just know where you are...

memory

2012-02-14T19:58:00.000+01:00

this is memory

she's 8 now.

she's a norwegian trotting horse (norwegian standard bred?)

she's taller than she looks in these photos (16+ hands)

it got down to 0 degrees for about a week, so we got her a blanket.

she's only been driven, but hasn't been ridden.

she has a sweet, quiet manner, but it seems like she doesn't know much.

when the weather gets better, we'll start working with her. she is wondering where all of the other horses are. the neighbor has one, but he's been indoors in the snowy, slippery weather, as he's getting a bit old. pinky will come home at the end of the month to keep her company.

pinky larew

2012-01-24T09:22:00.002+01:00

trying out pinky at her old owner's house

short legs make for a bumpy trot.

out in the pasture at the riding school.

pinky apparently likes to roll in the mud. and we've got plenty of that this year.

everyone needs a pony they can play with at some point.

pinky horse and pinky girl (or at least pink jacket)

pony or piglet?

4th out of 12!

2011-12-04T20:46:00.001+01:00

not great shots (it's just TOO DARK these days) - but it will give you an idea of the horse show. Sabin competed in LD1 - a dressage pattern that you do at the trot and the walk.

far pinned on the pin in the wrong spot - i fixed it before she competed.

off down the center line - matilde looks grey with her new haircut.

i love the fresh cut on her tail as well - why didn't we do that? it looks so good with a blunt cut!

kind of a fast trot.

4th place of 12!

sabin ended up in fourth place overall (out of 12) - pretty good for the first time completing the class. one of the girls in her class was in her 20s! tho' it looks like a 6th place ribbon, it's actually 4th (everyone from 3rd and beyond get green in denmark). and best of all, she's already declared she wants to do it again!

sabin & matilde are ready for christmas

2011-12-02T19:04:00.001+01:00

matilde's new haircut.

and her reindeer ears!

they leave the furry bits where the saddle goes, to make it more comfortable.

hugs for tilly bear.

and a santa hat for the riding helmet.

love.

Little League Coaching - Fail

2011-05-22T01:23:00.002+02:00

Dear Coach,

You whipped your email out last night too fast to really think over the things that happened at the baseball game. You might have corrected some things if you'd just reviewed the things you typed. But I understand. You were in a hurry to get it all out.

You completely failed the boys last night. And that's okay. You know that Steve and I were in your shoes last year. We had one night of total failure, too. It was miserable.

Your job is to lead and inspire the kids. You think their bad attitudes came from being sopping wet? Or being 15 points behind? Or did their bad attitudes come from getting yelled at while they watched our pitcher throw ball after ball? They stood in the rain and helplessly watched their opponents walk the bases and score 5 points to end each inning.

And you think an 8 year-old knows when he's supposed to run from 2nd base? The ball was hit in the infield. He didn't want to get out. And you were standing there on your phone while he looked to you for base running advice. I felt Finn's pain and really wanted the game to be over, too. But we did discuss with him that you don't express such snotty sentiments. It's not team spirit. But you benched my sensitive kid while team morale was already at a low. How do you think the other boys felt taking the field when you're busy yelling at one?

I don't know if your house was on fire, but I'm not certain why your phone is even on when you're standing at 3rd base to coach the runners. I was really embarrassed for you when I watched the opponent's coach walk in front of our fence to take the coach at 3rd base position. He walked quietly by and picked up all of the bats strewn out in front of our dugout. He placed them behind the fence and then waited for you to finish your call.

Our pitchers need to warm up. They need coaching before they're trying to perform under pressure. You're totally failing them. I've politely volunteered to help. You called me a typical woman. Last year, I invited all of my pitchers and potential pitchers to a Saturday afternoon pitching workshop. Not once did Steve ask during a game, "How is he holding the ball?" That's a question for practice time. The already-under-pressure pitcher hears that question and loses all confidence. I hope you'll think about the effect your remarks have on your boys.

And that leads me to the best news of the whole night. You seemed to take my comments to heart and you went back out there with numerous positive and encouraging instructions for the boys. You brought them together, put their hands in a circle and shouted the team's name. They loved that. They crave leadership and inspiration. And they will mirror your attitude every single time.

Steve wants to give up on this league. He and Finn have a hard time enduring what's going on. But neither of us is interested in teaching our boys that's it's easy to quit a team sport.

We discussed this topic at length. I feel that we paid a fee for these boys to participate on this team so they could learn and have fun. Those are our two primary objectives. If there is still a chance for both of those things this season, then our boys will be at every practice and game. If we feel that those two things aren't also the objective of the team, then we'll reconsider our decision.

I am sorry I engaged in argument with you during the game. I'm sorry I quit keeping score. I don't expect to wind up being best buddies with you. But I do want what's best for all of the boys. And typical woman or not, my offer for assistance with pitching still stands.

Regards, Monica

big girl

2011-04-04T22:07:00.000+02:00

shots of a rather big girl with a big camera on a sunny weekend day. these were taken by her big sister, karoline. i think we'll probably make her go around with bricks on her head to try to keep her from growing, since she's growing up way too fast.

skating beauty

2011-01-04T21:50:00.000+01:00

after years of rollerblading, also in the house, sabin is a natural at ice skating. we had a bit of a thaw and now the ice is much smoother and more fabulous. tho' snow is on its way again, so we'll be sweeping. it's good to have your own lake.

frosty matilde eats carrot treats

2011-01-04T21:42:00.000+01:00

early snow

2010-12-04T23:57:00.001+01:00

sabin and nicoline by the lake

snow angel #1 - sabin

snow angel #2 - nicoline

two snow angels


that's not at all an open spot of water behind them where Far fell in. or maybe it is.

2010-11-11T17:46:00.001+01:00

This morning after my iPhone alarm went off, I previewed my mail, skimmed new tweets and reluctantly looked at my news feed on Facebook to see what was going on in the world. 7 minutes later, I canceled the snooze and made myself a promise - I would leave the iPhone and computer alone until I got the boys to school. It always seems like watching YouTube over breakfast or playing a quick game of Angry Birds before putting on shoes makes us late. And I hate running late. And we've been running late a lot lately.

I came downstairs to find Owen watching YouTube already. It was early, though, and I poured him a bowl of cereal. Told him he could keep watching as long as he was EATING his breakfast. The boy often gets so focused on the video, he forgets there are cereal bits getting soggy right in front of him. Who can blame him? That's one compelling round of Lego guys blowing each other up into stop-motion nonsense bits.

My phone squeaks with a new mail. Irresistable. Let's just peek. Oooo, one of my items sold on Amazon! But why is the credited amount for a $15 Wii game $30? Expedited shipping! The buyer wants the game right away. Hmmmm... I wonder which shipping company I should use. USPS? FedEx? Does Jason have a nice puffy envelope, or can I find one here? I wonder where the buyer is? If they're nearby, maybe I could get away with sending Priority Mail. Need to login on the computer to see where the buyer is. But the YouTube video drones on and, well, the boys seems to be eating his cereal.

At 8:28am, I announce that after THIS video, we'll turn off the You Tube and put on shoes to leave for school. I like to be in the car at 8:42. At 8:32 I get my chance to peek at where the buyer of the Wii game is. Michigan, hmmmm. "Get your shoes on, boys!" I sign off on one last agenda and make sure library books are stowed in the correct backpacks. I go fetch the sold Wii game off the shelf and tell Owen that he sold it. He eagerly begins mentally spending the money. The gmail video chat ring starts. I think to myself, "So much for ignoring my communications devices during the morning rush." But it's only 8:34, we've got just a couple minutes to hear the happy birthday wish and giggle at Sabin's sweet voice. "Finnegan, get your shoes on!"

The boys arrived at school with 5 minutes to get in there, put things away and be seated. This is typical. We don't get tardies. But wouldn't a few more minutes make everything better? I bid them farewell with my usual words of wisdom. "Make it a great day!" "Make good choices." "I'll see you after school." "I love you!" When they don't respond, I put on my little voice and say, "Have a great day Mom, we love you, too!" They grin and roll their eyes at me and tumble out of the car. Owen has some sort of grudge against Finn as they run to the door. He starts swinging his backpack in circles that hit Finn in the back. I roll down the window and say, "Owen, I can see you right now! Santa Claus is watching you, too" Sheesh. I drive away, my heart swelling over two crazy, rowdy boys I had no idea I could love so much.

