Tuesday, November 22, 2011

it's never too early

  • In the words of one of my dear friends 'Don't you dare mock me for being early or I'm liable to bite your head off'. I feel the same way. Christmas has always been a time in my family to relax, spend time together, enjoy and be jolly! So if I wait until AFTER Thanksgiving to put up my decorations, I have what...a few weeks to enjoy? I'm sorry, but I want to enjoy and feel this warm, cozy, loving, holiday feeling 2 months out of the year. Plus, I was chomping at the bit to start decorating. This is mine and Mr.Josefsson's first Christmas in our own apartment together! Decorating is not a burden to me. Mr. Josefsson is more than willing to help! So it's a wonderful time for us to spend together sharing ideas and enjoying each other's company!
  • I know Christmas and the holidays are not about the decorations or the presents, but it feels so warm, cozy, and lovely with lights up and nice smelling candles and with a fresh look to our apartment. We love change. I guess, I love change. It's fun to redecorate, especially if you have a certain goal. So thank you, Sarah, for those words! Her blog is http://http://farthingboys.blogspot.com/ and she has some wonderful words to say about Christmas and this time of year. Plus, she has cute videos and quotes from her darling twin boys!
Here is a glimpse of my decorations....
This tree looks quite ugly, but it was our first Christmas tree we had together while we were staying at his parents house when I first moved back to Sweden. The decorations are keychains for every country we have been to together. The silly santas were made by Mr. Josefsson when he was a child. Some of the ugliest or least stylish decorations are the most important and hold the best memories. I love this silly little tree.
A special shout out to Mr. Josefsson for taking this lovely picture of me! Thanks, babe! Haha! I especially love the candy wrappers spread all over the table and the dirty clothes draped over the chair. Wonderful housekeeping! Can't be perfect all the time, right!?
Last weekend we had a really relaxing wonderful weekend together and I whipped up an amazing batch of garlic breaksticks and creamy chicken piccata. The chicken, luckily for us, was actually grilled! Mr. Josefsson was cleaning out our outside shed and found an open bag of almost useless coal. He asked if I had anything I wanted to grill and I immediately thought about this recipe! Check it out.
  • Chicken
Juice of 1 lemon (3 Tbsp)
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. salt
1\4 tsp. black pepper
1\2 tsp. oregano and basil
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • Pasta
2 cups dried penne pasta
2 Tbsp butter
Juice of 2 lemons (6 Tbsp)
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1/2 cup half and half (or heavy cream)
2 tsp dried basil
2 Tbps capers
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
  • Chicken
Combine first 6 ingredients and mix well. Place chicken in a ziplock bag and pour marinade over chicken. Marinate overnight in the refrigerator. When ready, grill until done. Allow chicken to rest for a few minutes and then slice into strips to serve over pasta.
  • Pasta
While chicken is grilling. Cook pasta according to directions (10-12 minutes). Reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water and drain. In same sauce pan, melt butter over medium heat. Whisk in garlic and lemon juice. Pour in half and half and whisk until hot. Add some salt and pepper to taste. Add the parmesan cheese, basil and capers, and heat until cheese is melted. Check the consistency of the sauce and add some of the reserved pasta water to loosen the sauce if necessary. Toss in pasta.
  • Garlic Bread
Turn oven onto low heat such as 50 degree. When it is preheated turn it off and close the door.
1\2 c. luke warm water
1 pkg. rapid rise yeast
1\2 c. luke warm milk
1\3 c. sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. salt
1\3 c. melted butter
4 c. flour
  • Let yeast dissolve in luke warm water for 1 minute. Add milk, sugar, egg, salt, melted butter and 2 c. flour. Mix until smooth. Add the rest of the flour and knead or mix for 3-4 minutes. Scrape out of bowl into new, greased bowl. Place a towel over bowl and place in proofed oven. Let rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size. Punch down and roll into long, breadstick shapes. Keep in mind they will double in size again, so don't make them too big! Let them rise another 30 minutes. Once risen, poured melted butter over them and sprinkle with garlic salt. Bake at 300 for about 10-15 minutes depending on how doughy you want them. Once you take them out pour a small amount of olive oil over them. This makes them really soft and gives that extra punch of flavor!
  • I also had extra dough, since I was only baking for 2. So I used the extra to make mini monkey bread. Same recipe up until you form the dough. I rolled them into 3 smalls balls, rolled them in melted butter, then in cinnamon, brown sugar and pumpkin spice. There is also 2 chocolate chips in each ball. Just a little surprise for the mouth! These also take a little longer to bake. So give them an extra 5 or so minutes.
In other news. I am really pumping up for my Thanksgiving party! I have my menu and grocery list. Mr. Josefsson is going to take me on a huge shopping trip tomorrow and our fridge will be packed full with ingredients ready to be whipped up into a delicious meal! I took Friday off work so I can spend the whole day baking, cleaning and of course, tasting the food!
  • Menu:
Turkey
Green bean casserole
Creamed corn
Stuffing
Sweet potato casserole
Mashed potatoes
Sweet yeast rolls
Cranberry sauce
Gravy
  • Desserts and appetizers:
Pumpkin cheesecake (sorry, I don't get down on pumpkin pie)
Apple pie
Chocolate covered pretzels
Pumpkin popcorn
Gingersnaps with pumpkin dip
Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies
  • I know this seems like a ridiculously long dessert menu, but honestly, that is the part I am most looking forward to! I hoarded all the pupmkin my mom sent me just for Thanksgiving! I want to bake and bake! The food is going to be delicious, also, but the baking is what is filling my mind wiht ideas and excitement!
  • I will also have hot chocolate and apple cider and for the adults some glögg, which you might know as mulled red wine. It's so delicious! That is actually what one of the pictures above is, my glögg station. It's a small jug to fill with glögg which is heated by a small candle. Here, we drink glögg with chopped up almonds and raisins and of course...ginger cookies!
  • I hope everybody is enjoying the beginning of the season as much as I am! I just love this time of year! I have always been a fan of the holidays and as an adult it hasn't gone away.
  • ALSO in 22 days I will be on an airplane headed home! The amount of joy and excitement I have cannot be explained. Going home is always a wondeful thing, but to go home after 2 years away during the holidays feels really wonderful. My mother is the queen of decorating and the queen of Christmas. It feels so homey and wonderful. I absolutely cannot wait to spend time with my friends and family and enjoy every second I have home!
  • Hope everybody has a wonderful Thanksgiving, as I probably won't have time to post before. I will take loads of pictures and give you a huge update ASAP!
  • Love to all!

