The perfect weekend

Sometimes wishes come true and did get my perfect weekend, although I'll keep that dream still in the cookie jar because I want more of them. 

I spent Friday preparing dinner for us and our friends. I made portuguese tapas, which means I spent the whole afternoon cooking many different dishes, while listening to the radio and enjoying myself. For the first time ever, everything was ready 20 minutes before our guests were supposed to arrive. Ok, it might have helped that I had the whole day to do it, as I'm not working yet. Our friends seemed to have really enjoyed the food and the dinner party hit its top when we tried a fantastic Port wine we had bought last year when we visited a producer of Port.

Cheese board because we all love cheese!

On Saturday, we spent a lazy morning, as we were still tired from the day before. In the afternoon we made a live cooking show: we made fresh pasta for Johan's parents who had never seen that before. I love making fresh pasta, although it takes quite a while to make pasta for 4 people. I also made some mistake and we ended up making pasta for 6 or 7. The four of us spent the afternoon in the kitchen, nibbling on the left over tapas, making the pasta and laughing. I made pumpkin, feta and spinach tagliatelle and it was delicious. Both dinners ended with Chocolate Salami (recipe here if you are interested) with ice cream, which  is far from being a fancy dessert but somehow matched the Port wine really well. 

To make the weekend even better we spent the whole Sunday... being lazy. Movie. Tea. TV series. Sofa. Sunshine through the window. We didn't even go for a run as planned. My training program for my next half marathon starts next week, which means I'll be running 6x a week, and we decided to take the entire weekend off training. 

And as if this was not already the perfect weekend it still got better! We had not planned much for dinner but we still had enough fresh pasta made. I took whatever I had in the fridge, tossed it all on a frying pan and I must have been really inspired because it became the best recipe I have ever invented myself. Sure I do not create many new recipes, and it's possible that someone has made something similar before, but I didn't look for any recipe or anything. 

Spicy chicken fresh tagliatelle with ginger, chilli, pepper and spinach.

It would have been nice to have taken more pictures during the weekend but I guess we were too busy enjoying it. I hope you had all a great weekend and I wish you a pleasant week. 

Dreams in the cookie jar #4

A perfect weekend.
Friends. Family. Laughing. Sunshine. Good food. Good wine.

Photo from the internet

Replacing the computer with my boyfriend it makes my perfect weekend.

Crazy? Yes, but still human!

Those who follow this blog might think I'm a super crazy athletic girl who happily runs here and there and all the time. I'm guilty of making you think this way, since I can't remember ever blogging about a bad training or one that I've skipped. Yes, they do exist. Both. There are some days that I get beaten by the sofa. There are some days I go out running and I wish I would have been beaten by the sofa. And there are other days that I get beaten by the run itself. Like today.

Everybody prefers running in a forest than on a road, so why have I not done that yet here, when the nearest forest is only 700m away? Well, that's probably because to get there I need to run a 700m hill (ok, maybe only 650m). But lately I was feeling confident, almost like one of them, those crazy Swedish runners, training on snow and with bad weather. It was time to tackle the forest!

Since not all of you are fellow runners I'll spare you the technicalities. Let's just say I ran all the way up and when I got to the top I stopped for stretching, and by stretching I mean hugging a tree, panting and nearly spitting my lungs off. After about a minute I kept going and it got a little better until I came to the next hill. Ah, this must be the one Johan said was tough... It wasn't! When I got to THAT one I recognised it immediately (we had been walking there yesterday). It's quite steep and tough, especially the last part. When I was about half way up I started slowing down, almost to a fast walk, but then I saw two other runners coming the other direction, and as a proud runner one never walks in front of other fellow runners. So I ran the whole damn thing and got to the top panting... again. I didn't stop this time. 

One lap around the forest is only 2.5 Km, so I decided to go for a second lap. It was better since I knew more what to expect, but still very hard. Afterwards, I went down home and my legs felt like if I had ran a half-marathon instead. Did I run that much? No. Only 7 Km. Was I super fast? No. My pace was very slow compared to normal. 

Today, the forest beat me. I'll take that as a challenge!

Nordic vs. Latin

Someone I know came to my flat to pick up something. The following dialogue happen:

Me- Sit down 5 minutes. Do you want some tea or coffee? 

Guest (half laughing) - No, thank you. I have tea and coffee at home!

