Asian living in Sweden

Know what you can do when it´s minus 30 degree outside?

2011-02-17T21:12:00.005+01:00

What can I say about minus 30 degree? Haaa...you can have tighter pores, red cheek, and burn more calories!!! And also you can use outdoor as your free freezer!!
How long can I stand being outside when it´s minus 30? I think the most 1 hour, with proper cloth and protections! I think the cold up in north Sweden is slightly different from South of Sweden. I heard it´s much colder when it´s minus 10 compare to here..because of the wind.
At this time of the year, it´s what the Swedish called "Grey period" as it usually are quite cold and not so bright. So it´s important to keep ourself busy with activities so we don´t think about the negative effect of the climate.
So far ,we seem to be lucky because it has been quite sunny for a few days now, hopefully the sun will bring out some light into people´s heart.

I am quite lucky because I have the opportunity to organize some fun events for the Language café. Like today, I set out a simple challenge for my café visitor with chopstick game. Some of them never even seen chopstick before and are so curious to learn. We really hit it off and had a wonderful time . Nothing motivate me more then to see the smile on people´s face..and they are merely just trying to do something at their best with full of enthusiasm!

Valentine day craft - At Language Cafe

2011-02-08T17:35:00.003+01:00

I organized a valentine´s day craft event at the Language café today! Never had so much fun for a long time! I brought along with me some of the left over products I had in my ex-business. I can´t believed I had so much stuffs left! It´s good with this event so I can get rid of stuffs in which I dont need and at the same time made others happy! I really like my job, I get free hand to do & organized anything I desire..
I was so glad that the idea of this event are so well appreciated, this make me really glad! Here´s some memory of today at the Pyssel "Craft" session...

http://www.languagecafe.n.nu/valentinedaypyssel

Learning how to like winter...

2011-02-07T22:43:00.010+01:00

I received some private emails from people asking me how I survived the winter here.
Well,honestly speaking, winter has´nt been one of my favourite season but I am begining to like it.
I noticed every year, I learned sometime about the season. I have spend 13 winter here in North Sweden..my family in Singapore consider I live in Artic circle ..it´s hard for them to imagine themself living here and I think it´s only normal reaction.
Living in this winter wonderland had been a life time experience for me. So far I experience minus 37 degree, I am proud I survived that and it´s a really specialy experience. Imagine if you have a wet eye lash,you can not close your eyes when you are outdoor, because if you closed it your lashes will get frozen and you might not be able to open it!

Also when you breathing in & out, the warm air from your mouth combine the extreme cold air and form ice around your hair and if you have a mustach or beard..you probaly look like Santa after half hour walking.
My mum often said "If you live in a enviroment you did´nt like, learn to like it!" I think I could like Sweden after a while because there are many wonderful activities I could get experience from, like cross-country ski, dog sledging ice fishing, frozen lake bath, drag racing, riding scooter, hiking or simply lying on snow on a madarrass enjoying the sun!

The only way to experience this is to come and feel it yourself. To some people who not used to the cold, I sugguest you visit north Sweden in March because that is the most sunniest month of the winter season.
Unlike other tropical country, I think winter in Sweden for Asian can be very challenging, everything seem to take it own sweet time and will eventually land on it´s position ..it´s just a matter of time!

Happy Chinese New Year!

2011-02-03T21:52:00.003+01:00

Just wanna send my new year greeting to all my Asian reader "Gong Xi Fa Chye" May this new year bring you good health, prosperity, laughters and all your dream come true!!!
It´s been 4 years since I last celebrate Chinese New year with my family. I really miss my family and friend in Singapore a lot and I hope to be able to be home the next Chinese New Year!
I am still very happy that

Jack Johnsson

2011-02-03T20:37:00.008+01:00

One of my favourite!!!

Angel

You And Your Heart

I like this music video, I still can´t figure out how they shoot this...

I need this cheese!

2011-02-03T20:17:00.002+01:00

My brother shared this video at Facebook, I thought it´s really funny!
I have been very weak this few days, may be I need this cheese to get myself standing on my own feet again!

Hope you enjoy it too!

Desperately trying to sleep!!!

2011-01-31T12:14:00.004+01:00

I am having a bad cold! My head is spinning, my nose is like water fall, I have problem swallowing, I am coughing like a train trying to start engine. I guess I was really desperate, I have not slept well the past few days and this is no good sign. I can´t believe how many medicine I had beside my bed, 3 nose spray, 2 astma spray, 2 different type of pills for sleeping, inhaler, dropper for troat, paper for nose, water even bottle of honey! I pour 1 teaspoon in my mouth and try hold it as long as I can, I learn this from a friend of mind who´s a chinese physicine. I think it work!

Avocado chicken burger

2011-01-31T11:44:00.004+01:00

After I heard so much how much anti-oxident that contain in avocoda I went crazy about avocado!! I made morning smoothie, put it on sandwich, eat it as it is, made dip for vegetables, drinks and even burger! You should try it too, the good fat in avocado made the chicken breast more moist and tender! My family love it! Even Nelina who hate it like it!

To make this burger, I roughly minced chicken breast in a food mixer, then add finely chopped avocado, light fried onions, garlic, light soya sauce, white pepper and some red chilly pepper. Make them into ball, flatten it and fry it under over average heat, 3 min before done you can melt a slice of cheese on the buger, continue to let it cook..till it´s done.

To make the avocado dressing for the burger, I mixed 2 riped avocado into mixer with some chilly, garlic, sugar, salt, and lemond pepper.

This burger is best serve hot, I often make sure the chips and the salad are freshly prepared in advance.

Enjoy!

Fresh tomatoes fish soup

2011-01-30T22:02:00.008+01:00

I am having a fever this two days, dont really feel like eating anything.
I just noticed the kind of flu I got in Singapore is quite different from Sweden.
Here it´s quite cold, and if not dress approperately, one can easily catch a cold.

Here´s a picture of my fish soup. It took just 20 mintues to cook.
Frirst I minced some garlic and chapped some fresh tomatoes..3 will do.
I stir fried it untill it soften and melted then I add the white fish.
I dont usually like to mixed the vegetable in soup because there´s alway someone
in the family who dont like certain vegetable..so they are free to pick what they like.

Tom yum time? Alma!!! Hej I still know Singish!!

2011-01-28T14:14:00.005+01:00

It´s minus 25 degree cold today..when I was driving to work this morning, I thought..damn it! I feel I am gonna catch a cold soon! I just feel the cold air rushing into my body system and I knew I need a good remedie to stop the cold before it is too late. My Mum used to cook very spicy food when she noticed a cold syptom.

I made a Tom Yum Chicken soup when I got home..it´s so simple and fast you can´t believe. For this soup, I used ready Tomyum paste my sister brought me from last visit.
This is so conveinent to use, it really saved alot of my time because making curry paste can be a pain in the ass sometime!

All I did was to cut the chicken breast, egg plant and mushroom into pieces and them into a pan filled with 1 liter of boiling water & the mixed spices then let it cook for 20 mintues.

Nelina was not a home, so I enjoyed this hot moment all myself infront of fire place, with a blanket, 2 cats keeping my feet warm on each leg, some light Jack Johnson and Jason Marz music at spotify and soft candle lights..
I love the way the heat rushed into my body & keep me away from the cold and make me feel alive!!

steamboat... happy new year Singapore.!!!

2011-01-28T13:37:00.005+01:00

I remember when I was a child, one of my favourite food is steamboat. Steamboat during the 80´s is consider a luxury food. We only eat them a few times a year..and to many chinese family steamboat is one of the most popular dinner during the reunion dinner during Chinese new year. Steamboat is perfect in Sweden irregardless of the seasons.
Best, I think is during winter.The spicy hot herb soup is what a cold body need.
Here are a few picture I took at my last steamboat party..

First I boiled the soup with some chinese herb, like Goji berry (very good antioxidant)when people heard about the magic power of this berry, the scientist claimed that this Goji berry is good remedie for many critical illness..this berry is quite expensive here, people respect it alot, but it´s so cheap in Asian and of the best quality too! and also some dried red dates, ginger to keep body temperature, salt, spring onion, yellow onion and a fried fish for flavour.

While the soup is cooking, I prepare the marinate. I used moose fliér here. If you like your meat to be tender, use a little bi-carbonate powder to marinate the meat 20 mintues..rinse off with cold water after that.Then marinate it with crushed garlic, light soya sause, salt, seasame oil, ginger juice, corn flour and black pepper.

I love vegetable, especially marinate one. I used fresh mushroom and egg plant as side dish..I marinate them with some crushed garlic, soya, sugar, olive oil, & black pepper.

Nelina love meat balls in the soup, so I mixed some salt, pepper, spring onions, seasame oil and corn flour with minced beef. If you want the meat ball to bounch to reach the ceiling...use potatos flour instead of corn flour!

I brought this korean style 2 in 1 steamboat and BBQ hotplate in Singapore. Yeah, I know it´s kind of too big..but I often bring empty lagguaes and filled it with lots of goodies..as thought there´s a war coming!
I love this kind of stuff, very difficult to find it here..if I could find them, it probably cost a bomb!

Life goes on...

2011-01-28T10:51:00.006+01:00

I listen to this song every morning while making coffee, it´s like my engine to start for a brand new day with a relaxing and happy on going state of mind.
The melody in this song "Go on" by Jack Johnson make me feel relax yet playful and chic..just like me! Hihihihi
I always wish I could play guitar, may be LOA is taking place again! Yesterday at the Language Cafe someone offer to teach me basic skill. There´s a few guitar at the cafe at my job, so may be I could sneak out during lunch time to learn for half hour.
See, be careful for what you wish for! Sometime, it will just happened before you even realized it.

Everyday I am learning something about life, we all have our good & bad days.
I learned to make choices, the way I want to feel. I notice lately music really played a big part in my emotion status..so I try listen to more great happy song to keep my heart singing.

I hope you enjoy this song too!

Happiness is all about balancing

2011-01-26T23:44:00.004+01:00

I just realized that sometime in life, it´s so easy to lost balance, I mean emotionally balance. Perhaps it´s mid-life crisis that made me so emotionally unstable sometimes. Luckyly I have a job that keep me occupied and make me feel needed somehow. I can not imagine now having any things to do or contribute. How should I keep myself emotionally balance? I think by doing thing according to piority is the key..analysis what is most important to you and divide the time accordingly..To me, spending time to do things I love & happy is very important. It makes me feel alive! I notice I need to eat right, keep my body fit thru excercise, sleep well, a work that make me feel fullfilled, spending quality time and constainly communicating with the people or pets I love and care about, whether it is thru MSN, Facebook, Skype..that I think is pretty important for me as I am a very audio & communicative person. There´s only 24 hours aday, out of this 24 hours, we had only 14-16 hours to meet this need, minus 9 hours of work & travelling that is not much time left actually! As I was driving to work today, this word suddenly appear in my mind" What do I really want in life?" "What is happiness?" then I started to think about things that make me unbalanced, to be honest...this feeling is not so great! Then I started to think about the things that make me happy..and try to delect the things that make me feel less unhappy..it´s a choice! Why can I always think of things that make me happy more often? Sometime people around us or the situation can effect us, and this is so true, we let ourself be effected and put ourself in a victim position.
I remember about Law of attraction, and try to put that in use...just to overcome the bad feeling I had this morning. While heading toward the traffic today, I imagine myself passing thru the orange light at the last second..it happened. Then at the parking place, it´s often full near the exit..so again I imagine I found a place quite close..know what? I found that place and it was exactly where I imagine it...that same spot in mu mind! Who say LOA dont work? It WORK!! Especially when a mind has strong desire. Try this yourself..you dont have to have big plan to see it work, just start with small thing and see what happen..when you accomplish the small goal...the big one will come..unexpectly!!
I like to thank god today, for making me see thing more clearly, so I can put what´s that is most important in my list accordinly. I had a wonderful time helping Nelina with her school work today..she asked me "Mama, would you be angry if I got the wrong anwser?" I smiled at her and I said "Älskling, it´s very good we make mistakes sometime, that´s how we learn..from mistake." I made many stupid mistake and bad choice before, I know exactly how it feel when she mentioned that..sometime we are too afraid to make mistakes. Mistake? Bring it on!!!!

Nelina won 3rd prize

2011-01-16T13:02:00.004+01:00

Congratulation Nelina, you made mummy so proud of you!!! You are the best thing ever happened to me.I love you with ALL my heart!!! PUSS Älskling!

What have I been doing lately?

2011-01-08T17:27:00.013+01:00

Sometimes this question can be quite scary..because time flies too fast!
I can´t believe that it´s already 2011, I lived in Sweden for 13 years now !!!
Rather then talking about the past, I think it´s better to think about the future...
Yes, what am I going to do this year?
I am currently working on a project to promote European language...they called it "Language café" and what is Language café? Well, it´s a café whereby people with same interest to improve on their language skills and to meet up with new people & chill-out! I have been running this café session for 3 months now and I truly love what I am doing..it´s a perfect opportunities for me to meet new people and to put my creativity on test!
I am currently applying EU fund to support this project and hopefully this is something I could work on full-time this year!
I have been doing alot of thinking lately, what do I really want in life?
Like some peoples, I started writting new year resolutions..
According to my zodiac prediction for 2011, my career will take off..
and I probaly be doing some long distance traveling!!! Ah!, this I like!
I was playing mahjong with a few Hong Kong girlfriends yesterday, one of the lady who´s chinese zodiac is also horse claimed that this year is going to be a good year for horse in term of love & relationship. And for those trying to get pregnant, chances will be high! Ha ha! They kept teasing me the whole evening on this..
Beside writing about my life in Sweden, I am also thinking about writting more about food. I have taken hundreds of picture of my food lately, I might post it here when I have time. I think I probaly make some adjustment on my blogg..will see what come into my mind.

Nelina is 12 now! I can´t believe she getting so big! Her life now evolved alot among her friends, blogging..and chatting online. I can´t called her "Baby" anymore because it´s getting embarassing.
And also we just got a new member in the family...her name is Mimi, one of Filippa daughter. She has 3 colors fur, has a great personality and simply adorable! She like to eat and She eat almost anything..like salad, carrots, potatos, sweet, fruit and even curry! I think she is half asian. She is the baby in the family, everyone love her!

Happy new year...

2011-01-07T22:21:00.003+01:00

Happy new year everybody!

Easter 2010

2010-04-06T10:28:00.005+02:00

This year we celebrate Easter differently, instead of going to the traditional Easter Supé ,we spend a nice time at the Greek restuarant & cinemas.
After living here for 12 years, I am begining to get tired of the tradition. Same food, same people, same conversations, same place, same dekorations.
I am not against traditions but instead I choose to do it in a more fun manner..
It´s all in the head..how we like to feel, how we want our life.

Here´s a few photo taken on Easter..

Me & Nelina

Mattias´s Greek plate
te

My order, Lamb steak (Greek style)

I re-opened my blog....

2010-02-18T11:34:00.004+01:00

I wonder if anyone ever miss this blog?
I am not surprise nobody did because I sucked at posting and did´nt border to mentioned why I stop writting.

Anyway, for those of you who´s still around and still interested to know what´s going on with my life here in Sweden, you are most welcome to visit my site, sorry that I just left without a word.

Halloween premier

2009-10-28T10:22:00.005+01:00

We will be organising a Halloween party this week end, so I did a premier make up for Nelina last night.

My head is a old computer trying to start-up...

