Acquiring a new piece of land..

For sometime I have known that a patch of land somewhere out there in the vast fields surrounding my house was included in the purchase of the farm. With the help of a GPS, me, my sister and brother-in-law managed to find it last summer:
My little patch  was totally integrated in a huge cultivated field a long way off!

Now. Who was the owner of  the field? Who was cultivating my little piece of land? Yesterday I finally found out! By chance! It was owned by my next door neighbour!

And last night we had coffee at my house and made a deal!

So today, I got a long strip of land in flush with my little road to the left of the garden as a parcelling agreement on my field patch that he´s been using for years. It was a "handshake" deal - doing it for real would have been a time consuming and costly land registration exercise.

My new "land" has cherry trees and was earlier used for growing potatoes.

After serving some homebaked cookies (and a sherry!) he agreed in addition to plow the ground for me in spring! :-)

So now I know where I will start my new vegetable garden in the spring!

Happy, happy!!
I will have tomatoes, and carrots and cabbage and beans and...

Homemade limonchello..

Today I finally got around to make my own limonchello, which will have matured into its full flavor well before Xmas.(If there is anything left by then!)

It is made from lemon zest (traditionally from the Sorrento lemon in Southern Italy, though most lemons will produce satisfactory limoncello), alcohol, water, and sugar. It is light to bright yellow in color, sweet and lemony, but not sour since it contains no lemon juice.

The recipe I used (which also contains vanilla sugar) is from Sardinia, mailed to me by my friend Helmut who lives there:
 "Peel the skin of 5 lemons without the white underneath (it is bitter!) cut them in little peaces into the jar 0.5 l of alcohol 95 %
(if not available you can use vodka - 1 liter, but in this case skip the water)

0.5 l water, 300 g sugar, 1 packet of vanilla sugar about 10 g

Put all into the bottle and then close firmly

for ten days. Every morning or so, shake the bottle so the sugar is melting good
- after that filter, chill it icy cold and enjoy!"

. I also started a liquour Benedictine made in a very easy manner:

Pour some vodka - or brännvin as we use in Sweden - with a little sugar into a jug and clean an orange well and pierce it all around. Have it hang above the alcohol filled jug for some time. Be surprised how soon it starts to take on the original taste of a real Benedictine!

This trick I learned here from the native Gotlanders!

The real stuff!

It is easy! And I love it. So will you I hope.
Try it out and enjoy!

Learn a few useful Swedish expressions!

The first snow fell today in Gotland..

The radiators are turned up, the last apples are picked and stored and the gloves and winter stuff are fetched from the attic. The "rat-man" came and placed the rat traps. It was high time! Oh, am I happy to have a warm house thanks to the new installation of the air/waterpump. (Now, I just have to pay the bill!)Ha!

New blog log?

   

Getting tired of the old logo I tried to make some new ones yesterday.

Well..I don´t really know..

   These are others I made a long time ago..

Or this - oh, I already featured this logo with the old typewriter
I photographed on a hotel in Pisa acouple of years ago..

And this one with the archipelago theme I made in the days when the island of Sandhamn was the only topic on the blog agenda and "from-the-days-of-just-Swedish-texts" ..

As was this.. a bit pretentious, I think.. and never published. Thanks god.

Another one from the Swedish speaking days..made from a pic of

the sweetpeas in my sister´s beautiful garden.
Well. I don´t know. Maybe I will stick to the old one for a while more..

Returning to Gotland..

 ..I find the cherry tree outside my window shedding her yellow leaves. Is a bit like the feeling of a grand old lady changing gracefully into her winter wardrobe.

 

This is how she looked in May, 6 months back. Dressed up for summer in her prettiest pastel outfit! Cherry fragrance behind her both earlobes! Full of "cherry-berry-summer" expectations."

Stockholm, October.

Two pictures through my lens trying out an artistic twist..

A treat or a threat to human witches?

 It is all a matter of semantics!

 

Grinning for a few moments more..and one might soon lose one´s green nose!

 

Todays philosophical conclusion:
Hold back your broad grin for a bit if you happens to be sweet, orange and delicious!
Happy Halloween!

Last night I sneeked back into Stockholm again..

..for a somewhat nostalgic trip..

..that took me right into Stockholm´s marvellous "Les Halles"..the warm, cosy and welcoming "Östermalmshallen."

Östermalms Saluhall – Here you’ll find a different, tasty world like you did once in Paris´ Les Halles. A far cry from the modern, plastic mart´s.

 

It has been there since 1888 for the joy of the people of Stockholm, when its business began to blossom into a real asset for Stockholm’s many lovers of good food. In those days anyone who really appreciated good food and the finest ingredients flocked here. Chefs and restaurateurs who were purveyors to the royal household mingled with ordinary folk, standing in the same queue at their favourite stall to buy from one of the many dedicated traders.

  

A glassy view into Lisa Elmqvist´s shellfish bar..

At horrifying prices they come these horrifying but delicious fish..Always bitingly fresh.

In 1988, at the Food Hall´s Centennial, I was the project manager for the celebration activties and spent almost  year in Östermalmshallen preparing for the big party and surrounding activities - so I got to know Östermalmshallen quite well along with its staff and the provisions and food stuffs and produce.The food hall still stands today with its many stalls´ exquisite carvings in dark painted wood. 

I grew up on the same block as the Hall and frequently joined my parents in those days to buy smoked salmon fens and home made salmon pudding - a true treat they still prepare today.

The square outside, Östermalmstorg in the end of October 2009. New buildings are erected, small outdoor market stands still sell flowers and fruit. The church is Hedvig Elonora and the clock on the tower has been guiding me about a million times on when to take off for school - long before I got my own first wrist watch. Just love the toll of its bell. But it makes me instantly feel like collecting my books and dash off to school a few blocks away..

Back in Sandhamn..

End of October. Gray days in the Stockholm archipelago

We light candles and make delicious soup. And there are log fires..

Dinner at my friend´s house and a game of Carcassone afterwards. The distance is not very far from her house to my mine.

Soup, champagne, wine in the dark Scandinavian night by the sea.

Rosehips from the beach are supposed to be extraordinarily healthy to eat..

A rather cosy season now starts in this outpost in the Baltic..I am now closing the water pipes for the season and stacking up with bottled fresh water in the fridge. Just in case I will be back for New Years..