No matter how busy we are or how inconvenient the timing is, we will always offer 5 minutes of our time to chat over a cup of something with our guests. It's a politeness very popular in my country, that might not be that common here. It's ok, we can wait until the guest runs out of coffee or tea at home...

Uma pessoa que eu conheço veio cá a casa buscar uma coisa. Deu-se o seguinte diálogo:

Eu- Senta-te aqui 5 minutos. Queres um chá ou um café?

Convidado (a rir-se): Não, obrigada. Tenho café e chá em casa!

Não importa o quão ocupados estamos ou o quão incoveniente é o timing da visita. Nós ofereceremos sempre um pouco do nosso tempo para conversar com um convidado enquanto bebericamos qualquer coisa. É um hábito politicamente correcto normal no meu país, que parece ser bem menos comum aqui. Não faz mal, nós podemos esperar até o convidado deixar acabar o chá ou o café lá de casa...

Göteborg - Winter time

It was written in the post before... here are some of my favourite pictures of the snowy days we had this winter.

Poseidon, in the center

 Bältespännarparken

 Crossing the river

A walk in Gunebo nature reserve:

 Gunebo castle

 How about a picnic by the lake?

 The lake

Imagine the view of that house on the top...

How can one not enjoy snowy days like this...

You got to love Sweden #6 - Snowy winters

There's something peaceful and relaxing about snowy days. And there's something magical about snow fall. Every time I look out the window and I see white flakes falling from the sky I get spellbound. I always stare at this beautiful act of art created by nature and I hope that this feeling will never leave me, not even after 50 years of snowy winters. 

After the snow falls everything becomes quiet, white and beautiful, just like in a fairytale. The sky might be gray but the day is as bright as it could get. In the forest, the only sound you can hear is of your own steps crushing the snow. And you look around and take it all in. Take it all in before you freeze. Take it all in before the temperature rises and the snow melts. Take it all in before it all becomes brown and slushy. But at that exact moment none of that matters, because happiness is made of moments and in that moment you take all that whiteness, peace and beauty in you are happy.

Há algo relaxante e pacífico em dias de neve. E também há algo mágico no ar quando está a nevar. Cada vez que olho pela janela e vejo flocos brancos a cair do céu fico enfeitiçada. Fico sempre pasmada a olhar lá para fora, para essa obra de arte da natureza e tenho esperança que este feitiço não se desfaça nunca, nem depois de 50 invernos cheios de neve. 

Depois da neve cair fica tudo branquinho, silencioso e lindo, tal e qual um conto de fadas. O céu até pode estar cinzento mas o dia está mais claro que nunca. Na floresta o único som que se ouve é o som dos nossos próprios passos a pisar a neve. E olha-se em volta e absorve-se tudo o que nos rodeia. Absorve-se tudo antes que congelemos. Absorve-se tudo antes que a temperatura suba e a neve derreta. Absorve-se tudo antes que fique tudo castanho e molhado. Mas naquele preciso momento nada disso importa, porque a felicidade é feita de pequenos momentos e nesse momento, no momento em que se está absorver toda a brancura, paz e beleza é-se feliz. 

My first run... on snow!

Last weekend we had some snow again. This time it was not a thick layer and I decided to go for a run. It was great! I ran 2 laps around a lake (~11 Km) surrounded by a beautiful landscape. There were a lot of people walking and some other runners and I enjoyed the experience. The lake had two distinct sides. The sunny side, warmer, more crowded and where the snow had melted a bit. The shade side, with paths and landscape around all white and even more beautiful! Running there made me feel really proud of myself. So proud that after that day I already went for two more runs after it had been snowing. It doesn't matter anymore. I'm one of them! (as long as there's no ice...)

Johan didn't run and went for a walk with his parents. They only went on the sunny side (which was a popular choice), so I don't have photos from the other side.

O Johan não correu e foi só caminhar com os pais. Eles só foram e voltaram pelo lado solarengo (uma opção bastante popular) e por isso não tenho fotos do lado mais bonito.

No fim de semana passado nevou outra vez. Desta vez não ficou uma camada grossa no chão e eu decidi ir correr. Foi óptimo! Dei 2 voltas a um lago (~11 Km) rodeada por uma beleza infinita. Havia muita gente a caminhar e outros corredores e gostei mesmo de ter corrido lá. O lago tinha dois lados diferentes. O lado solarengo, mais quente com alguma da neve já derretida e com mais gente, e o lado da sombra, com os caminhos e a paisagem completamente branca e ainda mais bonita. Correr nesse dia fez.me sentir orgulhosa de mim mesma, tanto que depois disso já corri mais duas vezes com neve. Já não me faz diferença agora. Já sou um deles! (desde que não haja gelo...)

