Erik had asked if we could have a "non-meat-week". He'd even planned the meals. It was a lot of fish and vegetarian dishes. He even offered to cook them all. He managed 3 dishes including these stir fried jumbo shrimp. Tonight he was too busy packing for his trip to the US so I made potato balls for him.
I don't know what came over me. Yesterday, I fell over these 2,5 feet long strows at the grocery store. Rita and Axel were crazy about them. We had them standing up drinking both for breakfast and lunch. It got a bit tiring after a while with all the getting up and down through the meals. Ellen had no sympathy. I had asked for it :-)
Once again Erik made a spectacular dish - Fried egg cake - is the English translation from German. It was made from a cake mix we bought in Berlin. It's cake, custard, apricots and clear jello. Very good.
In Rita's class they have been counting how many milk teeth has been changed since January. Rita hasn't been a big contributor but yesterday she added tooth number 101 to the collection. She was very happy and proud.
Erik has been longing for his first soccer match of the season. It took place yesterday. The boys played very well but got behind half way through the game. They had a lot of ball possession but also had a hard time getting the ball into the goal. But in the end things started to work for them and they ended up with 3-3. It was very exciting.
Ellen had mailordered some summer clothes for the kids. The package arrived today while Ellen is away on school this weekend. I had a lot of scruples if we could open the package. It was after all a project between Ellen, Rita and Axel. Well, I needn't think too much. Once Rita saw the box it was open!
Once again Erik helped us to a very special meal. He had picked up this recipe for salmon and lentils at the grocey store. The salmon was put on top of a salad mixed with lentils, orange, red onion and mush room. It was exquisite.
We have had amazing weather over the holidays. Sunday night we made a bon fire. Axel enjoyed roasting marshmallows over the fire.
Yesterday, the kids had talked us into going to the beach after the opera. The weather changed completely during the performance. So we ended up sitting with blankets over our shoulders eating pizza waiting for the kids to work up enough nerve to jump in the water.
This afternoon we were at the Royal Opera to see a new opera made over the book "The brothers Lionheart" by Astrid Lindgren. The music was dramatic and the singers really good. At one part of the piece drummers were placed on 3 floors - in fact one of the drummers were just 3 meters from us - playing a tribal rhytm that echoed through all of the theatre. It was a spectacular!
I have always liked the tale of the brothers Lionheart. It's about heroism and fraternal love when deepest. As I get older though - and perhaps also being a father, the part I find the most is the mother losing her two sons.
Krister emailed us last week. Anton, Conny and Elly-Britt's oldest grandson, was to wrestle in the Copenhagen wrestling cup. The cup was in Skovlunde 15 minutes drive from our house. Neither of us had ever seen a wrestling match before went. It was a huge tournament with 350 competitors from more than 5 countries, including Sweden and Denmark. I don't know why, but it surprised us that both boys and girls would wrestle.
It was amazing to watch the intensity of the kids before going on the floor. They were so focused on the game. Their pulse high and breathing heavy. Prepared to the forthcoming battle.
Anton was very good at wrestling. He showed great muscle and intellect in the way he handled his competitor. Basically, he just threw them to the floor. He made it all the way to the final and won silver. It was great!
One of my favorite short stories is by Ray Bradbury. It's among other things about the joy associated with the smell of freshly cut green grass.
Well, for poor Erik it wasn't any joy to cut grass today. The grass had grown too tall to cut with the push lawn mower. Nonetheless, Erik put a lot of labor and muscle in to pushing the machine but to no avail. Needless to say, Erik was very happy when the neighbor came over and offered to lend out his electric lawn mower. Erik didn' even have to think twice before accepting the offer.
It looks very dramatic. In reality it is a daddy long leg which has just left its cocoon. We came upon it when we went for a walk in Broslätt. As a can see the insect must just have left its shelter. The wings were all soft and it was obviously drying.
The daddy long leg was just one of several insects we came upon that day. It must have been the warm spring weather that brought them out.
I believe the kids most likely will remember the beetle we fished out of the water in the creek. It had two very long strings (10-15 cm) attached to its behind. The strings broke off when the beetle got up on land. And they moved back in to the water!!! We could not decide if it was an intestinal worm, the beetle was laying eggs or perhaps just pooping.
Rita had Emily visit her. Suddenly we had 4 girls climbing the trees in front of the house. They enjoyed themselves and so did Ellen and I while working in the garden. Although from time to time we heard language which would make a sailor blush.
It's just a wee bit after midnight and I just picked up a very happy son at the school. He was just so full of good spirits and stories: "A waiter spilled soda down the neck of Chris", and "I ate 3 bowls of ice cream for dessert it was so sick" and"We played laser tag, my team won and I got most hits - 15.000 points" and and...
Today I started my new job. My office is right next to the Botanical gardens. This is the view from my desk. I'm looking forward to realizing some of my ideas and projects for the organization: Openness/dialague and gender are some of the issues I hope to raise on the short term.
