swedish class. I had seen most of the sights that we stopped by, but I learned some new and interesting things. Plus it is a gorgeous day to be spending several hours out wandering around.

Mostly I guess that wasn't so interesting to write, but I felt the need to mention one non-food item this week(:

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The End & The Link-Up!

7QT - reading, quaintness, & ginger beer!

1. Here is a fascinating video to watch. It is super long, but I saw it posted on another blog and decided to save it to watch over the weekend. It was really fascinating (double use of this word is noted and left as is for emphasis).

OVERVIEW from Planetary Collective on Vimeo.

2. Last week I sent in an application that makes me really nervous and excited. I shouldn't talk about this too much before anything is decided, but it is definitely what is on my mind.

Recently on the internet I saw some sort of cartoon that had text along the lines of "Remember that job you applied for that you were sure you would get but suddenly stopped talking about? How'd that go?"

Hopefully this isn't one of those situations(:

3. I realized there is an indentation in the couch in the spot where I normally sit. One solution would be to stop sitting on the couch all the time. The other solution, which may or may not be my solution of choice, is to simply shift myself one person-width to the left. (The couch is super nice over here. Plus I'm closer to the window and nature!)

4. Recently I had a conversation with a Stockholm-dweller who was commenting on the quaintness of Uppsala. I do agree that Uppsala does have a nice small-town feel, despite being Sweden's fourth largest city, and that is part of what I love about this city.

He said it seemed like everything, pubs included, were closed by 6 pm. I assured him that at least the pubs stayed open later, but admitted that I didn't actually know how late they stayed open. At this point I was informed that I didn't exactly have the look of a person who spends their time closing down pubs every night. I was pretty amused by that. Definitely more amused than when he told me my "pajamas" made it look like I just rolled out of bed before leaving the house.

5. Last weekend I finally went ahead and purchased Jen's new book (I have a big obsession with free library books and free kindle books). As much as I like my books free, it is always nice to feel like I am supporting another person's creative endeavor. And I feel like this is a pretty good creative endeavor to be supporting(:

I spent a good portion of the weekend on one spot (you know, shifted to the left of course) on the couch, and Greg made the comment that he wished he had taken a time-lapse video of me sitting on the couch, gradually shifting positions (I guess I move around a lot while reading), while I devoured Jen's book.

6. I am going to make my own ginger beer! I haven't been this excited about a 'homesteading' project since I found out how easy it was to make your own cheese!

I got the tip about making my own ginger beer from Kate, who has admirable knowledge of the crunchy life.

7. I think I might have passed my first Swedish tests! I don't actually know, because I don't know how to say that in Swedish. So if they told me I passed, I didn't understand what they were saying. I do know that they told me 'they were satisfied' to indicate that the exam was over (this was during the oral exam, where you just have to ramble on by yourself). Hurrah! (maybe)

The End & The Link-Up

7QT - food, ballet, and needing new pants

1. Earlier this week I reached the epitome of Uppsala residency - I was about to put on a pair of pants when I realized the butt was nearly worn through from riding my bicycle. I'm a little sad that I can't wear the pants anymore because I really liked them, but I feel proud of myself too, like I earned a badge.

Then I spent some time reading about commuter pants, which are specially designed to look like normal pants you can wear at work, but are built with reinforced fabric in the bike-seat-regions. (The really cool ones also have some reflective material that is on the inside of the legs, so that it shows when you cuff your pants!) Unfortunately, most of the available commuter pants are made for men only. I don't know what is up with that. I'd like some commuter pants please. Although I'd probably have better luck getting the men's pants to fit than any option they could come up with for women…

2. I've gotten so much better about not letting myself get needlessly stressed out about work since my days as a PhD student. This week I had some things that absolutely had to get done by the end of the week, and I was not entirely convinced they would get done. Luckily they are done, and now that I am past this I realise that I was more than a little stressed about them.

Now I'm just basking in the post-task completion (and trying not to think too much about how this all sort of has to be repeated once I get more data). My current activities include things like cleaning my computer screen and installing updates on my computer, both of which I had been putting off for far too long. Having a fresh computer makes me feel so fresh by proxy(:

3. Even if I already said this, it is worth saying again. For Easter I made homemade Reese's eggs following this recipe from Natalie. The recipe was such a completely perfect match. Just so much deliciousness. I can't even make sentences about them. I also sprinkled a tiny bit of sea salt on the top, so I have to say, these were even More amazing than the original.

4. On my last day of my third decade I get to go to the ballet! Ballet fascinates and amazes me, and I'm really excited to see something other than The Nutcracker (which I love, don't get my wrong, especially the Swedish interpretation).

5. This reminds me that there is a new ballet documentary that is out or soon to be out called Ballet 422. I really really need to not forget to see this when I figure out if/when it is released.

6. All week I've been really lazy about cooking (a result of #2, being stressed about not having enough time to finish work tasks). Last night I decided I better eat something more healthy than frozen pizza. I had some salad greens already, so I decided I'd make some hummus to put on top, plus add some chopped carrots and tomatoes, and call it a meal.

