The cake that caused Filip's flustering

Filip, along with the rest of the kids - and guests - seemed to enjoy this cake so much I thought I'd share the recipe. My mum used to make this (almost?) every Saturday when I was little. I used to make it every time I had guests, when I was young free and single. Apparently I've been making it a little too rarely these past few years, seeing how amazed my kids were...

I didn't take a photo while I still had a chance - it disappered rapidly! - but this one sort of resembles... (Except this one's got an extra layer that mine hasn't got, and it's probably got 1 zillion more calories even than mine...)

By the way, with the number of chocolate cake images I've leafed through by googling, it would probably have saved a lot of time had I just baked and photographed it instead...

Procedure is very simple, you just mash it all together as you go:

150 g (3/4 cup or so...) ground almonds

3 eggs (without the shell...)

100 g (a little less than 1/2 cup) white sugar

1 teaspoon of baking soda (hey, I'm not going into 1/3 of a 1/16 of .. you check it out here... I'm no baker, there's a reason my kids were utterly flabbergasted!)

splash it all together until it's like a thick soup. Grease the cake tin (round, not too big..) on the bottom, but not the sides, it keeps the cake hanging on to be possibly half an inch thick at least..

30 minutes in the oven at about 180 (355? F). Leave to cool.

(Then people of course put all kinds of stuff on top of this, strawberries and cheesestuff and whatnot, but we've always had a bit of a sweet tooth, so here's what we do:)

100 g unmelted (I give up the conversions..) butter or margarine - to be mixed with -

100 g icing sugar (7/8 cup!) (apparently confectioner's sugar in American?). Mixmixetc.

Add 1 egg (without the ... yes! You remembered! Amazing...)

1 teaspoon coffee (some regular sort. Shaken, or even stirred.)

2 tablespoons (1/8 cup?) of cocoa powder. Or enough to make the stuff as brown as you wish. Not too brown...

2 tablespoons or more - vanilla sugar. More mixmixetc.

Put on cake when cake has cooled down. Sound the foodbell. Dig in. And kids? DO try this at home!

The cows are here!

The cows have been to Athens, they've been to Lisbon.

Now they're here.

This one's "dressed" like Norwegian milk cartons used to be when I was little.

I still don't get it though. Noone's paying me to travel through Europe's capitals, although I'm sure I'd appreciate it a lot more than these papier-machees or whatever they are...

The Messiah's retiring?

Seems I was lucky to see Mr. John Cleese when he was over here in May. (I had to be told by Sam, obviously I read British papers too rarely) - but he's now claimed to be retiring from performing. John Cleese, that is, not Sam...

The Guardian says:

"Comedian and actor John Cleese said yesterday [June 12th] he will retire from performing to write the history of comedy for the younger generation. The 66-year-old will become a "comedy professor", holding masterclasses with students on how to make people laugh. The book will cover "the greats of silent cinema to Ricky Gervais, who is the height of modern entertainment". The book will also include Buster Keaton, the Marx Brothers and Harold Lloyd. "It is very rare today to see someone with that grasp of old-fashioned comedy. The last truly excellent performance I saw was Eddie Izzard. But Ricky Gervais is also a match for the great American sitcoms." A chapter in the book will be on "creating the perfect comedy-drama" for the stage, citing influences such as Tom Stoppard, Alan Bennett, Alan Ayckbourn and Michael Frayn."

Citing Ricky Gervais as "the height of modern entertainment" seems to suggest he hasn't entirely stopped performing...

And while we're onto Messiahses - Christine's pointed out it's a hazardous profession...

I was going to put a photo here, of course, but all of a sudden blogger's decided it won't let me post any more pictures. *sigh*

iPod Shuffle - Scholiast's haphazard listening habits

1) U2 "touch" (live). Very topical on my U2 iPod...

2) Morphine "radar". One of the almost 700 songs I ripped from Daniel's iPod when I visited him and his Børge in Lisbon.

3) Billy Joel "she's got away". The man's got the biggest eyes in modern history. And a big voice to go with it.

4) Jan Eggum "lillebror Per". This Norwegian artist's been around since I was little.

5) Morten Abel "keep yourself in motion". A Norwegian would-be popstar. He's actually quite good (I find), but his English has kept him within the borders of Norway...

6) Billy Joel "still rock'n'roll to me". Rather disproportionate him showing up again within 20 songs...