Owen is in 3rd grade. He could be in 4th grade at 9 1/2 years old, but I held him back. I sent him to Alternative Kindergarten when he was old enough for Kindergarten. My thinking? He's emotionally immature. Still sucking his thumb. Stuttering. Still taking afternoon naps. He can't handle all-day school. Academically? He was ready. He's always been in the top tier of students in his class. Reading at a higher level than others. Performing complex math functions that leave his dad and I scratching our heads.

This year, he's not performing in the top tier. He's in the middle reading group. And it's taking him forever to complete reading comprehension tests. And he sat for 30 minutes twirling a pencil one day while he was supposed to be doing a speed math sheet. His teacher told us these stories and others at our conference two nights ago. She was describing the boy I know. She said quietly and calmly that he's the most unfocused child she's ever had in the 3rd grade. She's been teaching for 17 years. She said she's not a doctor and can't diagnose A.D.D. But she then gave us a folder full of teacher assessments of Owen. All aimed at illustrating for a doctor, a child who should have some medication to help him focus.

I did not burst into tears. Because none of this is a surprise to me. This is the Owen I know. Teacher described other kids who went on medication and magically turned things around. She pointed out that 4th grade will be harder. And 5th grade, harder yet. And she also said that Owen is even smarter than other kids she's seen with this problem. Was she pouring syrupy sweetness on a bitter situation by saying that? Who knows?

I let the whole thing sink in for a day. I sat at the park yesterday and Googled A.D.D. on my iPhone. A skimmed again. Seems they put A.D.H.D labels on kids with just the attention deficit thing. I will say, though, that Owen's problem doesn't seem to be hyperactivity. In fact, I'd consider him to be slow-moving and a bit lazy. But they did say that A.D.D. kids often seemed "in a fog."

I often ask Owen to join me on my planet. He understands what I mean. When he's sitting there with YouTube on over his breakfast, he's very far away. I can ask, "Do you want more cereal?" in audible tones and he won't even hear me. This is a kid who can't focus? No. This is a kind who doesn't wanna focus on the things we ask him to focus on. He doesn't wanna focus on 3rd grade. But he does want to please us.

And speaking of living in a fog. His mother is making a smashing success of that. I didn't want to focus on 3rd grade, either. I don't wanna focus on making them do their spelling words or math flashcards. The A.D.D. article I skimmed on my phone (I didn't wanna read or focus on too many of the details, just ones that I found interesting) told me that folks with A.D.D. often are disorganized and cluttered. Um, hello! We just cleared the table last night for a card game with the boys. And on the table now? The playing cards, the worksheets I found in the boys' bags, my grocery list, a nail clipper, that Wii game I need to ship and an address label. My breakfast tray & milk glass and a pencil. My laptop that I'm typing on right now. And Owen's toy machine gun. Clutter Queen.

So do I need to medicate the boy? My own experience with medications tells me that I should avoid that at all costs. It's my own fault that the boy can't focus. I never ask him to focus at home. I allow YouTube over cereal. I forget to practice his spelling words because I'm too busy searching for something on eBay. Or texting Maria. Or reading useless crap on Facebook. I'm showing him exactly how to barely function with Attention Deficit Disorder.

I have candid discussions about things with my boys, who are 8 and 9, about things that make other parents squeamish. We talk about sex and drugs. I ask them to not do drugs. And I make them watch the news with me every night at 5:30. During the news, there are ads and more ads for drugs. Drugs make little annoying symptoms go away. Owen thinks he needs a heart medication for the chest pain he gets as part of growing so fast. He thinks Advair might help his wheezing. I think he might be right, actually.

But the teacher tells me there is a drug out there that will help Owen focus on the things at school. And I'm wondering if I can take some of this drug to help me focus on the things I should be focused on.

Or maybe there's someone out there who will just start kicking my ass and Owen's ass so that we'll do the things that we need to do.

Or maybe I could take responsibility of my own self. Make that promise to myself to ignore the phone. And then KEEP the promise. Aspire to be a better parent. And then BE a better parent. Give the child responsibilities. And then hold him to them. Give him instructions. And expect action.

will...

2010-10-25T19:05:00.000+02:00

someone

please

comb

her hair?

a lively statue

2010-10-23T23:51:00.000+02:00

we spent friday at the free land museum in copenhagen - they have moved farmhouses from all over denmark and southern sweden and reconstructed them as an open-air museum. it's fabulous and very inspiring if you yourself happen to have bought a really old farmhouse that needs some major restoration. sabin spotted a big stone and wanted to "play statue," so here you have her, as a rather lively statue:

she's wearing some of the multiple pairs of leggings we've sewn for her of late. she actually cut these out and sewed most of this pair herself. she loves them so much, she wore them for three days in a row!

isn't it about time for a visit?

2010-08-05T00:13:00.000+02:00

look how nice it is by the lake. perfect for an autumn visit...

is this what they mean...

2010-07-25T22:28:00.000+02:00

...by we're "in clover?"

hey, you're in jail

2010-07-21T15:28:00.000+02:00

owen at the bat: a story in pictures

2010-07-20T14:20:00.000+02:00

2010-07-18T21:55:00.000+02:00

i went to a trakehner show on saturday in kiel, germany, at a huge breeding stable. i went with my friend who was taking her 3-month-old filly, betty blue, to be approved into the registry. the trakehner registry is very picky about their bloodlines (you can read more about that here).

she showed the filly together with her mother. the filly was loose and there were chasers at either end, helping get the foals moving so the judges could determine if their gaits were worthy of being registered. there were about 20 foals in all. in addition, there was a range of dressage classes, from lower levels to grand prix. very impressive, tho' the first place ribbons are yellow, which just seemed wrong.

betty was approved and she was branded with the special trakehner brand, which is a kind of a set of moose antlers. it's really very pretty. the judging was interesting - there was a group of judges and they came around to the stalls and inspected her and all of the paperwork before the judging. then, she was shown in the ring and immediately the results were given before she left the ring. then, afterwards, they came around again, stamped her papers and she was then branded.

betty blue, batavia and helle in the show ring. betty was pretty worn out by the whole experience.

betty blue's mother, batavia is 18. she's in foal again for next year with the same sire - special memory, a trakehner stallion that's in the US.

betty has the best disposition. she's just an unbelievable sweetheart.

betty let me spend a good half an hour braiding her mane and she'd never had it done before.
and i didn't even have a hold of her, she just stood for it.

batavia with curly mane after her braids came out.

pretty baby.

trakehners are very fine and pure as warmbloods go. they're very restrictive as to what's allowed in their registry. they are a bit lighter and finer than many of the warmblood breeds. they make good dressage horses. and from what i could see, they have wonderful ways of going and even better dispositions. it was, in all, very impressive.

schooling matilde

2010-07-15T23:32:00.000+02:00

sabin was so inspired by her lesson with ruth that she wanted to school matilde today - we invested in some really nice side reins and sabin tried her new dressage saddle on her. it was a very good workout for both of them.

if you're gonna jump....

2010-06-14T23:31:00.000+02:00

...it's best to set the jumps yourself. then you know they're exactly how you want them. tho' these were more cavaletti than jumps per se.

creative sabin or why on earth did we buy her all those legos?

2010-05-13T07:56:00.000+02:00

one day in the week before our move, most of sabin's room was packed up and she didn't have her usual toys to play with. however, that didn't stop her at all. she used paper, markers, tape and a few odds and ends of lego and spent several hours making play food. here are the results.

giving new meaning to the words "paper plates"

clockwise from upper left: egg sandwich with pepper and salt, cheese sandwich, ham with cucumber, leverpostej (paté) with mayo and crunchy onions on top

the salad course

main dish - potatoes with parsley, a few peas and a hamburger

and for dessert - chocolate chip cookie, a wafer biscuit and possibly ice cream (possibly carrots)

she took these photos herself with her iPhone.

newscast by the sisters broberg

2010-05-12T11:05:00.000+02:00

sabin, mathilde (the sister, not the horse) and karoline made a video at the new house on the first day we were there. the things kids will do when they have no television. it's in danish, but worth watching anyway because you can get lots out of the expressions. one of my favorite moments is when karoline flicks the snail off the tree. praise be to iMovie and the iPhone (Karoline shot the whole video on her iPhone). there's a very funny moment as well where mathilde describes a new sport that involves hitting dwarves with coconuts. maybe at some point we can add subtitles. :-)

jumping matilde

2010-05-10T07:38:00.001+02:00

the day started off quietly in the pasture, modeling our new blanket

a brisk trot to warm up

pretty 'tilda

we started off with some low jumps

but 'tilda clearly could do more.