However, when I got home I started to dread the amount of time it would take to actually make the hummus properly with the immersion blender. This is when I realized that I could just dump the chickpeas on my salad, and make a dressing from tahini + olive oil + lemon juice. Same ingredients as hummus, just a different presentation. It wasn't as tasty as hummus, but it was a passable substitute. Most importantly, I didn't feel like I was wasting any time with food prep. Some days are just not for prepping food.

7. This final take is made possible because I just started cooking dinner and decided to go ahead and let my onions and garlic rest after chopping and before cooking. I read about this on Kate's blog, and normally I'd enjoy doing more reading on the topic instead of blindly trusting, buuuutttt…. what have I got to lose? So my onions are resting!

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The End & The Link-Up!

7QT - new photo, tv, & 2048

1. Have you played 2048? This is the latest internet game that I found out about from xkcd.com. I've been staying up so late at night to play this game. It is completely ridiculous, but I just want to win! My highest score is just over 19,000. So if you are doing the math, yes I had enough points to get to the 2048 tile, but no, I was unable to actually do so. I am getting better at getting to the 1024 tile though, so I think the 2048 tile is within my reach.

Actually, one thing I was wondering is if this is only really addictive for mathy-type people. Are you a person who doesn't consider themselves a lover of numbers, but also finds this game addictive?

2. I bought a turtleneck! Contrary to popular belief, turtlenecks are not just for moms and children. I really really love my turtleneck, and I'm so glad I was finally able to find one. Plus it was greatly discounted since most people are now buying clothing that is appropriate for seasons other than winter. Hurrah.

3. I started writing these for last week, but never got very far. So now I'm continuing, with the hopes of having seven by friday.

4. The good news is that we won 2048! Greg and I were both playing (possibly the night after I wrote that first take) and we both reached 2048 within an hour of one another. I don't think Greg played anymore after that, and I only played a few times more. Apparently winning the game is the key to healing the addiction.

5. Dancing with the Stars started again, and I just Love watching that show. I don't know what it is, but I could watch clips of the dances on youtube for hours on end. Or at least of the good dances. If they just added some folk dancing to the mix they would achieve perfection.

6. Greg has started the rule that I am not allowed to watch more than one hour of tv per day. Apparently I just really love tv, even though I've spent most of my past 10+ years of life hardly watching any tv. I blame the change on the discovery of two things. One is dancing with the stars. Two is the fact that the only method of learning Swedish that I find enjoyable is to watch tv shows with the captions turned on. It is probably the least effective way of learning, but so far it is the only thing I don't hate doing.

7. I found myself in need of a professional profile picture (think Linked-In, which I actually never had a picture for, but now I guess I do). Getting one sooner rather than later was sort of necessary, so I had to use the tripod+remote method, rather than waiting for a time when Greg would be able to be my photographer. I did a lot of research (reading articles on the internet) about what makes a good photo. The best technique was to just look at as many Linked-In profiles as I could and decide which photos I liked and why.

Here is the final result:


My initial plan was to be looking directly at the camera, but I had seen a few photos of people looking to the side and thought they were also alright. So I tried just a few (of a hundred, literally) shots like that, and I ended up liking it best.

Once the sun was nearly set and I had a ton of options, I decided it was time to stop. So I quickly gathered up my gear and got my coat back on. Then I noticed that in the field behind me there was a pack of bunnies! I couldn't force myself to take my camera back out, I think mostly because my fingers were so cold. I had really high hopes that when I reviewed my photos on the computer I would see a series of photos that had been photobombed by bunnies, but alas, no bunnies appeared.

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The End & The Link-Up

7QT: The North & Lent & magnetic saints!

1. I went to the north of Sweden, where it was cloudy and we saw no aurora. I had a meeting there at the beginning of the week, so Greg came along to enjoy the fun. He even carried my tripod for me, which I never had the opportunity to use.

2. Highlights include: eating reindeer, seeing an old church which won the prize for Sweden's most-liked building in 2001, having seat-heaters in the back seat of the rental car, and lying on as many of the beds in the ice hotel as possible.

3. The Ice Hotel in general is completely awesome, and work a 'take' of its own. There are some documentaries on it that you could watch. Here is a quick summary video I found. Greg and I took a ton of photos, because many of the rooms are designed by artists from all over the world. I think I read that over 800 artists apply to design rooms, and the ones who are chosen do some really amazing things. Hopefully I'll sort through my photos soon and share some of my favorites.

4. My computer thinks it is British and is always changing my spelling to have s's instead of z's and adding extra u's.

5. I usually fail at even the simplest Lenten things, but I think it will be best for me not to ignore it entirely, so I've decided to give up chocolate. I really really enjoy sweet treats, but I know that if I try to give them all up I'd fail, so I needed to set a distinct line somewhere.

6. So here's to 40 (+some odd) days of no chocolate. When I was growing up we never counted Sundays as non-Lent days. Even now it just feels like cheating if I were to gobble down a bunch of chocolate every Sunday.

I already had a dream last night that I was accidentally eating chocolate.

7. This is probably the best Etsy shop to ever exist! I want all the magnetic paper dolls of saints!

Bonus!

