Happy Birthday...Hurrah

It's that time of the year again...for another birthday. But I am  not one who dislikes birthdays. On the contrary, perhaps I am a bit Chevy Chase Christmas Vacation-esque in the way I like to prepare for these occasions. (And Tomas' polite "don't you think you might be going a little over the top?" didn't worry me one bit; one only has a birthday once a year, after all!) I do think that birthdays are important--in my opinion, birthdays are a celebration of another year of life.

Yaminah, two years old, has been very excited about my birthday as well. For days she kept pointing at Tomas' closet, saying "Daddy secrets!" and when the big day arrived, she broke into "Happy Birthday" several times, and other times she just looked at me and said, "Hurrah."

First of all, I know that in many families with young children, people say "No more presents! Just for the children!" but in our family, we all love giving and receiving gifts and we have no plans of stopping. Well, perhaps I should replace "we all" with "certainly I..."  And I admit that whenever anyone asks, I usually (okay, always) have a wish list underway just in case someone needs it.

Of course, getting older is not what I like about birthdays (except that one can hardly deny that one keeps getting a little bit better each year; am I right? :) Well, at least some aspects of life keep getting better. Through my studies I have learned more this year, which is nice. A lot has happened within our family too, with Yaminah growing up more each day. But I did catch myself thinking, as I baked herb bread for my birthday party (don't look for a recipe however; that fancy bread is now safely in the compost after presumably failing with the yeast) something along the lines of "Wow, I must be getting older because I am so out of shape kneading this dough!" As I kneaded, and kneaded...and like I said, to no avail, since I am pretty sure I had killed the yeast right away. But then I paused for a moment in my hard labor and reflected upon the fact that I cannot actually recall when I last baked bread at all. Bread-baking has never been my forté (I am more of a cookie/muffins/cupcakes kind of person). So then I felt a little better and just realized that my lack of bread-baking skills has nothing to do with age.

As I prepared for the party, I thought back to previous birthdays and was alarmed by how few I can actually even remember. Of course, up until a certain age one can blame one's parents. But who can one blame after the age of 16? How is it possible that I have forgotten how I celebrated so many birthdays? Ahem, I mean...not that there have been so unbelievably many birthdays since 16... In any case, I think I need to start keeping a fun book of records. Only because it is fun of course; nothing to do with an advancing age.

This year I have actually been feeling nearly overwhelmed with my studies and realized that throwing any kind of a party at all would be a real challenge. But what else is night for, if not cleaning, planning, and baking? So I decided to invite a group of friends (sans children). What should my theme be, I wondered? Finding cute flowered napkins answered that question. The theme would be pink and red. I told Tomas and I am sure he was quite interested, especially when the day before the party he was going to Stockholm for a class trip for the day and I requested he look for pink and red flowers, and I asked if he wanted to bring a napkin with him to aid in his search. I might have received a strange look when he politely declined and thought he could manage without the napkin.

After cramming in studies and a flurry of activity (most of it very late in the evening when the little girl was sleeping), it was ready. We were nine people total who enjoyed a fun evening of conversation and laughter, and I must say, the menu turned out to be quite good as well. I managed a second batch of bread that turned out this time. And the recipe called for minimal kneading so no problem that my arms may or may not be a little out of shape, no matter what my current age might be.

Chocolate cake with raspberry mousse

The menu (which I realize is mainly appetizers and dessert--but these are my two favorite courses so I figured, why not?)

Welcome drink (nonalcoholic):
Apple Sparkler Drink

First:
Toast Skagen
Salad with fresh strawberries, walnuts, and parmesan

Second:
Jerusalem Artichoke Soup served with homemade herb breadsticks and shredded cheddar cheese


Dessert(s):
Delicious Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Mousse
Peanut Blossoms cookies (for which I now use Natural Peanut Butter for added flavor)
Thumbprint cookies with homemade raspberry curd Homemade raspberry curd cookies (only in Swedish right now)
Brie cheese with pears

Apple Sparkler Drink

Herb breadsticks (recipe from Betty Crocker),
served in beer glasses from Fitger's in Duluth, MN

Peanut Blossoms

For decorations, I snipped a few of the gorgeous tulips Tomas brought home and put into baby food jars with pussy willow branches.

Finally spring! Easter, and decorating ideas

Spring is finally here!
Living in a country that is as dark as Sweden is in the winter, I think the arrival of spring--and light--is even more welcome here. And every year when spring comes I begin to look forward to Easter.