Dreams in the cookie jar #3

Água de coco. Coconut water. Especially after a run in the heat. Or any run. It's the best feeling ever!

Photo from the internet

Karma, irony or bureaucracy? #2

Today I got a bill on my email from the gas company in Prague, referring to the period of 14 to 31 January 2016 (I left Prague on December 18th). After opening the invoice attached I saw that it had my name and my current address in Sweden!

1- If they acknowledge that I am in Sweden, they should at least suspect that I'm not there spending gas.

2- The company calculated my FINAL bill a couple of weeks ago. Then, they asked me for my current address so they could send me some FINAL invoice, which by the way they never did.

3- Did I mentioned they called it FINAL bill? And that they knew I didn't live there anymore?

Now, I'm going to the post office and I will mail some common sense to Czech Republic, because after today and what I described in this other post, I know they must have a big demand for it over there.

Me? I'm still laughing...


Hoje recebi no meu email uma conta da companhia de gas Checa, do periodo de 14 a 31 de Janeiro de 2016 (saí de Praga dia 18 de Dezembro). Quando abri a fatura em anexo vi que não só tinha o meu nome como também tinha a minha morada aqui da Suécia!

1- Se eles sabem que estou na Suécia deveriam pelo menos suspeitar que não estou lá em Praga a gastar gas. 

2- A empresa calculou a minha conta FINAL há umas semanas atrás. Foi nessa altura que me pediram a minha morada daqui, para me poderem enviar a fatura FINAL. O que, já agora, nunca aconteceu.

3- Eu disse-vos que eles lhe chamaram conta FINAL? E que eles sabem que eu já não moro lá?

Agora vou ali aos correios enviar um pacote de bom senso para a República Checa, porque depois disto hoje e do que descrevi neste post há uns dias, sei que devem estar a precisar e bastante por lá. 

Eu? Continuo a rir-me...

Prague bucket list #12 - Národní památník na Vítkově

"We should go up the horse" we said to each other so many times. On the way to our language school we always saw a statue of a horse, sitting on a high hill with what we believed to be a great view of the city. We finally went up that hill on my birthday, when my sister was visiting.

"Temos que subir ao cavalo" dissemos um ao outro tantas vezes. A caminho da escola de línguas sempre olhávamos para o topo do monte que se via, com uma estátua de um cavalo, e de onde se adivinhava uma vista linda. Subimos lá no dia do meu aniversário, quando a minha irmã nos visitou.

On top of the hill, called Žižkov, is the National Monument of Žižkov and a statue of Jan Žižka, who in 1420 defeated Sigismund, the Holy Roman Emperor in this hill. The statue is giant and according to wikipedia is the third largest bronze equestrian statue in the world!

No topo, chamado de Žižkov, está localizado o Monumento Nacional de Žižkov e uma estátua de Jan Žižka, que em 1420 derrotou Sigismund, o Imperador Romano, neste local. A estátua é gigante e segundo a wikipédia é a terceira maior estátua equestre em bronze do mundo!

From the top of the hill the visitors get an almost 360º view over Prague.

Do topo os visitantes podem apreciar uma vista de quase 360º sobre Praga.

View to the TV tower, with its statues of babies crawling up. 

Vista para a torre da TV, com as estátuas dos bebés a gatinhar por ela acima.

View over the Prague Castle on the far right and of Petrin gardens and tower on the left. The old town is all the area in the center.

Vista sobre o castelo de Praga que está á direita no topo, sobre os jardins e a torre de Petrin, à esquerda, e a parte antiga da cidade ao centro.

Since it was winter the surrounding gardens were not at its best, but I bet it is worth a visit during the spring. To be fair, it is worth it to visit this hill in all seasons, since the view is amazing.

Como era Inverno os jardins em volta não estavam nada de especial, mas aposto que vale a pena repetir a visita na Primavera. Na verdade vale a pena subir lá em qualquer estação, porque a vista é única.

Travellers

That's exactly how I feel. I have more than one place that I call home. I have friends spread around the world. I will always miss people and things from places I have lived before. 