2009-10-01T18:19:00.010+02:00

I think I know why I am feeling giddy these days, the old hard disk from my brain is struggling for start-up. I think also on the other hand, I am learning new things everyday, my brain need more time to adjust to the new program and also I have pushed myself over the limits. Perhaps, it´s time to seat back to do what´s best.
I went to seek advise at the pharmacy today, they said I might need more vitamin sub. like iron. It´s best to do some blood test at the clinic so I know exactly what´s is wrong. The opening hours for booking clinic appointment is between 7:00 to 10:00, if I missed that time, I will have to wait for the next day. In Singapore, most of the clinics are open daily between 10 to 20:00, there´s no need to book appointment, anyone can walk-in & seek advise. Some clinics even open 24 hours,my brother Richard once brought Nelina to the 24 hours clinic just a few blocks away from his apartments in the middle of the night for examination, to any parent who have a child that need immediate medical attention, that´s a relieve, it make me feel safe. I personally feel that the Swedish appointment system for health consultation really need to be improved. Health by right should come on top of everything, I don´t understand why the authority could´nt do anything to improve this.
I like this country with all my heart, but when it come to this issue I still have difficulties to adjust.

Feeling sick and happy

2009-09-29T18:22:00.008+02:00

I am having a mixed feeling of feeling sick & happy at the same time. My flu make me sick and giddy for the past 2 weeks. The other part of me is feeling happy because I was given the opportunity to help the local university to organize an International wood drying conference which will be held on 18 - 24 Jan 2010. There´s plenty to learn and I enjoy being part of the Organizing and Administrating Committee. Currently I am brushing up my computer program skill and training my Swedish from my colleges and working partners. This training give me many opportunities to meet up with both local companies & international contacts. My duties include administrating the website, follow up with printers, visual display, advertisements, preparing conference leaflets, accumulating documents for proceeding, simple correspondence and some coordinating duties. There´s alot going in my head nowadays, I hardly had any energy left after a long day work to write in my blog. I started to accept my untidy home, eat packed lunch on weekdays and driving in my cold Clio to work in the morning. 12 years since I left my ex-job in Singapore, coming back to work does take up alot of mental strength. There´s still alot of adjustments to be done and I hope I learn to enjoy working again soon.

Chanterelle hunting

2009-09-08T19:16:00.006+02:00

Last Sunday, we went hunting for chanterelle. Where did we hunt? I can not tell , it´s a family´s secret. Hunting chanterelles can be a wonderful way to spend an sunday afternoon., we got quite a bit of chanterelle and cantharellus tubaeformis . These fugus are consider most precious in Sweden and it´s very expensive too. A delicious woody and earthy mushroom, the chanterelle is prized among the culinary crowd. Perhaps, my using of law of attractions was manifested, I was focusing of abundle. I am so happy that now both Nelina & Mattias find it was interesting & fun! I just love to spend my autumn days in the wood, emptying my thoughts & filled my lungs with crispy fresh air. There´s so much we can get for free in the Swedish woods and I am beginning to appreciate it more & more each year. Finding chanterelles in the wild is not easy task but very rewarding, as this mushroom has never been successfully cultivated domestically.
Here´s some tips how you too can hunt for chanterelle:

Step 1. Recognize the wild chanterelle mushroom as having an egg yolk yellow color that ranges from pale yellow to very bright orange. They resemble ragged, trumpet shaped funnels.

Step 2. Smell the wild chanterelle mushroom. If it exhibits a fruity odor similar to apricots, it is a chanterelle.

Step 3. Understand that hunting chanterelle mushrooms is best conducted in open fields and grassland. Unlike many mushroom varieties, chanterelles do not grow on decaying wood.

Step 4. Hunt chanterelles during the summer months between May and October as the decaying fall foliage may hinder identification.

Chanterelles is best eaten fresh. But if you found too many, you want to find a good way to preserve them. Chanterelles do not dry well, they become like leather when dried. Freezing is the way to go, and here are some hints on how best to prepare them for freezing.

All mushrooms have about 80-90% water content, and so will expel some of that water when cooked. Chanterelles seem to give off even more water than do other mushrooms when cooked - don't be surprised at this. Heat a large frying pan or wok very hot, and add about two handfuls of sliced or shredded chanterelles. Move them around the pan enough that they do not scorch - they will squeal and squeak! Within a few minutes, they will begin to release their water. Continue to let them cook, frequently moving them around the pan. Soon, the water will evaporate - lower the heat at this point and continue to cook the chanterelles until they are softened and are beginning to shrink in size. You may salt them if you wish. Empty the pan and put it back on high heat for the next batch.

Once your chanterelles are done cooling, you may begin packaging them for the freezer. Ideally, you can pack them into plastic freezer bags and use a vacuum sealer to make them freezer ready. Don't forget to label and date the bags.

At the end of the day, I cooked fresh chanterelle with moose steak for dinner.
My family enjoyed the dinner very much, we felt rich in a way we never felt before.
It feel great!

Here´s is a video of Nelina showing how to clean chanterelle. Take a close look towards the end of the video & guess what actually happened?

Hunting wild blue berry!

2009-09-01T11:30:00.011+02:00

During autumn, the Swedish man hunt for moose & wild pigs, while the ladies hunt for blue berry! Last Sunday the Asian ladies gathered for some berry plucking & lunch together. This round we met at Sieow Chew´s place. I classified her place, the middle of nowhere. Now, I understand why people like to live in the woods far aways from civilisation.
This is all because of the fragrance of the crispy fresh air, the sound of silence and timeless lifestyle. A place deep in one´s heart called home.
The best time to pluck blue berry in north Sweden is actually beginning of August,but still there were some left. I told the ladies that blue berries is a great anti-oxidant, has many benefits for fighting winkles, overweight, cancer, deities and skin problems. I used to have some problems with pimples around my nose & mouth area, after 1 week of blue berry smoothie breakfast, I noticed blue berries helped clear up 90% of my skin problems. In USA, doctors recommend that everyone should eat at least one decilitres a day to prevent cancer. At first, the ladies attitude about plucking berries was "let´s just pluck a few & get the hell out of the mosquitoes society" but after they heard about the benefits about winkles & cancer they said "We will never miss a single berry, we make sure we combed the whole of Swedish´s wood!" I gave them some tips how to pluck & how to clear the leaves attached, they were so enthusiastic!
While they were plucking berries around the house, Joyce & myself prepared lunch.
I think the Swedish will be shock to know what we Asian women eat for lunch. We had woked 3 different types of Asian own grown vegetables, fried 1 big plate of black pepper crab, 2kg of BBQ Char siew pork, 1 big plate of vegetarian sausage with tofu, deep fried sotong & Thai fish cake. For dessert, I baked 2 large blue berry pie & red bean buns. I just don´t get why & how come these ladies can eat so much & still weight below 50kg???
After lunch, I went home to freeze my berries. In order for the berries not to be crushed among the other food I have in the freezer, I packed them in a old milk paper packet. This year, I plucked more then 20 litres of blue berries and it´s taking over my whole freezer, because I am fighting against winkles I can´t help it lar! The most I get another freezer or eat lesser meat & go food shopping more often lor.

Food festival (Matfest Skellefteå 2009)

2009-09-01T10:14:00.005+02:00

Food is life! Last week we went to the local food festival for solid 3 days. To a food lover like myself, this is a chance I don´t want to miss! During the 3 days, we had tried many different types of food prepared by local restaurants around the region. Last year, we tried the famous moose & salmon buffet. This year we were a little smarter, there´s special portion they called "test portion" for those who just want to have a taste from many individual stores. I think it definitely worth trying the test portion because the portion is quite large actually. The average cost for a full size meal cost between S$15 - S$19 & the test portion is about half the price. What can you eat? Reindeer wok, Moose wok, Thai food, Vietnam Food, Indian Food, African Food, Moroccan Food, Texas BBQ, German Food, Swedish food you name it. I think Japanese Food should be great there unfortunately Joyce think that´s it´s too troublesome to sell sushi there. Of all the food we had tasted, I like the Grilled scampi & scallops with fries & salad, I like it because I really miss seafood from Singapore.
On the 2nd day (Saturday) we stayed there till 10pm. The tent was filled with so many peoples. We filled our plastic cup with beer, Margot & Anders were busy running around looking for their favourite food while we sat near the bar listening to the local band. The giant tent were filled with some very friendly & happy peoples, it was so noisy we hardly hear each other. I think the concept is very good, people meet up friends & family for a drink & taste food they don´t normally get. The minutes we step out of the tent, we felt the chilled air of autumn. What a way to welcome a new season!

Baptism

2009-08-27T21:35:00.015+02:00

Last Sunday, we were invited to Maya´s baptism ceremony. Maya is such a little angel,she kept smiling the whole times. I have never meet such a happy baby before. I believe she inherited the energy from Celia, always so positive. Maya´s grown was sewn by Stefan´s Mum. I really envy Celia, both her sisters came all the way from Brazil to helped her out at the parties. The ladies were so creative ,I am so impressed with way they set up the receptions. The paper napkins were so professionally & carefully folded, the fragrant of scented candles so sweet so beautiful. Stefan cheese pies were so delicious, everyone was so satisfied. I can´t help noticing that both Celia & Maya really got great looking shoes.
Here are some memories of that beautiful day.

Crayfish fishing & party

2009-08-16T19:47:00.007+02:00

Cray fishing is really fun! Will definitely do it again next year. Olle used moose heart, liver, herring, and the internal organ of pike as baits. What an investments! Anders caught a 7kg pike the night before, so we had plenty of bait to attract the crayfish. We started fishing at 6pm, the fishing permits start from Friday 6pm until Saturday 12am. The fishing permit cost 200 kr for each 5 cages, we had 25 cages so that´s 1000kr (200 sing dlr) altogether. Smart Lena & Olle went to the site at 4pm to "chope" the best site. I think it was the best site because it´s close to the shelter, fire pits , wild raspberries plantation and car park. The weather was perfect, no mosquito's & quite warm in the air. At 6pm everybody already load their traps into the water, after that we started fire & prepared dinner. I made some Malaysian chicken curry with bread as starter and for dinner we ate Anders 7kg pike! Olle pickled half of the pike & smoked the other half in a smoking bag. Oh dear, it was so delicious! I am so glad I finally met a few Swedish that appreciate pike! The fish was so tasty, you can really tell it´s pike. Even my parent in law who don´t like pike were impressed.

After dinner, we went to check on our traps, I was so excited when we picked up the traps, it´s like Christmas presents! We got approx. 30 crayfish the first 1& half hour, not bad huh? They sky turned dark at 11pm, the air became slightly colder & mist came rushing into the whole area. There were many torch lights on the water surface & it was so beautiful. We sat around the fire drinking wine & whisky to keep us warm. Our neighbours were having a karaoke party, they were singing on top of their voice it´s so nice to see people having so much fun!

I got a little sleepy at 2am, so I went to bed in our tent. It was so cold I couldn´t sleep well. The hard ground was not so good for my back so I tried to lay on the side, it took me a long time to fall asleep.

The next morning, Margot told me we caught 159 crayfish altogether. About 50 of the crayfish were too small to feed (Less than 9 cm) so we set the small crayfish back into the water, hopefully they are big enough when we come back next year.

After breakfast, we packed & set journey back home for a nap. It´s nice to take a nap before the big party, poor Margot & Anders have to go to town to sell fika at the local farmers market.
I sinked into my bed like I haven´t been sleep for one week, the soft madrases is all my back needed! I slept for 3 hours while Nelina was at her friends pool party and Mattias continue painting the garage door.

Anders came to picked us up at 6pm, we headed to Olle & Lena´s place 12km from our place. They live in a big cosy house filled with painting & beautiful handicrafts from all over the world. It´s like a museum at their home, there´s so many nice stuff to look at.
Olle was the crayfish master cook and a expert in crayfish preparations. He even wrote a scrapbook about cray fishing & had it printed on hard covers. Anyone interested in getting a copy? Olle had prepared a special Louisiana Craw fish Boil. The stock was absolutely delightful! The aroma gave the whole kitchen a strong perfume & it made us very hungry! Soon everyone took their turn to boil the crayfish, I tried to avoid the ceremony. After the ceremony, we toast our achievements with a glass of champagne.
Olle prepared 2 different types of crayfish, the first one out was the Swedish ways crayfish cook in dill crown and salt water. I prefer the Cajun style one, I find it more tasty & the corn was so delicious! The stock was so sweet I thought Olle poured tons of sugar in the stock. There´s were plenty of "hum, huh, oh.." and sounds of sucking juice from the crayfish..we started laughing at each others. We were in paradise! There´s really alot of different in taste between the frozen imported crayfish, of course the fresh one is the best! We had a few rounds of cold snaps & a few songs. The atmosphere was magical!
During dessert time, Olle used his computer to make funny face on us, the special program turned our faces into Alien and monster, we laughed so hard! I haven´t laugh so much for very long time, it was so fun!

After coffee, we went upstairs to view Olle´s art gallery. Nelina took the chance to learn a few tricks from Olle and she was so happy with the painting.

We left their place half past one reluctantly. The moon were shinning bright, I feel so fortune & happy! Thanks Margot, Anders, Olle & Lena for these wonderful experience & memories. I hope we could do this again next year.

Crayfish party

2009-08-14T09:14:00.008+02:00

Today & tomorrow is the only day we can catch crayfish legally. We are catching crayfish with Margoth, Anders & their friends. We plan to camp near the river tonight, so it´s gonna be fun! I am so excited!
We will borrow a canoe from Mattias´s dad & Margoth is bringing her own boat. I had prepared some snack to keep us awake the whole night, hopefully we have warm night & great catch.

Crayfish party is a traditional summertime eating and drinking celebration in the Nordic countries. The tradition originated in Sweden, where a crayfish party is called a kräftskiva. The tradition has also spread to Finland via the Swedish-speaking population of that country.

Crayfish parties are generally held during August, a tradition that started because crayfish harvesting in Sweden was, for most of the 20th century, legally limited to late summer. Today, the “kräftpremiär” date in early August has no legal significance. Dining is traditionally outdoors, but in practice the party is often driven indoors by bad weather or aggressive mosquitoes. Customary party accessories are comical paper hats, paper tablecloths, paper lanterns (often depicting the Man in the Moon), and bibs. A rowdy atmosphere prevails amid noisy eating and traditional drinking songs (snapsvisa). It is culturally correct to suck the juice out of the crayfish before shelling it.

Sweden actually imports most of its crayfish, mostly from the American state of Louisiana, Turkey and from China. The imported crayfish are often more expensive than the frozen. To me the frozen crayfish does´nt taste fresh that´s why I am curious about tasting it fresh from the local water.

The crayfish are boiled in salt water and seasoned with fresh dill — preferably “crown dill” harvested after the plant has flowered — then served cold and eaten with the fingers. Bread, mushroom pies, strong Västerbotten cheese, salads, and other dishes are served buffet-style. Akvavit and other kinds of snaps are served, as well as beer.

Will post pictures of our crayfish party later later here.

Feeling happy...that´s the key!

2009-08-13T09:29:00.007+02:00

Wondering why I have´nt been writing for a while? We have been busy, the summer here is too short so we take advantage of every minutes of the sunny days to do fun things! I feel our lifestyle has been 360 degrees. No more sitting in apartment wondering what to do, where to go,who to visit. Ever since we moved back to Mattias´s hometown, we feel much more happier. I have more friends, there´s always social gatherings, we hardly need to plan any activities ahead, there´s always something going, there´s always someone´s parties, or something to do around the round (We have painted the kitchen , bedroom and the garage door.), nature activities like sailing, fishing, mushroom & berries plucking, these activities are often last minutes never pre-planned, we just flow with whatever comes like a boat flowing along the streams. We welcome all opportunites, wherever it takes us, it´s often full of surprises!
Nelina need her extended families, it makes her much happier. They love her dearly and we are so blessed with their supports and care, I would´nt ask for anything more.