7) The Beatles "piggies". Liverpool lads! Yeah...

8) Rodrigo Leão "Alma Mater". Another one from Daniel.

9) Sting "mad about you" (live). I'm mad about Sting. Bo Kasper (# 17) may be cute, and Sivert Høyem (# 16) has the sexiest voice ever, but Sting's got it all...

10) Various artists "Finale" (from Never on a Sunday). Greek, in case you wondered.

11) de Lillos "fullstendig oppslukt av frykt". My all time favourites! Norwegian band.

12) Ane Brun "little lights". Better known for her duet with Madrugada's Sivert Høyem. But this one's nice too.

13) The September when "darker and later". Morten Abel's (see # 5) old band.

14) The white birch "storm-broken tree". One more off Daniel's iPod.

15) U2 "please" (live). Did I mention I've got a thing about U2?

16) Madrugada "try". Have to love his voice... Incidentally, they're from almost the same place as I'm from.

17) Bo Kaspers Orkester "bara förr din skull". My favourite Swedish band. The information is in Swedish, but this music map may help you! The singer is also the cutest guy...

18) Dead can dance "Yulunga". Amazing atmosphere in their songs.

19) Cracker "good times bad times" (from Tribute to Led Zeppelin)

20) Franz Ferdinand "take me out"

Scholiast's facts about gardening

Did you know that:

1 - even if you don't have green fingers you can still have green feet? (That's our doormat. Noone should be surprised it looks like a football pitch...)
2 - a pine cone that gets stuck in a lawn mower will suddenly free itself with amazing speed and shoot out in your face?
3 - a wheelbarrow full of freshly mown grass is not enough to hide the stench of cat poo, somewhere in the middle of it all?
4 - there are reasons why people (other than me...) wear gloves when they cut raspberry bushes?
5 - (whatever Newton said:) apples fall upwards? (At least tiny green apples. Cf. # 2)
6 - homegrown strawberries make for the greatest lunch ever?
7 - if you came over here you could have all the pinecones you wanted? There'd be no end to the number of cone-animals that would be made...
8 - blisters can burst and start stinging even before you knew you had them?
9 - three straight hours of gardening make the sound of a coke can being opened the most desirable sound ever?

10 - this is my 200th post?

1 year ago today (or Home Alone part 1)

Last summer I was also home alone, and surfing the net. (What's new?) But exactly 365 days ago I fell over Josh and Josh's blog! This post was the first I stopped at. God only knows what I was googling when I landed there... That was their "old" blog. I read everything. Now, you probably think I stayed up till 3 to read their new one as well? Pah. Did not. Stayed up till 4.30, actually... It's one of the very few blogs I've read every post of - their old and new. They've been very inspirational in my making my own blog.

Then it isn't so strange, maybe, that Harvard's probably very precise and accurate research came up with this:


It also turns out I have a slight preference for dark-skinned people compared to light-skinned people. Which would explain the get-a-tan-NOW-frenzy I used to get every summer... If you're unsure whether you are as biased as I am, you can take the test here. And I'll try not to hold it against my poor, white, straight hubby when I see him again next Friday...

Home alone - day 2 1/2

Work is FUN. I found myself sitting at my desk shouting "yes!" and waving my arms about several times during the day. Was having intensive training in the database programme we're using - via email, from my boss who lives in England. The loudest "yes!" was brought forth by the sudden popup of a message in the middle of the programme, saying "You made it!" I'm wondering if they'll reduce my wages if they notice how I'm enjoying this...


After work I met up with a friend. We walked about a little in the baking sun, spent half an hour or so waiting to be seated in an outdoor restaurant, another half hour waiting for the food. But - who cares! It was sunny, we had company, no kids were waiting and the banana split was enormous when it finally arrived... (Yes, like good children we did finish our dinner first!)

Yesterday I went home with my silversmith friend. Her hubby'd prepared a barbeque dinner, and she'd prepared a very summery dessert - marsh mallows and strawberries. Hang on grill for about 10 seconds (or less, lest the marsh mallows catch fire...), then eat while marsh mallows wrap themselves around strawberries. Enjoy...












Tonight, after our shot at waiting & dining (pun intended...) we went for a stroll. Truly, it was too hot and humid (is it going to rain soon?) to do anything but saunter... I've got an ancient digital camera (nothing like this!) but I took a few photos anyway. Thought you might like to get your eyes off the bloodsucking needle in the previous post ;)

First and second: from Akershus fortress. Third: southwesterly view of the Oslo fjord, taken from Akershus. Last: The Nobel Peace Center. Perhaps I should visit one day, see if they've given my great great granddad a mention...

