You mean it matters what I flush down the TOILET??

Every other swedish person in Stockholm throws trash down the toilet, 

say representatives at Stockholm Vatten, 

who receive 32 ton of trash a week into the waste treatment plants in Bromma and Henriksdal!

Stockholm Vatten works hard to keep drinking water drinkable and waste water 'not too harmful' for the ocean. After perusing their website I found what they had to say about the purification process of household water waste very interesting! Here is a short excerpt:

Work to reduce rubbish and environmental toxins

Every week 32 tons of trash, which has been flushed down the toilet, ends up in the sewage treatment works in Stockholm. To reduce the amount of trash, as well as the environmental toxins that may disturb both the processes in the treatment works as well as the aquatic environment, measures are continuously taken to improve the treatment process and prevent the toxins and trash from ending up in the wastewater. One of the measures has been public campaigns with the aim, for example, to convince the population to use eco-labelled products and to use a waste-paper basket instead of flushing trash down the toilets.

This is really very important because, after 24 hours of processing, the waste water  at the Stockholm treatment plants gets siphoned off into the Baltic sea (where we swim, sail, and play all summer). The Baltic sea has been on record as one of the most polluted seas on Earth. Sweden is constantly investing money in the countries that rim the Baltic in order to support their pollution treatment systems. Stockholm's archipelago has lost an unaccountable amount of life over the last few centuries. However, for the past couple of years studies are showing that the archipelago is getting healthier!

Way to go Stockholm! 
I hope you think about this the next time you consider dumping that trash (no, toilet paper is not trash in this instance), or those extra few drops of cleaning solution in the toilet "because they clean it anyway".

You'll find more of what they have to say on their website:
http://www.stockholmvatten.se/en/Purified-wastewater-to-protect-the-environment/

Lusse Bullar - Swedish Saffron Buns

Lusse Bullar - Swedish Saffron Buns

Ingredients:

50g söt jäst/ 2.5 tblsp dry yeast (1.8 oz. live yeast chunk)

150g smör/(2/3) of a cup butter

5 dcl 'röd' mjölk/2 cups whole milk

250g kvarg/ A little more than 1 cup of 'curd cheese' or "Quark cheese", a type of fresh cheese

1.5 dcl socker/ (2/3) of a cup sugar

2 packet saffran (1 g totalt)/ 1g of saffron (maybe 0.5 tsp saffron compacted)

0.5 tsk salt/0.5 tsp salt

18 dcl vetemjöl/ 7.75 cups flour

En handful av russin/A handful of raisins

1 eller 2 ägg för att pensla med/1 or 2 eggs for penciling

Instructions:

Melt the butter in a pot on the stove and add the milk. Warm this mixture to finger temperature (37C or 98.6F). Add the saffron to this mixture and stir in carefully until the mixtures takes on that gorgeous yellow/orange saffron color.

((Now, if you are using live yeast, break the yeast brick into small pieces in a large bowl. Add the sugar and salt and stir. Let that sit together until the yeast 'melts'. Then add the finger warm butter -milk-saffron mixture (be careful that it is not too hot, because then the yeast dies).))

((If you are using dry yeast, empty the contents of the yeast package into a large mixing bowl. Carefully add the finger warm butter-milk-saffron mixture to the bowl (be careful that it is not too hot, because the yeast dies). Stir and let the mixture sit for about 4 minutes while the yeast 'wakes up'. Add the salt and sugar and stir in; it should dissolve.))

Add the kvarg/quark fresh cheese to the mix. Then add the flour a little at a time. Blend everything until you have a smooth dough. Let this dough yeast in the bowl with a baking towel over it, in a warm place without drafts, for about 40 minutes.

Knead the dough and make into swirls (double opposite simple swirls). Put the forms onto baking sheets with parchment paper (bakplåts papper). Put a raisin on the middle of each swirl. Let these rise with a baking towel over them, while oven heats to 440F (225C). Pencil the swirls with whisked eggs before putting them in the oven until golden yellow (short amount of time, almost less than 10 minutes).

I didn't take a picture of our Lussebullar this year; above is a picture from:

http://lifeofnicolina.spotlife.se/2011/12/10/fredagsfis/

Amber's Pilgrim Pumpkin Bread

Amber's Pilgrim Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients:

8.2 dcl mjöl/3.5 cups flour

7 dcl socker/ 3 cups sugar

2 tsk bikarbonat natrium/ 2 tsp baking SODA

3 tsk kanel/3 tsp cinnamon

1 tsk muskotnöt/ 1 tsp nutmeg

1.5 tsk salt/1.5 tsp salt

4 ägg/4 eggs

200g smör/ (7/8ths) of a cup butter

1.5 dcl vatten/  0.66 cup water

4.7 dcl kokta mosade pumpa/ 2 cups cooked mashed pumpkin

3.4 dcl hackade valnötter/ 1.5 cup chopped walnuts

Instructions:

Combine in a large bowl flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to a convection oven at  390 degrees F(200 C, varm luft). Combine in a large bowl eggs, butter, water, and pumpkin. Stir the dry mix into the wet mix. Butter three 8x4 in. loaf pans (Smöra in tre 20x10cm bröd former). You can sprinkle oats into the pan first so that it sticks to the butter, which gives it a nice finished look. Pour the entire mix into the three pans and put in the oven for about 40 minutes (until a toothpick comes out clean from the middle).