and more.

and even more!

i got rather in the groove of capturing the moment.

totally airborne!

garden implements

2010-05-06T19:38:00.000+02:00

a nice riding lawn mower came with our new place

the child took a turn.

and may have exceeded the speed limit

no flowers were harmed

there was also a tiller. and husband had fun with it on sunday.

nothing like a little child labor in the garden

planting potatoes

matilda is a fine pony

2010-05-06T10:21:00.000+02:00

matilde was delivered to us yesterday and she settled immediately into her stall and began eating her fresh new hay. she was fed countless carrots and sabin tried to teach her to use her waterer (she has to press her nose against a little lever to make it fill). we let her have a rest after the long journey in the giant horse van and then we want back and sabin rode her for a little while. we started off on the lunge line, but sabin was quickly confident enough to ride without it.

we're keeping her at the neighbor's. they have a nice sandy outdoor arena and 6 horses of their own. they have two daughters - one 18 and one 7, who both ride. the 18-year-old is a serious competitor for the danish national team in jumping and there were some seriously HIGH jumps set up in their arena. we can't wait to see her using them. she's got three warmbloods that she uses for both jumping and dressage. then they have one broodmare who is expecting a colt any day and two ponies. matilde is so fine and pretty, she fits in very nicely.

quite likely sabin's new horse

2010-04-27T22:39:00.000+02:00

sabin and mathilde and a giant pile of poo

we went to the horse trader today. turns out he's got a fancy house and an even fancier stable - nothing like stan barthel, i tell you. but despite all that, you definitely get the feeling from him that he is an honest horse trader. and he'll even deliver the horse to boot. and on top of it, if it doesn't work out for you and the horse, you can trade for another one until it does work. pretty cool.

sabin rode 3 horses. the first one ran away with her, scared the crap out of her and she fell off. not the right horse. #2 was the perfect size, but #3, seen above, we fell in love with. we're going back again tomorrow to ride #2 and #3 again - #2 is named himalaya and #3 is named mathilde.

i think it's an omen. i mean how many horses did monica have that were named some form of julie. at least two. she's pretty, sound, a good size (a large pony - class I as it's called here), has her horse passports, shots, new shoes, is 11, has jumped and done eventing. a very well-raised if a bit frisky pony. hope to have more pictures to share tomorrow.

winding down riding at this school

2010-04-25T22:17:00.000+02:00

this weekend, we had our last lessons at the local riding school, but i haven't posted any pix of riding of late, so i thought i'd catch up a bit. both days this weekend, sabin rode her favorite horse, zidan. it was a bittersweet parting from him and i think he will miss her as much as she misses him. they have a special relationship.

zidan

sabin and zidan get a bit of instruction from peter on saturday

boogie was a naughty pony last sunday. that's cindy right ahead of him. isn't she cute?

here's a hint of the naughties.

being good for a moment.

sabin learned a lot when the instructor helped her school him out of some naughtiness.
it's actually good for you to ride a difficult horse.

we're looking at horses at a horse "dealer" on tuesday. we're pretty excited about that. he's where the school has bought most of their horses, so we're hoping he has the right one for us!

do easter bunnies lay eggs?

2010-04-03T21:38:00.000+02:00

thanks, easter bunny!

she made the teeth herself on the sewing machine.

and look what we found in the back yard.

do easter bunnies lay eggs?

riding of late

2010-03-24T10:20:00.000+01:00

last friday, we stopped by the riding school in the little town where we're going to live. we just wanted to see what it was like and talk to them about getting started when we move over there in may. luckily, the nice riding instructor said sabin could take a trial lesson immediately, joining in with a group lesson that was starting in 30 minutes. and she led sabin over to the stable, where she introduced her to a horse named bonnie and sabin got to ride right away, even tho' she was wearing rubber boots, leggings and a dress and had to borrow a helmet. they're a bit more rough around the edges over there, but bonnie was a nice horse and sabin had a good ride. sabin will start "pony games" on monday evenings and will have another regular lesson a week when we move over in may.

bonnie in the narrow aisle of the stable.

sabin riding bonnie - the arena at the new riding school is much larger than at the old one.

riding bella at lessons on saturday. it was her first time on the steady little black & white pony.

a recent lesson on sjaik - she really loves him at the moment. he's a super pony.
one of those worth their weight in gold.
but she's already a bit big for him.

a bit of jumping on sunday on zidan.

he was back to his normal, agreeable self and they had a great ride.

sabin really has chemistry with him.

i took a small video of sunday's jumping, but have to figure out how to turn it into a movie that i can share. google photo uploader not working at the moment anyway, so even if it was done, i couldn't share. but i will share soon.

an eventful weekend of riding lessons

2010-02-22T17:19:00.000+01:00

it's not really all that much warmer, but we've convinced sabin to return to her riding lessons. on saturday, there were only four small girls there, so they had a lesson on the lunge line for the first time. they used a vaulting surcingle and even got to try standing up on the horse! sadly, i only had my iPhone along, so i don't have great pictures of it, but i do have this one:

sabin's saturday teacher is the son of the woman who owns the stable and he's SO great with the kids. we're just so pleased with all of the different instructors sabin has had there, top quality all of them in their own way. and the horses, i can't say enough good about the quality of the lesson horses either. sabin's ridden such a variety - from warmbloods to this icelandic pony to a beautiful palomino pony on sunday. his name is sjaek (sheik) and as you can see, she was really pleased to ride him. she had previously prided herself on only riding the big horses, but her ride on sjaek was just the thing to give her back her confidence after a couple of super cold lessons on frisky horses with freezing fingers. he's really a super pony and she had a great ride.

snow masks

2010-02-19T23:07:00.001+01:00

have you tried this in the snow? you stick your face down into fresh, fluffy, rather wet snow and it makes a snow mask. then, you take a photo (at 1200ISO, aperture priority f/3.5, exposure comp -1.3) and voila...it pops out, as if you're lying down under all that snow. a perfect mask:

husband

sabin

sabin again.

aren't they fantastically creepy?

back to riding

2010-02-15T09:56:00.000+01:00

sabin took a few weeks off her riding lessons because it's been so cold. when it's so cold, her hands completely freeze, despite trying several different kinds of fancy supposedly wintery riding gloves and then she feels she can't properly hold the reins and have control of the horse. it was making her dislike riding and there were tears. but yesterday, it was a bit warmer and i encouraged forced her to go.

her teacher was very understanding and let her ride Silverstar, the horse she rode at her very first lessons. he's super steady and doesn't pull any tricks and doesn't do any naughty snortiness. still she didn't want to canter and rode into the center when the others cantered. then, the teacher had them put their stirrups up so they were riding without stirrups. after trotting for awhile that way, she asked them to canter and sabin just cued Silverstar into a canter like nobody's business. husband and me laughed pretty hard. she wouldn't canter with the stirrups, but it was no problem without.

she managed to visit all of her favorites horses and give them a carrot after the lesson. especially Zidan.

a danish nativity play

2009-12-20T22:04:00.000+01:00

this autumn, sabin chose to go to something called "mini-konfirmand" at the church next to her school. she had so much fun doing that every wednesday afternoon that she signed up to be part of the nativity play that they were going to put on at the church. last thursday afternoon, there was a matinee of the play at the church. then, today, sunday, they performed again during regular church services. here are some scenes from both...the pictures aren't my best work, as i didn't want to use flash - both because i was so far away it wouldn't make a difference and well, i hate flash.

the church as we approached on thursday at 4 p.m.

it was so beautiful with all of the lights.

and you have to bear in mind that the sun had been set for half an hour by then.

a view inside the church.

sabin played a "julehjerte" - a christmas heart.

it's a nativity that tries to explain the meaning of christmas

for a contemporary audience.

it was difficult to capture everyone standing still.

the whole group.

a little glazed over from the photo session at the end.

a quick shot captured by karoline during the play.

and a couple of gratituous horse shots

from the last weekend of riding lessons 'til january.

it was COLD!

sabin's new warm riding jacket and riding pants came in handy.

they're her main christmas present, but she got to open them early.

it was THAT cold.

she loves zidan at the moment.

she really clicks with him.

his fuzzy ears make him look like a teddy bear.

first snow

2009-12-16T13:33:00.000+01:00

it's our first snow of the season and with that, our first snowman. he's kind of a tabletop version...