Annual family gathering

2009-07-30T00:46:00.004+02:00

We really party hard last weekend. Saturday was the neighbourhood party & Sunday was the annual family gathering. Here´s some photos from my Swedish family annual gathering. The party normally held at Ethel (Mattias´s aunt)& Tore summer house. The house is very near the sea, I get very lazy when I am there. I guess it´s because of the relaxing atmosphere & the fresh air. There a few nice sofa are always being "chope". What can I say & remember about the gathering? Great food & great company I suppose. I wish we could eat this kind of food for Christmas instead of the tradition Christmas buffet. We were told to bring what we want, I thought the kids might like the meat pie so I made one for the party.It´s 1am now, I am getting tired after fishing ..will continue to write more later..

Neighbourhood party

2009-07-29T23:57:00.005+02:00

Last Saturday we had a great time at the neighbourhood party. It´s nice to finally get to know more people living on the same street for the first time. We were told to just bring our own meat to grill & a dessert to share. Everyone seems to be enjoying each other company alot. The organiser this year is Veronica, Simon, Fredrik & Malin. I think they did a great job organising the party, the tents was so useful from the rain, the games were simple anyone could easily joined, the barbecue area was smartly planned, the music & DJ were fantastic. We danced the whole night long, there were many 70´s 80´s & 90´s disco music, we all let our hair down, the rain could´nt stop us. I went to bed at 3am , Mattias came home at 5am. I am glad that we did´nt end up killing each other, there were lots of laughter's,everyone seem to get along well. Mattias broke his words, he drank a small glass of whisky & claimed that it was "light" whisky. To me, what´s the difference? I am not disappointed with him because he did´nt promised me that personally, I think he is disappointed with himself. Next year, we volunteered to organise the neighbourhood party, I am thinking of 80´s theme & karaoke. Anyone have any great suggestions?

Swedish Auction

2009-07-23T01:29:00.005+02:00

Know how I normally spend my Sunday? I am often at the local auctions. I enjoy looking at antique and stuff people sell at garage sales. Sometime, you can buy useful stuffs at very good price. Auctions & Loppis (flea market) can be quite fun. I prefer to go there by myself so Mattias will not give me the "Do you really need this" look on his face. At auctions, the Swede is quite "kaisu" they will arrive at auctions 1 hour before to view the items & bring their own beach chair to chope best position. The bid normally start from S$4 plus a "bidding fee" S$2-4. You can find all kind of stuffs there, (what normally Asian would´nt buy, because they thought it´s "sway" (bad luck) to buy second hand. I normally wash the stuff I bought at auction or flea market with "sun water" the minute I come home. Here´s what I bought lately, enjoy!

Food exchange

2009-07-21T19:53:00.007+02:00

Growing sweet pea can be quite rewarding. I started harvesting my peas already this week. The pea flowers pop out like rockets days after days non stop despite of the rainy weather. I plucked them everyday , when they are approx 5- 7cm long. I eat it raw & as snacks & it´s absolutely delicious! I made some green bean dessert a few days ago, only Mattias & myself were at home so I asked Joyce to pick some of the dessert before she go to her restaurant. She was so happy that I thought of her & gave me some Chicken Boa in return. The boa was so good,it taste exactly like the one in Hong Kong. Mattias & myself ate 3 each as supper.
Carman´s husband is back in Romanian. I went to visit her with Nelina after dinner today. I understand that she´s all alone with the baby & may be having some difficulties to cook so I gave her some stir fried noodles so she can skip cooking for tomorrow. It feel nice being able to give sometime.

Here are some photos taken at our dinner table the past week. Hope you enjoy watching them.

Put LOA into test!

2009-07-15T19:50:00.010+02:00

I always dream about having a swing in my garden. I like the idea of recycling old furniture & give it a new look. I like the idea of converting an old rocking chair to a swing chair from a magazine I saw at the library 2 months ago. 2 weeks later, I found a perfect armed chair at a auction and wanted to make the exact swing chair I saw 2 & half months ago. I went back to the library to search for that magazine I saw earlier, I combed the whole shelf, page by page. The librarian thought I was going crazy! I never found it. Mattias thought it was difficult to work with the chair without a picture, so I went back to the library again,still I could not find it.
Two weeks later, I received a notice from the library about a magazine I reserved earlier. I told myself, this time I will never go to the magazine shelf to look for that magazine, instead I ordered it to come to me automatically. I pictured myself holding that page. I did this because I wanted to test LOA. Remember the magazine I reserved? The swing chair idea was in it! I don´t know how, I just knew that the page will appear some how. According to the LOA cd, it´s not our job to figure out how to get what we want. Our job is to just place the order, then LOA will do the rest. Without LOA, the swing chair will not be hanging in my garden today.

Would you give your kids pan cake for dinner?

2009-07-07T13:03:00.010+02:00

This summer I tried plant my own choy sum. Thanks to Joyce for the choy sum seeds from Hong Kong. The whole growing process took around 3-4 weeks. I removed them from the soil when they are approx 15cm tall. Joyce told me they are best when they are tender, it´s more tasty. I dont understand why there´s so much insect in my planting bed, they had eaten my choy sum & I am using ecology treatments to treat them now. Hopefully they could be kept under control.
I planted choy sum because there´s alot of mineral in green vegi. I hope Nelina learn how to appreciate this vegi & she will benefit from the nutrition. She normally love vegetable, but not choy sum. I think this got to do with her 5 loose tooth.
In Sweden, Swedish kids some time eat pan-cake, spaghetti, ready made meat balls blood pudding for dinner. Anything that could save time to prepare because Swedish mum usually work in the day & did´nt had the time & energy to spend time in the kitchen. I said Nelina is quite lucky because I often make sure she had a balanced warm meals waiting for her. She had learned to taste all types of food from Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Japanese , India, China, Vietnam, etc..She is not afraid to try new food and seldom complained. Sometime she misses Swedish kiddy food like blood pudding & pan cake.Till now, I still can´t put myself to fry pan cake for her eat as a meal because to me pan cake is either for breakfast or snacks. I can make pan cake when I am really lazy & had not time or when Nelina´s friends are dinning with us. When doing that, I felt guilty for not giving her the right nutrition she needs.

Here´s some photos of what we ate the past few days:

Celia´s birthday party

2009-07-06T13:13:00.012+02:00

We celebrated Celia´s birthday party last Saturday at home instead of the beach because of the weather. We understand that it can be quite tough for Celia to organize the party so we decided to help her out by cooking for her. I made a big pot of chicken curry & bought some ingredients for sushi while Carrie baked pizza buns, banana cake and marinated salmon for the sushi. Celia´s girlfriend, Michelle baked a nice chocolate birthday cake and Celia baked 2 large Greek break for the curry. I met Carrie for lunch in town before the party. We ate at Wok & Roll because the Q at the food vendors were too long. It´s better to eat at Wok & Roll because we knew we always received VIP treatments there.
I was introduced to Michelle & Irene (both from Philippine) at the party. Irene has 2 lovely daughters Leah & Nicole. Michelle happened to live near my place,right now she & her husband are busy building their house near the beach not far away from my place. They hope to move in by September. I also learned how to roll sushi the real "Japanese way" from Celia. Celia bought some sushi container which helped make sushi much easier, we had so much fun making sushi together.
I can´t help noticing the difference between all the Swedish man at the party, they just want to drink get high, make conversation, waiting to be serve..while the ladies just want to chat & eat and helped each others out. The kids have´nt learned how to interact with each other, so Nelina became their sitter making sure they are safe playing & not end up killing each other.
I am so glad that everyone enjoyed my chicken curry. I think Celia did great job with the Greek bread, it was perfect with the curry. Carrie salmon was delicious and Michele´s cake was really good!
After the cake, the ladies watched a movie together in the living room while the man still working on their macho,drinking. I noticed some Swede really could drink, especially when it´s for free. They will drink all they could to get drunk. I understand that they are trying to have a great time but drinking to get drunk is not the only way to enjoy a great party. I think Sweden do have some issue with drinking, nowadays people drink to celebrate the weekend, drinking to celebrate has became a lifestyle. They will find all kind of reasons to celebrate. Unlike in the past, people drink because they were lonely, sad or depressed.I used to drink quite a bit at parties in the past but now, I happily drink a couples of wine or beer to a nice piece of steak or special dinner. I think it´s cool if one could recognized their limit & take control of their drinking not letting anyone interfere with their own decision. Anyway, that´s not my problem, they are the one who´s dealing with the headaches the day after. The next morning, Mattias told me the liquor made him sick & said that he will never drink hard liquor again. I hope he mean what he said.

Here are some memories at the party, enjoy!

Our babies - 2 - 4 weeks old

2009-07-02T23:38:00.006+02:00

Little grey is falling down, falling down...

Little black is football master!

2-4 weeks Photographs

Our babies has made alot of progress. Now they learned how to use the toilet,play with balls, clean themselves and eat cheese & drink creamy milk. They wanted to sleep with us on the same bed and now learned how to climb up the bed by themselves. Filippa is busy chasing around to safe place & sometime force to discipline them.
Here´s a few photos, enjoy!

Skellefteå Stadfest 2009

2009-07-02T21:53:00.011+02:00

Today, me & Nelina spent the whole day at the Skellefteå stadfest (town carnival). This 5 days carnival (1 - 5 July) brought this town alive. It´s a carnival everyone´s waiting for.
I am more interested in the food store, we went round the market & found 3 Thai street food vendors, 1 Chinese food vendor, other food vendors sell taco, barbecue pork sandwich, wraps, local specialty etc.. We tried the Texas taco & barbecue pork sandwich today, will try other foods on Saturday with Carrie. (We are organizing a beach party to celebrate Celia´s birthday on Saturday. We will be making sushi, pizza, fried noodles & Celia´s friend from Brazilian will bake a cáke). How cool!
It was very warm in the air, many were craving for ice-cream. Nelina brought herself a Popsicle & some candy from the candy store. We also found a perfect 2nd hand armed chair from the second hand store, I am planning to make a swing chair for our garden.
I still prefer carnival in Singapore, in terms of choices of street food. Singapore has far too much to offer. Singaporean usually don´t feel sorry for the pocket when food is good.

Summer fun 2009

2009-07-02T21:17:00.003+02:00

Here´s a few glimpse of Nelina at the "Summer fun" activities organized by the local church.

Some people take others for a ride...

2009-06-27T11:51:00.006+02:00

Last summer, I joined Mattias´s aunt & family at a "KonstRunda" (Artist exibitions) round the region. We drove to different villages to view artwork by different artists. Some of them were painter, some make spoon & bowl from wood, some make prints on fabric etc.. I was very luckly, I won a prize from a fabric artist who´s living in Bureå (10km) from my place,I was so happy because I hardly won anything before. The fabric artist, let´s call her "Mrs K" told me that I could come & tell her how I want my fabric to be done & that I thought was nice of her. After I told her exactly how I wanted it, She told me it should be ready for collection in a couple of weeks. So, I waited anxiously. 3 weeks later, I gave her a call. She told me she have´nt had any time to work on it, she asked me to call her again in a month. I did. It was the same excuse. I thought may be she wanted to enjoy her summer so I told her I we could wait until autumn. I called her again sometime in October, again she said she will call me in 2 weeks, she never did. I happened to pass by her place 1 month later & decided to pay her a visit at her studio. Out of my surprise, I saw a very different site of her, the way she lives. I notice the internal part of her home was very much unlike the external part of her house. There were lots of rubbish (old milk packet, old newspapers & old cans) hanging all over the house, it look like it was being attacked by a hurricane. I can´t believed my eyes! This time her excuse was, she was sick. I saw the condition of her place & I totally sympathise her situation. Again, she promised me that she will called me in a month. I left her place feeling sorry for her. After 2 months, still she did not called. I thought she was dead or something, so I called her to check if she is still alive. She said she was alright then & will work on my fabric soon... she did´nt sound pleasant & it make me feel like I was desperate. I was not desperate for the fabric, I was just sick of listening to the same excuse over & over. Still, she gave me the same excuse. This relationship is no good for me & I know I needed end this. So,this morning (after one year of waiting), I decided I want to gave her a call & let her know how I feel about the whole situation. I want to tell her that she can keep her fabric, may be that will end her misery. I thought she would feel grateful, instead she sounded like I was impatience & still wanted gave me those excuses again. I really had enough of those silly excuses & genuinely like to end this positively. She became furious and ask me why I did´nt want her artwork. Can you imagine this? What was she thinking? I told her to cut the crab & that she keep those excuses to herself. How could she expect me to be interested in her artwork after all this hustle? I don´t want her bad energy in my home!
It feel great to do what I did and I am so glad that I have set myself free!

Would you swim in the sea 10 degree cold?

2009-06-22T22:16:00.008+02:00

The local church 10km from our home has organized 7 days summer activities for kids, Nelina has joined Amanda & Agnes at this activities and it´s nice to know that she really had a great time. Nelina would love for Amanda & Agnes to sleep over, so we followed the girls home to pick up their pajamas & swimming costume. I told them we could go for a swim at the nearby beach in the evening if the weather permits. We were lucky, it was sunny when we arrived, we had a few dips, oh god the water were freezing! I am so proud I could withstand the cold & spend a few moments in the water with the girls!! Here´s a few pictures from today, enjoy!

Mid summer

2009-06-22T20:48:00.005+02:00

Here´s some photos of our mid summer celebration. We really had a great time!
The food & company were perfect! The weather? I could´nt asked for better!
LOA really gave me what I ordered. I wanted to have a rainless day on mid summer & I got exactly what I asked for! One year ago, we moved to Ursviken because I like the sea & water life. I´ve always dream of having a small boat oneday so we can go fishing with..know what? We got a boat all out of a sudden without seeing it coming. It was mid summer night, after a few glasses of vodka, Mattias & Stefan decided to go for a walk at the coast after mid-night. When approaching the jetty, Stefan asked Mattias if he would want to buy a old boat of his. Mattias said Yes right away without a second thoughts. Stefan said we can buy it at S$600 (inclusive of motor,parking space and test drive for 1 year.) We could´nt asked for more!!! LOA gave me what I dream about, I did´nt make any plan to buy a boat so soon either did I put in any effort to fullfill my dream. It just happened! I am amazed with the universal power and and very thankful given this gift.
I now understand why my diet did´nt work, because I was thinking of losing weight all the time, that´s why I did not lose much weight (only 3 kg so far). Now I am going to forcus on how I want to look like, feeling healty & more tone. I have decided to eat what I desire & stop thinking that it will make me fat. Food don´t make me fat, my thoughts of feeling fat make me fat.

Midsummer in Sweden

2009-06-19T08:10:00.004+02:00

Today is midsummer. We will be celebrating this special day with some friends. Will try take some photos & share them here later.

Here´s a funny video about how the Swedish celebrate midsummer,enjoy.

Here´s some information I gather from Wild Sweden site.
Midsummer – one of the most important days in the Swedish calendar. Why? Because it is the middle of summer? Certainly not! For Sweden, Midsummer marks the beginning, the start of the brief but glorious summer season, a time for leisure, a time for long romantic walks on endless light evenings. Many workers choose to take their long summer holidays in Sweden at this time of year.

Perhaps because of its relative brevity, the Swedes are determined to get the very last drop of enjoyment from summertime. Beginning in May, summer proper bursts into life in June in a riot of luscious greens and wildflower meadows.

No self-respecting Swede would miss the annual Midsummer celebration. The woes and worries of city life are abandoned, and families head for their summer houses to make preparations for the festivities.