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Birthday

Even though it was over a week ago, I thought I'd brag about my amazing birthday. Haha. Sorry, but it was really great.
It started Thursday night. I made these amazing cream cheese stuffed pumpkin cupcakes. Holy cow, people went crazy over these! Which puts a huge smile on my face! The best part is these make so much batter you can do so much with them. I made 12 cupcakes, 3 heart shaped cupcakes and a whole loaf of uh...cake bread. Perfect if you want to make one time for many occassions!
Now I usually just make stuff up as I go along, but these I followed precisely by this recipe-http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2011/10/pumpkin-cream-cheese-muffins.html
These are amazing! Thank you, girl who ate everything!
btw, I made regular muffins are pictured first, the other one is a heart shaped muffin. I had just enough batter left for 3 adorable heart shaped muffins for my colleagues in my classroom. They are a little bigger! ;)
Then Friday the muffins went to work and were raviously eaten. I had my early day that day, so my weekend started at 1 in the afternoon! Nice way to start!
Fred and I had a cozy Friday night, which are always my favorite way to start the week!
Saturday morning we made yummy fried egg sandwiches and he told me, pack, we are going to a spa for the day and night! WHAT?! How exciting! I'd never been to a spa! What a great surprise. We went to Tylösand, which is about an hour drive. It's a lovely spa right next to the ocean with a beach sand beach. It would be the most amazing summer vacation as well.
We got there at 3 and went to the spa right away! Wonderful view from the spa, lovely hot tub, steam room, sauna, everything! I loved it! We then went to the room showered and shared a really yummy panchetta, sun dried tomato, mozzarella and lettuce bagel sandwich. Good stuff. Then we took a walk around the beach and took some nice pictures. (I feel obliged to tell you, we drank a lot of wine that night! But hey, why not!? We weren't driving anywhere! ;)
I love this guy, a lot.
We then had an amazing wine tasting followed by a 3 course meal. Oh man. Since this is a food blog, I must describe the main course. It was a rose fried duck breast, cooked perfectly. A shot of pear cream, a spring roll stuffed with wild rice and mushrooms and a fried edamame ball in an amazing soy sauce sauce. I ate as slow as possible, because it was so delicious. I want to cook like that every night!
Then we had a great time at a piano bar, followed by champagne at the night club in the hotel at midnight!
The breakfast buffe the next morning was also amazing. I love hotel breakfast! Haha. Guess it's a childhood memory thing. Or having everything you could ask for and not worry about dishes!
After that we went back to the spa for 2 hours and then I had a massage and then we went home.
I wasn't said though because I took Monday off work! We went to Ullared! Please wikiepdia Ullared. You will be amazed. It's a huge, Swedish version of Wal mart and people flock there. Yes, flock. It was amazing crowded the day we went. But I managed to buy some really cute baby clothes for all my nieces and nephews, loads of Christmas stuff and clothes! Go me.
Then the weekend was over, but it was amazing! Thanks to my wonderful husband for making me feel so special!
Now I'm off to make my never fail lasagne. I use spinach noodles that don't need to be cooked and layer on top of them browned ground beef with spagetti sauce, cottage cheese, mozz cheese. Followed by another layer. I make it the night before, usually. It just tastes better and has a better consistancy. Great for those nights you have so much to do! Love it!
I love board walks!
I also need to share with you, dear readers, that I have decided to have a Thanksgiving party. This party went for a couple girls baking and cooking together to now, what it seems to be, at least 24 people. Holy cow! It will be so amazing because there will be men, women and children for all parts of the world. America, England, Phillipines, Sweden, Croatia, Poland, etc. It nearly brings me to tears thinking of how amazing this Thanksgiving will be. Updates coming. Plus pictures of our DECORATED apartment! That's right, my Christmas tree is UP!