christmas party at the riding school

2009-12-14T20:54:00.000+01:00

on saturday, we got a taste of exactly how many students go to sabin's riding school! and it's a lot! we went for our regular lesson in the morning and the sun was shining on a fine, winter day. sabin rode zidan, who is her current favorite. he's the one that's a little character and likes to hold the whip in his mouth while i help sabin get on. he's exactly the kind of horse we need to get for her when the time comes. in fact, i think we'll even probably try to buy him.

after our lessons, we went out to a little bitty christmas market at a little bitty castle across the fjord. there was a horse to climb on there as well.

then, it was time to go back to the christmas party at the riding school. sabin was part of the st. lucia group. they wore white sheets tied with silver garlands and decorated their riding helmets with silver garlands as well and carried a candle. we all walked into the riding hall in the dark, just by the glow of the candles, singing the st. lucia song. it was so much fun! after that, there were æbleskiver and mulled wine (gløgg) and santa came and handed out candy.

again, it's so hard to get good pictures in the dark.

here you can see the whole group and the christmas tree in the arena!

it was so much fun, it really put us in the christmas spirit.

riding mindy

2009-12-14T09:22:00.000+01:00

mindy is a real live registered pinto

this is the second week sabin has ridden her.

she has a bad habit of pulling the bit away and almost jerking sabin right off over her head.

she hasn't succeeded tho'.

another saturday, another new horse to ride

2009-11-22T09:46:00.000+01:00

it seems like all of our favorites at the riding school are lame at the moment - lizette has been laid up for a couple of weeks (i knew for longer than that there was something up with her left rear) and now felix is on a rest regime. we also saw that coming, because for two weeks in a row he naughtily refused to canter to the right and would do all kinds of alarming evasive maneuvers to avoid it. i was pretty sure there was something more to it than just naughtiness. but, i suppose that's the way of lesson horses, they're used all day long, probably a good 6 days a week by a variety of experienced and inexperienced riders and they will eventually come up lame.

so yesterday, much to sabin's relief, she didn't have to ride snehvide (snow white), she got to ride a new (to her) horse called zidan. he was a little cutie and aside from biting me while i was trying to straighten his halter (i think he thought i was handing him a treat) and then biting the bridle when i went to put it on him (he actually took it in his mouth and "held" it for me, while i unhooked the halter), he was a sweetie. with the help of a stool, she was even able to get on him by herself. sabin really enjoyed the ride. it was a rare sunny day (november is often sunshine-free), so they got to go out on a "tour," in the fields. sabin loved that. in fact, she just whined that they won't be able to do it today because it's raining.

here they are on the distant horizon. look at that green winter wheat and the winter sunshine!

they came back and cantered and she was just a blur as she went by.

we ride again today at 2 p.m., so we'll see which horse she rides this time.

where are the 7 dwarves when you need them?

2009-11-14T20:11:00.000+01:00

sabin's riding snow white on saturdays now. last saturday she fell off for the first time. snow white is a bit zippier and a bit more of a handful than the other horses sabin has ridden. but it was inevitable that she would fall off at some point and she had helmet and safety vest on, so all was fine. and it didn't make her too scared to ride snow white again this week.

snow white totally ADORES jumping

but you can see how we come into a situation where we fall off her occasionally.

it happened again today.

and that's ok too.

because it's how we learn.

but we do prefer felix

jens drew some stamps!

2009-11-05T07:38:00.000+01:00

hey moneek, i thought you'd like to see the wintery stamps that jens hage drew for the post office. they were released last week and i absolutely love them. they're stickers, rather than ones you lick, so forward-thinking technology as well. :-)

halloween party

2009-11-03T00:23:00.000+01:00

scenes from our halloween party this past weekend....

galloping girl

2009-09-27T17:43:00.000+02:00

was playing with shutter priority settings on my camera today. as you can see, i'm not there yet (need giant, fast sports zoom lens next), but i loved the motion in these galloping shots...

loving lizette

2009-08-31T08:37:00.000+02:00

we learned this weekend that we could buy lizette if we wanted to. apparently all of the lesson horses are for sale at any time, but at 45,000DKK ($8600), for a 12-year-old with a stiff rear left leg she has to warm out of, it seems a bit pricey, to say the least. so we'll continue to enjoy her on saturdays and sundays. but she is lovely.

and in the saturday lesson, sabin learned a bit of jumping. sabin was the only one who could keep the horse pointed at the jump and keep her from avoiding it at the last second. all of the other horses were totally ducking it because they could get away with it. sabin's doing well, but it could also be a testament to how wonderful lizette is. and of course, they were really just trotting over it, since it wasn't that much of a jump.

latest riding lesson pix

2009-08-24T09:41:00.000+02:00

because mom wanted to see our latest riding lessons...

she's riding lisette, the danish warmblood, for both lessons on the weekend now.

they seem to have been made for one another.

you can see how good she sits in comparison to others

they were told to lean back at the canter

they're learning balance,

so that's why she's leaning back like that.

far's giving her a leg up.

it was a bit dusty in the arena.

she likes to ride bareback at the end for the warm-down.

she still sits well, even without the saddle.

very concentrated.

riding outdoors for the sunday lesson.

we even went out on a little tour outdoors.

and back again for a few rounds bareback before sunday's lesson ended.

riding lessons resume

2009-08-09T22:57:00.000+02:00

we started back to riding again this weekend. on saturday, sabin rode a new horse named lizette. she's a lovely danish warmblood and my favorite of all of the lesson horses sabin has ridden. if we get her a horse, it will be one like lizette.

my attraction for lizette could be due to her reminding me of our old beloved i'ma susie bar (without the hauling back on every halter and breaking it).

isn't she just lovely?

she just had such a quiet, lovely way about her. and she really made sabin look good.

the lessons have gone from 30 minutes to an hour now and i think sabin will make leaps forward in progress.

it's a colorful life

2009-07-27T17:05:00.000+02:00

i don't know if we're just surrounded by color this summer or if i'm just drawn to it at the moment, but it seems that color is everywhere...at the amusement park, in the garden, in our stitching. maybe it's just that nikon totally rocks the color.

we're off to singapore tomorrow around noon. catch ya late next week. unless we send in some reports from the road.

kerrit carrots

2009-07-22T16:02:00.000+02:00

the little packet of carrot seeds that came with the kerrit brand horse shirt sent earlier this spring are growing nicely. yesterday, someone couldn't resist seeing if a couple of them were ready to eat.

they were

scenes from mini-holiday in dublin - part 1

2009-07-21T22:27:00.000+02:00

we set out for our mini-holiday in dublin. we used my points and had free tickets. but we started our journey on the train. the holiday was for mathilde's sake. you can tell here that she was thrilled...

we arrived in dublin and managed to find our hotel. we then set out in search of adventures. again, mathilde was thrilled and she even stopped listening to her iPod, for about 5 seconds:

so we handed her the camera, hoping to engage her interest a little bit...

and then apparently we just kinda walked away. oh and then it started to rain. and that wasn't fun. but right after that, we found a starbucks and things got a little better. mathilde and sabin discovered the strawberry cream frappucino and that was deemed to be direct from heaven, tho' strangely we failed to photograph it.

after the starbucks pick-me-up, we made our way to the shopping street. mathilde brightened up considerably then. and so did i, because we found lush. we could smell it all the way down the street and just followed our noses.

and then we found a great shoe store called korky's we went back there several times. mmm, shoes.

on the way back to the hotel, sabin and mathilde tried to help this guy with his rope...

we got up to many more adventures, but those pix are on the other computer, so this will have to do for the first installment of adventures in dublin.

ahh, those summer nigh-ights...