You got to love Sweden #5 - Gender equality

Sweden is the only country where I have lived where gender equality really exists. Sure it might not be everywhere and everybody but you can actually observe it on a daily basis. 

Once I was entering my building when I saw a bucket of water and soap holding the door. "The cleaning lady must be cleaning the stairs" I thought. I went upstairs and my chin dropped when I saw a tall blond handsome young man holding a mop. And I really didn't want to react like that, but I did, because unfortunately I have only lived in places where women would never control cranes and men would never do cleaning jobs. 

Points for Sweden! Many points for Sweden! And I'm looking forward to the day I will get so used to it that my chin won't drop at a situation like this.

Igualdade de géneros

A Suécia é o único país onde eu morei onde a igualdade de géneros não só existe mesmo como é visível no dia a dia. 

Um dia ao entrar no meu prédio vejo que está um balde com água e espuma a segurar a porta. "A senhora da limpeza deve andar a limpar as escadas" pensei eu. Subi as escadas e fiquei de queixo caído quando me deparei com um sueco loiro alto e lindo a segurar uma esfregona. Eu não queria ter reagido assim, mas reagi, porque infelizmente em todos os sítios onde morei uma mulher jamais poderiam controlar uma grua e um homem nunca seria visto a fazer limpezas.

Pontos para a Suécia! Muitos! E mal posso esperar pelo dia em que vou estar tão habituada a isto que o meu queixo já não vai cair em situações como esta. 

Karma, irony or bureaucracy?

I don't know what to call it... Moving to a different country always involves a lot of paper work and requires a lot of patience. Bureaucracy is painful everywhere but when you add incompetence to the mixture things become a lot harder. Let me tell you about my two latest experiences. You are supposed to laugh. I am.

Part I

To be able to register here I need a certain document, related to health insurance, from the last country I worked, which is Czech Republic. 

1. I emailed Secretary A from my ex-employer, the one in charge of personnel which is also the one who speaks better English. She replied saying she would forward my email to Secretary B, because herself didn't know about that document.

2. While I waited, I decided to also email my Consulate in Prague and ask more information. The consulate replies with complete information on how and where I could get that document. However, I would need my health registry number. That number was in a blue card that I had to hand in to Secretary A the day I left my job there. 

3. I emailed Secretary A again saying I knew how to get the document, and asking if she still had that card or my number. She replied saying that was not her job and I had to wait for secretary B to reply. Although, she had found some number but she was not sure it was that one I needed.

4. I started thinking who was secretary B and how it was possible that she didn't even understand English. I went to the webpage of my employer and I found out that Secretary B is the one who shares the room with... Secretary A! I have been in that room. They sit ACROSS each other! Facing each other! Yes... a month after I'm still waiting for an email from Secretary B, who now I know does not speak a word of English. Why can't they just talk to each other? You know... over a cup of coffee, just right after they say good morning to each other. 

Fortunately, the number I got was correct and I managed to solve the problem without further contact with the genious Secretary A.

Part II

1. End of October: I called the electricity and gas companies in Prague to know how would it work to transfer the contracts to the next tenants of the flat. For both I would have to send the numbers on the counters and they would send the final bill. For the electricity I was told it would take 3 days, while for the gas it would take 2 weeks.

2. Middle of December: I talked with my bank manager in Prague and signed the papers to close the account, setting the closing date to January 31st. That would give a month and a half to pay the bills, enough, I thought. In that same day, Johan closes his account and transfers all his money to Sweden. No problems.

3. Last week of January: Still no bills. I tried to transfer the money I had in my account using internet banking. It didn't work. I tried smaller amounts. It didn't work. I called the bank's help line. They saw no problem but a report would be filed. 2h later the transfer with the lowest amount got accepted. Great but I still had to do another transfer for the rest of the money. Denied again. Maybe I'm not leaving enough money for the fees. I tried a smaller amount. Denied. I called the help line. Same story. Report filed and a few hours later the transfer went through. After that transfer there were still about 50 euros in the account. I tried a 3rd transfer. Denied. Out of patience I decided to not call again. This took the whole week, because international transfers only get through twice a day and I always had to wait to see the result.

4. Friday morning, January 29: I decided to withdraw the remaining money in my account. The ATM ate my card! Damn it! At home I tried to login to my account online. It didn't work. The bank account had been closed 24h before I expected. The closing date was on Sunday, so I expected it to be closed Friday evening. Great! I lost 50 euros!