Yesterday

Yesterday my hubby and the kids drove off to the cabin, to stay for three weeks. I'll be working another fortnight. So - left to my own (de)vices, what did I do?

First, my contribution to society, donating a little blood. (Don't look if you don't like that kind of thing...) No, reallly, I think everyone who can ought to do it, I've been doing it since I was a student.

Then I met with my childhood friend M who works in the same building as the above hospital unit, and we sat out on a street cafe. The sun was baking, we had so-so iced coffees and became so dizzy in the heat I didn't manage or even remember to take any photos...

In the evening I went to football practice. Cycling to and fro, as the rest of the family - as is fair - had taken the car.


Made it home just in time for the semi final were Germany was luckily beaten, well-deserved by the Italians! (Notice the great, new bike, by the way...)

And if you think I'm not really blogging at this hour - sadly, I am... But now, off to work!

England lost - Robbie won!

After a long busride we arrived at the magnificent stadium of Nya Ullevi, Gothenburg. Where we waited. And waited. And waited...
In the midst of all our waiting, England failed to succeed in the World Cup (wipe that smirk off your faces, Børge and DevilMood!), and depressed us to no little extent.
We were also wondering what the effect might be on Robbie, knowing how mad he is about football. The support band came on. They're probably really, really famous, but I'd never heard of them - The Basement Jaxx (ok, hit me now). They were, at best, very energetic. And obviously prepared to make the best out of supporting Mr. Robbie Williams. But really - supporting is very unrewarding. They did earn 4 huge rounds of applause, every time because they announced they were leaving...

Eventually they left. So we waited some more. After sitting down in the bus 4 hours, and then standing up in the stadium for another 4 hours, I was honestly beginning to wonder if it was all worth it?
Then Robbie came on. All doubts aside...

Robbie is amazing. Really - I mean, I like a lot of his songs, but he could probably be singing Baa Baa Black Sheep and leave the audience feeling the same way. He may be a lot of other things, but he's definitely a born entertainer! After a couple of songs, where I felt he wasn't really there, he came clean - asked us if we could feel his pain after England's exit. Of course we could... And by the comfort of 57,245 in the audience (a sell-out, as it was the following night. The only others to sell out two nights in a row were Springsteen, Sting and Stones. And as Robbie said - "I'm the only one under a hundred"... Admittedly, U2 never tried having more than one show, moving on to Stockholm for the next.) Robbie gave us all he had. Which is A LOT. And in case anybody wonders - there were a lot of guys there too. I didn't even see a lot of fourteen year old girls, and there were about 40 per cent guys, my guess would be. A lot of couples, a lot of Really Old People (like me, 37 - or Robbie, 32) - quite a few in their 40's and 50's, quite a few of any age, actually.

At one point I realised that Denmark had shipped all its tallest men to Sweden, and they were all standing in front of me with their tiny girlfriends. But suddenly they all vacated the area (we were at a fence, about 50 metres / 160 feet from the stage) and we were left in clear view of Robbie. (The close-up is from one of the papers, the others are mine..) And, after another few songs, his "bestest friend in the whole, wide world", Jonathan Wilkes. Now - except for the local newspaper, all Swedish papers gave the show their highest marks. But none of them had much good to say about Jonny's appearance. We quite enjoyed it, though, their having a kind of football shoot-out competition in the midst of it all... Also, their performance of "their" song, Me and my shadow, wasn't that great, but here's a sample anyway:

Robbie claimed he didn't say it on every concert. Then he stated we were the best audience on the tour so far. Whether it was true or not, it didn't particularly make for a worse atmosphere... He also claimed that "you're all f*ing gorgeous! Even the guys are better looking than me!! Thank God I can sing..."

He obviously did more encores than he'd planned to, so we must have made him feel better after England's loss... The whole thing ended in fireworks and whatnot, and everyone were extatic. Yes, my hubby had also screamed his voice hoarse, as had I...

Arriving at our house, Sunday morning around 5 AM (...) we found this note on the door: Jakob had taped it to the front door to make sure we saw. And even though it broke our hearts to see two of our Liverpool heros had missed, at least it was the Chelsea player whose name was spelled incorrectly.