2009-07-03T23:32:00.000+02:00

missing milton

2009-07-03T12:54:00.000+02:00

still a whole month to go before lessons start again and someone is already really missing milton.

last lesson 'til august

2009-06-28T22:21:00.001+02:00

last lesson of the season

today was the last riding lesson of the season. and although the day was beautiful, it was a little bit of a letdown. the teacher was late and the saddle room was locked, so we couldn't saddle up 'til after 9, which was when it was supposed to start. then, ten minutes into the 40-minute lesson, the teacher mounts an irish cob, saddled with one of those bareback "saddles," which is really just a fuzzy pad without stirrups. they set off through the barnyard and tinka, the irish cobb, shied and dumped the big ole teacher right off on the ground. she was wearing a helmet, but managed to totally over-dramatize her fall and refuse to move, crying back injury, sending her half-hysterical daughter running for the owner and a big crowd gathering, all while three little inexperienced lesson girls looked on in horror.

so, instead of riding out on a little tour, they went back to the arena where the shaken daughter had them trot around a bit. they didn't even get to canter, which was quite disappointing to sabin who is getting pretty good at it. she only got about 20 minutes of her 40-minute lesson and was really quite disappointed in the end.

oh, and just as we had suspected, the teacher was completely fine. she was just a drama queen. which i think was a pretty bad example for the kids.

lessons start again aug. 1 and we're already looking forward to that.

fried hyldeblomst (elderflower)

2009-06-26T11:39:00.002+02:00

fried hyldeblomst

3/4 C flour

1/2 C sugar

1/2 C milk

3 eggs

a dash of vanilla

mix together into a pancake-like batter

pluck hyldeblomst (elderflowers--i wonder if these aren't what we called chokecherries when i was a kid), shake off all bugs and any loose bits (but don't rinse, that wrecks them). heat up about an inch of oil a frying pan. when it's hot enough, hold the stem and dip the flower head in the batter. fry them in the oil 'til golden brown. dust with powdered sugar and enjoy. we ate the flowery bits and left the stem, it makes a good handle for eating the flowery bits tho'. and it tastes of pure summer.

oh wow gazpacho

2009-06-26T11:31:00.001+02:00

i invented a mean gazpacho last evening with bits & pieces we had around here. and it's the best thing for hot weather. you'll have to make everyone in your vicinity eat it too, because it's really garlicky, but worth it.

gazpacho

5-6 largish-tomatoes - peeled and cut into quarters

1 cucumber - peeled and cut into chunks

1 fat clove of garlic

whiz it all up in the blender with a good glug of white wine (yes, i put white wine in everything).

add:

2 TB of soy sauce (i have a great one from the Philippines that has lime in it too--Toyomansi it's called)

1 TB pomegranate sirup

3 TB good olive oil

you could include a red pepper and an onion if you'd like, but i didn't in this batch and it's really good. put it in a jar in the fridge to chill, tho' you could throw some ice cubes in when you blitz and if your tomatoes and cuke were cold, you'd be good to go eating it right away. totally refreshing and delicious.

twice a week

2009-06-07T11:25:00.000+02:00

today was sabin's first lesson in the 40-minute batch on sundays. it's a different teacher with a totally different style, far more focused on getting the kids ready to go to a horse show--there's one at the stables at the end of the month and sabin seems interested in entering a class where you they've laid out poles on the ground, jump-style and you have to follow the numbers in the correct order and ride through it at the trot. they practiced this today with quite a complex pattern and i think sabin just might be interested in giving it a whirl at the end of the month. i guess we'll need a hunt coat!

milton's tongue is hanging out

they've changed milton's saddle since we last rode and i do think it's a youth size, tho' i had no measuring instruments with me. here's a shot of sabin holding it, if that helps a bit (she wasn't holding very still and my ISO was set too low, so it's a bit blurry).

sabin's doing very well. this group seems to be well-suited to her, tho' they've been riding for longer than she has. she just seems to be a natural. yesterday, when far asked about whether she could come another day, the teacher (same as today's teacher because sabin's regular one was sick) said she could come on sunday morning for 40 minutes or for 30, but she recommended 40, because she was too good for the 30-minute sessions. that made sabin do her little shy smile and that little snort she does when she's proud, but slightly embarrassed.

other kids are all scared and whining and falling off left and right and she just sits up straight and gives milton a kick and gets him out on the rail. she did manage to leave her gloves in the car yesterday and far is gone with the car, so she didn't have them today and missed them a lot. it's a bit hard on your hands holding the reins.

i am a failure...as a 1930s housewife

2009-06-04T21:54:00.000+02:00

As a 1930s wife, I am
Very Poor (Failure)

Take the test!

i wonder how grandma kate would have scored...

note to the cat

2009-06-04T08:08:00.000+02:00

please do not bring a mouse into the house.

especially not if they are only stunned and/or pretending to be dead.

and then please refrain from giving the mouse a little encouragement with your paw, which causes it to run off behind a box where no one can get to it and then run outside yourself due to the high-pitched screams of the child. because that's not good and it takes far a long time to get home.

drifts of hail

2009-06-04T08:01:00.000+02:00

climate change is definitely upon us. it's been windy and cloudy and blustery and rainy for two days after a glorious weekend last weekend, but this morning we awoke to this:

the terrace was covered in hail! i've never seen more than a couple of wussy little hailstones in this country, but this we could have shoveled.

it didn't seem to have damaged the garden tho', and the greenhouse is intact. so that's good.

this is a great rhubarb cake

2009-05-30T09:28:00.001+02:00

made this a couple of weeks ago (we've got rhubarb coming out of our ears after acquiring a second plant from our neighbor) and have been meaning to post it for your eating pleasure.

rhubarb cake

1/2 C butter

1-1/2 C sugar (would advise 2C if you're using organic sugar)

2 eggs

1 C buttermilk*

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

2-1/2 C flour

3 C rhubarb, diced

mix together butter, sugar, egg and vanilla. Add baking powder & salt to the flour, mix in, alternating with buttermilk. pour into a cake pan (9x13 is good).

here's where it get really good:

TOPPING:

1 C brown sugar

1/2 C chopped walnuts or pecans

i left the nuts out of the topping b/c sabin doesn't like them--which mean we put just brown sugar on--it sinks into the dough a little ways and comes out fabulous!

go, make this cake NOW, NOW, NOW!

*i actually used sour buttermilk because that's the kind of thing i find lurking in my refrigerator--it was great!

what's for dinner

2009-05-25T23:27:00.000+02:00

far's away and so we're eating things for dinner that far might not like all that much. things like carpaccio and a soft boiled egg with steamed asparagus spears dipped in it. and a little salad on the side, made of zucchini made into thin strips with a peeler and then stirred together with a bit of garlic golden rapeseed oil and a dash of balsamic and some garlic pepper, with just a few shavings of parmesan to match the parmesan on the carpaccio. it was the perfect light early summer meal.

i guess i've only got pictures of the asparagus and egg part. yummy.

Unfinished Projects, I Will Defeat You!

2009-05-17T19:39:00.004+02:00

Disgusted with my inability to complete tasks that require multiple steps, I recently embarked on a quest to finish some projects. Shortly after turning my attention to these things, I got distracted by some phone calls I needed to make, a few meal preparations, several baseball games and some music that I needed to download. Then, I finally picked up this project I started late last year. Now keep in mind, I'm only half finished. This is going to be the inside and unexposed layer of a double-layer hat. And though I should be some sort of knitting expert by now, the hat looks like it was dragged to another continent in the bottom of a suitcase and wound up and tangled hopelessly in its own ball of yarn. Oh wait, it was.

I feel a sense of victory on this one, because it's the first time I've used two colors. The black yarn is a lucious undyed baby alpaca, almost too soft to work with. And this method of decreasing (or making the round part of the hat that closes up the top) is one I've never done before. I found it quite confusing, but am confident that the other side of this hat will look better. I'm going to knit in the same pattern, with the colors inversed. Now, if I need to figure out how to pick up the live stitches from my provisional cast-on.

When I'm finished, the edge won't curl up like a women's hat. And it'll be too big for Owen.

our latest riding lesson

2009-05-10T16:44:00.000+02:00

where sabin canters all by herself, with just a little encouragement (for milton) from her new pink riding crop. she's really making progress! it won't be long 'til she's moved up to the hour-long lessons.

today's lesson

2009-05-02T18:53:00.000+02:00

i wasn't so keen on milton. i don't like how he carries his tail. it's probably the half-arab thing. and he was a bit more of a spoiled lesson horse, at least on the saddling (pawing in a rather menacing way when the saddle came near) and mounting (he tried to bite me while she got on), but he was a bit zippier and more fun for sabin to actually ride and that's what matters.

so that was lesson 7.

our half-chaps were brilliant.

fresh strawberry lemonade

2009-04-26T22:41:00.001+02:00

fresh strawberry lemonade

1 package of strawberries, hulled (i used 35-30 berries)

the juice of 2 lemons

the best part of a tray of ice cubes

1/2-1 C of sugar (depending on the sweetness of your strawberries)

blitz it all up together in a blender.

pour into a pitcher.

add to it half a large bottle of sparkling water.

serve immediately. make more.

would make a mean margarita with tequila or a daiquiri with rum.

riding in the sunshine

2009-04-18T15:26:00.000+02:00

today, sabin rode dizzy, a different horse than usual. she was a bit more spunky and less of a follower than our old trusted steed silver star. i'm really impressed with the lesson horses at this riding school. they're good, dependable, sweet, even-tempered horses that are well taken care of. but today, for the first time, someone started talking about having their own horse...we're on the slippery slope.

would someone please...