8. I think I blog a lot more when I am feeling more stressed. That hardly seems to make sense when I type it, but somehow it is true. There is just something about writing things out, especially in numbered lists.

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The End & The Link-Up

7QT - fingerless gloves, heroic minute, and of course some sweden things

1. My mom sent me home-crafted fingerless gloves for Christmas! They are so nice for keeping at the office, because it is always so cold in here, and I can easily wear these while working on my computer. Nevermind those people who keep asking, "Are you cold, Meghan?" Not anymore!

2. I sort of laughed a lot about this xkcd comic from earlier this week. (Note that if you go to the actual link you can see the mouseover text.)

But at the same time I sort of felt like I could identify with both of those little dudes. Sometimes I like taking photos, but sometimes I think it is necessary to just hold off on the photo thing and take it in with your eyes. This is especially the case when I recognise that any photos I am taking just aren't capturing the truth of what I am seeing.

3. I think the birds get confused by the lack of daylight hours here. Sometimes we sleep with the window open, and they will just be outside chirping at 2am or some such crazy hour.

4. Last week Sarah's QT #5 was something I wanted in on. I know I've tried the no-snooze-button thing before, and it never ends up sticking. But somehow I think that being inspired by science AND a saint might be enough to make this last a little longer. So far I've managed for a week (technically it was only a four day work week since Monday was a holiday because non-religious Swedes love celebrating Epiphany). Plus why should I just keep letting myself be "beaten in the first skirmish"? I mean really..

5. So, I actually find it really interesting which days Swedes celebrate as holidays. A lot of their national holidays are actually Christian holidays, but they are starting to change out the days they have as national holidays to make them not religious-centered. For example, the Swedish National Day first became an official holiday in 2005, replacing Pentecost Monday.

6. We got a cat calendar for our office. It hangs next to the cross stitched dog. Pretty remarkable stuff going on in this office.

7. On every day of the calendar is the name that is celebrated that day. It seems that some people will celebrate their name day like a birthday. At the very least probably most people can tell you which day is their name day. It is sort of like celebrating feast days of saints, only different.

The End & The Linkup

seven quick takes about stuff!

1. In Sweden offices always have a proper kitchen. I really appreciate that everyone eats lunch together and that desks are for working, not for eating. What I don't like is that sometimes people microwave 'food' which smells completely rancid. Exaggeration? Not by much.

Imagine a smell like 20 wet cats who have been living in a room that hasn't been cleaned in a year. Now imagine seeing a person eating the item giving off this smell, and just try to enjoy eating a sandwich. Hopefully you get the picture.

2. This is a great song that makes me really happy!



3. Greg and I have been playing a lot of cribbage lately. Neither of us is very good, but at least that makes us evenly matched. Maybe we're not really playing correctly, but we have a set of rules that we've agreed on based on various sets of cribbage rules we have found. The interesting thing we've found is that a hand that is statistically rare is not necessarily worth a ton of points, so a good poker hand doesn't really make a good cribbage hand. I still get excited if the turn card makes my hand a 'full house' though:)

4. The games we have in rotation that are fun for two people are: cribbage, bananagrams, and bohnanza. They pretty much take care of any type of game I'd be interested in playing. A numbers/card game. A word game. A strategy game. We need to learn the 2 player version of 7 Wonders, but we've been waiting to play the game the normal way a few times first before we play a modified version.

5. I am so glad that Christmas and New Years are on Wednesdays this year. This means we have a full two week vacation. Last year it seemed that everyone just used personal vacation days and didn't show up to the office, but this year we have official scheduled vacation, which is really so much better.

6. Plus Malory is coming to visit us! I think if we didn't have a friend coming for the holiday we would end up sitting at home far too often. I mean, I really do like sitting at home and reading books or playing games, but going on adventures is fun too:)

7. In my last quick takes, I mentioned that I had so many photos out one particular window that I might make a collection of them. Well, last week while I was sick, I went through a bunch of photos and I think I found 28 unique photos from the past year, taken out the same exact window. This will be the most riveting thing I've published to my blog!

The End & The Linkup!

7QT: Assorted photos from the past two months

1. A really delicious dinner Greg cooked for us. Yes, I like taking pictures of food. Yes, I like figs.


2. The kitchen getting messy during brewing. 


3. Frosty branches out the window. I probably have at least twenty photos out this very same window, either because of these shrubs or because of the sky. Maybe one day I'll post a collection of these.


4. Blurry Christmas beers with red caps. I thought this photo looked better than its non-blurry counterpart.


5. Blurry pale ales with light blue caps.


6. The night sky and a moonlit bike path. We went out one evening waiting to see if we'd see aurora. We saw none, and occupied our time with taking photos of other things.


7. Night sky in the other direction.


The End! (and The Link-Up)

7 Quick Takes: bicycles, beer, and dancing with Bill Nye version

- 1 -

I saw a game of Segway Polo in action the other day. That's right. Who needs a horse when you've got a segway. And if you were thinking, 'What other crazy things do people do with segways?' here is a short list.

- 2 -

Did you know there was such a thing as dining in the dark? I was just told about a restaurant in Paris where all of the waiters are blind, and the dining room is completely dark. Apparently one of these restaurants exists in San Francisco also, and I laughed so hard reading about a review that said a person lost a piece of food on the table and had to spend a really long time finding it.