Oh yes, the kids had been fine with the babysitters all along, and I did get to sleep in...

Crossing

While we were busy crossing the Swedish border (not much of a hassle, I must admit I slept through it), someone was crossing the - to me - magical line of 8,000 visitors.

The person concerned came from Josh and Josh's blog and from Kingfisher, Oklahoma, and stayed a whole of 0 seconds. Yeah, for an interesting read...

Going to Sweden to see The Man

Robbie is just like football (soccer)

Americans don't get either...

I'm talking about Robbie Williams, of course.

Why? Well - we'll be going to see him tomorrow! My hubby and I. We'll hop on a coach for that exact purpose, pine through about 4 or 5 hours, hop off in Gothenburg (actually Göteborg, Sweden).

All of this means we'll miss out on England - Portugal! But I'm sure Robbie'll give it a mention on stage..

Now, try google for images of him, and you'll see his no Angel (although that's one of his biggest hits) - but actually, our kids were the ones who used to love Robbie. We've videotaped the then one-year old quads dancing to a Robbie show on tv - and recorded their singing selfmade versions of his lyrics at the age of three...

They're not really into him anymore, but hubby and I are still with him, and can't wait to see him live! He's been voted on many an occasion 'best live performance' - I'm sure we'll be content... Oh, and I might give it a mention on my blog, yes...

Then another few hours on the coach, almost an hour's drive in our car, home sometime early Sunday morning. Please, let the kids sleep in, someone...

On the road again (not me this time...)

My niece is moving to San Francisco. In July, just days after she turns 19. For a year only - she'll be working as an au pair - and her recent "acquisition" of a boyfriend here brings at least a hope she'll return next July. But still...

She was so tiny, making me an aunt for the first time. I was 19. (Don't even think to comment on my hair..)
Before she was born, I was sometimes wondering that my aunts made such a fuss over our birthdays and stuff - even those who lived far away - aunts were really very distant relatives, I thought. Then I became one, and I felt as if she'd been attached to me physically at birth. We've always been really close.

Now, the family she's going to in SF sound and look really nice. They want this year to be special for her, as well as her being special for their newborn son. I know she will be - she's always had a special knack with babies...

But for keeping her well - anything she ought to do and see in San Francisco, anyone? Or for that matter, something she really shouldn't do..? (She'll also be spending 3 days in NYC before moving to the West Coast. Going to classes, but having the afternoons or evenings off. In only 3 days - what's a must?)

I'll see if I can't talk her into starting a blog of her own to keep us (me) updated!

To Moncrief and anyone else wondering - she'll be staying in the actual city of SF, Buena Vista area I think we decided after a quick visit via Google earth...

There are the obvious things

that remind me of Greece -

The sound of Greek music (for example), the taste of Greek food, tales from all those friends who've either just been or are going to Greece this summer

Then there are less obvious things -

The taste of salt water, sweltering heat, the combined smell of sun lotion, dust, oleanders, exhaust and grilled meat

And then there are those with really subtle links -

The sound of a Harley engine, the smell from a septic tank... (I never did tell you about that Greek Adonis (really called Dimitris) who worked on a septic van one summer in Crete...?)

- Well, we're not going to Greece this year. I think everyone else I know have been or are going, which makes it somewhat worse. And here, summer has arrived. It's nice, it's warm, the water is above freezing point... I listen to Greek radio and eat water melons.

But it's not the same, is it...

*sigh*

Waking Wednesday

Guess where I spent this morning..?

Status: no cavities, no tartar, the last remaining wisdom tooth is staying put... And only a slither of a scolding from my otherwise very charming Nicaraguan dentistesse for brushing my teeth too hard.

I know, slightly more information than you wanted just now...

But hey, the waiting room had some nice artwork, at least!

Back at work, I'm working (sic!) on football terms (very topical issue...), relieved England won't have to meet Germany in the last 16 - at least not until the final. They may get there!?!!

Ah, yes, I digress. Because I've also been thinking about new words to add. We've already got stuff like LOL - but I want to add things like 'bluddy', 'blogling' (Sam and I have a different definition than Collins, apparently) or 'bliend' amongst others.

Now, I can't really do that unless it's been used by some official sources, so I wondered if any of you have seen such blog terms of endearment being used by, say, a newspaper, online dictionary or other? Do put a link or hint in the comments.. (Sorry Sam, your blog is excellent stuff, but not quite the official standard of British language. Yet...)