2009-04-15T09:38:00.000+02:00

...get this child a modeling contract? it helps that the sunset light of spring is totally amazing...

beautiful day at møn's klint

2009-04-11T23:59:00.000+02:00

sabin and i went to møn's klint today. it was sunny and just perfect (except for all the other people). it's better to go there on a nice day in january when no one else is there. but we still found plenty of stones to carry up all those stairs and home. and we even took a few down with us, just to take their picture (as irrelevant as that may seem). it did make us happy, so that's what matters, irrelevant or not...

here are some highlights:

the pooka with the D60 around her neck.

she's quite the budding photographer.

this is a little lizard that sabin made at school.

we thought he'd like to spend some time at the beach.

here are some of the stones we took down with us.

and these are the fossils from a previous trip

to møn's klint.

i sent them to canada

where they got these clothes made for them.

what a long trip they've been on.

* * *

we did more fun things that i'll share tomorrow.

gin & tonic sorbet

2009-04-10T16:17:00.000+02:00

i was asked recently to express myself as a flavor of ice cream. i said that i would be a gin & tonic sorbet--grown-up, sophisticated, relaxing, refreshing and with a bit of sass. something you'd like to spend time with every day. plus, it's spring and in spring one's thoughts turn to cool drinks sipped in the sunshine.

gin & tonic sorbet

first, make a sugar syrup by bringing 3C water and 1C sugar to a boil.

allow the syrup to cool.

then stir together the following in small, flat dish that will fit in your freezer. i used a flat 1.5 inch tall by A4-sized tupperware container with a lid:

1 C of the sugar syrup

1 half liter bottle of schweppes indian tonic (do not be cheap about your tonic, only schweppes will do)

the juice of 2 limes

1/2 C of gin (i used g'vine, a posh french small batch gin)

i let mine freeze overnight, but it likely would have been ready sooner--the gin keeps it from freezing into ice cube-like consistency. then, you take a fork and rake it across until it's a lovely slushy consistency, put it in a glass with a slice of lime and serve in the sun.

it's heavenly. i promise.

berry trifle dessert

2009-04-09T22:13:00.000+02:00

this was a big hit here this evening

1/2 liter of whipping cream
1 can of sweetened condensed milk
1 package frozen mixed berries (a small one is ok)
3-4 tablespoons sugar
1 package meringue cookies

whip the cream until it's almost as you'd like it for whipped cream (but not too stiff), then add most of the can of sweetened condensed milk and whip it some more. i didn't add quite all of it. it whipped into soft, creamy peaks.

mix the berries together with the sugar and let them thaw (tho' they don't have to be totally thawed before you put it together).

crumble 3 small meringue cookies in the bottom of a tall glass (i used our latte glasses from ikea). add a large dollop of the cream mixture, then spoon in the berry mixture, followed by three more crumbled cookies and another dollop of cream. save a few berries for on top or use fresh berries.

would be great with any fruit...fresh strawberries, fresh peaches, blueberries. i used frozen berries b/c it was what we had on hand. they were still a bit frozen when we ate it and that was actually really yummy.

lesson 6 and we've movin' on up

2009-04-04T14:47:00.000+02:00

sabin was invited to move to the next level at riding lessons today! so next time, we'll go half an hour earlier and ride with those who've been riding a bit longer. she was really proud of herself, it was so sweet!

so this was her last lesson on silver star. next time she'll ride a zippy little arab called "milton"

another all-star performance...

2009-03-30T16:30:00.001+02:00

at the dentist today...

she's a natural!

2009-03-29T18:29:00.000+02:00

will someone please give us a normal child?

2009-03-26T14:33:00.001+01:00

we went to the dentist today. and because we do entirely too much of this:

we needed two fillings. and one more on monday. oh, and the back baby molar on the upper right has to be pulled because it never actually came in the whole way and it's being blocked by the tooth in front and will never get loose and fall out on its own like it should. and once we got in to the two teeth that needed a filling, they decided the child needed a root canal while they were at it. all of this took over an hour. (thank goodness this is all free 'til she's 18!)

and you know what the child said through her novocaine when we left?

"mom, that was fun. they're really nice."

can you believe it?

happy birthday to mom!

2009-03-25T07:21:00.000+01:00

Happy thirty-fortieth birthday to you!

Happy birthday to you!

Happy birthday dear mom/grandma,

Happy birthday to you!!

games we play

2009-03-24T10:48:00.000+01:00

'member that one time?
'member that one time we didn't...
what's the dumbest thing you've ever heard?
i see 4 things that are yellow...
a cow says quack quack...

man, regina totally gets us...

a horse is a horse of course of course

2009-03-23T23:02:00.000+01:00

seen this morning in copenhagen

scene from the 2nd riding lesson

in motion at the second riding lesson

still happy at the 3rd lesson

following directions

we tightened up our helmet right after this

form goes all to hell when chewing gum

had to saddle up ourselves at lesson 4

and then we rode out in the open for the first time

sabin and silver star

somebody got a haircut!

2009-03-10T12:56:00.000+01:00

tired of battling rat's nests and small pesky creatures, sabin got a haircut last evening. we hope it helps. i did it and cut off a bit more than i had intended, but her hair is so thick and gorgeous, it really looks cute:

it seems to have lightened it up so much that it's curlier now than before we cut it.

working on a story

2009-03-08T17:33:00.000+01:00

we're working on a story called the tree that had a human head. husband will make it up, i will write it down and illustrate it. tree with the human head played by sabin:

what are you working on these days?

green goddess

2009-03-04T17:41:00.002+01:00

when i was warming up my leftover omelette today for lunch, i got a hankering for one of those delicious avocado shakes you can get in the philippines and singapore, so i decided to try to create one. and i succeeded beyond belief. this is one yummy way to intake avocado.

avocado shake

1 medium-large, ripe avocado (or 2 small ones) (i used two today because mine seemed small)

1 glug of plain yogurt (maybe a half a cup?)

1 cup of milk

3 tablespoons of sugar (i know it may sound wrong, but it's how they do it in the philippines)

8-10 ice cubes

put it in all in the blender and whiz it up into gorgeous green goodness. fill a tall glass and drink it. the above filled the glass you see in the photo 1 and a half times. it could have actually been lunch all by itself, but i drank it with my omelette, since it was kinda both breakfast and lunch.

highly recommended. and don't be afraid of the sugar, it doesn't really make it sweet, but it must wake up the flavors a bit. i know the one i had in singapore didn't have any yogurt, so you can also just use the milk and maybe add a few more ice cubes. i wanted mine more smoothie-like, so i used yogurt.

a first

2009-02-28T14:56:00.000+01:00

today sabin at long last had her first riding lesson (it was about time). it went very well. i was so impressed with the teacher--she had sabin already posting the trot (she's not got the hang of it yet) and she even cantered one round of the arena. then, for the last ten minutes, they removed the saddle so sabin could ride bareback and get the feel of the horse beneath her. it was a great intro and she sat very well from the beginning. even the teacher remarked on it to me.

she was pretty pleased with the horsehair on her breeches afterwards. must get her new boots & breeches as her boots didn't fit and these breeches are really short and way too tight! i made her wear them anyway, but she really needs some that fit properly.

the good news is that she really loved it. she seemed a little high and excited when it was over. and she said her legs felt funny. i told her how i used always feel short when i got down from the horse. we're definitely going back next week.

bread update

2009-02-25T19:37:00.000+01:00

pix of batch #3 of The Bread:

on this batch, we returned to ordinary organic white flour...the spelt kind did not pass the Sabin Test.

homemade remoulade

2009-02-24T09:45:00.000+01:00

last week i ordered fresh torskerogn from aarstiderne, the people who deliver our weekly organic veggie box. torskerogn is cod eggs and it's much more delicious than it might sound, tho' i'll admit it looks a little bit ugly..like big giant pairs of lungs or something. to prepare it, you wrap it in baking paper and give it a boil in a bath of water, bay leaves, peppercorns and thyme for 30 minutes or so.