Regardless of the actual date of the longest day, Midsummer is always celebrated on a Friday. The day begins with families fanning out into the surrounding forests to collect flowers to make wreaths. These are then hung upon the maypole, which will form the centrepiece of the day’s (and night’s!) celebrations.

On all occasions, the Swedes love to sing, and Midsummer is no exception. Ring dances are performed around the maypole to the accompaniment of screams of delight from the children and peels of laughter from the adults.

As the afternoon wears on and the dancers tire, it is time to eat – and what a feast! A typical Midsummer menu will include various kinds of pickled herring (flavoured with onion, garlic, tomato, mustard sauce, and a myriad of other varieties – everyone has their favourite, ours is the mustard!), boiled new potatoes with freshly-picked dill, soured cream and red onion. Fish always features strongly in Swedish cuisine, and the next course may well include salmon or perhaps a meat dish such as spare ribs. To follow, the summer’s first crop of strawberries will be proudly brought to the table and eagerly devoured.

Of course, the smörgåsbord would not be complete without the traditional accompaniment of cold beer and schnapps – but once again, singing is very much in evidence. You can’t drink a schnapps without singing!

As the sun descends (very briefly!) towards the horizon, it is once more time for dancing, but this time of a rather more sedate and romantic kind. At this point many Swedes will head for a jetty beside the lake or archipelago water to for an evening of dancing.

It is hard not to feel romantic as the long warm evening wears on and the scents of nighttime fill the air. According to tradition, girls wishing to marry should pick seven different types of flowers as they make their way home on Midsummer’s Eve, and put them beneath their pillows as they sleep. If all goes according to plan, their dreams should be filled with visions of their future husband – a Midsummer Night’s Dream!

I wish you all a very “Glad Midsommar” (“glad midsommar”) – Happy Midsummer, and may your dreams come true!

My garden

2009-06-19T08:09:00.002+02:00

Kitten started walking!

2009-06-15T20:54:00.002+02:00

Sieow Hei

Sieow Hwe

Joypeak Carnival

2009-06-15T19:34:00.004+02:00

Joy peak Carnival

We were selling Nelina´s old cloth at the "Joy Peak" carnival organized by the local church. All the ride, games & pop-corn are for free. We sold almost all Nelina´s toys and some cloths. The sale was pretty good despite of the bad weather. I guess we sold the right products at the right place. The carnival was organized for kids & young family.Our second hand cloths & toys was well appreciated by many families, they said the cloths were well kept & the price was very reasonable. I think we did this because we want Nelina to learn how to have fun doing "business" on her own. It´s a good opportunities to train her guts & confident.
Here are some photos taken at the carnival,enjoy.

It´s the last day of school!

2009-06-13T00:02:00.004+02:00

The school holiday is approx. 2 months plus in Sweden. The Swede normally take time off from work to celebrate this day. I made a traditional "smörgåstårta" this cake is normally made up of several layers of white bread with creamy fillings in between. The fillings and toppings vary, but egg and mayonnaise are often the base, typically accompanied by any combination of liver paté, olives, prawns, ham, caviar and smoked salmon.Smörgåstårta is served cold and sliced like a dessert cake. This cake is normally served on special occasion like birthdays, funeral, graduations, wedding etc.. Nelina love this cake, she ate 3 pieces immediately when she arrived home.

I see my life changes before my eyes..

2009-06-11T20:06:00.004+02:00

I love every mintues & seconds of my life! It feel great to feel great! I felt my life started playing, like never before and I am amazed with the result with just some small changes. LOA makes me realized my potentials and I am so grateful I was given this gift.

We can see the world now!

2009-06-11T09:54:00.003+02:00

Our 2 new little members have opened their eyes,they can see the world now! How wonderful! They also started crawling like small baby trying to lift their head to see what´s ahead of them. Filippa spend 95% of her time with them, the other 5% is to eat & to the toilet. She is so bon to her babies, I have not clue when she would feel comfortable leaving them alone. This is mother´s love.

Swedish National Day

2009-06-10T09:30:00.003+02:00

Here´s a slide on how we celebrated National day with Carrie, Carman ´s family, Margot & Anders for a Asian barbecue last Saturday.

Sorry folks, I have not time to write about the detail for this special occasion.(Will try to write more later, today I need to pull out some stuffs for our flea market at Joy Peak this Saturday.)

Asian Vegi finally!

2009-06-10T08:54:00.003+02:00

My told my friend Daniel who own (Jack)the local Asian food supply store some months ago that he should try sell some imported fresh vegi here. I beleived that all Asian love fresh vegi & am very confident that it will make great sale. He was not so positive about this idea as he though that it would not be profitable & too much work. 3 weeks after, another Asian supplier who´s located in the middle in town started selling fresh vegi. Of course the business was very good because that owner was the only one who was willing to take the time to listen to his customers needs & was sweet talker. One month ago, I went to Jack & heard from Daniel that he had lost most of the Asian customers & were quite desperate to do something about it. I volunteer to help him by advising him what type of vegi he should sell & price etc... Two weeks later, his store was stocked with fresh vegi & he was amazed with the sale! 95% of the fresh vegi were gone within 3 days & he received more sales from other ingredient because the Asian now need more oyster sauce to stir fry vegi!I am so glad he did what he did & am very happy with the results. Here´s a few pictures of our dinner the past few days.

New kittens - Day 3 & 4

2009-06-05T12:22:00.009+02:00

I never get tired starring at the kittens. I had been busy working on the field these days all day, whenever I have a break, I´ll take a few moments to look at our new family´s members. They are absolutely adorable! I managed to captured a fight during feeding and it´s so funny to look at.I think the grey one is a fighter on the other hand the black one is slightly gentle, I think he/she will eventually catch up with the aggressions in no time. Their tummy are getting bigger, all they do is eat & sleep all days. They were so fat they can´t even roll over their body,luckily Filippa is always there to help them. It´s good that there´s only 2 kitten, in this case they are more well taken care of & could have more food. It´s much easier for Filippa to take care of 2 then 4 & 6 kittens. Up till today, Filippa still spend 99% of her entire time with her kids, she is so loving & really took care of them.
Last night Filippa took one of the kitten to our bed in the middle of the night again. I saw she left the other once screaming for attentions so I went to the box & picked it up so he/she won´t get lonely. When I came back & sit on my bed, Mattias shouted! I almost sat on one of the other kitten! That was so close! I could´nt imagine what would happen if I sat on it. It took me a couples of hours to forget the horrible incident. No, no matter how cosy they will be on the same bed with us, it´s too dangerous. I guess Filippa is used to lying with us in our soft bed. So Yesterday I made another box for them, this time with cushion & filt in it.I even include a door so the kitten won´t wonder their way out of the box. Surprisingly, they did´nt came to our bed again last night. So this is all about comfort yeah?

New kittens - Day 2

2009-06-03T08:09:00.007+02:00

Filippa still had not left her kitten on their own. She is so loving, whenever the kitten cry or made sound, Filippa will "Mauw" back to tell the kitten that she´s around. I call the black kitten "Seow Hej" (mean little black) & the grey one "Seow Hwe" (mean little grey). Nelina´s & her friend Moa were busy decorating the cat´s box yesterday, they made pictures of cats, cat´s name, animal, tree then pasted on the box so Filippa & her kitten have something to look at. They even prepare food & drinks for the cats, how thoughtful of them.
Just before we when to bed, Nelina came running down stair. She said Filippa took Seow Hej to her bed. Nelina never seem how mother cat carry their kitten so she thought that Filippa was biting her kitten. Filippa later transfer her kittens to our bed, I bet she feel safer sleeping with us. The kittens were so little, we were afraid that we might crashed them while sleeping so we put them in their box next to our bed. The whole extended family slept soundly in the same room the whole night. It feel so cosy.

My mother´s day presents

2009-06-01T22:28:00.005+02:00

Yippee! Filippa finally became a Mum on Mother´s day! Her first kitten was born 5 mins before mid-night yesterday. We were so happy that everything went well. I think Filippa wanted us to be around when she gave birth. She kept luring me to go up stair with her. I knew it was time then. Her contraction started 5 mins after we went up stair. She sounded like she was having pain and need us to calm her down. We took turn to stroke her, we felt as scared as her.Mattias was all sweaty & feeling nervous like father to be in the labor room. We had some toilet paper, towels, surgical gloves, straw (in case the kitten could not breath properly) ,torchlight and a handbook about pregnant cat labor procedure stand by. It was pretty exciting (like watching animal gave birth on Discovery channel) except that it is for real. I had prepared myself by watching video on cat´s birth 1 week before so I know what to expect. The contractions lasted for 3 hours, we were busy running in & out of the bedroom. The waiting did´nt seem forever as we expected it to be longer. We could see the sack clearly as it broke and the whole birth! It was so beautiful! I had tears on the corners of my eyes and Filippa was so incredible! She handle the whole birth so naturally. First she licked the cat until it started crying then she bite the umbilical cot & ate the whole placenta, oh dear it was pretty impressive.The atmosphere was so touchy I almost wanted to cry. This was really one of the best experience I had in my life and it was so warm & beautiful. Filippa is such a loving mother,she really took great care of her kitten & never left them alone the last 24 hours. I tried to captured this beautiful memory with my camera, it was so wonderful to just stare at them having those cosy moments. We saw that Filippa really could handle her kitten naturally so we went to bed after her first birth. We woke up at 5am & found another grey kitten in the box. Nelina heard our voice & quickly woke up. She was so happy to meet the kitten & said she want to stay at home instead of school. Unfortunately we could´nt do that, she just have to wait until she come home. Filippa could´nt leave her kitten alone,so we gave her hotel room service. She ate alot of cheese from Mattias as it will help her produce more milk. Now, we are proud grandparent! What a beautiful way to remember Mother´s day!

Rock concert & Asian Barbacue party weekend

2009-06-01T13:04:00.001+02:00

Here are some photos taken over the weekend. Enjoy!

Jobless people are lazy people?

2009-05-28T10:25:00.006+02:00

I have been doing alot of reading & thinking lately, I want to be able to control my thoughts , to feel good and be the master of my own thoughts. I think I found the way thru Law of attractions. I find that the time when I am at home jobless has been healthy for me both mentally & physically. I have been working hard almost half of my life, my own ex-company really drained all my energy & forcus. It´s time to do myself a favour by taking time off to think about who I really am as a person & how I can make the most out of my life, to enjoy life. Life should´nt be a struggle, dont´you agree?
It said in LOA (Law of attractions) that our thoughts is a magnet, we attracts to what we thoughts, a human being has 60,000 thoughts a day and whether we like it or not, we attracts to what we think & feel about. That´s so true!
Like sometime ago, I heard a comment that "Jobless people are lazy", it hurts me. I think jobless people like me work more than working people, I cook, I clean, I plan, I shop, I plant, feeling lonely with no income, how fun is that? I don´t understand why some people can be so judgemental. This thoughts has effected me negatively and did´nt realized I became the victim of that comment. Now I understand,since I can´t change what others is thinking and the world but I can change my way of looking at things.
My world now surround with good feeling, good feeling is so much stronger that bad. I choose to feel good as it makes me strong and feeling balance.
I like the phrase; "Stop comparing yourself with others, compare yourself with you instead. Do not miss those or things you do not have but be grateful with what you have instead. Be your own best friend, be kind to yourself, make yourself feel good, make a date with yourself at the movie, you would only be disappointed with yourself if you did´nt turned up.

Lately...

2009-05-25T08:36:00.007+02:00

Hedgehog

It has been a busy but fun week. I invited Carrie to sleep over on the Kristi Himmelsfärd day on Thursday. We had a great time chatting,cooking & eating together.It´s so much nicer to have someone on the same frequency to share food from hometown. Carrie like to try my chicken rice so I made her my specialty . She was so pleased with my chicken rice, I heard a hundred times compliments about the rice & it´s still ringing in my head. Carrie was also carving of Otak after she saw the pictures in my previous article so I made some to satisfy her. This time I used white frozen fish, I think I should had squeezed out ALL the water trapped in the fish before I put them in the blender. The paste was too watery & I did´nt had enough salt!
Carrie introduced me to one of her Japanese friend Celia & Stefan who live 2km from my place. Celia had just given birth to her second baby Maya (who´s now one month old) & her parent were in Sweden to help her out with baby sitting. The old couple has been here for coming 3 months & will be going back to Brazil next Friday.
Celia Mum made quite a few delicious Japanese dishes like stuff omelet, stir fried cabbage with garlic,barbecued pork, and traditional caramel pudding as dessert. The food & dessert was fantastic & we were loaded with joy! I like Celia & her family very much so I invited them over to my place for lunch the next day. I was surprise that our Japanese like the Otak very much (even though it was watery & unsalted), the chicken rice were gone the first 15 mins, the stir fried beef & aubergine was one of the favourite, the barbecue pork (they love the ginger marinate) like many Japanese,they always shown awful lots of appreciations irregardless of whether the food is nice or not. Oliver (Celia´s 2 years old son) was holding his chicken drumstick like professional,licked round his tiny fingers & said "Hummmm" while eating, his Mum told me he was enjoying the food very much!
In the evening, we saw 2 hedgehog trying to pair. They sounded like ice-cream machine during mating, it was so funny!
Nelina had a shopping voucher as birthday present so I brought her shopping in town. She brought a pair of bermudas, hair color lotions and a big soft ice-cream. I am glad that she is satisfied with the things she brought. When we came home, I thought I try baking pizza on a hot stone over a grill.It works! Nelina & Mattias absolutely love those pizza & hope to bake more pizza in the near future. As for me, Pizza is not my favourite, I can only eat 1 hand size but perhaps more if the dough is made out of healthier flour.
We went to watch a mid-night concert at the church in town right after Robinson.
God grace! This gospel group are so professional & we had a great time swinging & clapping! I used to sing in the gospel group while living in Umeå, I would love to sing again if I have the time. May be in the autumn.

It´s summer time!

2009-05-18T09:18:00.005+02:00

Sun rise : 3:07am Sun set : 22:04 pm
It´s being a lovely weekend, the sun were shining all days it´s so nice to be outdoor the whole time,getting things done. Things that need to be gone are gone now, except for Nelina´s old toys. Nelina want to sell it at the carnival flea market later before mid-summer. I helped her to packed them in plastic bags so it´s easier to transport. It will be exciting to see how she manage her business later.
Nelina were at her grandparent place the whole weekend, so Mattias & myself took the opportunity to work in the store room & garden. We were planting grass and build net for my strawberry & sweet peas plantation. Unfortunately I still can´t put the plant out because it could frost in the night. The ideal time will be around middle of June. We went for a walk into the wood to collect some stones & old tree trunk so I can create a landscape in the garden. There was so much to do & I hardly any time to cook. It´s much easier to set fire on the grill & just marinate meat & make burgers.

Here are few photos taken over the past few days.

Asian food training...

