One Crazy Weekend

Elin and I flew the friendly skies last weekend. Important things were happening in the Midwest. And we needed some cheering up. Sometimes life is just hard. So it was nice to have this journey to look forward to.

It was fun to wake up and see this little guy! We LOVED seeing our crazy dude Kevin!

Elin made quick friends with cousin Linnea, whose many talents include scaling furniture at the blink of an eye. She's getting to be such a big girl!

We went to Stockholm Inn for lunch.

Elin spent time with Grandma Daisy. So much fun! It was like she'd been around her forever, she was so happy and relaxed with Grandma.

In fact we surprised my folks. They had no idea they were going to meet Elin! Ha ha! I love surprises.

Swedish pancakes.

Miss Linnea shows us how to color Pippi Longstocking.

She is such a sweetie!

Kevin poses with a giant Dala. Look at that cute little cheesy smile! And please note the dala horse carpeting. I was prepared to move into Stockholm Inn permanently but I didn't think the management would appreciate me setting up camp.

Then we had dinner with plenty of fun people at Maren's! She and Jim have the best parties.

Elin spends time with Grandpa Daisy.

Proud grandparents!

After dinner things got a little crazy.

Pants were being pulled.

Kids were staying up way past their bedtime and having fun.

There was even some talk about going to a certain gigantic bathtub in an undisclosed location and taking some group photos.

But let's not discuss that.

The next morning it was time to hit the road.

With dear friend Kristin!

Here was the plan: Drive from Rockford to the Twin Cities. Go to a wedding. Drive halfway back to Rockford and spend the night somewhere in the middle of Wisconsin. And accomplish this all in one day.

If you were looking for us, you could have followed the trail of disgusting onesies and diapers that graced the trashcans of gas stations throughout the state of Wisconsin.

Hello Wisconsin!

We stopped at the Norske Nook for lunch.

It's the place to have lunch if you happen to find yourself driving by Osseo, Wisconsin.

Elin had some lefse.

What a good little Swede.

Who knew there were 91 ways to serve lefse? Apparently, Mr. Lefse knew.

If you don't know what lefse is, I'm sorry to hear that. You might think of it as a scandinavian tortilla . . . made out of potato.

Darn tootin' lefse is beautiful.

Okay, so we were headed for a wedding. Not just any wedding. Angela's wedding.

Angela and Jake got married. I may or may not have stolen this photo from Angela's facebook page. Aren't they cute?!

My own photos of the wedding are sparse. I had to manage Elin, who at that point was getting a little tired of the traveling/meeting new people thing that had been going on for days, and was quite a handful. Things got a little crazy.

Upon reflection, Kristin and I decided that maybe the next time we embark on a road trip, preparation is key. Either somebody needs to invest in a Garmin, or at least pack a map. And perhaps, get a watch.

We ran out of time. We (nearly) ran out of gas. We got lost. And we might have gotten turned around a time or two trying to leave the state of Minnesota. All in all I'd say we could have been a tad more organized.

The wedding was beautiful. Here, Elin enjoys meeting friends Nicole and Nathan.

I couldn't believe we got to stop at a Kwik Trip.

I love Kwik Trips.

What's wrong with this picture? No, you're not seeing things. That house is tipping over. Only in Wisconsin.

I think Kristin and I talked for 32 hours straight. We might have even been talking in our sleep. I'm pretty sure Elin was. We were exhausted when we got to the hotel at midnight but for Elin the party was just getting started! And even though Kristin and I were super tired we were still chewing the fat. We had a lot of important things to discuss. Who needs to sleep when you finally get to hang out with a wonderful friend you haven't seen in forever?

We got back to Maren's in one piece. Elin loved Grandpa's silly walking fingers!

Grandpa and Grandma replenished our onesies so Elin could return to the East coast fully clothed.

Here is Elin, asleep on the plane. It was such a nice flight back. Outside of the fact that I missed my outgoing flight and was put on standby. It was worth it because Elin slept the entire way back and I got to watch an amazing movie about Yosemite. When we arrived at the airport I had a bunch of cute blonde people waiting for me! It was wonderful to see everyone but you just can't beat coming back home to your family.

Aunt Carol

Here Carol sits with little baby Svea in 2007 up at Lake Vermilion.

After a short fight with cancer, our aunt Carol recently went home to her Savior. Her funeral was yesterday, and Nate and I wish we could have been there to say goodbye. It is hard to put into words how much we will miss her, and even harder to think it will probably be a very long time until we see her again. Carol was so much fun. She was so full of life and always put a smile on our faces every time we saw her. I always looked forward to seeing her. Carol was blessed with such a wonderful, loving family. She will be missed by so many. She was such a special lady and will always have a special place in our hearts.