Filip's face

We were celebrating 4x6, house full of relatives, all seated and munching cakes. Answering his question, hubby told Filip that mum had baked that cake.

"Muuuummy baked this??!!!!"

Need I tell you the community were amused..?

(I had in fact baked two cakes. But as dear hubby had baked buns, cupcakes, layered cream cake and all the dinner stuff, his shock horror was well-aimed..)

Thanks to Kimananda for showing me the way to compose your own South Park kid.

But Rocambole was not dead...

Just a quick note to let you know I am alive. And rather well, thank you, as long as the Liverpool lads keep scoring for England (and said England avoids meeting Germany in the last 16)...
Crouchie and Mr. Gerrard himself

I've been thinking about this whole blog thing. (AND been watching the World Cup. AND been celebrating 4x4x6*) This new job is a lot more fun than the old, it has to be admitted, and also involves a lot more staying put in front of the screen, which actually makes it less tempting to repeat same in home...

When I started this blog it was partly because I felt I had something to say. Lately I've been considering - perhaps I've run out?

Run out of time, maybe, but not of things to say... So I'll keep reappearing here, only not quite as frequent. As Armaedes described it a few months back: "don't blog if you don't have anything to say. And certainly don't blog to say you don't have anything to say!" Of course, he puts a lot more elegance in the phrasing. And sarcasm... I was a bit put off at the time, as he also insisted people should not put automatic music on their blogs - and I had that at the time... (But I could see his point, even though I loved the song that kept playing on my blog it was rather annoying together with other stuff...)

And just when I was thinking about quitting, Moncrief Speaks left a comment, I have no idea where he found me (although he's also linking to dear Josh & Josh so perhaps..) but I was very pleased with a brand new commenter, just out of the blue. And his blog's good read.

So I guess I'll try and come back if I've got something to say, and try not to if I haven't..

Oh, the 4x4x6? 4 celebrations of 4 people's 6th birthdays. Yup, the quads have now officially turned 6, which we celebrated both on the day itself and last weekend and this weekend. (Saturday the quads and I went to an island near where we live - played football and caught crabs (no pun intended...), basking in the sun all day, while our oldest was in a friend's birthday party and my hubby was shopping and baking for Sunday's invasion of celebrators...

Yes, I've got an amazing hubby. I hasten to add - he also finds my lack of resentment towards football quite the asset...

Too much fun!

No, really. My new job is everything I hoped it would be and then some. The only drawback is - being glued to the screen all day kind of deprives me of the hunger for repeating just that at home, so - much less blogging. So far.

Thanks to "d" and Merujo for helping me with those translations. The querist was ever so pleased.

And here's a look into MY office. Truly, I can live with that!

Well, here goes..

3rd day at work and already I need help! Does anyone out there know what these 4 items are called in English? The first ones are gloves with half fingers and without any fingers. Then there's a serving tray with a stem, and finally a "honey spoon" (for want of a better word) - which usually is made out of wood but I couldn't find a photo of one like that.. Any suggestions?
And yes, this is me working. Ahh...

The amazing Ms. T

Remember my friend T, who made the velvet lining for my iPod cover? Well, she's a silversmith by profession. Really. She's made me mobile "blings" and ear rings earlier. Well, we've all got our own jewellery designer these days, haven't we..?

But in earnest. She has now surpassed herself. Look at this:

and this:







It's a bracelet. A charm bracelet, but not as the definition goes. I'll explain.

These pieces, figurines, that the bracelet consist of, were originally drawings made by my kids! I had no idea she'd snuck them off behind my back (my hubby helping her), and been working away on this in the wee hours before daylight. Or some such thing.

Anyone who has children, knows children, wants to have children someday etc. etc. can probably imagine how proud this made me feel. And how proud my kids became! Here - I'll post the original drawings, and you can (possibly, if resolution is good...) see for yourself!

Jakob had made an eagle, as he's wont to (the lettering reads: to mum and dad, regards Jakob):
Anna, a girl:

This lion was Mathias' work. Yes, that's five LEGS. You've got such dirty little minds... (And you may have guessed that LØVE means lion. And that Mathias - along with the others - is very keen on letters of the alphabet these days!)
Filip's apple tree is on the bracelet along with Thomas' house. Now, that's what I call charms!

And T - you rock!