2009-05-15T10:23:00.006+02:00

Yesterday Nelina invited her classmate for fika (afternoon tea). I thought that was pretty brave of her to do that, I am so glad to see her self-esteem improving day by day. Her classmate Amina is not only a sweet talker but also well manner. Her parent definitely did a great job with up-bringing. Amina was so impress with my vanilla bun & chocolate cake. Did´nt she know that Asian too, can bake?
The same goes for Moa (our neighbour´s kid),she love my fried noodle. It´s nice to received compliments from Swedish kid about Asian food. In the past ,Nelina´s friends did´nt quite appreciate Asian food. I often received comments like " Yuk! who eat this type of food?" "Ee...it´s too spicy1" (Sometime, ketcup is consider spicy, can you imagine that?) Wait till they try the Thai small chilli padi, then they will know what spicy is all about. I have been training Nelina to eat spicy food for a few years now, I don´t specially make Swedish food to please her because she get that in School anyway. At home, it´s 80% Asian food, my philosophy is eat it or leave it. It´s just like if we did´nt buy them candy every Saturday,how on earth would they crave for candy over weekend? I believe that it´s important to give her the opportunity to try as many different type of Asian food as possible since baby,so she get used to my food growing up. It´s ok for me that sometime she did´nt exactly like some of the food I cooked, I´ve learned to accept that everybody has different taste for food & I value her opinions. So far, I feel that my effort is not wasted, I am so glad she eat whatever I gave her & hardly complain. Her favourite food is my Mum´s special steamed egg with minced meat, Nonya Babi Pong teh, Cantonese fried egg noodles, Hiananese chicken rice, Malaysia Chicken curry etc...We had a parent meeting 2 days ago & her teacher told me she´s not eating much in school. I asked her why & she told me she´s has no appetite & the school´s Asian stew suck!

How to make tofu

2009-05-14T20:02:00.000+02:00

Here´s a video about making tofu :

Can you eat sweet bun as lunch?

2009-05-13T20:07:00.008+02:00

My Asian food Supplier Jack´s Import has recently started selling Tofu (Sing $5 a piece) I thought I gave it a try. The tofu was excellent with satay sauce, Oh my! it felt like eating at a Malay store in Changi Village Hawker Centre. Sometime, I feel very proud being able to duplicate Singapore´s food here in Sweden. It´s a little hard work but it´s all worth the effort.
Nowadays I hardly had any extra time to specially make food for my diet, I eat whatever I made for my family & just avoid Carbohydrate like rice,potatoes & pasta.
I intend to eat more soup because it´s not only nutritious but also save time & money. So far there´s no complain from both Mattias & Nelina except that it was not filling with just soup alone.
I have also started some summer baking, (I made 40 vanilla buns yesterday). Buns is great to have at home just incase we have drop-in guest. Nelina can eat 2-3 of those babies when she come home from school everyday. It´s quite common in Sweden that people just have a buns for lunch or birthday party. I don´t. I still can´t do that, I am a typical Asian women who need to eat proper lunch. In Sweden, buns with meat filling is consider luxury. It can be consider as lunch or food. In olden time,to the Swede, food was´nt really important most people eat to fill their stomach, unlike Asian, food is a religion. We would pay $20 for a plate of fried kway teow at JB & are so spoiled with the choice of food available. Here, even if you are willing to pay $40 for fried kway teow, no one is selling.

Our 4 legged hairy 2nd child

2009-05-12T17:17:00.008+02:00

I think Filippa (our cat) is pregnant and we are absolutely thrill!
If we calculate correctly, she should be due within two weeks. I feel like an exciting Mum waiting for my grandchildren to arrive. Yesterday, I prepared a birth bed (a card box filled with lots of towels).She is eating like alot nowadays, her tummy is getting bigger each day & she´s always craving for cheese.
We love Filippa very much, she´s our 4 legged hairy 2nd child. I can not imagine one day without her. She brought us so much joy,there´s always laughter's when she is around. Filippa is emotional connected to me, I feel that we could communicate somehow, I feel that we understand each other´s feeling very much.
I am asthmatic, I had some allergy reaction from cat earlier. When Filippa first moved to our home, I had suffered numerous asthma attacked. I am getting much better now. Our frequent contact has helped cured my cat allergy and I am so glad that I am no longer allergy to any cat now.

Here´s something we know about Filippa:

Favourite food:
Cheese, potatoes chips, nuts, ice-cream, raw beef, salmon, grilled chicken etc..

Interest:
Sleep, nature, hunting, cuddle, food!

Words she understand:
Filippa, come here, eat, Mamma, Nelina

Strength:
Do what she want, kind, funny, cute,brave,loving

Weakness:
Afraid of other cat, don´t like to travel on a car, afraid lonely, afraid of loud music/sound, picky eater

Things she love to do:
Sleep on Nelina´s neck, sleep between my leg, sit together with us when we are dining, being spoilt..

Last weekend..

2009-05-11T13:16:00.009+02:00

We finally managed to clear some of the junk in our garage & it feel great!
I don´t understand how we could end up with so much stuffs. Right now Mattias is putting up hooks & holders so we could organize our ski & gardening tools. Getting rids of junks really help organizing our thoughts, I thinks that´s what we need ,to straighten out what we really want in life. It´s great to listen to Mia "Self-esteem" CD together while working in the garage. Spring is the busiest time, it´s hard to find time for us to seat & read, so listening while working would really work for us.
Beside clearing our garage, I am also in the mid of creating a outdoor kitchen
in our sun-deck. I learned that it´s a sin to stay indoor when the weather is so beautiful & since I spend most time cooking, a outdoor kitchen enable me to enjoy the nice weather while cooking.(Will take pictures & share them here later).
It´s good that Nelina was at Moa birthday party so we could concentrate on re-organizing our garage & without feeling guilty she has no activities. Nelina had a great time, she told us what happened at the party, how she pity those who had suffered from problems with allergy. There were many types of allergy here, some were allergy to diary products, pollen, nuts, MSG, colored fruit & vegi, cats, dog, pets, flour, mushrooms , you name it. I never heard of allergy in Singapore, I think the air is too clean here & therefore people are rather sensitive to the environments.

Obs! one great news, I think we going to be a grand-parent soon!!!

Self-esteem ...

2009-05-08T10:59:00.007+02:00

MUST See!!! See how much self-confident this Korean little girl got...

Two days ago, Nelina & myself started training on our self-esteem. We do it by writting a journal about what make us feel good for the day. Yesterday, Nelina came home from school happily & told me she will be at her friends place after school the next day & the following Tuesday. I was blown away! This is the first time she took the courage to asked her friends if they could play together,I saw the true happiness in her eyes, I feel her spirit glow, it make make me so happy! Yes! My little girl is become so brave all out of sudden! She made it! I am so proud of her! I kissed her on her forehead & told her "You see, I knew you can do it, it´s not so hard to asked is´nt it? Good job!"
This journal stuff really works! I did´nt expect to see the effect so immediately.
Last night, I sat down with Mattias & told him about Nelina. He was also very proud & happy for her. I was surprise that he dare admit that he too had some problems with self-esteem & would love to train on that. I am so glad that this was the first after a long time we could be so open to each others & discuss about how to solve our problems so calm & constructively.

Diet - Past few days..

2009-05-06T13:08:00.003+02:00

I love barbecue food,I can eat them everyday! Last Saturday, after a hard day of work spring cleaning our garden it´s nice to finally settled down on our sun deck for a simple barbecue dinner. We are lucky to have plenty of sun until 9pm at our sun deck. I love the idea of to be able enjoy our dinner in the garden stresslessly & quietly. Watching Mattias enjoying his new hobby - barbecuing, the aroma of red wine & fragrant of ginger from the pork chop..hm...I won´t ask for more.

I am beginning to adjust to not eating carbohydrate this days.Instead, I eat alot of home-made soya bean sprout & salad to replace rice and it make me feel in control.
I make sure I drink plenty of water & tea to keep me from hydration. Fruit is something I can´t live without, so I try to eat extra to help me forget about potatoes chips & chilly nuts. The only thing I can´t resist is dessert, I love a good chocolate cake (I heard that is harmless) but I restrict myself to max 2 small piece.
Nelina is eating like a horse nowadays, it´s cheaper to bake our own brownie & cakes so she have something to fill her stomach when she´s back from school.

Low self-esteem?

2009-05-06T10:58:00.010+02:00

In most country, spring start in March. But here northern Sweden, Spring starts from May and end during the last week of June. Spring is a favourite time for the Swede because it mean more outdoor activities like barbecuing,spring cleaning in the garden (clearing old leaf from the garden) getting rid of thin ice, cars maintenance, planting and sun tanning. Someday the temperature can rise & drop within a day between (5- 27 degree) therefore dressing can be a little troublesome..you want to make sure you don´t wear too much or too little. If too little, there are chance you might catch a cold.
We had been busy clearing old leafs from our garden over the weekend.We´d collected more than 14 bags of leafs and there´s more to come. Nelina has been such a great helper, she helped us sweeped the leaf the whole day without complaining that it is boring. I saw some sadness on her face when our neighbour kid Moa were out playing with a friend in their garden. Of course Nelina would love to join them but was too shy to ask. I encouraged her to go ask them if she could join them but she was too afraid of rejection.
I think this behaviour is due to low self-esteem, afraid of being rejected.
As her Mum, I can only give her encouragements but it hurt to see her struggling with the pain. Each time Moa & her friend parade outside our house, it felt that they were teasing Nelina and it has come to a point that I was tired of their pathetic behaviour. Nelina on the other hand was still hoping that they would come ask if she want to join them, that I think is also pathetic. Does it really cost so much to ASK?
I realized that her inadequacy to socialize could be from Mattias and part of my below average self-esteem. I know I need to work on my self-esteem first before I could help Nelina. According to Mia Törnblom "Self-esteem" CD, writting 3 things that make us feel good about our self everyday for a long term will help us build up our self-esteem. I think this make alot of sense,we need to feel good about ourself before we could feel good for others, why did´nt I thought of that? Today, I pull out a note book I called it "I am good" journal book & start recording what we are good for.

I wrote mine as:
1. Other´s don´t live with me everyday, I live within myself every minutes of my life. Only I can help myself to feel better about myself, I am glad that I take time to think about this issue & seek help.

2. I am willing to train on my self-esteem.

3. I am more balance mentally nowadays (compare to 2 years ago). I accept who I am and will only look at the good things in life.

Nelina wrote hers as:

1. Yesterday Moa came over & want to borrow our laptop. Since my computer hour was over ,I told her it was not possible to use the computer. It felt good to be able to say "no" sometimes.

2. It´s great spending more time with Mum.

3. I have more patience when shopping with Mum today.

Valborg 2009

2009-05-04T08:59:00.005+02:00

Intuition has many related meanings, usually connected to the meaning "ability to sense or know immediately without reasoning", and is often regarded as a divine or prophetic power, that is how I felt when I am with Carrie. She is someone with whom I can be connected with emotionally, someone who understands what I am going thru & that we are able to give each others genuine advise, she´s like a little sister whom I´d always dream about.
We had such a wonderful time with Carrie & her family at Valborg. Carrie son, Kevin is such a joy! Nelina is so proud given the opportunity to "babysit" him & she is missing Kevin...
Valborg often involves a good barbecue dinner, a big bonfire (in town) , singing and alcohol. We had a barbecue dinner before we head down town for the Valborg celebration. There were people barbecuing sausage at the bonfire, it´s a pity that the ground were still wet from the snow, otherwise it can be nice to have a picnic. It´s good we walked to town, otherwise there won´t be enough space for dessert. Marcus (Carrie´s husband) cousin brought a blueberry pie for dessert, it was the best blue berry pie I´d ever had for long! After dessert, we had some very delicious cheese with wine. Mattias & Marcus were hanging out in the living room while Carrie & myself did some catching up at the kitchen. We chatted until 2.30am!
The next morning, Carrie made waffles for breakfast. I really enjoy the salmons waffles, the combinations is perfect! After breakfast, we went for a walk. The weather was lovely! Carrie´s live very near the sea, so it was nice to have a look how´s it´s like there. We spoke about horse riding & fishing, hopefully we could do that together in summer.
We were carving for Thai food when we came back from the walk, unfortunately the Thai Restaurant were closed. For lunch, Carrie made the world´s best shrimp salad for us! I love the canned papaya with salad, the combinations is so refreshing & tasteful! I am so inspired by Carrie´s food ..her shrimp salad will be a perfect outdoor food for summer.
After lunch, we hang out at their garden for coffee. There were birch sap coming out (Björksav in Swedish) from the birch tree. During spring (April-May) birch juice can collect thru coffee filter. The juice is slightly sweet & aromatic, taste a little like coconut water. Cool & refreshing! I heard that it can be kept it in the fridge for 2-5 days.

It was hard to say goodbye to Carrie & her family, but life need to go on!
Thanks Carrie & her family for their warm hospitality and those wonderful memories shared.I hope it won´t be too long till me meet again!

Valborg

2009-04-30T07:43:00.004+02:00

April 30
Swedes are getting ready to celebrate Valborg tonight.
Valborg is a celebration about the end of winter weather with many outdoor bonfire planned across the country. Everyone gathers around the fire and sings traditional songs to welcome in the spring season. Some enjoy a picnic dinner. The ancient bonfire tradition is meant to scare away evil spirits, witches and demons.
Carrie has invited us to celebrate this special event at Piteå tonight. I am looking forward to our meeting again!

Diet - Day 7

2009-04-29T19:14:00.003+02:00

Mattias is not coming home today this give me a reason not to cook.
We ate all the left over from the fridge, it´s a waste to throw away food.
Nelina had red eye, I think it is due to the "heat". I made some Chrysanthemum tea
to treat her red eye due to yin deficiency.

Diet - Day 6

2009-04-28T20:39:00.003+02:00

I love strawberry, I can eat it all year round. A litre of fresh strawberry cost around $6-7. Strawberry is a typical summer fruit here.

Diet 4 & 5

2009-04-27T23:19:00.004+02:00

I think we ate too much of the "yang" food the past 2 days. Nelina & myself are having score throats today. This is what my mum would called "heatyness", after the long cold winter the barbacue food has shocked our body system. Since we are sick, I made porridge for dinner, I am afraid that my diet just have to wait for a couple of days untill I recover. Porridge is what I normally eat whenever I got sick.It´s like "comfort food" to me, the liquid from the rice really helped to protect the stomach lining from the strong medicine. I am feeling much better now.

Nelina´s 11th birthday

2009-04-27T10:37:00.009+02:00

A birthday celebration in Sweden often starts early in the morning. The family "surprises" the one with a birthday by bringing in a special breakfast treats with small presents & greeting cards on a tray , the family members gather round the bed singing "Ja, må du leva" (Swedish birthday song).
Nelina was looking forward to this day, she woke us up twice in the night,told us she could´nt sleep. She received a bicycle and a kitty bank from us earlier so it´´s no surprise, (just realized that this was a mistake, it would be nice to keep her present as secret, the bicycle may be quite difficult to bring up stair, nothing is impossible).

In the afternoon, Nelina went for a adventure tract at the Boda Borg with her class.
We spend this special day calmly, Sunday is a day people just love to relax so we invited Mattias parents & Moa(neighbour´s kid) for a simple dinner. I made spring rolls, satay & Otak for supper, while Mattias baked a chocolate cake. I could smell the aroma of the balacan in the otak from the house, oh boy it remind me of the Otak man selling fresh grill Otak below HDB apartments. Did you know that Mattias is afraid of the smell of balacan (shrimp paste)? He think that the smell is simply unbearable! Balacan to him is like a ghost that haunt him for days , he need a medium to bless the house inorder to get rid of the smell. My balacan is tightly concealed and being kept in a Tupperware lying the fridge. I can use balacan as a weapon to stink him if he ever try to pick on a fight! Hi hi!!! He may hate the smell, but he eat whatever that made out from it, as long as it´s not uncooked. I am surprise that my parent in law like the otak, it´s nice to see my guest enjoy the food.
After dinner, it´s nap time for Lars. My sofa is his instant rest nest(he can fall asleep within 10 seconds on the sofa.) I like to tease him, he´s very kind.

Nelina was not feeling so well yesterday (a flu is on it´s way) after the dinner party she settled on the sofa & fall alseep soundly thru the whole night.
She is not at school today, I am going to the pharmacy to get some medicine now.