- 3 -

Our bicycles are in working order as of writing this! Last weekend Greg and I decided it was time to fix those bicycles right up. We each worked on our own, and we managed to fully change a tire each in about one hour. (I am really happy about that time, plus it was the first time I fully changed a tire on my own with no help.) My tire wasn't technically flat, but it had this hole where the tube was bubbling up and sort of pushing through. So I decided preventative action was necessary, and I changed the tire so that I would be able to save the tube.

- 4 -

I love it so much that Bill Nye is on Dancing with the Stars. So much! It bothers me that there doesn't seem to be a clear explanation of what percentage of the final standings is due to the judges and what is due to the peoples' votes, but I just had to vote anyway.

What a great person though. I think at one point he says something like, "Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn sometimes." That it does, Bill.

- 5 -

The evening after writing number 3 up there I had my handlebars come loose while rounding a turn on my bicycle. I've always had issues with my handlebars being a bit wobbly or turned crooked, so I am often tightening and adjusting. Well I didn't do a very good job I guess. Somehow I managed to get enough control of my front wheel to not slam right into the curb at a speed at which one would not want to be slamming into a curb. Kind of terrifying.

- 6 -

Maybe I've written about Humans of New York before. I really like it a lot. Maybe I've even linked to this exact post before, but I just like it so much. Such incredibly practical advice.

- 7 -

Greg has been in Belgium this past week. He returns home this evening, and I'm pretty sure the first taste test of our beer is going to happen. Hopefully it is delicious. When we were bottling it, I thought it had a very strong banana flavor and considering I do not really like bananas, I did not consider this to be a good thing. So here's to hoping that flavor mellowed out.

- The End and The Linkup -

7QT: prepare to brew edition (also the no-photo edition, sorry)

- 1 -

I updated my About page. Ta Da.

- 2 -

I maintain that Conan O'Brien's Dartmouth commencement speech was the best ever commencement speech. (Here for reference.) And even though I didn't graduate until the following year, I still sort of claim it as my own. The woman who gave ours was lovely and accomplished and perfectly deserving of giving a Dartmouth commencement speech, but because I am a horrible person the only thing I remember her saying is a comment on how unfortunate it is to be the person following Conan's speech. Right.

So anyhow, that is not the point of this quick take. The point is that I saw the transcript of this commencement speech on kindness, which was really a great thing to read. I highly recommend it.

"what we really want, in our hearts, is to be less selfish, more aware of what’s actually happening in the present moment, more open, and more loving"

- 3 -

This weekend, we brew! The big surprise I got for Greg before he arrived in Sweden was homebrew equipment. It seems a little odd to buy new equipment, since we had equipment in NH, but it was actually more economical to buy new than to ship. Plus the resale value of the equipment will be quite good, from what I can tell. We found a recipe for a rye-wheat, so hopefully that turns out to be delicious!

- 4 -

That means tonight, we clean! The apartment is still pretty clean, because I spent a lot of time cleaning before Greg got here, but clutter has gathered and recycling needs to be recycled and whatnot.

- 5 -

Here are some old blog posts about our previous brewing experiences. (Note two of these are written by Greg.)

- 6 -

Today my library book is due. I really really like taking trips to the public library. So many books, just waiting to be read!

- 7 -

Last year I bought a waterproof backpack cover from a sporting goods store, but it ended up being too small. Luckily, Greg's backpack is smaller than mine, so it fit his perfectly. I've gone without for a long time now, sticking to the put-my-stuff-in-a-plastic-bag-inside-my-backpack trick. But I figured it was time to get a cover. I ordered a size small after debating between the small versus the extra small for a long time and reading a lot of conflicting reviews saying the listed dimensions were larger/smaller than actuality. Needless to say, it is about three times larger than it needs to be, but luckily it sinches waaayyyy down. I am pretty sure I could fit inside of it.

- The End and The Linkup -

7QT - less solitude, more påskmust

- 1 -

I think I had a race up the stairs with a stranger. I think I've always thought it would be so hilarious if a stranger ran up the stairs past me with the look of victory upon reaching the top first. The thing is, I didn't know it was happening at the time. I thought I was being mistaken for another person this man knew, and by the time I realized we might have just had a race up the stairs, it was too late for me to even laugh about it.

- 2 -

There is this thing called the Rule of Friendship, which a friend of mine invented. In Hanover, it means that if you are walking through town, you must walk on Main St. and not the back roads, even if those back roads might be more direct or faster. If a friend is also walking in Hanover and abiding by the Rule of Friendship, then you will cross paths and it will be so friendly!

On Monday, I applied the Rule of Friendship to Uppsala. The concept is still the same, although deciding which road is the equivalent of Hanover's Main St. is not always so obvious. There is a pedestrian road in town, where all the shops are, so I'm going to go ahead and say this is the number one road for the Rule of Friendship. Next would probably be to walk along the river, but that is beside the point.

Lately I've started to feel friendly again. For awhile, I was feeling not-so-friendly, and if I needed to go into town for something, I was sure to take the most direct route possible and walk really fast and avoid eye contact with everyone.

