Went to a concert by myself

First time I've done that. It was great. The band was Calexico and they were fantastic. And the venue was small so I was close to the stage. Stockholm has a lot of great bands coming through from time to time.

What beautiful sight

Words cannot express the joy seeing this flag hanging down in customs upon my arrival at Boston. Boy it's a sight for sore eyes.

I was staring at this advertisement at the bus stop

Nothing more to say

a sign that winter is coming soon

I've been running along a canal for the past few months. It's scenic. It has lovely boats docked close by as well as boats leisurely going up the canal. But now, there are no boats in the docks. Hardly any boats on going up and down the canal. Winter is approaching obviously.

You'd think I was feeding 20 people

I get in these moods to cook, not only to cook but cook a huge proportion of food. Here are the ingredients for a recipe I'm trying out thanks to Pioneer Women (which I'm addicted to). These are the ingredients. Cost me 681 swedish kronar (you get to convert). Will be eating on it for the week for sure. Hope it's good. Post cooking comment: yummy recipe. Hope I still like it at the end of the week. also it's SPICY!

another part of Swedish living

So if you want to buy a bottle of wine, you visit Systembolaget. It's pure monopoly. You cannot buy wine anywhere else. Their hours are limited (open until 6 most days, close at 2:00 on Saturdays, closed on Sundays) so you best plan well. There's a queue most Friday evenings. Oh the joy.

Traffic jam at the children's bookstore

There's a really cute children's bookstore just down the street. Reminds me of the bookstore in the movie, You've Got Mail. Apparently they were having a reading or some sort of activity. I passed by and laughed to myself the sheer number of strollers parked outside of the place.

Entry for the other daughter

This is a plant that my other daughter loves. She asks about it from time to time. I told her the other day that the blooms had turned brown but here's the proof that it's still alive. It starts getting tough keeping plants especially ones that bloom alive. Winter is soon to start and darkness will be the norm for the next 5 months. You wake up and go to work it's dark, you go home from work it's dark. Not only tough on plants but also on people, especially someone from sunny Texas. This is for you Adrian.

A realization this morning about my dishes

This is an odd entry I know but I was putting up my dishes this morning and I realized that one of my daughters had never seen my dishes I purchased shortly before moving here. That was a strange feeling to me as a mom who loves to feed my family. Maybe because dishes are such a constant item in a family's everyday life. My children grew up on a set of Mikasa dishes and now, a new set.... and one has never seen it nor eaten on it.... These are for you Carly.

Funny how the site of a pickup makes you home sick

Was walking to work this morning and came across this Chevy truck. Don't see too many of these around the city. Had to take a snapshot of it.

I just can't get enough of the beauty here

It's fall and it's beautiful here. The leaves are turning, the weather is crisp, and to me that's perfect running weather. This is the path I take when running. I never get tired of running on it.

The lengths I go to for choc. chip cookie dough

I love chocolate chip cookies, specifically the dough. have been eating it since high school. Have even passed along the passion to my girls (sorry girls). So, one thing you should know, Sweden doesn't sell Tollhouse chocolate chips (if anyone out there knows any different, please share). That's one obstacle which I overcome by buying bags of chips whenever I get stateside. The other obstacle is they don't sell Vanilla Extract here. Again, a bottle from Sam's of the stuff has remedied that issue. I also brought my beloved Kitchen Aid and purchased a transformer so I can use it. So, I don't go without cookie dough but have to ration it. Only 2 more bags to last until mid-December. Yikes.