Nelina´s birthdays (From 6-10 years)

2009-04-26T14:42:00.004+02:00

Nelina's birthday

Nowaday Nelina is not so keen of having birthday party anymore. She prefer to take it easy and hope that all her birthday wishes come reality. I miss those days of being a party aunty...I never had any birthday party when I was little therefore I really want Nelina to have as many so she have memories of those beautiful special days. I only look forward to this day every years, it´s nice to have something you really look forward to,don´t you think? I enjoy baking & decorating cake & get creative with the treats, decorations, party hats and gift bags. We made everything by ourself from heart, it´s warm to see Mattias styling Nelina´s hair, the smell of baking in our kitchen, the count down, etc... Nothing make me more happy then looking at those smiles and laughers! I love to feed those youngsters & knowing that all of them had a great time. I think that´s the point of birthday, the presents is not as importance but the spirits of sharing joy with love one is all that matters.

PS: I am still gathering pictures of this special day for Nelina. I will share them with you later.

My princess is 11 today!

2009-04-26T10:12:00.006+02:00

Nelina is 11 years old today! Hura! Hura! Hura!

This is Nelina´s birthday breakfast treats!

We are celebrating our little princess 11th birthday today! I can´t believe that my baby is getting so big now. (Need to bake a cake now, will post more pic & article later..)

Diet - Day 3

2009-04-24T23:44:00.009+02:00

Mattias don´t like jelly or any thing that look like jelly. Just like I don´t like the local cakes & dessert. I find it too sweet for my taste. But he thinks that the coconut & banana pudding is nice. My friends Joyce (who own a Asian fast food restaurant here)told me once, Swedish has very different taste, (I am sure everyone do) it´s no point selling stuffs we used to eat in Asia. The Swedish don´t dare to order them. They don´t feel comfortable when ordering anything they are not familiar with. I think this is because eating out is too expensive for them. By ordering the popular food to them is safer for their wallet. Joyce had alot of ideas (those of which Asian would love to eat) She gave up the ideas & stick onto the normal "Swedish Asian Food", it´s normally fried noodle, sushi, spring rolls, sweet & sour chicken and satay, since this ideas won´t work here.
I believed this is the same situation in any Asian Restaurant out of Asia. If your business lied on the local most, then it´s wise to cater to the local taste.

That´s the same situation when I invite Swedish over for dinner, since they are too afraid to try new food so doing the normal "Asian Swedish Food" is safer.
Like today, we invited a couple who live next to my Parent-in-law for dinner, it will be Chicken Satay, spring rolls and Salmons Otak(First time making Otak here, will share the pic later here)
Likewise, when I was invited to dine with Swedish. They often add a tablespoon of curry or sambal paste in my food. I think they just want me to feel at home ,how sweet right?

Diet - Day 2

2009-04-23T21:35:00.008+02:00

Here are a few pictures of what I ate today. I had cabbage soup for breakfast & went out for 30 mins quick walk in the morning. Have´nt feel so energetic for a long time!
The fresh steamed tofu with salmons is really good, I like it! Mattias came back from his job with his dad Lars, so we had him for dinner. He tried a few pieces of the deep fried tofu and absolutely love it! They brought home a few cup cake from Kerstin 60th birthday and I had "ONLY" 1 cup cake for dessert...I just can not resist a cup cake which look so delicious! This only mean extra work-out tomorrow.
I personally don´t believe that we must follow everything mentioned in a diet food list. Diet has to be something that would not make us feel lousy or guilty. Diet is a matter of choices and should be fun & inspiring! Diet is long term healthy lifestyle! We are what we eat. It´s important to exercises regularly, as this small steps will make a big difference in a long term. I used to lost 12kg within a month with Atkins diet but the minutes I fall back on my previous eating habit, I started putting on weight again, quick!

Say "Bye bye" to your bean sprout supplier!

2009-04-23T09:58:00.010+02:00

I used to pay 50 cent for a packet of bean spout in Singapore. Here in Sweden, it cost 6-7 times as much. Uncle Phil thought that is was too expensive so he teach me how to home breed bean sprout. Now I need not have to pay so much for this wonderful treats anymore!
Here´s a picture taken this morning 24 hours after. This will be a perfect snack for me since I am now on diet! I love to eat them raw, they are so crunchy & refreshing. It´s very nice with almost any food. Beansprouts have outstanding nutritional value. They are rich in protein as well as vitamin A, the vitamin B complex, vitamin C and vitamin E, as well as various minerals and enzymes. They are very good to protect against aging, cancer, fatigue and the immune system.

I know I am not suppose to do this, but I cant help jumping on my weighing scale this morning..know what? I lost 1 & half kg after yesterday. Yippy!

Thanks Phil for sharing this knowledge with me.

Dinner with Carrie

2009-04-22T22:33:00.009+02:00

A gift from Carrie

I really miss Carrie so I invited her for dinner tonight again..she is now on her way back to Piteå. We had such a great time, I wish she move back to Skellefteå again. Since I am on diet I thought Mung bean noodle salmons soup would be perfect! I lost 12kg within a month eating mung bean noodle nearly everyday 13 years ago.
Poor Carrie have to put up with me on my diet food. We had green tea bubble drink as desserts.OBS, I´d cheated a little here. Anyways, the bubble tea should cost me a 5km fast walk tomorrow. I don´t intend to starve myself, I think I properly use the Atkins diet method, it worked for me 13 years ago, hopefully it work this time too.

21 April 2009

2009-04-21T21:33:00.007+02:00

Carrie is in Skellefteå this few days so I invited her over for dinner yesterday.
We had a good chat about life in Sweden, ghost stories, friendship,family life and working in Sweden. Carrie is from Malaysia,I met her a couple years ago at a Chinese New Year Reunion Party organized by Joyce. She has lived in Sweden for 6 years and has recently moved to Piteå for good. It´s nice to get to know another Asian friend in this region. We chat like old classmate who have´nt seen each other for many years. Communication wise was much easier since our culture is very similar ,no need for explanations. I could talk to her forever and never feel bored, she is very understanding & friendly. We clicked well & I would love to keep her as my close friend.

Northern light(Photo taken from my kitchen tonight)

Spring in North Sweden, we can enjoy between one and two months of Midnight Sun – a very long period of constant daylight. The definition of Midnight Sun is that you can see the centre of the sun when it is located due north. – Thus, the concepts of ‘day’ and ‘night’ become blurred, with nighttime being just a dimmer version of daytime. The light of the Midnight Sun gives the landscape a magical dimension. This is when the sun never rises above the horizon, during a 24-hour period. At midday, if the sun is just below the horizon, there might be a few hours of very dim light. So winter is the time to experience the Northern Lights, Aurora Borealis, considered by many as one of the most beautiful, spectacular and dramatic sights to be seen upon this planet.
My sister Judy & her husband visited us a few years ago during June. We were sitting in the garden barbecuing. At mid-night the sun was up strong, Judy did´nt know about the northern light and kept wondering about the time the whole night. She really appreciate the long day-light, this compensate the long dark cold winter here in Sweden.

Law of Attractions

2009-04-21T09:46:00.018+02:00

If I did´nt had the thought of living in another country when I was a teenager, I won´t end up living in Sweden now. Some people say this is destiny I called it "The calling to the universe" I feel that we human being are like a magnet, we attract to what ever we put our focus on--whether wanted or unwanted? If the focus is positive then the result will be positive, if negative it will be a negative result. Sometime is good to be aware of what you wish for.
I saw Law of attractions on Oprah one year ago and it has great impact in my life & perspective. Law of attraction is a universal law which is always at work, everywhere, all time, whether you know about it or not. If you do not know what that is all about, you can see a video here.
I don't know why I'm writing this - it's so unlike me to actually feel hopeless.
I noticed that I have been dwelling on what isn't working or isn't happening (about getting a job here)recently and I feel so "stucked" & just realized that if I continue to put my focus on this hopeless thoughts, I will get what I focus on. Worrying is like little prayer for things we don´t want. I need to set my focus on hope instead & make rooms for positive thinking quick! Gosh, that was close!
I am sick of being fat, unemployed, my broken Swedish and unfocus!
Yesterday I made a vision board on my goal for this year..I would like to get a smaller car so I won´t spend too much on petrol. Nowadays the economy is so bad, everyone is eyeing on smaller car, so this goal could really depend on luck. Have to work on my lucky corner in my feng shui home..hi hi! I will try lottery too, who know I might be lucky?
I love cycling, so a bicycle trip is what I plan to do this summer.
I can´t read with my presence glasses anymore, so a progressive spec would be great!
Spiritually, I like to attract great opportunities & positive thoughts & respond in my life, I need a mentor & since I do not have one,I will be my own mentor.
I studied basic Swedish 10 years ago & feel that it´s time to learn more.I am planning to further study Swedish language in autumn.
Lastly, I am so motivated by my friend Mia who recently lost 17kg within 7 weeks. I had mentioned dieting for a few years now, Nelina is getting tired of my resolution. This time I will do it for my own sake! My current weight is 67kg, my goal is to weight 55kg before mid-summer. I don´t know of any great diet method so I just keep out of food that will make me fat. This morning, I made 2kg of cabbage salad,cabbage soup & ham on high fiber Swedish bread for breakfast. Will try to put up pictures of food I eat during my diet everyday in my blog if anyone interested to know.

22 April 2009 (Breakfast,lunch,dinner)

Kerstin 60th birthday celebration

2009-04-20T11:54:00.009+02:00

Kerstin 60th Birthday

Last weekend, we were invited to celebrate my dear mother-in-law 60th birthday at Piteå.(Piteå is 70km from Skellefteå & has a pretty archipelago, which is one of the reasons it is a popular place for tourism both in summer and winter.) Swedes like to use their national flag to decorate on birthdays and special occasions. Swedish children are often served breakfast in bed on their birthday. Birthday cakes in Sweden are similar to pound cakes and are decorated with marzipan. When it come to celebrating the 40th,50th,60th etc..birthday, they like to celebrate it in many ways. It´s like "Since I survived the pass 10th years, it´s worth celebrating it differently!" Some people celebrate by going for a holidays overseas, some being kidnapped & terrorized by their family & closed friends, some had "Open house" buffet party and some walk in town with funny costume etc.. I celebrated my 40th birthday with a garden barbecue party 2 years ago, my father-in-law Lars was kidnapped by a friends for a helicopter ride when he turned 50th. I like the birthday celebrations here, I think the Swedish has many brilliant ideas for this kind of special occasions!
We were staying at the Piteå Stadshotell (4-star business hotel in the heart of the city). The hotel was built in 1906,there were also 22 hotel rooms festivities room, where generations of Norrbotten residents had their first experience of the theatre.  The hotel was built in Art Nouveau style, by an architect named Åström. I took the opportunity to meet up with my Malaysian girlfriend Carrie & her family who now lives in Piteå for coffee at Wayne´s(a nice & cosy café run by another Malaysian lady).Carrie´s son (Kevin) is so adorable!
In the evening, our family gathered at the hotel restaurant for a lovely dinner. I ordered a lamb hot stone and garlic bread, while the others ordered fish, ox steak and beef steak. The picture of the food were not of world´s class. (I bet it was because I was too hungry at that time..sorry!)
My parent in law has 5 kids altogether. Mattias is the eldest, then come Emma, Fredrik, Frida & Petter. Petter has recently extended his family with another member, Casandra who is always smilling! It´s so nice to have a baby in the family, the ambiance is so more liver & full of laughter's! After the dinner, we had a dip at the jacuzzi & sauna...what a perfect way to calm down a wonderful day!
We had a few rounds of card game at Emma,Frida & Nelina´s room before we retired.
Nelina thought it´s so fun that everyone is living in hotel so she could run between the rooms & get naughty with the others.
The next day after breakfast, we went to shop at the dollars store. There´s not such thing that everything is $1 there! It´s just the concept from America. I brought 10 sets of dinner plates and some other practicle stuffs for the house.
After shopping, we went to visit a famous resort Pite Havsbad - A centre of entertainment. This resort remind me of the NTUC Club family resort in Singapore There were indoor swimming, indoor adventure playground for childrens of all ages,
a dome cinema, a indoor golf club, exclusive spa, a mini bowling alley and a couples of restaurants.In terms of accommodations, you can either stay in hotel rooms, apartments, cottages/bungalow or bring along your caravan to camp at the resort.
We catch ed a exciting Kupolbiograf movie (Mystery of the Nile) at the dome cinemas. During the 45 mins film, I heard Nelina & Emma screaming, the impact of the orbita theater is quite effective as one can really experienced how´s it like to fly!
We end our fantastic weekend at a Thai Restaurant back in Piteå. Mattias & Frida ordered a 4 small side dishes, while I ordered a spicy wok squid and Nelina fried Thai noodles. This is the first time I taste real Thai food in Sweden!
I would like to thank my mother-in-law Kerstin for making our weekend such a memorable one, may this birthday for her be just the beginning of a year filled with laughters, good health , wonderful moments and shining dreams!

Visited Umeå

2009-04-17T23:08:00.008+02:00

We lived in Umeå for 8 years before we moved to Skellefteå 9 months ago.
Mattias used to work for the Government´s land management office in Umeå and he´s back to his "old job" now. Since Nelina is having her Easter holiday this week, I thought it would be nice to visit some of our friends there. Umeå is 130km from Skellefteå, driving in Sweden can be quite dangerous because the big roads normally have fences against wild animals, but the smaller roads do not. You need to look out for deer and moose - a moose collision in particular is very dangerous and often kills instantly. In the north you will also have to watch out for reindeer.
Nelina has been looking forward to meet her old classmate,I can tell that they misses Nelina very much. The weather were so unpredictable, you can expereince 3 types of weather within 1 hour.I advised the girls to remained indoor while I went shopping in town myself.
I meet up my dear friend Mia at a café for a cup of tea. Mia has lost 17kg & her boyfriends Morgan lost 24kg within 7 weeks with Cambridge diet method(what a incredible result! I wish I could loose some weight too!) It´s always nice talking to Mia, she is very positive and am a good listener. We talked about our blog,jobs, our kids, marriage and future plans.
In the evening, I went visit my ex-neighbour Pearl (from Thailand). We saw a red car parking outside Pearl´s place so we assumed that she´ve got visitor. I thought I just drop by & say hi, perhaps arrange for a meeting in town the next day if she has the time to spare. Pearl was very happy to see me & invited us in. We thought it was rude to interrupt her time with her guest so we just had a short chat at her hall. It seem like there were at least 2 people having dinner at her dinning room just next to the hall. We left her place after a short chat and thought that it was strange that her guest did not came out to meet us.
The next day, I meet Pearl in town for coffee. She told me it was strange that I did´nt stay for coffee. I told her the reason (that she had guests) and her jaw almost fall! She told me she was alone at home when we dropped-by. Her boyfriends was in their summer house and she did not had any guests for dinner. I told her it was not possible because both Mattias & Nelina heard peoples in the dinning room too, there were sound of chopsticks or folks, chairs moving and people whispered in the dinning area.Pearl would never lie to me and I truly believe that this is not a joke. I have never met a ghost in person before and have never experience anything so bazaar. This... I don´t understand. I told her I could keep company if she needed but she told me she will make it untill her boyfriend come home tomorrow.

I have been thinking about this incident the whole time while we were on our way back to Skellefteå, the road conditions were horrible! There were so much snow we hardly see anything 15m ahead of our car. I can´t believe that it´s spring in Sweden now.

What we have been eating over the past few days...

