Busy weekend

Yes, we had a busy but great weekend. On Friday night we spend the night with some friends and then Saturday we went to the garden and inspected our sprouting carrots. I have not yet thinned them out, but planning on visiting them tomorrow and get it started. After the garden we went to Piedmont Park and celebrated some friends who had their birthday party there. The weather this weekend has been amazing! About 20 C and sunny. Then I worked Saturday night and came home late and slept a few hours before we got up and went to the Silver Comet Trail and biked 24 (39 km) miles!! It was a lot of fun, but at the end, I was not a happy camper. But we did it! :) I wish I would have taken some pictures but I forgot my camera. Christian has one of me when I'm the most annoyed, I may put that one up here.. :)

So now we're home again in our house. No more dog sitting for now. It is so nice to be home! Today I'm off and I'm cleaning the house. Nothing exciting happening here.

Dylan on one of our many walks

He came to the park as well.. 

My hubby went to work this morning and left this on the fridge.. :)

How sweet it is to be loved by you...

Last night's dinner..

..came out very very delicious! I made Bruschetta with shrimp, garlic and arugula. It may not seem like the biggest dinner and would probably be great as an appetizer, but it was plenty for us and we were more than satisfied when finished.


Here is the recipe (I tend to not follow recipes that closely and eye-ball it to taste/look/how many I'm feeding):

-shrimp (raw is best, not pre-cooked)
-2 shallots (schalottenlok)
-2 garlic cloves
-3 tomatoes
-white wine
-chicken stock
-Mascarpone cheese
-Arugula
-salt & pepper
-olive oil
-ciabatta bread/italian bread



The bread:
Cut the bread in slices and put on a pan and drizzle with olive oil and put in oven on 400 F (200C) for about 10 min. When they are out of the oven cut a garlic clove in half and rub the slices of bread with it.

Bruschetta:
Slice the shallots and chop the garlic and saute in olive oil for about 2-3 minutes. Then add the shrimp + pepper and salt to the pan. Cook until shrimp is cooked through and then take it all out of the pan. Chop the shrimp mixture into pieces.
In the same pan add chopped tomatoes and salt+pepper and cook for a while. Put in wine (1/4 cup or so, or 1dl) and stir up all the pieces on the bottom of pan. Put in the same amount of chicken stock in the pan and cook until all the liquid is evaporated. Then remove the pan from heat and put in arugula (to taste), Mascarpone cheese (1/4-1/3 cup or 1dl or so) and the chopped shrimp mixture. Maybe some more salt and pepper to taste.
Then scoop the mixture onto the slices of bread. SOOOO yummy!

Try it why don't ya!

Chamomile tea

The best tea to start your morning. I usually drink coffee but I am trying to cut down to keep more balanced without the caffeine (which is important to me). I have found me favorite brand, the Celestial kind.

in my tummy right now

Now, off to work.

In my kitchen...

Well not my kitchen (still dog sitting), but you get the point. I decided to go to the grocery store and buy some coconut flakes and make some "coconut tops". They turned out really good. I also dipped them in chocolate and the coconut and dark chocolate mix is amaaazing.

I mixed 1dl (100ml) of sugar and two eggs and whisked until fluffy and white. Then I put in 50 grams of melted butter and 5 1/2 dl (550 ml) coconut flakes. 

I made little "tops" with my hands and then put them in the oven at 175 C (350 F) for about 15 minutes. 

This is how they ended up after about 30 min in the fridge to get the chocolate hardened. Yummy in my tummy! 

Have a wonderful night! I'm making Bruchetta with shrimp, garlic and arugula for my hubby tonight.

Carrots, carrots!

Yes, the carrots are sprouting in pretty rows in my garden. So so excited! I'm going to let them grow a little more before I have to thin them. Something that I think is the hardest part with being a "gardener"; the fact that you have to pull away healthy little seedlings that I would rather see grow.. But I know, you have to take some away to  let the others grow and become healthy, big and juicy orange carrots. We are going to go over there this weekend and tend to them and we may even plant some more vegetables to get our other bed started. It's so exciting this gardening thing. I hope you are not bored yet, I will soon start other projects that may be more interesting for you all.

"Carrots are an excellent source of antioxidant compounds, and the richest vegetable source of the pro-vitamin A carotenes. Carrots' antioxidant compounds help protect against cardiovascular disease and cancer and also promote good vision, especially night vision."

Couples Massage

Yes, today we "cashed" in our Valentine's treat and went and had a couples massage. We went to the Spa at Evergreen inside Stone Mountain Park and it was great! So relaxing and such a beautiful place. I also had a Finnish masseuse so that was kind of funny, she was great! I wish I had my camera, so I could have taken some pictures but no.

After that we went to Decatur and had the best burger I have ever had. Amazing! It's called Farmburger and they serve nothing but local grass-fed beef and I swear you can tell a difference. Yum yum!

Other than that, still dog sitting over here and can't wait for tomorrow and my day off to do nothing. :)

Fat Tuesday

Yes, today is Fat Tuesday, or "fettisdagen" as we call it in Sweden. I'm not sure what happens here in the US on Fat Tuesday, I'm thinking it has something to do with Mardi Gras? I should probably google it after this and educate myself. But in Sweden on "fettisdagen" we eat "semlor". A delicious bun filled with almond paste and fresh whipped cream and some powdered sugar on top. It is quite tasty and I wish I would have some energy left today to make some for me and my hubby, but nos such luck. I have been working non-stop for a week and a half with no break so the thought of baking right now, is not so tempting. Maybe tomorrow?

This is "semlor".. yum!