5. Friday afternoon, January 29th: Gas bill arrives. I should receive money and not pay. They agree to transfer it to Sweden.

6. Wednesday, February 3rd: Electricity bill arrives. I should receive money. They do not agree to transfer it here. I have to ask a friend to get it for me and then send it here.

In summary... I left my account open which created a lot of problems. Not only the bills didn't arrive in the estimated time, but I also didn't have to pay anything. I could just have closed the account there transferring all of my money here quickly and without further problems.

Now let's all take a good laugh, because that's the best we can do about it!

Dreams in the cookie jar #2

Ice cream maker (a good one, to make incredibly creamy ice cream at home).

Photos from the internet

Fat Tuesday in Sweden

Fat Tuesday is celebrated in many countries, usually by eating some more indulgent than normal: a pile of pancakes in UK, Pączki in Poland (a deep fried bun filled with jam) and Semlor in Sweden. Long time ago Semla was just a wheat bun eaten in a bowl of milk. Nowadays, a semla consists of a cardamom-spiced wheat bun which has its top cut off, and is then filled with a mix of milk and almond paste, topped with whipped cream. The cut-off top serves as a lid and is dusted with powdered sugar. Today it is often eaten on its own, with coffee or tea, but some people still eat it in a bowl of hot milk. 

A Terça-feira gorda é festejada em muitos países e geralmente involve comer alguma gordice. No Reino Unido come-se uma pilha de panquecas, na Polónia são as Pączki, uma espécie de bola de Berlim recheada com geleia e na Suécia são os Semlor. Antigamente um semla era um simples pão de trigo que era comido numa taça de leite morno. Hoje em dia, uma semla consiste num bolo de trigo com cardamomo, cujo topo é cortado para que se possa colocar no meio um creme de amêndoas e leite, e com chantilly por cima. O topo do bolo serve de tampa e é depois polvilhado com açucar em pó. Hoje em dia come a semla acompanhada com chá ou café, mas há ainda algumas pessoas que comem numa taça de leite. 

I bought our semlor (plural) this morning. I went to the bakery as soon as I had breakfast to avoid queues or in case they would run out. It was a good idea, because later I passed by the door during my run and there was a huge queue outside the door!

Eu comprei os nossos semlor hoje de manha. Fui à padaria logo a seguir ao pequeno almoço para evitar as filas ou correr o risco de já não haver. Foi uma boa ideia porque passei à porta da padaria mais tarde enquanto corria e havia um fila enorme de gente à porta.

We got them in this nice box / Vinham nesta caixinha fofa

Do you celebrate Fat Tuesday or Carnival? How?  

E vocês também festejam a Terça-feira gorda? Como?

Dreams in the cookie jar #1

A reading corner.

Photo from the internet

Dreams in the cookie jar

I feel my 2015 had a lot of negativity and although I want to forget that, I also want to keep a small memory of those feelings in the back of my head as a reminder to myself that being positive is actually in my hands. I think a very good way to make ourselves happy is to dream! It might sound cliché but it does work. Whether I dream about that tropical beach, or of having a hot shower when I get home, or of eating the perfect cookie, all those thoughts make me feel better and happier. So I will start a new section on the blog to share some of my dreams with you. The big ones and the small. The reachable and the nearly impossible. It doesn't matter as long as we will all keep dreaming.

What do you dream about?

Photo from the internet

Rui Miragaia's Sara Jump

Ando a fazer limpezas ao computador e descobri esta foto perdida e esquecida que queria publicar aqui. A foto mostra o artista Rui Miragaia a fazer um Sara Jump e foi tirada por mim no casamento da minha melhor amiga de infância no Verão passado, que é irmã dele. Em baixo está o Sara Jump da filha do artista. Tão alto tão alto que quase toca o céu!!

Se quiserem espreitar os trabalhos do Rui vão à página dele aqui. Ele é o MESTRE do ferro e faz retratos, logotipos e esculturas lindíssimas! Nas mãos dele o ferro até parece papel!

I have been cleaning my computer and I found this lost and forgotten photograph that I wanted to publish here. The photo is of Rui Miragaia doing a Sara Jump. It was taken in my childhood best friend's wedding, her sister, last summer. Below it's the jump of the artist's daughter. High so high that almost touches the sky!!

If you want to have a sneak peak at his work you can go to his webpage here. He is the MASTER of iron and using it he makes portraits, logos and beautiful sculptures! He makes iron look like paper!