This day Erik also went on "Blue Monday" in Copenhagen. "Blue Monday" is a custom where the children who has just been confirmed are allowed to take a day out of school and spend it on their own hand in the city. It's possible since we have a state church where all the children in 7th grade on our school are confirmed on the same weekend - if they are members of the state church of course. Eventhough Erik's confirmation is not until next year, he was invited along with all of his friends.
Erik had looked so much forward to it. Normally he has easy to sleep and sleeps late if allowed, but last night he couldn't fall asleep and he was almost the first up this morning. I can understand him. Part of the program was to eat at a restaurant downtown and then visit Tivoli. A couple of the parents from the class accompanied the group to keep an eye on them and help if needed.
The weather has been amazing this weekend. This evening we grilled and had dinner outside. It was a real summer meal - green asparagus, potato salad and the lots.
I should perhaps add that spring time in Southern Sweden is synonymous with fresh green asparagus. The greens we had was, however, from Hungary - although purchased in Sweden.
What a wake up call. Friday, the kids prepared waffles-breadrolls-bacon-sausages-scrampled eggs-fried egg-cheese and coffee for breakfast. What a treat!
Ascension Thursday usually means a 4 day weekend in Denmark. Ellen unfortunately had to work, but the kids and I went to the house in Sweden. Rita and Axel had a blast Thursday fooling around with the wheel barrow. Rita had to "pay" to ride for a ride. It meant she had to run 3 times around the house before Axel would do the same with her in the barrow.
Last night we went to a get together for all the parents in Rita's class. It was a dinner with out kids. At the party we were divided into 10 different groups which were supplied with a recipe and the responsibility to cook the meal. It was a very international menu so we had wantons, Moroccan lamb stew, marinated cod etc etc. It was very good.
We just got back from Nicole's confirmation. It was a very nice party. We were very happy to be invited. Karen's sister Eva had invited us to stay the night at their place for which we are very a grateful . To day we had brunch with everybody. The children really hit it off together. Rita almost wanted to adopt Nicole as he older sister. The weather was excellent. It really just made it a perfect visit.
- - - I forgot to add. It was an excellent menu. We had smoked salmon wrapped in tortillas with spinach and cream cheese, rumb steak with small roasted potatoes as well as a mixed green salad and an ice cream cake. It was delicious.
I've made a movie with some of the pictures from our visit. You can find it here.
Last week Erik celebrated his birthday with a couple of friends. Erik had been very adamant that he wanted a big burger with 300 g (2/3 a pound) of beef for his birthday meal. We ended up making Roethlisberger burgers named after Pittsburgh Steelers QB. Of course the burger was so big Erik couldn't finish it all off. But he was happy. Afterwards the boys went to the movies and saw Superhero movie. They really enjoyed themselves!
Last year we got a fitness studio at my work. I have been visiting the place a couple of times a week since November. The boys have been very curious to see it, so Saturday the Qvistgaard boys went to Copenhagen to build some muscle!
Saturday we once again paid a visit to the Children's museum. This time to visit the robot festival. Among other things the boys and I had a chance to program a Lego robot. It was fun - and a bit difficult, but very educational. It didn't take Axel very long to decide to add Lego mindstorms to his permanent wish list.
It's amazing. In a year Erik has grown 13 cm or 5,1 inches. That's as much as he's grown in the 3 previous years altogether. On his 14th birthday Erik is, a you can see, certifiably 167,5 cm or 5 foot 6 inches. He has become quite a young man.
Erik also made sure that we this year once again were the first in the neighborhood to fire up the old Weber grill as his request for birthday dinner was hot dogs with bratwurst and baked beans and brownies and ice cream for dessert.
Last night it was Axel's turn to perform at the school's annual spring concert. Axel had been very secretive about which instrument he was to play. So we were very curious when we showed up at the school. The kids did really great I think in my completely unbiased view.
In the last couple of weeks a couple of the oldergirls have been practicing a dance with some of the girls at Rita's after school club. Today we saw the results. Rita really enjoyed herself although she was a bit apprehensive before the show since she hadn't been in school the past week due to her chicken pox. But she did well and enjoyed herself as well.
Poor Rita! She broke out with chicken pox yesterday. Rita had been a bit cranky most of Saturday. She complained of head ache and sore throat.
Sunday morning Rita was up very early. She was very excited about Easter. She even rolled up her curtain and almost saw the Easter bunny (:-) in the back yard hiding his eggs.
So when midday came illness and lack of sleep made her dose off on the couch. The music didn't bother at all. In fact it was Rita who had "borrowed" Erik's cell phone to play music on.
We had stumpled across this recipe for some neat little Easter cakes. Ellen made this today with Rita and her friend Cecilie. Right now the cakes are sitting on the dining table waiting for Ellen and the boys to return from the movies. Rita and I are having a hard time keeping our fingers from the cakes.
We had the Zuleta boys staying over night during Easter (Rita's Godmothers' sons). Axel got the idea they should play with Erik's old Warhammer figures. The game ended with the decision that we had to make a trip to Copenhagen and get a box with 110 new dwarfs, goblins, trolls and I don't know what. Both boys have now spent 4 days glueing and painting their new models.