Enjoy while warm with butter on top (or toasted with cream cheese)!

The picture above is from our garden; we had so many pumpkins that year! We sprouted the plants from seeds we got from the pumpkins at the Santa Barbara City College Botanical Garden :)

Lukas and Amber's Knäck - Swedish Christmas Toffee

Lukas and Amber's Knäck - Swedish Christmas Toffee

Ingredients:

2 dcl socker/0.8 cups sugar

2 dcl ljus syrap/0.8 cups light syrup (a 'not-so-sweet' version of pancake syrup)

1.5 msk smör/1.5 tblsp normally salted butter

1.5 dcl visp grädde/0.6 cups whipping cream (liquid, yes 'whole fat')

50 g hackad mandel/ 0.5 cup chopped almonds

80 knäck formar/ 80 mini caramel forms (look like mini cupcake forms-1in. across)

Hot pad

Two small and two normal spoons (one of each to the two people dropping the knäck into the forms at the end)

Instructions:

Melt butter,  whipping cream, syrup, and sugar together on a pot on the stove (in pot that is at least 12 inches high because the mixture will boil up). Boil up while stirring constantly on lower medium heat. You will need to slowly stir the mixture constantly as it gets darker.

Have someone spread out the small knäck forms on a flat baking sheet/pan (portable). Place a hot pad and two big and two small spoons next to this baking sheet as you will need them to place the pot on and to use to drop the knäck into the forms later, respectively.

You are waiting for when the 'drop test' (drop a little of the mixture in a small cold glass of water) gives a drop that does not spread out, but falls like a bullet, stays in its' form-not spreading-, and when eaten is on the chewier/toffier side. Once this happens (about 30 minutes on medium heat or 37 minutes on a lower heat) you should add the chopped almonds. Stir together 2-5 minutes until the drop test gives a drop that is chewy and on the harder side-think a harder chewy caramel-. This will be the final consistency.

Take the pan off the stove and set beside baking sheets on the hot pad. Quickly now, before the mixture gets cold, use the larger spoon to drop the mixture into the forms. Push it off the spoon as the mixture gets colder with the smaller spoon. Once all forms are full, set the whole sheet outside to cool (or in the freezer). 

Enjoy!! :)

YUMMY Pumpkin Soup!!!

"Pumpasoppa"

Ingredients for four or five people:
*4 or 5 lbs any kind of pumpkin/squash (maybe a 1/2 of a medium or a quarter of a big pumpkin)
*2 big yellow onions (the stronger the better because pumpkin is mild)
*3 or 4 big garlic cloves
*1 tblsp olive oil
*1 tblsp butter
*2-3 tsp dried thyme
*2 cups of water
*2 small squares of vegetable bullion
*a little less than a cup whole whipping cream; we usually substitute with milk instead (add milk as needed if soup is too thick in the end)
*2 tblsp tomato paste
*1 tsp salt
*1 tsp veggie salt ( https://www.google.se/search?q=%C3%96rtsalt&client=firefox-a&hs=6cJ&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=RYhmUufeLbL54QSs7YCwBg&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1252&bih=527#imgdii=_ )
*a pinch black and a pinch white pepper
*fresh thyme to sprinkle on top at end
*warmed/plain roasted in a pan pumpkin seeds to sprinkle on top

Instructions:
Peel the pumpkin's skin off with a knife, and take away insides and seeds (roast 'em with salt!).
Chop into 1 or 2 inch squares and put to the side. Peel and finely chop onion and garlic.
Fry up the onion on low warmth with the oil and butter in a big soup pot. Then add in the garlic and dried thyme. Add in the pumpkin at the same time and fry all together for a few minutes. Add about 1 or two cups of water and keep turning. Set the lid on and let it cook up. Stir as needed. As soon as it is soft either smush the whole thing with a potato smusher or put in the the food processor :)

Put the mix back in the pot, and add milk and some whipping cream until it is a creamy soup consistency and keep stirring. Add veggie bouillon, some salt, and white and/or black pepper to taste. Add about 2 tblps of tomato paste, and some veggie salt to taste-optional- (veggies, like pumpkin, take quite a bit of salt for the taste to come through). Add milk if consistency needs it.

When it tastes the way you want it to, serve it with either fresh thyme sprigs or some quickly dry roasted (in a pan) pumpkin seeds on top. Fresh bread is nice to eat to the soup, with butter or cheese on top!

Enjoy!!!

:D Happy Holidays!

Åre WE LOVE YOU!

January 16, 2013

Here's to a GORGEOUS day on the slopes!

Åre was welcoming us. What a nice 'apartment-warming' gift!

Rainbows!

We were the only ones out there in the powder...

Look at that sky!! Is it even real?

Beautiful day in Tegefjäll looking towards Åre skutan (top)!

Hello, Ice at Vegabacken

January 12, 2013

Out for a walk to enjoy the sunshine!

Can you tell it's all ice? It made this really unethereal sound --super cool, like a space lazer!--when we tossed smaller ice bits onto it; you can see where they landed in the center background.

Enjoying the peace: 

no cars or helicopters or sirens or neighbors yelling or dogs barking or horns honking or freeway background noise... ahhhhhhh, what a day :) 

Hi from us here in Sweden! Have a nice day!