Sometimes you just aren't ready to say goodbye yet but you have to.

Dear Carol, peace be to her memory.

Baby baby!

We love having a baby around here.

I found Elin napping like this today with her hand over her face.

Viggo and Svea were being goofs the other day and thought it was fun to have their faces massaged by Elin's feet.

In The Kitchen with Viggo and Svea: Hummus

We made hummus today!

I don't know about you, but I love hummus. If you don't love it, then I'm guessing you've never tried it. It is so good! I was introduced to hummus while I was a student at North Park; there was a tiny sandwich shop around the corner from campus. For $2, you could get a plate piled high with pita bread and a generous amount of warm hummus, drizzled with olive oil and garnished with paprika, chopped roma tomatoes and parsley.

A few years after I graduated I was sad to hear that the restaurant had closed - the kind owner, whom emigrated to Chicago from Iraq, closed shop and went back home to join the Iraqi Army.

Leaving many sad and starving North Parkers behind.

For a few years I tried different hummus recipes, but nothing came close to what I had in Chicago. Instead of mild and creamy goodness I was coming up with lumpy bean glop. But a couple years ago I stumbled across a recipe and with a little tweaking, was thrilled to find this was as close as I could get to the real deal.

So on to the recipe!


You'll need garbanzo beans (chick peas), extra-virgin olive oil, sesame tahini (basically sesame butter - think peanut butter, only made out of sesame seeds instead of peanuts - you can find this in the hippy-dippy-trippy health food section of the grocery store), and lemon juice. One clove of garlic, and some salt too.

First, drain the bean liquid from the can into a bowl and reserve this for possible use later.

Yum yum yum! It's not even mixed up and I could hear my stomach rumbling.

Viggo dumped the beans into the blender, and then Svea poured in the lemon juice. She was partially successful at getting all the lemon juice into the blender.

I just noticed her eyes are shut in this photo. That probably wasn't the handiest thing to do while pouring the lemon juice.

We added the clove of garlic, and I dumped in some olive oil and salt. Then it was time to blend. Svea always covers her ears when we get to this part.

We poured in some of the reserved liquid from the can of garbanzos to make it extra smooth. Look at how yummy!

And the heavens opened up and sang.

Pita bread. You can easily make your own too, but I wasn't feeling that ambitious this morning.

Look at this - a mango splitter in action. Svea sampled a few pieces of mango once I peeled and chopped it up before we technically ate lunch, where she ate even more. That girl loves mangos. And having some sweet fruit tasted good with the hummus.

Oh my goodness let's not forget the paprika. Have you ever tried smoked paprika? It's super-bright red/orange, and has a really delicious taste. I use it in egg salad, on breakfast potatoes . . . it is amazing. Definitely worth checking out, it adds a punch of smoky flavor. My old paprika is collecting dust; I should just pitch it - I always reach for this one first!

So, put a big spoonful of hummus on a plate, make a well in the middle, fill with more olive oil, sprinkle generously with paprika, and enjoy. If you are eating cold hummus I would suggest warming it up in the microwave. Viggo cut triangle shapes out of the pita bread so we could easily dip it into the hummus.

I didn't get a good picture of the hummus and pita bread because we ate it too quickly. Whoops.

And Elin had some mashed sweet potatoes. Lucky girl! She has so much to look forward to :)

Hummus

1 can garbanzo beans

3/4 C lemon juice

1 C tahini

Olive oil - probably about 1/4 C (I just pour some in, but that's probably about how much lands in there)

1 - 3 cloves garlic (we use one - I've used 3 before and Viggo still ate the hummus but mentioned politely it was "spicy")

1/2 tsp. salt or so

Paprika, to taste

Open beans and drain liquid into separate bowl; put beans in blender. Add lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, salt, and sprinkle in some paprika. Blend, stopping to scrape occasionally. Add enough reserved liquid from beans to give hummus a smooth texture, and blend well.

Top with more olive oil, paprika, tomatoes, whatever - serve with pita bread and enjoy!

The Princess Diaries

Every once in awhile Svea wears her "princess" dress.
Today she must have been feeling a little princess-y because she asked to wear it.
Here is the day in the life of a princess.

Princesses do wash their hands after using the bathroom, but they do not have to comb their hair.

Princesses wear special princess underwear.

Princesses like big, red, powerful flashlights.

Princesses are good at finding things.

Princesses sweep up crumbs.

. . . or not.

Princesses get tired.

Princesses take time to improve their artistic abilities.

Princesses haul around Easter baskets full of important stuff.

Princesses eat a healthy lunch.

Princesses are so beautiful.

We love you, Princess Svea. :)