It was a fast paced hunt but the Easter bunny managed nonetheless once again to avoid being both caught and seen. He did however leave a very nice Easter egg. I believe lots of it already has disappeared.
Before it started snowing in Sweden the kids had found some old bikes. They also discovered a hill - which is a bit steeper than appears on the video. Well, you can guess what happened. They had a lot of fun racing down the hill.
We took some time out of the calendar and went to the summerhouse in Sweden Saturday to Tuesday of this week. Monday it just started snowing. We went for a long walk in the forrest. Axel and Ellen was certain that we had went through the wardrobe and in to Narnia. The landscape was truely magic. When we got back to the house we had about 3 inches of snow on the ground.
Can you believe it. 7 years old. Rita had a full birthday package. The day started with fresh baked rolls. The we had all the girls from Rita's kindergarten class for a great birthday bash and ended up with have Farmor, Baba, Merete, Edith, Felicia and the Zuletas for dinner.
Ellen had a usual been creative. This time she had created a Dalmatian. That is - it was meant to be a dalmatian, but once the white icing had come on the cake we couldn't figure out a good way of adding the black dots. So it ended up being a white dog!
Last week we had an awesome vacation in Northern Sweden. We had lots of snow and sun. We all had fun skiing and playing in the snow. Did some one say the Vikings enjoyed rolling in the snow after sitting in the sauna? We did it! Unfortunately Erik hit a pole when taking a lift to the top of the mountain. He had to five stitches. It took a couple of days for him to get on the skis again.
Meanwhile we compensated by going on a scooter safari - both Erik and I enjoyed it. Those machines have an amazing pick up and a top speed around 100 miles per hour. We only managed 50 but it was fast.
Fastelavn is the Danish celebration before Lent - like Mardi Gras. The children go trick or treating sort of like the anglosaxon Halloween tradition. Rita, Axel and Hanna (Axel's really good friend) spent a good part of the afternoon together. They got lots of candy and coins. For the first time Erik preferred to stay at home.
The kids and I went to bubble festival at the Childrens' museum yesterday. An American artist, Tom Noddy, performed the most awesome show. It was amazing what he could do with soap bubbles. Here is a little video of the performance. I think it's easy to hear how excited the boys were about the show.
I believe Ellen had a great birthday. In the morning we exchanged gifts. The kids gave Ellen a gold necklace to match the pendant Mary and Gary gave her in Prague. I had among other things found a gift pack of jelly beans with a collection of 40 flavors.
In the evening we went to a fondue restaurant and then to the opera to watch the Danish opera Maskerade. It was the first time we had the children to the opera and they really seemed to enjoy it. They all stayed awake all the way to the end around 11 PM.
Saturday we celebrated our 40th birthday. We had a lot of fun. As is customary at Danish parties we had personal songs. I had made one for Ellen and my parents had made one for both of us. The children also had a fun song in several "languages" - fx. consisted the Russian verse mostly of Danish words added a "ski" in the end (you can hear part of the song in the video). The song accentuated the global company - we were all together 5 different nationalities from 2 continents.
We had found a caterer who made a wonderful menu: First course: Potato cake with cod, bacon and red beet, shrimp saslik with aioli, bread and tapenade Main: Veal tenderloin with pineapple/chili relish, potato gratin with parsnip and carrots and a onion pie. Dessert: Crepes with custard and rich chocolate mousse.
We had had fun picking a French Gewurztraminer for the first course, an Italian red for the main course and a Spanish muscat for dessert.
It was very good.
Erik, Axel and Rita was of great help. They helped serve and clear off the table.
After dinner we danced and talked. The children managed to get most of our guests to join a game of musical chairs.
As gifts we got 3 electric tea kettles and a toaster. As our friend Laurent said, now we are ready to open a bed and breakfast.
We had a great time today. For Christmas Ellen gave us all tickets for Film X which is a small movie studio down town.
It was fun. First we went to the studio to tape the film. After that we went to a sound studio to add dialogue. Finally we cut the movie and added sound effects.
The kids really got into it. Rita wanted to be a princess, Axel dinosaurs and Erik wanted something with a vampire or mad scientist. I believe we managed to please all.
The story line is as follows. The scientist arrives in the future where dinosaurs are in the streets. Suddenly a knight and princess arrives for the medieval ages. The scientist realizes he has messed up things. He pushes a button and converts time. The scientist swings back into the past to set things straight.
Erik and Axel had made sure we had lots of fireworks for New Years Eve. We had been to the shop for at least 4 times filling up with supplies. It was great and spectacular.
Kirsten and Jens, David, Nadja and Marik joined us for the evening. The menu was a roll of puffed pastry with spinach, mozarelle and olives served with pureed mushrooms. Salted pork tenderloin, red beet salad and potatoes. For dessert we had ginger mousse in chocolate cups.
