Bea Bea Bea (Bread)

 Bea's favorite TV program right now is "Sweden's Youngest Master Chef", a sort of cooking competition for kids her age and a bit older. Some of these kids are pretty amazing! She's been practicing cooking herself, so I proposed that she make dinner yesterday: stovetop grilled sweet potato, asparagus, and tri-tip steaks.

Being a Swede, she wanted to make a sauce too. And Edwin on this program had made a Bearnaise sauce once, so we thought she could give it a go:

There's a joke in here, because Bearnaise sauce is popular enough in Sweden that it has a slang term, "Bea". And then there's the shirt. And Bea herself. The sauce was great, and had much better consistency than Edwin's!

Hans braved the rains and went and bought some bread for breakfast...

The week in review

Another week flown by. We've yet to see much really nice weather here, a good day might bring some sun and temperatures in the mid teens, but there's still mostly a chill in the air and we haven't had any stretch of beautiful early summer days like we're used to getting in April and May. And this month is set to be the rainiest on record, so yeah, we're enjoying the outdoors any chance we get.

For example by playing kub. Bea got this set of the Swedish stick-throwing game from a friend for her birthday. Naturally since throwing sticks are involved the game is Gaspard-approved. 

Hans had a busy day in Stockholm on Wednesday. And while the weather was pleasant, he mostly forgot he had his camera with him, and came home only with this shot of Telefonplan.

Yesterday Bea's class organized a party for the parents. There were baked goods.

Bea got the slideshow started from the classroom's tablet computer.

Later we went to the gym to watch a mini talent show.

The class got a big applause.

Saturday with the Olanders and whippets

The sun was shining, so we took a walk down to town with our neighbors, the Olanders.

We had a "fika" at one of the new cafes on Tredje Långgatan.

And then walked through Haga.

In the evening, Gaspard's girlfriend "Ronja" came over, along with her owner and her owner's niece, Elvira. The dogs got a training session...

Bea's plane

One of the activities we did in Norway was assembling this rubber-band powered airplane. Luke is an airplane engineer after all...

Flies pretty well!

Spot the plane? It's in among the trees. Soon after this shot it did wind up in a tree, and retrieving it damaged the wings. Oh well.

The pretty tulips in the garden right now are probably more interesting to some folks.

Syttende mai

The long weekend in Oslo continues...

Saturday brought rain, so we spent most of it inside. But we did venture out to visit some immigrant grocery stores in search of hominy, beans, split peas, dried fruit and baklava. We enjoyed our time indoors, munching and working on crafts, and listening to music.

Sunday was the 17th, Norway's national holiday and a major event for the country.

Everyone (well, nearly everyone) dresses in traditional costumes: embroidered dresses with blouses and aprons for the ladies, knicker pants with long socks, jackets that button to the neck and whimsical hats for the men. Then the children do a procession through the city and in front of the royal palace.

Lots of Norwegian flags.

The royal palace, with the family receiving the crowds from the balcony. This being Scandinavia, the festivities naturally include copious drinking, which by five in the evening made for some curious sights.

Afterwards we went back to the apartment. Luke made tractor-shaped waffles.

Preperation and assembly of an almond-paste "kranekaka". It might really be Danish.

Long weekend in Oslo

These two dogs got on famously.

Walking to Bogstad Gård, an old farm dontated to the city by three sisters.

Not these three sisters! Vigelund statue in Oslo.

We explored the architecture along Aker Brygge, the Oslo waterfront.

We rode the ferry just to experience the water. What fantastic weather we had!

Dinner was grilled sausages on the rooftop terrace of our borrowed apartment.

And then we played a round of Carcassonne.

Bea's 8!

It's hard to believe, but Bea turned eight! We had a day full of activities planned, and the weather coooperated this year!

Breakfast was eggs benedict, as requested.

Bea's much-anticipated new Furby doll.

A big lasagne was prepared for all the guests (14 plus some parents and Elizabeth).

Edith, Linnea, Siri, Freja, Jolene, and Elsa.

Linnea, Jolene, and Klara.

Maya and Bea.

Edith, Hilda, Saskia, Harry and Erik.

There were lots of games in the courtyard.

After the treasure hunt, every guest got a "crystal" goody bag with some Lego and candy.

And blue cupcakes afterward.

In the evening we ate raclette.

And Bea opened her packages from America. Thanks everybody!