just call me greta garbo

it's friday evening and i find myself blissfully alone. husband is attending a party in stavanger and the child took the train over to the other side of the country to attend a sleep-over with her best friend. so it's just me and the cats this evening. and a nice bottle of south african chenin blanc (with just a hint of voignier, as it brags on the label). and possibly a nibble or two of goat cheese.

i am in need of quiet. of my book. of my knitting. of a bit of frivolous television. i must charge up for tomorrow - an event i've been planning and working on for weeks is finally happening. there were wrenches thrown into the works all week and one big one today, but it's all ok now. i am a superwoman problem solver, despite my lack of a cape. as we say in danish, det ska nok gå. but first, a blissful evening alone. those are few and far between, but very, very welcome.

happy weekend, one and all.

* * *

an incredible story of a family who lived isolated for 40 years in the russian taiga.

talk about self-sufficiency.

wine and clinton make everything better

my breakfast - doesn't really have anything to do with the post, i just thought it looked pretty.

i've mentioned it before, but i just want to say that it's really true that if you come yourself with positive energy, it can have an enormous effect on a situation and your experience with other people. i am also fully aware that this is easier said than done.

last night, i was dreading my meeting after my previous encounter with the troglodyte at the helm of the group. i had tried to speak to him a week later at another meeting and his response to my saying that i found his name-calling unacceptable and would appreciate that he refrain in the future was "kom an" or "bring it on."(hence my blatant calling him a troglodyte - i figure if it's ok for him to call me names, i can do it too.)  i will admit i was quite in despair that anything would ever get better. but i reminded myself that i had as much right to be part of the group as he did and that i wouldn't let my fear of his bad behavior keep me from showing up and contributing.

and then i had a glass of wine.

and i watched the daily show. and it was the one from last week, where my boyfriend jon stewart talked about my boyfriend clinton's speech at the DNC. and it put me in a positively euphoric mood. and although it made me a few minutes late for the meeting (i couldn't leave jon and clinton alone here at my house when they had been so kind as to come by), it changed everything.

my positive energy filled the room and affected some of the others as well - bowled them over a little bit, actually. and we had a great meeting wherein a lot of people had their say and expressed opinions similar to mine about how we need to involve the community to get buy-in for the project. and the troglodyte sat at the head of the table, sour puss expression on his face, and his energy was no longer allowed to pervade the group, because it had been replaced with positive energy. i won't even say my energy, because mine only started it and then it snowballed and became the positive energy of everyone in the room.

so the lesson here: a little alcohol and politics really can change the world.

or at least my little corner of it.

~  *  ~

i know that it's september 11, but i really can't join in the memorial cavalcade of posts. tho' that day changed the whole world and we are still reeling from the repercussions, it feels quite remote and in some sense always has. because it did happen at a physical distance from me in my safe, comfy life in denmark. and i didn't know anyone who was involved or injured or killed there that day. i've never even been in new york. which isn't to say that i don't, in my own way, mourn the tragedy of those lost lives, it's just that it was and remains somehow very far away from me.

the evening it happened, we drifted, together with friends, to the american embassy, where others had also gathered in some unspoken agreement and we stood there together in stunned silence, many of us holding candles. someone began to sing a haunting song (i don't remember which one) a capella. it was a welling up of solidarity that came naturally as a response to the tragedy.  sadly, looking at the world, i'd say it's dissipated greatly today. so that's all i have to say about september 11.

the lazy days of summer

ahh, the summer holiday is here at last. friday was the last day of school, so now we settle in for staying up late, getting up late, relaxing,  some good food on the grill, days at the beach, a bit of floating down the creek on an air mattress. and a good book and the occasional glass of wine. i'm not entirely sure how this is different than most days, but we're already enjoying it. 

recipe for a perfect saturday

if you want to have a perfect saturday, here's what you need:

1 glorious, sunny day with temps in the lower 70s
1 husband, busily working in the garden, but not requiring anything from you
1 8-year-old daughter, calling out cheerfully and laughing frequently in the distance
1 friend for 8-year-old daughter (keeps her out of your hair)
1 peaceful, out-of-the-way spot in the garden (preferably with lots of comfy pillows)
1 stack of cookbooks to browse through, looking for inspiration
1 macbook pro
2 nikons (one w/60mm macro lens and one w/18-200mm zoom)
1 pot of mint tea
1 excellent wifi signal

add buzzing bees, flitting butterflies, singing birds and 6 meters of lavender for atmosphere.

these are my four favorite cookbooks. the ones i return to again and again. nigella lawson's forever summer, jamie oliver's happy days with the naked chef, sam & sam clark's first moro cookbook and nigel slater's real food. if i had to get rid of all of my other (100 or so) cookbooks and keep only four, it would be these four.

add in that when i went to the grocery store, they had a special on 6 bottles of a great spiers vintage selection sauvignon blanc (i saved 330 kroner or $60 off the regular price) if i hadn't been on my bike i'd have bought 12, but six is good too and i also discovered i could carry a box of six bottles of wine on the little carrier on my bike, which is good to know. and i love spiers (only delheim do i love more and i never see any here in denmark).

i stopped by our wonderful fish store in town. the owner is so friendly and pleasant, i definitely go out of my way to go there a couple of times a week. today, i bought a beautiful piece of halibut, which is marinating in golden locally-produced cold-pressed rapeseed oil, ginger, slices of lemon and white wine, plus a bit of cilantro from the herb garden. i also bought a handful of big crab claws that i'm going to dig all the good meat out of and make a crab crostini appetizer (inspired by nigella). with tarragon potato salad - tarragon and potatoes from our own garden, it will be a lovely summer dinner. and it will go brilliantly with the sauvignon blanc.

hoping your saturday is perfect too, wherever you are.

a 7-year-old's b-day party in denmark

attended nephew's 7th birthday party this evening. ya gotta love a country where such a birthday party looks like this...

why yes, that is my wine. thank you very much for filling it with that lovely south african chenin blanc/chardonnay blend.