i made homemade remoulade to serve with it and some fish "meatballs" that i also made from some fiskefars (fish daddies?) that i bought at the local fish store. that was delicious, by the way--a mix of cod, salmon and no doubt other stuff that i don't know about.

here's the recipe for the homemade remoulade, it's WAY better than store-bought and tastes a bit different--healthier and a bit more like a posh cole slaw. i suppose you could compare remoulade to tartar sauce in the US.

root vegetable remoulade

one medium carrot, grated

half a small celery root, grated

half a very small head of cauliflower, picked apart into very small bouquets and given a 10 second dip in boiling water (it really only needs 10 seconds)

1 leek, just the white part, finely chopped

1 handful of capers, finely chopped

2 tablespoons of finely chopped sour pickles (you could use sweet and get a flavor close to "real" remoulade)

1 handful of fresh parsley, finely chopped

1 tub of cream cheese

2 tablespoons of mayo

1 tablespoon of grainy mustard (i actually added a bit more)

a couple glugs of the pickle juice

mix the cream cheese, mayo and mustard together into a smooth mixture, add the leek, capers, pickles and parlsey, then turn the whole mixture into the carrot/celery/cauliflower mixture.

i made it a few hours ahead and put it in the fridge. despite not having cabbage in it, it was quite coleslaw-like. i thought i'd made way too big a batch, but the guests and us ate it all up. we'll definitely be making it again. note that it's a lot less yellow than the store-bought kind of remoulade.

could be served with any fish, even a fish filet, so no need to track down any torskerogn or fiskefars.

fabulous easy bread

2009-02-23T01:19:00.001+01:00

made some really good bread this weekend, it's from a danish t.v. cooking show called "buns of steel" that's currently airing on DR2--8 episodes, all about bread. this one's called "nix pille," which means "don't touch."

that means it's easy peasy.

don't touch bread

1.5 cups lukewarm water

1 pinch of yeast (she uses a shockingly small amount--i didn't quite dare, i used two pinches of those blocks of fresh yeast--maybe a teaspoon of dried if that's what you have)

1 pinch of salt

2 full cups of flour (can be a mix of wheat or spelt flour and plain, normal flour)

mix the water and the yeast together in a large bowl that's suitable for leaving the dough in to rise, then add the flour and salt. stir it only enough to mix the ingredients together. it's a very wet dough. don't be alarmed by this.

cover with a towel and leave it alone for at least 18 hours, just on the counter, not in an especially cool or warm spot. it will get really bubbly. after 18+ hours, turn it out onto a floured surface and work it a bit--not heavy kneading, just fold it over onto itself a number of times, then leave it to rest again on the conter for 20 minutes.

after 20 minutes, fold it in onto itself until it forms a rather tight ball and you feel you can't fold it in on itself again. take care not to add too much flour during this process, just flour your hands to keep them from getting too sticky, but remember this is a rather wet dough. place the dough ball into a greased bowl and set it in a warm place to rise.

when it's double in size, heat a heavy dutch oven or other lidded pot in the oven to 250C (that's probably close to 400F), then put your dough into the heated pot, place the lid on and bake for 30 minutes. remove the lid and finish baking (another 10-15 was what it took in my oven).

it made a bread very like the consistency of sinna's famous bread. and i didn't even get a chance to photograph it because it was gobbled down so fast. sabin ate a good 3/4 of the loaf herself. i've already got batch #2 bubbling away in a bowl--this time i used half spelt flour and half ordinary. it's easy and delicious.

these pictures have nothing to do with the recipe, i just don't like to post without pictures. the bottom ones are through the viewfinder of my rolleicord TLR out at buresø. that snow's already gone after how warm it was today.

playin' in the snow

2009-02-16T17:12:00.000+01:00

it's been snowing all day long. beautiful, softly falling, big fluffy flakes. it's wonderful!

so naturally, we had to build a snowman:

we used our googly ceramic eyeballs

and i made a flower sit outside and get snowed on for the sake of the macro lens:

and look how gorgeous the troll hazel tree looks!

there's even a bud on it:

and it's a bit warm, so i don't know how long the snow will last.

check out this drip:

i love my macro lens.

and one last shot of our happy snowman.

happy monday!

a valentine's day treat

2009-02-14T17:03:00.001+01:00

recipe from epicurious.com but the pictures are my own.

red velvet cupcakes

   * 3 1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
   * 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
   * 2 cups sugar
   * 3 large eggs, at room temperature
   * 6 tablespoons red food coloring
   * 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
   * 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
   * 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
   * 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
   * 1 1/2 teaspoons cider vinegar
   * 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
   * 1 recipe Creamy Vanilla Frosting

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and lightly flour three 9- by 2-inch round cake pans, then line the bottoms with waxed paper.

To make the cake: In a small bowl, sift the cake flour and set aside. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. In a small bowl, whisk together the red food coloring, cocoa, and vanilla. Add to the batter and beat well.

In a measuring cup, stir the salt into the buttermilk. Add to the batter in three parts alternating with the flour. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated, but do not overbeat. In a small bowl, stir together the cider vinegar and baking soda. Add to the batter and mix well. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl, making sure the ingredients are well blended and the batter is smooth.

Divide the batter among the prepared pans. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Let the layers cool in the pans for 1 hour. Remove from the pans and cool completely on a wire rack.

When the cake has cooled, spread the frosting between the layers, then ice the top and sides of the cake with Creamy Vanilla Frosting.

Epicurious Test-Kitchen Tip: This recipe also makes 2 dozen cupcakes. Use 2 muffin pans, each with 12 (1/2-cup) muffin cups, and line each cup with a paper liner. (There's no need to grease the cups.) Arrange the oven racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and bake the cupcakes, switching positions of the pans halfway through baking, until a tester comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool the cupcakes in the pan 10 minutes, then remove from the pan and cool completely on a rack before icing. To ice, mound about 1/4 cup of frosting on top of each cupcake and use an icing spatula to make a swirl on top. If desired, decorate with colored sprinkles.

creamy vanilla frosting:

   * 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
   * 2 cups milk
   * 2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
   * 2 cups sugar
   * 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

In a medium-size saucepan, whisk the flour into the milk until smooth. Place over medium heat and, stirring constantly, cook until the mixture becomes very thick and begins to bubble, 10-15 minutes. Cover with waxed paper placed directly on the surface and cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes.

In a large bowl, on the medium high speed of an electric mixer, beat the butter for 3 minutes, until smooth and creamy. Gradually add the sugar, beating continuously for 3 minutes until fluffy. Add the vanilla and beat well.

Add the cooled milk mixture, and continue to beat on the medium high speed for 5 minutes, until very smooth and noticeably whiter in color. Cover and refrigerate for 15 minutes (no less and no longer—set a timer!). Use immediately.

NOTE: i usually make martha's buttercream frosting, but this one is so much better and lighter and fluffier. i'll definitely use it again!

NOTE: this recipe made 28 cupcakes. and way more frosting than needed. we should have piled it on a bit more. :-)

a little luck...

2009-02-13T15:48:00.002+01:00

for the weekend

two quilts down

2009-02-06T11:20:00.016+01:00

finished my teal ikea fabric "cheater" quilt (cheating because it's backed with a fleece, not really quilted):

and last saturday, karoline made this sunny, cheerful lap quilt. it's backed with black satin (that's what she wanted):

she still has to hand-stitch the binding on the back side, but then it's done. i'm so pleased that she wanted to make something. i guess we actually are influencing by example.

so we're already getting good use out of the new machine:

next up, a fairy costume for sabin's upcoming school play--she's playing a fairy in sleeping beauty. these are the materials i bought to make it:

and i'm going to try out a few of the fancy stitches the machine can do and sew these felt flowers to a ready-made pillow case i bought in ikea:

killing time

2009-02-01T21:46:00.004+01:00

oh, oh, after all that fun with the campaign button maker, now we've found the obamicon maker. look at what fun it is:

go, make some too and post them here.

a good use for carrots

2009-01-30T16:42:00.014+01:00

as you know, there are always carrots in this house because there are always carrots in our organic veggie box. for lunch today, i had no more leftover spaghetti, so i decided to put some carrots to good use and make a tasty soup.

carrot ginger apple soup

1 medium onion, sautéed
8 large carrots, peeled and diced
1 large parsnip, peeled and diced
2 oranges, freshly squeezed
1 apple, diced
1 hunk of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
1 liter veggie boullion

sauté onions until translucent in a good, fragrant olive oil, add carrots, parsnip and apple, sauté a few more minutes. add orange juice and boullion. cook until carrots and parsnip are soft (20 minutes or so). blitz with a hand blender. top with a dollop of creme fraiche and a sprinkling of finely-chopped curly kale (that's what i had around, basil or even sage would do just as well).

although i'm trying to make more vegetarian food, there were a couple of pieces of bacon on the counter from the other day, so i crumbled them on top. it was wonderful.

i would normally lean towards putting a bit of cream in, but it was so velvety even without it that i left it out. and didn't miss it at all.

yes we can!

