The Nordic Bedouin

Hibiscus tea

Today the sun has finally come back after days of hiding behind thick, dark, gray clouds and rain! It's a little warmer too. I hope that this weather will stick around (througout the weekend at least).

A nice tip when it's hot out is Hibiscus ice tea. This is a drink that I often drank during the 4+ years I spent in Egypt. It's a great cooling drink for hot days. Basically one boils dried Hibiscus flower petals in water for approx. 10 minutes and then wait for it to cool (one can add sugar if one wants it sweeter). Then one strains the petals and pour it into a glass with some ice. Done! It's super easy, delicious and has a lovely deep red colour.

I'm not sure where one can find dried Hibiscus petals in other parts of the world... But perhaps one can find them in a special food store (maybe Middle Eastern food store).

Here's Martha's version of the tea (you can find the recipe on her website):

Hibiscus and ginger iced tea
Image from www.marthastewart.com

Travel the world

As some of you might have noticed, I love to travel and explore new cultures. After reading Flitiga Myrans post about Lucca, Italy and seeing her fantastic photos, I feel that restlessness to want to travel again. Here are a few of my dream destinations:

Cambodia (especially Angkor Vat).

Image from www.fritidsresor.se

Vietnam

Photo © Thomas Schoch 2004/2005

India

Image from www.apollo.se

Morocco

Image from www.riad-slitine.com

New Zealand

Photo from www.danciprari.com

I could go on and on.... What are some of your dream destinations?

July treats

For those of you who are preparing to celebrate the 4th of July next week, here are a couple of nice ideas for what you can make that I found on Martha Stewarts website. Instructions for them can be found on www.marthastewart.com.

Red, white and blue parfaits

Sand candles

Garlands

Images from www.marthastewart.com

Midsummer's report

Here's a quick photo report from our Midsummer's weekend in the Östergötland region. We spent three days in a rented cottage in the middle of the forest which turned out to be lovely. It was the perfect size for the 12 of us (well, in a sort of camp-like atmosphere with several people to a room in sleeping bags) and was located in a small field-like lawn in the middle of the forest. We spent the better part of the days playing soccer, swinging golf clubs, laughing over charades and working on getting a tan in the mostly lovely weather.

A few of the guys spent many hours trying to figure out how to get the ancient TV to display the channel that was showing the Sweden-Germany World Cup game (their efforts included climbing ladders to get as high as possible on the roof and building their own antennas!). In the end, they didn't manage to get it to work and we all piled into the cars and headed off to the nearest town where we could find a bar or pizzeria that was showing the game. We watched the depressing defeat in a restaurant in Åtvidaberg.

For the rest of the time, we spent it eating lots of yummy traditional food (accompanied by quite a bit of traditional drinking) and danced the nights away until the sun was up and shining again.

Trying to find the tiny grass/dirt road that lead up to the cottage.

Traditional herring lunch.

Delicious strawberry cake for dessert.

Balenciaga + Vogue

I love old fashion photos and I'm a big fan of the Vogue magazines. So this is the ultimate combo, Balenciaga in old Vogue magazines:

Photo: Henry Clarke / Condé Nast Archives. Published in Vogue 1951

Photo: John Rawlings / Condé Nast Archives. Published in Vogue 1953.

Photo: Kublin / Courtesy of Archives Balenciaga. From 1961.

Happy Midsummer's

Tomorrow is Midsummer's Eve which is a big deal here in Sweden. It's a holiday with many traditions which celebrated the lightest time of the year. We're heading to a region of Sweden called Östergötland for an extended weekend with a bunch of friends. 12 of us have rented a cottage somewhere in the forest near a lake (none of us have been there before which I'm hoping will turn out to be a positive surprise rather than a shock...) where we'll celebrate Midsummer's and the rest of the weekend together.

I also want to take this opportunity to send out a big thanks to everyone who has been sending such nice comments my way regarding my pottery and Flitiga Myran for blogging about my things! You're all so sweet!

I'll be back after the weekend with a Midsummer's report. Happy Midsummer's to all of you!

Image from www.sweden.se showing the traditional maypole that is made and raised all over the country for Midsummer's to be danced around. The women are wearing folk costumes and traditional floral wreaths on their heads. Legend has it that if you're single, you should pick 7 different flowers in complete silence and place them under your pillow when going to bed on Midsummer's Eve and you'll dream of your future husband. All you single ladies out there - give it a try! ;)

My very own

For the past couple of months I've fulfilled a dream. I've been trying out throwing clay and learning more about clay and ceramics. Ever since I was little, I've wanted to try sitting and working at a potter's wheel. So, I finally decided to take a short course where I could try it out 5 times to see if I actually enjoyed it.

My expectations were quite high on the experience of it but low on how many items I might actually be able to create. Needless to say - I was thrilled at both! I will definately be taking another course to try to develop better technique and learn more (5 classes just wasn't enough).

This morning I picked up my first very own "collection" that I created and I just had to share some pics of my creations:

Weekend report, part 2

Here are some more snapshots from things I looked at during my weekend:

Birch trees are my favourite.

I love these kinds of old Swedish houses.

I wonder if this key has been sitting in this door since the 1800's?

An old barn door with sunlight shining through the cracks.

The very high ceiling of a huge barn and stables.

An old drawer - wonder what it's been used for?

An old barn window.

Weekend report 1

Here are some pics to show you what I've been feasting my eyes on this weekend. Aren't the colours magnificent?!

Beach-side inspiration

After a very hot day of which I spent some in my sun chair on the balcony, I was wishing I was on a secluded beach somewhere. These beautiful images from Ralph Lauren Home really capture the essence of a place I'd like to spend a few weeks. Check out their website for more info on the featured products.

This is how I'd spend my days:

Sunbathing and reading in style.

Eating yummy long lunches and dinners.

Sipping cold wine by the water as the sun sets.

Sleeping soundly in a bed like this one with crisp luxurious sheets.

All images from Ralph Lauren Home