2009-04-15T19:42:00.004+02:00

Feng Shui - Part 2

2009-04-14T11:43:00.004+02:00

How to Cleanse Your Home of Negative Energy
Smudging actively changes and cleanses negative energy to create a natural and positive, healing energy and can be used to enhance the positive energies in your environment. Smudge sticks are often used in Native American and Celtic traditions, but can be used personally in your home as well.
We waited for 3 days for a sunny day, the waiting was worth the effort. Sunday was a sunny, warm bright day..we started the cleansing ceremony after our morning shower. Even Filippa our cat was involved in this ceremony. The whole ceremony took us nearly 2 hours (including the vacuuming),the whole house including our self smell like burnt herbs. Mentally, I felt all the negative energy being burnt & that´s feel good!

Instructions:

1. Cleanse yourself. You can take a shower but it's not necessary. But you do need to sage yourself. Light a sage stick. Make sure to put out the flame when you're sure it's lit. When it begins to smoke, encircle yourself in the smoke beginning at your head all the way down to your feet. This is called "smudging." As your doing this say, "Smoke of sage encircle me, rid me of negativity."

2. Start at the farthest room in the back of the house. If you have more than one story house you want to start upstairs. Moving in a counter-clockwise motion walk around each room with the sage. Make sure to hit each corner and window. As you're cleansing each room say, "I see only pure reflected light, I am ridding this home of all bad luck and negative energy. O Blessed Be" Chant as you smudge each room.

3. Repeat the chant when you get to the front or back door of your home. While chanting, keep the door open and with your hands, make a sweeping away or sweeping out of the door motion.

4. Go back to the original room you started in and begin to salt the house. If you don't have sea salt, ordinary table salt will do. Taking small pinches of the salt begin sprinkling the outer walls and corners. Remember to chant until your finished at the front or back door.

How to use a smudge stick..
Smudge stick can be brought at Feng Shui Store or order them online. I brought mine at the local health store, it cost 98kr ($20 sin dlrs), the stick can be used serveral times. You can also make you own smudge stick, here the link how to make your own smudge stick.

Step 1 Light the smudge stick so that it smolders. You do not want an open flame. Some people smudge using only their hands, while others use feathers to help push the smoke and wash a room, object or body. I used a fan made of paper & a hand bell to stimulate the Chi. It is common to use a shell or clay bowl to catch the ashes.

Step 2 Smudge anything and everything that wants or needs it. You can smudge your own body, your home and your personal possessions. If willing, you can smudge the people that live with you, or even your pets.

Step 3 Keep a regular smudging schedule to keep your energy clean and pure. Some people like to use a smudge stick before and after a deep house cleaning. Use the smudge stick before to help rid the home of unwanted energy along with the dust and dirt, and afterwards to attract and fill the home with positive healing energy.

Step 4 Focus your energy and your thoughts on the task at hand. Ask for the negative energy to leave and for the positive healing energy to enter. Because the materials of your smudge stick are gifts from the Earth, always ask permission before burning, and give thanks after smudging.

Step 5 Burn a smudge stick before a ritual, ceremony or prayer to prepare and open your body's energy field and help you focus your spiritual energy for divine interpretation.

Step 6 Cleanse your body's energy when you are ill, depressed or without energy. Smudging can help you remove negative energy and emotions that are bringing you down, and can help you improve your state of being by stimulating positive energy.

Step 7 Leave a window or door open when smudging a house to allow the negative energy to leave easily.

We can really feel the energy of each room difference from before, it´s like a heavy stone being lifted off the chest. Nelina could sleep alone without coming to us the pass 2 nights and I feel energize!

Nelina is having her Easter holiday this week, so I probably be doing some outdoor stuffs with her. Today, is warm & very sunny. We intend to clean our sundeck, put out some garden furniture so we can have our afternoon tea break there later.

Easter 2009

2009-04-11T22:47:00.004+02:00

The traditional Easter week in Sweden lasts from Thursday to Monday, and kicks off with a trick or treat-like candy hunt. Children dress up as påskkärringar (Easter witches) with long skirts, headscarves, painted red cheeks and freckles and go from house to house wishing people happy Easter. They get sweets in return for a drawing or song. Legend has it that the witches fly to Blåkulla (Blue mountain) the same night to meet the devil. Sweet-filled Easter eggs are the highlight of the celebrations for the children.
Good Friday is a national holiday and shops and companies more or less shut. People generally take it easy and hang out with friends and family.We organized a pot-luck Easter party & celebrate this day with Mattias´s brother & sisters. I ´d made some mini chicken pie, fried egg tofu & a few side dishes like marinated tomatoes with avocado, marinated garlic & sour cabbage ,salad and Mattias made a few tortillas wrapped with cheese, pesto & tomatoes sauce, Frida baked a chocolate cake for dessert, Emma brought some fruit, cheese with salted biscuits as snacks & Fredrik who is working in Poland brought some very delicious Poland sausages. I was quite surprise that my sister´s-in-law enjoy the egg tofu, I think egg tofu is best eaten when freshly fried, the corn flour made the surface of tofu very crispy, I love it! Nelina hide 3 large Easter egg so she could play egg hunting games with Emma,Frida & Fredrik. After dinner, we hunted more bunnies with nintendo wii Raman´s Vs Bunnies.
Love this games, the bunnies were so cute!

Traditionally, Easter Day Buffet normally consist of pickled herring, salmon, eggs, dishes, sweets and the traditional Easter drink "Påsk Musk" the flavour reminds me of F&N Sarsi. The eggs also symbolise rebirth – the Resurrection of Christ – which was why various egg-based dishes were eaten after Lent. Nowadays, Swedish still eat eggs prepared in different ways, and paint them to use as decoration.
Swedish Easter decoration is to decorate a bunch of twigs with different coloured feathers. This is what remains of an old Lent tradition, when Swedes used to whip each other with bunches of twigs on Shrove Tuesday or the morning of Good Friday – a reminder of the suffering of Christ.

Happy Easter Folks!

2009-04-10T16:08:00.003+02:00

My Feng Shui Journal - Part 1

2009-04-10T13:26:00.016+02:00

My home bagua map on the ground floor

Make over process(Hall 1)

Here´s a illustration of my house bagua position on the ground floor.
I will work what that is most important for me now & share by thoughts about how I make over each room for better feng shui. Mattis & myself were busy cleaning and clearing space the whole day yesterday.He also helped me to add another power point in the hall so I could put up my water fountain and a table lamp on the hall table..now the hall is filled with sound of water & soothing colors waiting for spring & opportunity to strike!
If I really have to rate from 1- 10, how satisfy am I now with my career situation.
I would rate mine at 2 today. I need a job that I like & make me feel useful. I want to be able to support myself and have the ability to contribute to my family. I want Nelina to feel proud of her Mum and she could tell her friends, her Mum has a job.
I know it´s tough right now base on the present economy situation, but I happen to be the type that never give up so easily...

My career section is at my hall - what a perfect place to start!
The element for career is water, the color is dark blue & black.
Below are my finding from the internet:

Water feature
Water features are especially powerful in the wealth and career areas because the element of Water has a direct association with the flow of money.
The hall are made of wood and were painted white when we moved in.
To create a water element to enhance Chi, I placed a small bamboo like water fountain pointing indirectly toward the entrance so the chi will flow into the house. I heard that water fountains provide additional health benefits by releasing negative ions, thereby purifying your environment. Fountains also increase humidity levels and decrease the level of dust, pollutants and static electricity.

Helpful people/Mentor figure
I need a mentor for my career, since I do not have one for real so I used Buddha as a symbol to represent my mentor/helpful person whom I hope could guide me thru my difficult times. Buddha can attract happiness,joy prosperity and wealth. They also symbolize innocent and pure joy, and help you sending sadness or discontent away from the environment where you place them. If you place them in your office or working place, these lucky charms can help you relaxing and taking problems without so much stress.
To the right of Buddha, I place a wealth bowl to generate wealth, the bowl is made of crystal and it contains gold ingots, chinese coins and 5 types of natural crystal stone clear quartz, rainbow obsidian, peridot, garnet, citrine) This is a powerful method to activate wealth.

Lucky bamboo
Sometime luck play an important part in job searching. I heard spiral bamboo is great for luck. I hope to strike for the right job at the right time & at the right place!The numbers of bamboo depends on what you want, here´s some tips:

3 stalks represents the perfect combination of past, present and future as well as happiness, wealth and longevity.
5 stalks represent wealth or fortune
6 stalks represent prosperity and favorable conditions
7 stalks represent good health
8 stalks represent growth or thriving
10 stalks represent completeness and perfection
21 stalks represent a powerful all purpose blessing

I have been scouting for spiral bamboo at flower shop here, still can´t find them!

Money Frogs
The Money Frog, also known as the three legged toad or “Chan Chu” in Chinese is probably the most auspicious symbol of money-making. This mythical creature is said to appear every full moon near homes that will receive good news of increased wealth or monetary gain. The Money Frog is used for attracting wealth and abundance and can often be seen near cash registers, receptions, managers' desk and offices in Oriental countries.

Here is how you can use the Money Frogs to Feng Shui your way to a better life.

1. Place this wonderful creature it in the wealth sector (South East) of your living room or office to magnify your windfall luck and enhance the income of the residents.

2. Place two Money Frogs: One inside your front door facing inwards symbolizes money coming in to your home of business and the other facing outward to collect the money.

3. For those involved in jobs where there is the opportunity to earn commission or side income, display a money frog next to your desk or diagonally opposite the front door to your home.

4. The best number of Money Frogs to have in your living room or garden is nine because it represents bringing in money from all directions of the compass. Place them randomly and discreetly under your table, behind the sofa, below the coffee table etc. Ensure that each Money Frog faces a different direction of the compass in the living room and one near your front door hopping inward to bring in lots of wealth and money. If nine is not possible, three or six are good numbers too.

Note: NEVER keep money frogs in the bedroom, toilets or kitchen.

Affirmations
Writing effective affirmations is a powerful way to bring about positive change in your life. It really does not need to be that difficult if you just keep a few important things in mind. I place affirmations in my hall to inspire myself & people who come visit me. It help to reminds me of my purpose and keep me positive & happy..

An affirmation is not just “positive thinking”. It is a way of re-wiring the way your mind works enabling you to create the positive results you desire. You feel the connection and see just how powerful the act of writing out your goals can be.

Here are a few easy tips to make your affirmations powerful and effective:
Write daily, preferably morning and evening
Use positive words and thoughts
Think BIG; visualize what you really want and write that, just make sure your affirmation resonates with you-do not write what you think you should be writing
Realize that affirmations are not just about material situations, but emotional and spiritual as well
Write with thankfulness
Stick to one or two affirmations a day-allow yourself the opportunity to enjoy the flow rather than trying to force change
Fine tune your affirmation until it feels right for you, then release it and trust that it is done
I have found that writing affirmations and carrying them around in your pocket for the day, then taking them out in the evening to look at them once more and then tossing them out, trusting that the universe has already worked on them in the most perfect way can be very empowering. As those of you who see me for Reiki know, I also love to give Reiki to affirmations, giving them a little extra boost.

If you find that along the way your goals change or your previous affirmations do not feel quite right, do not be surprised. Sometimes you discover that what you thought you wanted was not really for your highest good and your path changes. Welcome the insight and continue forward, thankfully affirming your goals and trusting your higher purpose.

Spring cleaning today...

2009-04-09T10:02:00.004+02:00

Mattias is now having his easter holiday starting from today till Monday, so I thought he could help me clearing out some of the "rubbish" at home. I have packed a couples of boxes of stuff I don´t really need so we could either throw them away or sell it at a garage sales later in the summer.
We´ve been seeing shadows in the house recently, Mattias just started a new job and me still can´t decide whether I would future study this autumn and Nelina is afraid to sleep alone lately ..to deal with the unseen causes of bad energy , clutter, decisions issues I shall do a cleansing ceremony with sage today. I intend to unblock the good chi & promote a more positive flowing energy into our home.
I intend to share some of my thoughts about feng shui in my blog, if you are into feng shui or am interested in it, I shall post my findings and keep you update about the whole process on transforming my home into a more balance Feng Shui home.

I am so glad so many of you enjoyed reading my articles on "My journey", I intend to give this article a rest for a couple of days for now..and since it´s easter this weekend,I shall write about how we celebrate easter here in Sweden..so stay in tune....

Hunting Easter Eggs in snow?

2009-04-08T13:15:00.002+02:00

8 April 2009 (Cloudy)
It look like the kids will be hunting easter egg in snow this easter.

Photos taken outside our home this morning...

Dinner...

2009-04-07T21:38:00.005+02:00

Uncle´s Phil Egg Tofu

Soya milk used for making Egg Tofu

Do you like tofu? I LOVE tofu!!!! I got a great egg tofu recipe from Uncle Phil and am very pleased with the result. I can´t believe that I can now make tofu in Sweden! I´d topped the egg tofu with some stir fried pork with mushroom cooked in chili bean sauce. Nelina thought it was a little spicy but Mattias just love it! The soya bean milk (as you can see above) really gave the tofu a smooth textured, it taste exactly like the egg tofu found in Singapore! I will make another tofu egg tomorrow but this time I will dust it with corn flour so I can fry it until it´s crispy on the outside. Thanks Phil for sharing this wonderful recipe.

Steam Salmon with leek & tomato

Salmon is quite cheap this week, 39kr($8 sing) for 1 kg. We brought 4kg & I made steam salmon with leek,tomato,ginger with soya & olive oil. This is the first time I steamed salmon. I am quite surprise it taste so good!

Itchy hand...

2009-04-07T15:59:00.003+02:00

Planting is like having a child that is reborn every year. I have planted more than 70 pots of Pansies,herbs and replant my pelargon from last year. Last summer weather really suck, we only had 2-3 weeks of real summer. The local said that this summer is gonna be better because there´s being so much snow this winter. Well, let´s see if it is true.

Sauna to me...

2009-04-06T09:58:00.012+02:00

Sauna during winter...is a wonderful experience!

We were invited for a sauna party at Mattias aunt´s place last Saturday.
It´s really nice to do something different sometime especially the type of activities that required to do nothing but relax. Sauna is a ideal activities to kill bad weather and socialize!

Studies claiming a positive influence on general health, sauna is particularly good for your skin and muscles. Once your skin has sweat ed out its toxins and your muscles have warmed and relaxed, you'll feel much better in yourself too. Many people believe that having a regular sauna helps them to fight off infection as well, as the boost in circulation helps to keep your immune system in good order. It can also help you sweat out a cold, and clear out your airways so you can breathe more easily. In Finland most family have a sauna at home and it is a sport for the Finnish.

I used to think that sauna is a good place to socialize, a place where people hang out sitting on wood planks and look at other mostly nude people. I had overcome my problem that it is not allowed to wear swimsuits in most Saunas for sanitary reasons. Today, I could be naked among strangers of the same sex but I still can´t feel natural or comfortable being naked among peoples of the opposite sex. I think it´s my Asian value still exist inside me.

I am not sure what´s the type of sauna Margoth have but there are stones placed in a compartment directly above the firebox. It takes shorter time to heat than the heat storage-sauna, about 1 hour. A fire-heated sauna requires manual labor in the form of maintaining the fire during bathing. Cold water were poured on the stone to promote higher temp. and steams.Sometime,the temp could raised up to 85 degree.
The sauna were divided into 3 sections, first the "Hall" where you can hang your towel, cloths leave your shoes. Then come the "Shower" area where you can shower immediately after the sweat bath then the sauna at the end of the log house.There were cooling cabinets where you can store cold drink and food in the sauna. If you like you can also boil egg in the water boiler or even have a fondue party..I was thinking of our Chinese steam boat! That will be super!

