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!

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Onward to Jen Grace with the other quick takers.

Viennese crocus! (croci?)

Popping in quickly to share a photo I took yesterday (mainly so I can share in the fun of Cari's theme thursday). Vienna hasn't been too much warmer than Sweden, surprisingly, but it is warm enough for a crocus to grow! I always love when I see the first one of the season, and when I was walking through a park there was a section with all of these little patches of flowers. Very lovely.

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.

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THE END

Jen and others have got more!

In my mind Pope Francis loves sushi

It happened that on the night of the thirteenth of March I had gotten sushi for dinner. I had been at the office with the live feed of the Sistine Chapel chimney in the background on my computer. I walked home as quickly as I could, stopping by the sushi place on the way. At home, I pulled up the chimney once more, took the picture I included in this post, and within minutes the white smoke appeared. I had a pretty lovely dinner while watching and waiting for the new pope to appear. And when he finally did, the sushi was entirely gone.

So now I have this association in my mind between Pope Francis and sushi. Guess what's for dinner tonight:)

Easter Outfit!

I'm playing along with this Easter outfit linkup. Linking my Easter outfit. I decided to forego the 2 second pause which lets me hide the little remote and just let the remote be visible in the photos. We all know I'm taking photos of myself with a remote. No need to hide it. Plus this allows for rapid fire photos which gives me so many more options of awkward photos of myself! Plus church is not until 6pm so I had plenty of time to even try on and review photos of multiple outfits. Why does clothing look differently to me if I look at myself in the mirror versus looking at a photo of me? And what if I take a photo of me looking at myself in the mirror?

Onward. These first two are from the outfit-choosing phase.

And it was decided upon, so shoes and a hat were added. Too bad I don't have an easter bonnet.

Pretty much all of my skirts are purchased only if they are delightful to contradance in, aka mighty twirly.

And is the image in the mirror actually better?

I'd argue that yes, yes it is.

:) Happy Easter all!

P.S. My friend Malory painted that orchid and mailed it to me in Sweden! Isn't she amazing?!

Happy Easter!

This is a post mainly about food. I hadn't done much cooking or baking lately, so I figured Easter was a good time for that. This is how Swedes decorate for Easter:

Colored feathers everywhere.

Last night for dinner I roasted a chicken and also roasted an assortment of root vegetables. It was incredibly delicious. I also made some paneer in preparation for tonight's dinner of saag paneer. I have to say, nothing says 'easter' like saag paneer. I plan to follow a different recipe than last time, so hopefully it turns out. But that is for later.

Here is a photo of my breakfast.

Yes, I ate all of those sausages; don't judge me. One of the items that was on my list of foods-to-eat-while-in-the-US was maple breakfast sausage. Unfortunately, that never happened. Even though they have a lot of sausage here, it just isn't like those maple breakfast sausages.

Fun fact: On the day after our wedding I cooked maybe a billion sausages for our 'wedding brunch.'

I even found proof on facebook. Here I am with Greg and his sister, as well as our classy brown'n'serve sausages. Also, I am always trying to convince Greg that I am actually taller than him, but the real reason this photo makes me look distinctly taller is the extreme lopsided flooring in the barn.

So anyhow. My breakfast (today) was super delicious. I tried to make an omelet like this one. It was pretty good, but I'm pretty sure it was not the best omelet I've ever had. Now I feel like I never have to wonder if those recipes actually are the 'best ever' so I'm glad I at least tried. I also bought some manchego, which I was going to open and have with my dinner last night, but I forgot about it. Breakfast cheese it is! I used my super fancy cheese cutter which is a favorite kitchen tool of Swedes and now I know why.

OH. I almost forgot about my dessert last night. I bought a finostkaka. Ta daa:

I always see people buying these and just recently I finally found where they were located in the store (near the deli meats?). They also have ones called 'ostkaka' which literally translates to cheese cake. I did some reading online and a page somewhere said that ostkaka was not the same as cheesecake, that the ostkaka had no layering. I don't have any idea what that meant, but I was prepared for this to not be like the cheesecake I know and love. Especially since there seemed to be the ostkaka, and then the dessert ostkaka: finostkaka. This is getting long, so to get to the point, it is Not the same as cheesecake but still quite tasty, and it sort of reminded me of the non-crust part of quiche only sweeter?

Back to breakfast. I also meant to make scones, but haven't done that yet. Those will be for lunch I think. I'm making the same ones I've made before. They are seriously delicious. I just realized that thanks to daylight savings finally coming to Sweden, it is well past noon. Scones for afternoon tea then.

Wednesday takes

I missed quick takes last week. So here I go, with five quick takes on a Wednesday.

- 1 -

Saw this on pinterest.

Does that mean a meeting with cake is a party? If so, my colleagues love to party.

- 2 -

There is now a giant egg filled with easter candy in the office kitchen. Let me clarify that there is a giant egg filled with Swedish easter candy. Because apparently it is different.

That little white egg-shaped one? I spit that one out.

- 3 -

I am getting really excited for bike-riding season! For Swedes, no season is Not bike-riding season, but for me, I'll wait for the ice to melt. There is noticeable progress every day though. Not too much longer now.

- 4 -

A few days ago when I was still sick, my nose was SO sore from abundant tissue-using. And I got this really smart plan to put neosporin on my nose. It worked like a charm. Made my nose feel so much better than any lotion ever did.

- 5 -

Luckily I am feeling nearly 100% healthy now. I went from walking at least 30 km per week to not ever leaving the couch for several days while I was so sick. My legs weren't too happy with the change, and they were pretty achy, but now I am back to walking and my legs feel normal again. I bet you are so glad I included that info here.