- 3 -

There was a little stand set up on the pedestrian road. As I walked by I saw this t-shirt being sold:

DOUBLE TACOS

WHAT DOES IT MEAN

Strange for sure, but also intriguing. Where does this t-shirt come from?

- 4 -

Last week I braved Ikea, and my reward was two of the cheapest bread pans ever. I think they were even cheaper than a thrift store would have marked them. Maybe. The thrift store was on summer holiday all of last month, so I can't be sure. So before Greg arrived I made zucchini bread, because I thought it would be a good treat for him. I followed the Smitten Kitchen recipe, because it is the best ever (no chocolate chips for me, thank you). I even managed to eat one full loaf before Greg even had any. Oops.

(smitten kitchen image)

- 5 -

Wednesday was the last summer evening folk dance. I really wanted to go and take Greg so that he could experience the joy that is the summer evening folk dance. And the waffles. The weather forecast was not on our side for the entire day, but in the evening it wasn't raining, so we decided to just ride our bikes out there and see if it was happening. And it was! We danced a little. Ate waffles. Then it started to rain so we took cover in a barn. Then it stopped raining, so we danced a little more. And then we headed home.

- 6 -

Now that I am no longer living the bachelor life and am sharing the apartment with my husband (novel concept), I find that I am talking about 100 times more than I had been talking for the past six months. I always manage to have an awful lot to say when there is just always another person there, eager to listen!

- 7 -

I was asking Greg if there was anything he wanted me to pick up from the grocery store before he arrived. His response was that he wished he could have Julmust, but he knew he'd have to wait until Christmas for it. Julmust is a sort of spiced cola type beverage that is consumed in large quantities around Christmas time. Well, since Greg had left at the end of December, he didn't even know that there is also a special spiced cola type beverage for Easter called Påskmust. So I bought a bottle and kept it a secret for MONTHS, which is a huge accomplishment for me.

P.S. Yes that image is a baby riding a rooster pulling some more babies riding an egg with wheels.

- The End and The Link-up -

7QT - bicycle repair, cooking, and other fun things

- 1 -

Here is an unexpected thing that I miss about my husband. He is pretty good at keeping me informed of big current events. I have always been terrible at current events. The weekly current events quizzes we were given in seventh grade were the worst.

So when my husband is living in a different country, I miss out on so many little conversations, including the ones about current events. Maybe I should care enough to seek out that information on my own, but I honestly don't see that happening.

I think if there was a blog that posted several times a week with the briefest of brief news summaries, that might be good for me. The other problem is that biased reporting really gets me down.

- 2 -

Although I do prefer to watch hockey games that have a sportscaster who is a fan of my team. It just makes things better than an unbiased sportscaster when there is agreement with me and the tv.

- 3 -

- 4 -

I got a flat tire on my bicycle this week. Punka is the Swedish for that, apparently. Punka, indeed. I watched this video on youtube (as well as a few others, but this one most resembles my bicycle) to learn what I needed to do to fix it.

Even if you don't watch the video, notice that it took this man less than ten minutes to complete the task. It took me about one hundred minutes to do the same exact thing. Not bad for my first tire change though! Although, full disclosure, I got a lot of help from my landlord. My progress would have come to a full stop at least once if not for his assistance.

Now I need to decide if I want to try to patch the hole in the tube or just throw it out. Does anyone have any experience with this and want to give me advice?

- 5 -

This is one of the more interesting blog posts I've read in awhile. It discusses the topic of the first known music video to feature contra dancing. Oh how I love the spirit of contra.

- 6 -

I also learned from that article the "electronic duo" The Knife is Swedish. I have been told several times that music is Sweden's biggest export, and that it happens so often that you find out a band or group is from Sweden, which you may not have known for years and years. I was slightly skeptical about the latter part, since that had never happened to me. Then I read the above article, and now I get it! And for reference, one of the greatest songs in the world, compliments of The Knife:

- 7 -

Last night I made a dinner that was inspired by this coconut chicken recipe. I changed a lot of things though, just because the original recipe is not possible for me in my current circumstances. For one I don't have a dutch oven. For two I'm not about to turn on my oven and leave it on for such a long time (my apartment is small and using the oven is like using a space heater... in the middle of summer). For three I just made this all in a frying pan on the stove and used two chicken breasts instead of a full chicken. For four I just noticed that it only wanted half of the pepper, but I used a whole one and it was yellow. For five I was not able to get cilantro. For six I somehow had it in my head that bok choy was leeks, so when I headed to the store I was planning to buy leeks (even though my list said bok choy). When I got to the produce section and saw the leeks I realized then that they were not bok choy. Somehow when I saw the Swedish word for leek, it dawned on me that it was not bok choy, even though I don't know the Swedish word for bok choy and could not tell you the word for leek.

Long story short, it was very tasty, and I am glad I have leftovers for three more meals!

- The End -

Linking up with Jen!

7QT: allergies, swedish, and reading edition

- 1 -

Last week I meant to link to this article that I read for one of my takes. Luckily I only forgot about it for one week, and so now it makes its appearance. I like Jonathan Safran Foer's writing, and I didn't even realize this was written by him until I was mostly through the article and had to check who the author was.

