I often think about how lucky I am to live here, in this house and neighbourhood, with my husband. We live in the middle of three bays all within a 5 minute walk. One of them has a lovely beach, with people bathing in summer and ice skating in winter. We have a really cold winter this year with an enormous amount of snow. Some people would just stay at home but we’ve been out both days this weekend. Today we prepared hot cocoa in a thermos bottle that we packed together with something warm to sit on before heading to our beach. We stopped by our local bakery to buy two semla and then we trudged through the snow to a wooden dock where we drank our piping hot cocoa and ate the delicious semlas while enjoying the sun and snow. We returned home with frost nipped cheeks but very happy.

Hot cocoa and semla.

Happy in the snow!

Enjoying the view.

The black dots are people and children ice skating on a ploughed track.

It’s impossible to not smile while pouring this juice into a glass. It’s impossible to not feel happy when drinking it. Instant happiness.

Recipe:
Peel 1 kg of blood oranges. Process them together with 2 unpeeled apples in a juicer. Indulge!

During the last week we’ve had around -20 degrees C in Stockholm. That is way too cold for me and I’m worried about my peach tree since it’s exposed being planted in a pot. I can only hope it will survive the winter. However it is a treat sitting in the living room looking out through our large windows while the roe deers are strolling in our snowy garden.

The roe deers still visit the garden, especially during winter. For a more unusual visit see further down.

December and January is a very good season for citrus, which makes you forget all about the snowy winter landscape outside the window. My favourite is pomelo and I love eating a whole one which I peel and prepare while watching TV. Although in this “dish” I prepared some other exotic fruit that I served with a spicy dipping sauce and brought to Anne’s annual Twelfthnight Eve dinner as one of my 4 dishes.

Exotic fruit with spicy dipping sauce

Various fruit (I served Rambutan, Mangosteen, golden Kiwi fruit, Mango and Rose Apple. Feel free to substitute with other fruit to your liking).

Sauce
(adapted from Äta ris – maten och livet i Vietnam by Minh Du Alneng)
1 large whole cinnamon
2 vanilla beans
2 whole star anises
the juice from 1 lime
50 ml lemon & lime honey from Lustgården
400 ml water
A pinch of pepper

Bring all ingredients except for the pepper to boil. Let simmer for around 15 minutes. Let cool in a fridge overnight. Before serving strain add pepper and serve with fruit.

Today I saw an elk outside the window, I’ve never seen any in my neighbourhood earlier and I haven’t seen a wild one since I was a kid.