2009-01-28T12:00:00.018+01:00

maybe in the spirit of our new president, this blog should be transformed into the "yes we can" blog. i just read here about some other sisters who are encouraging each other in their art.

so, i'm here to kick it off. we are going to refuse to participate in the global economic crisis, it's just too depressing anyway. if you took the newspaper and cut out every negative, scare-mongering story to do with the GEC, you'd find that there wasn't much newspaper left and you'd also be missing your t.v. listings, which is another reason to do it, as far as i'm concerned.

we are creative, capable, innovative, forward-thinking people who can make cool shit that people will want. so, keep your plasma, get out from behind the computer and start knitting, baby. in 2009 we will become a creative force to be reckoned with. and you read it here first.

since we didn't really get to watch

2009-01-27T20:09:00.002+01:00

since we weren't paying full attention to obama's inauguration, i thought we should have another crack at it:

and if that's not enough, there's also this:

yes, we are still alive

2009-01-23T10:09:00.001+01:00

we've just been offline for a few days while we did this...

forced child to look at giant rock (supposed birth "certificate" of denmark) in freezing cold wind:

climbed 170 stairs to the top of a lighthouse:

made husband do jump shots on the windy top of an old german bunker:

explored every bunker within a 5 km radius:

and climbed on them:

ate an obscene amount of food:

and then some more:

had a hard time making child leave cold beach:

indulged in a bit of silliness in the cut up barrel of a giant german gun:

walked around copenhagen in furry purple boots:

went up the round tower as it got dark:

and much, much more....

testing jason

2009-01-18T11:15:00.000+01:00

when husband heard that my sister was bringing her new boyfriend over for a visit, he immediately began scheming all sorts of elaborate plans for putting jason to the test. he remembered when he was first brought into the family fold and all of the tests he went through...he painted a small barn, he mowed my parents' enormous lawn (it's very nearly so big that when you're done it's time to start again on the part where you started), he was put on the back of a horse, he was sent to the river with what turned out to be a battery-less jetski and asked to troubleshoot getting it started. all sorts of man tests. so he eagerly looked forward to passing along the tradition.

since it's winter and jason couldn't be asked to mow the lawn or paint the house, husband's thoughts immediately turned a bit more towards elaborate practical jokes. we moved from testing to hazing. and he enlisted the help of his sister.

it just so happens that she works in a sterile environment at a pharmaceutical factory, packing the medicine for distribution. it's one of those hyper clean, FDA rules covering every aspect, kind of places. you wear white sterile suits and special footwear, your hair is covered. so husband cooked up a scheme in which we would go visit his sister at her home for dinner, but when we arrived, we would all put these suits on as if it were perfectly normal.

mid-afternoon, husband called me. the rest of us were enjoying a hot cocoa and a latte at the local cafe. he told me that the dept. where his sister worked had some special warning to their employees about contact with people from the US and africa due to some bacterial outbreak fears. he said our visit to his sister that evening was in jeopardy because she didn't want to violate any rules her work laid down and jeopardize her job in these tough economic times. i asked him to keep me posted and passed this along.

a couple of hours later, when husband came home, he said that his sister had called and that she had gotten permission from her manager to go ahead with our dinner plans at her house, but that we would have to take some precautions and answer a questionnaire when we arrived. one of those questionnaires like when you enter a country.."have you been in a farm in the past two weeks," and the like.

when we arrived, we peered in the glass door to see husband's sister and her family, all clad in the white sterile suits. out on the stoop were a basket of suits for us and some pretty candles. we were to put on the white suits over our clothing before going in.

husband's sister and her family, also protective suit-clad, waited in the entry-way. we could go in as we got our suits on. my sister had difficulty not laughing. and jason kept telling her to be nice.

soon jason was ready to begin answering the questions. at first, they seemed serious, but grew increasingly preposterous, as we moved towards the reveal that it was a practical joke.

husband read the questions from a big binder, since he had to translate.

at "do you like pork roast, children and the danish flag? it begins to dawn on jason that something's up.

"how do you feel about practical jokes?"

and being a super good sport!

and a big hug for the hostess.

we all had a great laugh, confirmed that jason is awesome and proceeded to have a wonderful evening together, eating a very danish pork roast and drinking far too much wine, beer and port. and husband felt he had done his part to welcome jason to the family. after all, what are you gonna remember?

#300

2009-01-12T22:47:00.000+01:00

this is the 300th post on this blog. pretty good in about a year. even if i did most of them. :-)

and, like many of them, i'm using it to share fabulous pictures. because i do so love my nikon D60. best purchase i've ever made. well, at least it's right up there...

first, invitations for an upcoming birthday in our household...

then some beautiful, but busy creative hands...

and lastly a self-portrait which i had fun with in Lightroom2. i'm addicted. and actually, it's not really a self-portrait so much as a picture husband took. i'm all about the eyelashes.

looking forward....

2009-01-08T20:53:00.000+01:00

to scenes like this:

and this:

Gramma Goot's Banana Bread

2009-01-06T23:35:00.003+01:00

Looked for this here, didn't find it. Emailed Mom & she sent it right over. I subbed in 1/4 c. of the whole wheat flour I got from Aunt Karen recently. I'll have to let you know if that was a good move.

***********

Grandma Goot's BANANA BREAD

1/2 C. butter

1 C. sugar

2 eggs

2 C. flour

1/2 t. salt

1 t. baking powder

1/2 t. soda

2 T. buttermilk

1 1/2 C. bananas (3)

1/2 C. walnuts

Combine everything, adding the mashed bananas last. (mash with a fork or potato masher).

Bake 45-55 min. at 350. Test with a toothpick in the center. If it comes out clean, it is done. It is easy to get hasty and end up with a raw doughy spot in the center of your 'na bread.

ya gotta love the onion.

2009-01-06T11:25:00.000+01:00

this is hilarious:

next time

2009-01-03T10:39:00.000+01:00

next time you leave your power cord in so dak, just do up one of these :

isn't that hilarious?

scenes from new year's eve

2009-01-01T19:17:00.000+01:00

i've been sick for a week and husband has now caught my flu, but it didn't stop us from going to a small gathering on new year's eve. mostly because they were depending on us for the main course (beef wellington) and the dessert (another of those beautiful chocolate jule log cakes).

here are some of the highlights in pictures...

you can see that husband's not feeling that well.

mmm, sushi.

ya gotta love sparklers in the house.

and the fireworks!

and a good pina colada! yum.

happy new year!

2009-01-01T01:26:00.000+01:00

kids in denmark are allowed sparklers in the house...

A Few Questions from my 7 year-old

2008-12-27T03:22:00.002+01:00

Owen - Mom? How come in this picture your hair is all... um... crazy?
Mom - Well, Owen, it was the late 80's and that's about the only excuse I can come up with.
Owen - So... they didn't have brushes?

buche de nöel

2008-12-25T13:07:00.001+01:00

and here is the finished masterpiece. i might not have the heart to let anyone eat it...

it's christmas!

2008-12-25T11:32:00.002+01:00

my fever has abated today and although i'm still sneezing and coughing and hacking, i was inspired to make a julelog christmas cake! buche de nöel, they're also called. i have to say that i'm so proud i feel i've very nearly outdone myself! we're going out for pinecones to finish decorating it now, but check it out in the meantime:

and some opening of prezzies pictures from last evening...

and with silly far...

and one shot of the tree. i couldn't find our real christmas lights and we probably didn't have enough for this huge tree anyway, so i ran two strings of purple star lights up the trunk of the tree. we'll put real candles on it this evening. but see how tall it is!

after we ate a creamy pumpkin soup with chorizo and ate some sandwiches, we read twas the night before christmas and then sabin was allowed to open some of her prezzies.

merry christmas!