"Let’s assume, though, that we all have a set number of days to indent the world with our beliefs, to find and create the beauty that only a finite existence allows for, to wrestle with the question of purpose and wrestle with our answers."

- 2 -

And now I have allergies. How a person can spend nearly 30 years with no allergies and then have them is a very unpleasant mystery to me. Allergic to Sweden in June. I am not good at finding good weather forecasts in this country, so keeping that in mind, I found some webpages with pollen counts and allergy info. (I am implying that these sites are either not good or unreliable.) The next three days is in the category of "extreme" or "very high" or "three orange dots" depending on which page you check.

My husband is a longtime sufferer of allergies, and now I think I sort of get it. Why have I gone through three boxes of tissues this week? Because I have allergies. Why are my eyelids all puffy? Because I have allergies. Why don't my clothes match today? Because I have allergies. Is it really possible for a person to sneeze this many times in a day? Yes, yes it is, if you have allergies.

- 3 -

Is it proper English to say I need to bolster my reading habits? I love goodreads, and I love looking at the stats, but 2013 is not looking so good for me. See for yourself.

I hope 2011 wasn't the best it will ever be. Time to start reading children's books to increase the number of books, even though that doesn't do much to help with the page count. I actually have been reading the Anne of Green Gables books, which are quite entertaining. I don't think I had read any of them but the first either, so this is quite nice.

- 4 -

Plus they are mostly free for kindle. I got them from the Project Gutenberg page. (Amazon tried to make me pay $.99 for Sense and Sensibility. No thank you. I'll get it free from these guys instead.) The problem is that they do not have book #4 or #6. Luckily the local library had #4 so I got myself a library card. I love libraries. Also, this book return system is so high tech with a conveyer belt and everything. Unfortunately the library doesn't have #6 (in english, bara på svenska) so I'm not sure what I'll do.

Although maybe I should be reading the books in order of date published, as opposed to chronological order in Anne's life? I don't know. I need an Anne expert to help me out with this one.

Either way, I'm eventually going to need Anne of Ingleside. And borrowing the Swedish version is not my ideal choice. That would basically be doing the opposite of bolstering my reading habits I think.

- 5 -

Home rememdies for allergies that I might consider trying:
-saline solution (least appealing option, as it is intended to be sucked up the nose and allowed to drain out of your mouth or nose)
-shower more frequently (also not very appealing)
-drink mint tea (very appealing)
-keep the windows shut all the time (not ideal, but would solve more than one problem)
-eat wasabi peas (okay)

- 6 -

I was really excited to find this Swedish word of the day page. (Sidenote: this is why I can't quit google reader! I signed up for bloglovin but it won't let me import any ole rss feed.) Unfortunately, on thursday I noticed that listening to the pronunciation is not always correct. The sentence was something about "they sell" and the Swedish word for they is 'de' but it is pronounced 'dom' (which is actually pretty strange, even for swedish I think). So, I'll still try to use the page for new vocabulary, but I definitely cannot trust the pronunciation. Too bad.

- 7 -

For the first time in my life I was not the bona fide mosquito magnet! Normally mosquitos love me, but for some reason they were leaving me alone and bothering someone else. I was told that what you eat can make a difference, which is how I ended up finding that article. And, well, not to try to say a sample of one is statistically significant, but I cooked a dinner last night that was heavy on the garlic, and then ate leftovers for lunch today. Garlic for the win!

PS The food I invented was pretty delicious so I will share my methods. Frying pan on stove. Heat olive oil. Add shallots. Add carrot. Add green chili peppers. Add garlic. (The previous items were all added after the amount of time it took me to chop said item.) Add diced tomatoes or tomato sauce. Add a can of black beans. Season with salt, garam masala, coriander, a little cinnamon, a little ginger, a little chili powder, maybe a little turmeric. Let simmer while making rice. Delicious!

- The End and Jennifer's linkup -

7QT - How many years did You go to school?

- 1 -

Yesterday evening it started pouring and I got really excited and I took 72 pictures, mostly of rain on windows. I haven't been using my camera much lately, so I was glad to see that the theme of next week's Theme Thursday was a theme I could really get behind. Water. I've missed some good themes these past two months, but water is one I will not be missing out on. No way. Probably about a dozen of the 72 will make their way onto the photo blog side of things here, but I haven't picked my favorite yet. Good thing I've got a week to decide.

- 2 -

Here are three outtakes, which do not fit the theme, but are photos I still like:

- 3 -

On my most recent trip back from the States I managed to include the Gilmore Girls on the list of items which definitely must fit in my suitcase to bring back to Sweden. I think I'm going to use it as my rewards system for spending time doing Rosetta Stone lessons.

- 4 -

I did (nearly) sign up for the free Swedish for Immigrants course. They are changing the system around so they have a bunch of different schools where you can go. I need to choose which one I prefer and then I'm good to go. Or at least, ready to wait until the next round of courses start in August.

- 5 -

On the form, I had to write the number of years of schooling that I have had in my life, not including kindergarten.

t  w  e  n  t  y       t  w  o

That is just so much school.