We were pampered with delicious cheese cubes, cut sausages, olives and salted cucumbers. Cold light beer for adult and Nelina had carbonated soft drinks.
When the heat became unbearable, we went out to roll our self in the snow to cool down where else Anders & Margoth standing outside looking on taking pictures & video. There were smoke coming from their bodies due to drastic temp. changes from the air and I thought it was so beautiful!

The sauna session lasted for almost 2 hours, we had rest in the house while the guy chatted on computer. I later helped Margoth prepare dinner. We had roasted moose stek with baked potato's & carrots, marinated dried tomato's, sour cabbage for dinner and vanilla ice-cream with warm cloud berry for dessert. After dinner we watched the horrible movie "Cape fear" while Nelina surfing on internet. I made some sweet potato's pancake later in the night for snack .

We came home at 1.45am feeling physically exhausted but mentally relaxed, we slept soundly thru the cold winter night.

Cleaning Aura

2009-04-03T12:48:00.008+02:00

3 April 2009

My husband lost his job 2 months ago, today is his last day of work and I am going to help him clean his aura by giving him a cleaning ceremony. (I´ve learned this at the Feng Shui Course). And since he will be starting a new job on Monday, it would be good to leave his past job behind and move forward.
Cleaning aura is the step towards strengthening it so we learn about our true identity, which many people seem to have lost in their quest for staying in the rat-race.

I have prepared some sun water soaked in lime skin & gold coin (to be spray all over his body) and some incense sticks to smoke him.(hopefully I did´nt end up killing him with the smoke)hi hi...
I can´t believe it starts snowing again today. If the weather is bad over the weekend,my plan will be re-organizing our garage, I have been trying to get rid of some rubbish collected over the months & would like to create some new positive energy & also needed to clear my mind.

Have a nice weekend folk!

29 March 2009

2009-03-29T09:59:00.002+02:00

We had a lovely day fishing yesterday. We caught a few bigger sea bass and had it for dinner. Nelina refused to eat it because she think that it´s disgusting to eat fish with bone. That´s quite typical in Sweden, most Swedish are not used to eating small fish, they prefer fish filer without bone. I personally feel that small fish are much sweeter than big fish, especially those caught by our self. I told her she ´don´t know what she is missing out, it´s always good to try something new, if she don´t like it,it´s ok at least she had tried it. She then agreed to give it a try, she don't like it, I accepted it gladly.
We switched-off all the lights (except for the TV) between 20.30 to 21.30 to support the 60 hours world yesterday, the lower floor was filled with candle lights, it remind me alot of my childhood. So on Monday, I am planning to write about my complicated childhood life in Singapore. How I struggled Thur my teenager days and how I became what I become.

Today,I have organised a Asian pick-food party at home, my guests are Asian ladies from different part of Asia. I will be making curry puff,sweet potato's donut a bubble tea, the ladies will each bring a party food. It´s gonna be fun!
Will share the photos here later.

Have a great weekend.

My PMDD disorder

2009-03-23T08:58:00.013+01:00

My disorder turned my family off yesterday - Pic taken from our fishing trip.

23 March 2009 +6 quite sunny

I think I must have suffered from PMDD - Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder over the weekend (PMDD is a severe form of a common problem called premenstrual syndrome, or PMS. About 75 percent of women of childbearing age have some PMS problems, during this time it´s hard to take control of life over anywhere from 1-2 weeks before period.) For my case, I was more tense, irritable, tired, depressed. I could strangle my daughter´s Hello Kitty cat or eat a big back of potato's chip by myself! My mum used to called me "Crazy horse" when I was teenager undergoing PMDD.My relationships with Mattias and Nelina suffered because of my radical mood swings. I hate who I am during that period. I literally hear myself nagging, yelling, and feel the tenseness and anger on small fault, the worst thing is I have not control over it! Sometime, I end up crying under my blanket feeling hopeless! My family really must have love me dearly, how can they put up with this shit every month? I have decided to give them warning prior to my disorder so they know that it´s not their fault that I turned crazy! Hopefully they will understand me and able to forgive me for all my stupid behaviors. When I'm clearheaded I´m always very positive and always look for great things to do, like vent to a friend, write my blog, journal, etc., but when I'm in the midst of it all I can´t do all this. May be it´s time to seek help.

TGIF Nelina appear on Norran vimmel site

2009-03-20T09:27:00.009+01:00

Our face were in the local newspaper.

Nelina looking so happy!

20 March 2009 +6 Cloudy
SAIK lost yesterday.I felt so heavy and moody now like the weather today. Oh dear, I hope they do better on the next match. One should never give-up!

It´s TGIF day for this site today.So, what´s my plan for today? I think it probably some groceries shopping, cleaning and cooking.I usually make Asian food on Friday, so I am planning to make my mum´s special Crispy Pork with Sweet Sauce, Nonya fragrant pork stew, Mattias made some 7 days sallad yesterday, and perhaps potatos soup as starter.It´s good to make big portions so there will be left over for Saturday,then I can take it easy on weekend may be bake a cake for dessert instead of cooking again. Stew & curry are good for left-over, the flavors are more absorbed into the meat and it usually taste better the day after.
Mattias brought me a brand new ice drill, so it mean that there´s gonna be some ice fishing again tomorrow if the weather is fine.

What about you? What are your plan for the weekend?

My Asian groceries supplier in Sweden

2009-03-19T09:48:00.014+01:00

Jack´s import is the one and only Chinese grocery store I frequently shop in Skellefteå. The company is run by two Hong Kong brothers who migrated to Sweden in the early 80s. At Jacks, you can sense the true atmosphere of genuine imported food from Singapore, Malaysia, China, Japan, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand etc.

It's the fun of exploring the aisles,I never know quite what I'm going to find.
Foods like chilli,lemond grass,banana leaf,lime leaf and even the whole durian are frozen. Other frozen food like siew mai, shrimp dumpling,tang yuan,wontan skin,spring roll skins,Asian fish, whole duck, Asian raw prawn, raw sotong, fish and beef balls,wontan noodles are getting popular so they are often well stocked.
What I think missing for me is frozen curry leaf and pandang leaf.My husband is a curry lover, so I often cooked curry at home. My daughter love Hainanese chicken rice, I brought some frozen pandan leafs from Singapore 2 years ago & it´s still use able. Pandan leaf is very important when it come to cooking chicken rice, without it is like cooking curry without curry powder. In Sweden,it´s a law that all Asian imported food labels must be translated into Swedish. I don´t know if that is necessary since most Asian food consumers are Asian. The most common Asian food among the Swedish are dark soya, sweet chilly sauce and the most sambal olek. I notice the Swede are not very used to spicy food. In Singapore we used at least 50 grams of curry powder when cooking curry, here the local used only one tablespoon.
When I am feeling homesick, childhood tibit like ginger candy, sour plum, preserved fruit, Japanese wasabi sweet pea,prawn crackers,crispy banana could really help to comfort me! My favourite tibits is dried jack fruit, it´s so tasty & cripsy!

I need some supply for my Asian party on the 29 March, so I brought a can of condensed milk for my bubble tea, a packet of spring rolls skin for my Malaysian popaih and soya bean sauce for my popiah filling.
Here´s are a few price examples of some groceries I brought at Jacks.
A can of Longevity brand condensed milk - 22sek (4.40 sin dlr)
A packet of dried beadcurd - 25sek (5 sin dlr)
A packet of instant noodles - 5sek (1 sin dlr)
A bottle of Lee Kum Kee oyster sauce - 45sek (9 sin dlr)
A bottle of Thai soy bean paste - 29.90sek (6 sin dlr)
A bottle of Mitsukan rice vinegar for making sushi - 45sek (9 sin dlr)
a bottle of Lee kum Kee Hosin sauce - 36.90sek (7.40 sin dlr)

My visits there has always been pleasant because the owner Daniel & Jenny are both extremely friendly towards me. I feel at home there, it gave me the opporunties to train my broken Cantonese and having a converstations with them can really brighten my day. They normally wont let me leave untill I´ve taste their lunch or a quick chat over a cup of Oolong tea.

SAIK vs Färjestad (Semi-final)

2009-03-19T09:12:00.005+01:00

19 March 2009 Very Sunny +8 DEGREE (Snow melting)

Yes, we are going to the stadium to watch SAIK against Färjestad for the semi-final match tonight! It´s gonna be a big FLIGHT!!!OMG, the last match with Linköping was very exciting! I almost fell off from the sofa! Nelina told me to stop jumping but it´s difficult. I find that Linköping was really good, I like their creativity and their team spirits.They miss goal so many time, oh boy the SAIK goal keeper is really talented! Tonight, it´s gonna be another round of explosive excitements!I can´t wait!

Nelina caught a sea bass yesterday and she was very excited.I think she is beginning to understand why I love fishing now. I had never gone fishing when I was in Singapore, my brother did it as a hobby. I thought he was nuts! I can not believe that I am loving it now. Fishing to me is almost spiritual and I feel a calm, sense of harmony. I love fishing but I suck at it.I bet those fishes that ran away from my hook were laughing out loud! It´s not so important whether I caught anything for the day but how I enjoy the nature and the peaceful moments.

Pocket Money

2009-03-18T09:29:00.017+01:00

When I was a child, I don't remember one incident that I have to do house work in order to received pocket money from my mum, my friends would considered me very lucky and I get (5sek) $1 sin dlr for pocket money everyday but I think I only had $0.60 sin dlr as my pocket money all the way till Primary 4. What did I do with the money? I brought dried instant noodle as snacks and ting ting (white candy with flour) from the Indian mobile candy man. If I saved up to $3 me & friends go enjoy a meal at Marine Parade A&W . During that time, hanging out at A&W with a Conney hotdog and root beer in your hand staring out the window at your friends passing pass is big time! Otherwise I will go to the movie with my best friends Calley. We had watched Grease a coupled of times,sometime romantic film from Taiwan or Hong Kong or just hang-out at Orchard Road MacDonald eating ice-cream. I will always remember my first roller-coaster experience at Great World, that´s why until now no one can can ever put me on that spot again.
Nelina is turning 11 in April, soon it´s time for her to moving towards independence. We want to help her practice in managing money while she still have our guidance. We thought earning money thru helping out with house chores not only give her the opportunities to contribute to the family but also prepare her for taking responsibilities.We started this practise a couples months ago and so far she is doing fine.I think some rules has to be straighten out so there´s no misunderstanding and that she understand not every tiny little job she will get paid for. For example, since Filippa is her cat, she is responsible for feeding and remove poo everyday. Also it´s her own daily routine to make her bed & breakfast every morning etc..

Here´s a list of what she could do to earn pocket money. We are not rich, the rate is according to what we think is reasonable & affordable.

Vacuum floor one floor - 7sek (1.50 sin dlr)
Wash dishes with hand - 5sek (1.00 sin dlr)
Remove dishes from dish washer - 3sek (0.60 sin dlr)
Remove cloth from washing machine and hang them -5sek (1.00 sin dlr)
Fold cloth - 3sek(0.60 sin dlr)
Clean and tidy her room once a week- 10sek (2.00 sin dlr)
Sweep snow from the entrance -3sek (0.60 sin dlr)
Pick up post/newspaper - 1sek (0.20 sin dlr)
Set dinner table - 3sek (0.60 sin dlr)
Throw rubbish - 1sek (0.20 sin dlr)
Help out in cooking 5-10sek (1 - 2 sin dlr)

Here´s my interview with her on this topic.

What do you think of this idea?
I think it´s good! I have learned how to do house work and earn my own blood money.
It´s not so fun , a lot of hard work but the rewards made-it-up.Better than nothing.

How does this practise make you feel?
I feel that I could do more than I thought. It feel great! I like to feel that I could be of help. Sometime, money is not everything.

What do you plan to do with the money?I want to save as much as I can so I can afford to own a mini lab top, a digi camera would be nice so I can add video to my blog,or a brand new bicycle - my friends have new one, mine is too old and I have outgrown. I would like to save 50% of my earning in a bank so I can use it when I grow older.

How much do you earn a week & what did you do with the money?
Sometime in a week I could earn up to 100kr or more(20 sin dlr), sometime just 20 - 30kr (4-6 sin dlr). I´d just brought myself a bikini last week and it´s nice being able to decide how I want to spent the money.

Did you buy Lördag godis (Saturday candy) with the money ?
No, my parents don't usually eat candy,so I don´t have this habit. I prefer fruit,it´s nicer and healthier. I like mango, pear,oranges,strawberries and other exotic fruit. BTW, I can eat 5-8 clementine in 5 mins.

18 March 2009 - Sunny +7 degree

2009-03-18T08:39:00.005+01:00

It look like I might further study Swedish in college in autumn. The meeting was informative, it´s good to know what are the alternatives if I am unable get a job now.
Yesterday, I attended my first lesson in Basic Feng Shui at the Studie Främjandet (Local learning centre) by Margerata Brännström. I think the first lesson was very interesting.I learned about the different types of chi, how it effect us in our daily life,health and wealth. Sleeping position pros and cons, and how to use the five animal elements. Now I can´t wait to re-arrange my furniture and it´s gonna be so exciting! Mattias is coming home tonight, I think his first reaction will be "Here it go again!" I had re-arrange furniture a millions times, it´s only normal if he reacted like this. I also asked Margerata about the shadow we saw at the kitchen, I was pretty surprise that she said it could be due to bad chi and not spirits. I know there are millions of arguments about life after death. Some make sense, some I dont understand. For me, I believe in life after death and some place with bad chi spirits do exist for certain reasons. There are a lot of documented sightings and stories all over the world. There are people who are skeptics but we believe everyone should have an open mind.
Back to Feng shui, I will try take pictures of my "Feng Shui Home" & write about how I apply Feng Shui in my home here later.
I am so glad that I was able to do some filming at the local the Asian department store yesterday. The couple was more than happy to let me film & are looking forward to see my remix effect. The video should be loaded in my blog sometime this week.

Since Mattias is not home,I thought it would be nice to spend some mother and daughter time with Nelina today, so we are planning to go ice fishing at the Skellefteå bay later after school.

17 March 2009 - Sunny +5 degree

2009-03-17T09:33:00.018+01:00

Yesterday, I spend a lovely afternoon ice fishing by myself at the Skellefteå bay, not far from my house.I love being alone sometime, it help clear my mind and fill my lungs with fresh air, it feel good! After 4 hours of angeling, I caught 10 small sea bass for my cat Filippa dinner and she seem very satisfy about it.
SAIK won over Linköping last night and will be playing semi-final on Thursday, let´s see if Mattias manage to get ticket for the match.
Last night ,while watching the exciting ice hockey match ,me Nelina and Filippa saw something unexplainable, we all saw a black shadow passing by our kitchen door. I´ve seen this a couples of time in the past by myself (I thought it was just my imagination), but this time Nelina saw it too. I did not make a big time about it because I do not want to scare Nelina.I need to get to the bottom about what that shadow is all about, may be it was just a reflection from the car passing by or the shadow of a half opened cabinet or may be it´s time to get some sage to clear the bad energy in this house. I will do investigation and share my finding later.

I am thinking of upgrading my Swedish Language so I will be a meeting someone at the Swedish Language school at 1300 today to discuss about the possibilities of re-school.
If I have extra time, I will go visit my Hong Kong friend who own a Asian Departmental Store in town ,I´ll try to video shoot there if they allow me.
In the evening 6pm, I will be attending my first lesson in Basic Feng Shui Course.It´s gonna be alot of fun!On the other hand, Mattias is away for a 3 days course and will be back on Wednesday.There´s some technical problem with my site, the slider don´t seem to be working. I ´ll get Mattias to fix it later.