I love Easter! Ever since I was a kid and remember making a pact with my best friend, Kacey, to give something delicious up for Lent (notice the word trying)...Easter has always been an important time. For many people in Sweden these days, Easter means family time; many try to spend a week on the ski slopes. (Schools through high school have a week's Easter vacation). In the latest issue of a recipe magazine from our grocery store chain, Coop, there was an article about Easter with recipes. Loosly translated, the article, with an interview with Jonas Engman from Nordiska museet, says "Today Easter is more associated with food than religion....[For Easter] we eat a lot of extra things we normally do not eat. Now that religion has come to play a much smaller role, food is important for our holidays." (Coop's Mer smak tidning nr 3 2012). The article also mentions little tidbits about why certain foods are traditionally eaten for Easter, such as eggs; it also describes some religious history behind the holiday. Personally, I think this little article says a lot about Swedish society. Food is becoming even more important, since people need to create meaning surrounding a holiday that previously had a deeper meaning. What does this say about society as a whole? Or is this also a direct result of consumerism, more advertising from stores and people being more willing and able to spend more on occasions such as Easter food?

Personally, I want to make sure that Easter is an important time for our family. I also hope to enjoy some extra-special food, but it is also important to remember the reason behind the season.

In order to get ready for Easter, I have prepared a few Easter decorations that I thought I would share with you. We will color Easter eggs closer to Easter and do a few other things, but for now, I have worked on displaying my Easter egg collection. (On our travels, I have not been able to resist buying different kinds of lovely eggs, so now I have one small white plate with my dark eggs from Malaysia, one pot of eggs from Germany, etc...Along with teapots, eggs are something I love to collect...)

I frequently find that decorations that are to be hung, like bulbs at Christmastime, can actually become even more lovely if they are displayed in a group. Here I made a simple centerpiece for the table, using a glass cake stand, for displaying these glass eggs from the US.

I also wanted Yaminah to be involved in decorating, so she helped make a traditional Swedish Easter decoration. This is an old milk jug I found at a second-hand store, which I filled with branches and decorated with colorful (faux) leaves and my small German Easter eggs.

The final result is almost a little over the top, but Yaminah loved it. I also think it is bright and cheerful, almost like a little Easter tree. :) Large pots with branches and feathers are all over town now as well, as decorations outside of little shops.

There are a few weeks to go until Easter, so for now...Happy Spring!

A surprise birthday party!

In the dead of winter, it is easy to feel uninspired, no matter how busy a person actually is. At least, that was the case for me. When I then realized that my cousin, Ulrika, was about to have a birthday, and that she is in Uppsala, hours away from her family...the plan formed. We should host a birthday party for her--she is turning 30 after all--but we should make it a surprise!

Tomas was supportive of the idea, although he did wonder if I had time for it. No, probably not...but sometimes a little perking up is in order. I love to have parties, and to make it a surprise would be a fun challenge.

Setting the table the morning of the party. Candy sprinkle confetti was added just before the party, so we wouldn't eat it all ahead of time... 

First, I contacted Ulrika's husband and asked him to get her class schedule so that we could find a date. Then I contacted Ulrika's circle of friends and we all started sending messages to each other. Once a date and time were established, I started planning the fun details, like the menu and decorating. (See menu, below). The day of the party I studied while I prepared the food, in advance, and decorated. Decorations were simple, but I was quite pleased with the result. Since we have a two-year-old, I wanted decorations to be safe as well, so I bought a container of candy heart confetti (and the pink color comes from beets). First I covered the table in a dark patterned tablecloth from Yunnan, China, and then sprinkled it generously with pink candy hearts. For all courses we brought out different dishes, for fun and variation. The only other decoration we bought was Tomas bought one bunch of 10 tulips. I trimmed them down and put them in cleaned baby food jars that I have saved, with a little ribbon around the top for fun. These make a very nice table; they are a good height so they don't interfere with conversation, and they are inexpensive since you only need to buy one bunch of flowers!


Since I am also studying and both busy and not making any income, we needed to make the party festive, but not super pricey. It all turned out great! We finally invited Ulrika who thought she was just coming over for tea, but in reality, her other friends were here, ready to celebrate her birthday. It ended up being a hit! We all talked and laughed until much too late at night; we all ate way too much; and the evening was over much too quickly!

Menu
Appetizer: Jerusalem Artichoke Soup with cousin Helene's homemade organic bread and two kinds of cheese

Main course: Two kinds of quiches: Mushroom and broccoli quiche and smoked salmon quiche, served with mixed green salad with pears

Dessert: Tea and coffee served with generous pieces of carrot cake, served on white plates with candy sprinkles and topped with a heart-shaped piece of Swedish chocolate. Bonus: a plate of chocolate chip walnut cookies for the table.