- 6 -

My seven quick takes each week has sort of turned into me just writing about one or two things and then spacing it out with numbers every now and again. Cheating? Perhaps, but I am okay with it. And if I can get a photo in just one take, then I call it complete!

- 7 -

I feel like I need to start doing embroidery? I want to get in touch with my inner prairie-woman. Is there such a thing as embroidery that is not the same as cross-stitch? That is what I feel the need to be doing.

---- The End (and more)----

7QT - the joy of no screens on my windows edition

- 1 -

Earlier this week I was awoken by the sound of a rapid fluttering inside my bedroom. I quickly realized that a bird in my bedroom was not ideal. Probably I said out loud, "Nooo." And I sprang out of bed and ran out and shut the door to keep the bird from moving any further into the house. Luckily it left in no time, because my plan didn't really extend beyond the action I had already taken.

- 2 -

Then a bee/wasp/buzzing creature decided to come on in. I repeated the successful move of running out of the bedroom and shutting the door. The bee wasn't so quick to leave, but luckily he eventually did.

- 3 -

I can't imagine I'm the only person in this country with animals letting themselves in through my open windows. Maybe the people of Sweden should reconsider the concept of putting screens on windows.

(I nonchalantly slipped this story into a conversation at the office, and based on the complete lack of responses of the --OMG! A bird! Inside your apartment?!?-- variety, I am guessing this is just standard procedure, no big deal.)

- 4 -

My grocery store added an American section! This week I got a creme soda and peppered beef jerky! Next up: vanilla coke, jumbo marshmallows ($8 for a normal-sized bag), and reese's peanut butter cups. If only they would bring in graham crackers, then my stereotypical delights would be so much more complete.

- 5 -

On Tuesday I saw a man riding a bicycle whilst wearing a suit. And then. I saw a second man in a suit on a bicycle. Same day, same trip, two suit-clad bicycle riders.

- 6 -

My cousin sent me a scarf with little cute bicycles on it!

I was just grabbing my scarf to model for a blog photo, and I was thinking to myself, "Oh I need to go do this in front of the mirror because every time I put a scarf on the ends always look silly somehow."

And then.

I realized that it is one of those fancy loop scarf things with no ends! I could not be any more lucky!

- 7 -

I went to Ransäterstämman this past weekend (major folk dance festival, it will get its own post soon, with a couple photos even). And I intended to post this the morning before leaving, but there was no time, hence the super huge delay in my Friday Quick Takes.

---- The End ----

And linking up, of course.

belated quick takes

- 1 -

This week I didn't write any quick takes ahead of time. I also just spent 24 hours not opening my computer. Super crazy, but awfully nice.

- 2 -

Now I am in Colorado. We arrived in time for a tasty breakfast yesterday from this hipster place.

- 3 -

Contra dancing 'at altitude' is super intense. Doing a hambo when you haven't acclimated to this altitude is sort of insane. Greg and I had probably one of our best hambos ever, but it totally wiped me out.



I stole this photo from Malory. I'm in there. Where's Waldo? Can you see me?

- 4 -

Malory is a super great host and made us a delicious dinner. Her two dogs are not super great hosts though. Apparently they just don't like it when two strangers come into their home and expect to be friends? Wallace was easy enough to win over. Play with him for two seconds, and he is convinced you are on his side.

Argyle is a different story. I just woke up, but he hasn't seen me yet. I'm pretty sure he will bark at me for five minutes because he's forgotten that there were other people in his house.

In all fairness, Greg managed to make friends with Argyle. But I'm sure he will get barked at when he is first spotted this morning as well.

- 5 -

Today is cake baking day! Malory is making Alli's wedding cakes and they are going to be amazing!

- 6 -

Sodium lauryl sulfate strikes again!



Seriously, I need to get this stuff out of my life. Ruining my orange juice!

- 7 -

I haven't been doing a lot of reading lately (aside from work-related reading, that is). I've slowly but surely gotten myself into Walden, and I'm convinced there is no better book to read while trying to make decisions about what 'stuff' that has been sitting in your apartment, unused for nine months, is really worth keeping. I've donated tons of clothing to the thrift store, and I don't think I'm finished yet.

We do have plenty of things that we will need to put in storage, but I'm doing the best I can to minimize it. Not bad, not bad.

----- The End -----

And Jen has more!

Friday's seven - back in the US version

- 1 -

Public transportation!

I lived in the Upper Valley of NH/VT for six years and never once road on the FREE buses. Living in Sweden for nine months, and adapting to a life of frequent public transportation utilization, I can now proudly say that I took the FREE bus. Granted, here the routes and timetables are extremely limited compared to Sweden, so it would be very difficult to fully depend on the free buses, but I'm still glad I was able to try it out at least once.

- 2 -

And then I drove a car! For the first time in about nine months. I felt really low to the ground?

- 3 -

My husband got his PhD!

both doctors, nbd

Maybe you are thinking I am a horrible wife for making this third on the list, but let me present you with evidence to the contrary.

In the department there has been a bit of a tradition of writing limericks for the newest PhD. Here is the gem I composed for my husband (just keep in mind that I am NOT a poet and I had to google how to write a limerick, because I can never remember the form, and I still might have gotten it wrong):

There once was a man with his beard so exquisite,

Who with stellar models made a really good fit.

When he's not between the pipes,

at his computer he types.

Which his advisor prefers? We'll never know it!

I got bonus points (gave myself bonus points?) for throwing some hockey lingo in there.

- 4 -

Speaking of hockey!

Such an exciting game! I love how they are all hopping at the end. "Look at the jubilation!"

- 5 -

Speaking of athletes!

Last Saturday I got to go contra dancing! I even called a dance and also taught a Swedish folk dance. Lots of fun for me, despite being super tired and jet-lagged.

- 6 -

On Tuesday I stopped by the letterpress studio to check out Julie's impressive creation. Also, lucky for me, Bob was there, so we got to chat for quite awhile. Bob taught me everything I know about letterpress printing, and he is just one of those people I really like. He always prints his own 'Christmas card' each year, which is really a multiple page booklet which would take someone like me five years to complete. He said he would have sent me one but didn't have my address in Sweden, so I made sure to leave it for him for next Christmas;)

- 7 -

I've been doing a really good job of eating the foods on my list, plus more! Taza chocolate (thanks to Julie and Dave), maple cream soda, delicious Indian food... and on and on! So much deliciousness. At dinner the other night, one of the Dartmouth professors who had previously been doing a post-doc in England was talking about how every single place you live will leave you wanting foods you love but can't find in the new place. So, for example, when/if Greg and I leave Sweden, there will be foods that we miss from there. Already true for julmust and glögg, and I'm sure there are plenty of others that I don't even realize yet. At least I can always get myself to an Ikea cafe to get my fill of princess cake!

--------- The End ---------

As always, Jen has more!

Seven (really) quick takes

- 1 -

Just having an afternoon siesta, so I thought I'd do some quick takes. Today is the last day of the conference, so I went to the morning sessions, but took the afternoon off to walk around Vienna and my feet are SO happy for a rest.

- 2 -

Twelve weeks ago, I learned about Gustav Klimt, as evidenced by this pin I pinned twelve weeks ago. And he is Austrian, so I managed to just see that very painting I pinned, along with many others. I wouldn't say I'm really an art-person, and I really know very little about art, but sometimes there are just things that I like. I'm kind of the same way with wine.

- 3 -

And now I just learned about wikiPaintings! How fun! I saw this one as well, but I feel like this photo makes it look kind of not-as-good. When I was at the museum I'm pretty sure I liked it even more than that painting I pinned (see previous take).

- 4 -

I ate weiner schnitzel and sachertorte, so I think I can check off 'try quintessential vienna-foods' from the list. For some reason, in my mind I thought schnitzel was like this:

But it definitely is not a sausage coil, so good thing I came to Vienna so I could clear that up. In case you too are confused, it looks like this:

And it tasted like some sort of delicious chicken-fried-steak?

- 5 -

Food here has been cheap compared to Sweden (but not cheap like Prague). I've been getting pretty tasty sandwiches for lunch for under two euros from the little grocery store near the conference center.

- 6 -

I keep looking at that schnitzel photo, and I'm pretty sure I know what I'm going to order for dinner tonight.

- 7 -

OH I went contra dancing with the locals last night.


I guess they are technically city-folk, but still. Quite a fun time!

_________________________

Onward to Jen Grace with the other quick takers.

quick takes!

- 1 -

I got a Swedish dentist. It was a little confusing, but I managed to get an appointment for later this month. I actually called three different places. The first one answered a lot of my stupid questions about 'how dentists in Sweden work' and then they told me there was a six-month wait for an appointment. No thank you. The second one was the clinic closest to my house, but it is very small, and I had a very hard time understanding the woman, so eventually I just said something about how I would 'have to think about it' so that I could hang up. Third time's the charm.

- 2 -

Next week I go to Austria for a conference. This is the 'big' conference of the year in Europe, similar to the big conference I used to go to in San Francisco every December. It will be interesting to see what kind of overlap exists between the two communities. I'm also excited to play tourister in Vienna. Anyone got any good tips for me?

- 3 -

OH MY GOSH THERE IS A CONTRA DANCE IN VIENNA WHILE I AM THERE FJAILENALEINKNZK.EKSIBNAEIL.NELIGNIALGN;AEI!!!!!

- 4 -

I also get back in time the following Saturday for a folk dance in Uppsala :)

- 5 -

The snow and ice are nearly entirely melted, certainly enough for me to safely ride my bicycle. There are maybe three ice patches on my commute though, so I've been holding off (mainly for fear of unforeseen ice patches while riding). I figure, I've managed to not ride my bicycle for this long, so I may as well wait until the risk of falling on ice is completely gone. Once I return from Austria though... then it is back on my bicycle!

- 6 -

I found this pin on pinterest which talked about choosing words to describe yourself (it also describes the process of how the author narrowed down the choices). I'm considering tweaking my 'about' page to incorporate the words I chose.

- 7 -

Just now, when I opened blogger, I saw that my total number of page views of all time was a palindrome. That made me happy.

______________________

THE END

Jen and others have got more!