Raclette

We got a raclette grill similar to the one above for Christmas.
I'm looking forward to trying it out actually, I do have a feeling it's the new "fondue" - we'll love to do it to start with and eventually we'll just forget what it was all about. But I'll sure enjoy it while it lasts! :-D

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Raclette Preparation
Cheese
Raclette cheese is usually sold cut from the wheel. Depending how ripe the cheese is the rind can be quite soft or hard. Some people prefer to melt the cheese with the rind on. The rind can have quite a different flavour compared the main part of the cheese and is usually very salty and crunchy when grilled under a raclette. Trim off a thin layer of the outer rind using a sharp knife. Then use an adjustable wire cheese cutter to slice cheese into thin slices approximatley 2mm thick. The small bits can be cut into equal sized cubes. To prevent the cheese sticking together you can place a layer of wax/baking paper in between the slices. Place on a serving dish, cover with plastic wrap and store in refrigerator. Let stand at room temperature for 20mins before serving. The smell and taste of the cheese is a lot different compared to it's aroma and flavour when melted.

Potatoes
We recommend the Pontiac and Desiree potato varieties (the ones with the pinkish/purply skin) as these have a tasty creamy texture. Small Kipfler potatoes are also perfect and ideal for raclette. The Pontiac, Desiree and Kipfler potatoes are great cooked in their skins. The common washed Coliban, Sebago or "Chat" baby potatoes are best suited for baking (potatoes served with raclette can also be baked, in the microwave or oven).

Bread
Sliced French Baguette (cut on diagonal for a larger slice), Turkish pita or other crusty loaf type breads can be placed in a basket and covered with napkin or tea towel to prevent drying out. If you wish you can drizzle olive oil over them or serve with butter. During the meal they can be placed onto the top of the grill to toast slightly.

More about raclette: www.raclette.com.au ("original raclette recipe")

Oh, and raclette is a Swiss cheese made from cow's milk. :-) (Wikipedia link)

Ding 64!

And a half. We've had quite a WoW weekend. Managed to get my warrior from level 63 to 64 (and another half a level towards 65).
We were supposed to invite some friends over to try out the new 'raclette grill' we got for Christmas but S' many late nights this week and our common "almost having a cold" feeling made us postpone it for next weekend instead.

Hate the Alliance

Hi hi :-D This man REALLY doesn't like the Alliance... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXtyYiI5HDk


An interview with a member of the band "Cannibal Corpse" calling himself "Corpsegrinder", a band and a man I wouldn't have heard about hadn't it been for the fact that he plays WoW (hard to miss with a nickname like that). Oh, and naturally I wouldn't have known about the clip if S hadn't laughed at it when watching the clip on his computer next to me. Oh. And naturally I wouldn't have cared about either of this hadn't S tricked me into playing the darn game. Ahm, and of course I wouldn't have been writing this if I hadn't lost an opal somewhere between the office and a customer site in Sydney.

Life's pretty weird. And amazing.

Going to town

Tie man - shoe off, tie tie too long, absent minded reading, twirl hair. Teenagers - girls/boys, open versus facade. Carl Bildt. Kim at Gate One. "Kaxiga" lingonberry-policemen. Nice lady on the bus. This is how my notepad looked after spending a day in the city. :-) It does make me feel good to get out of the house and watch people. It's even better when there's a healthy mix of interaction involved too.

So what was all that then?
Well, Tobias and I took the train to town and we were sitting indirectly opposite this neatly dressed man who I suddenly noted had his left shoe off and a tie wrapped around his thigh. He was trying to make a tie-knot. His motions were slow, as if he wasn't at all certain how to make one. After several attempts he was satisfied and took it off his leg, only to discover the noose was too small to pass over his glasses. He didn't widen it but instead he forced it down across his face so his glasses came off. Hm... Anyway, he got the tie in place, straightened the collar and ended up looking rather respectable apart from the fact that the tie was so long it reached down far below his crotch (even when standing up). X-) Once he was done with the tie, he put his left shoe on again. I'm impressed he thought of that, I can easily imagine men forgetting the part where they have to take the tied tie off their leg.
He continued his journey towards town with reading a notepad (handwritten stuff, not a laptop) in a very absent minded looking way, every other second he was looking out through the window instead and every so often he started twirling his hair between his fingers (much like my friend Å used to do in school). I kind of recognised this behavior and imagined he was going to some more or less important meeting where he was going to speak about whatever his notes were about.
I like creating these "imagined life stories" about other people. I also have to shamefully admit I like watching people. I try to be discrete though! X-)

This is what I like about people, they make me think and reflect on the nature of things and in the best case they make me think of my own life and all that's involved. Although, to write something on here about all the things I noted during my city-visit would take too much space and time (who'd have the energy to read all the way through it anyway?).

But to cover it all quickly:
Teenagers - girls/boys, open versus facade = Again I watched groups of teenagers doing teenagey stuff. How stereotypical everything is, I think it's sad but I guess it's how we make it.

Carl Bildt = I actually met the man in person when walking from Gamla Stan to Drottninggatan, just as he walked across the bridge towards the government building.

Kim at Gate One = A very nice and understanding pregnant lady who promised S and I could return the pair of jeans I purchased there even though it's several months ago.

"Kaxiga" lingonberry-policemen = Three security guards handling a group of teenagers who probably had done something silly. The guards were definitely "in the personal space" of one of the teenagers.

Nice lady on the bus = She sat next to Tobias and I and was very talkative (four almost grown up children, lived in our neighborhood since the early eighties, husband from Umeå...).

I like going out like yesterday and yet I'm SO fond of just staying in in my jammies all day...

58.4

Oh, I think I better start eating a little bit more. I weighed in on 58.4 kg this morning, a little less than I expected. 8-)

58 kg is my "dream weight" actually, but I was still surprised I had lost some more since last time (I'ts the day after the weekend after all).

I'll try to eat all meals this week to see if I stay put for a while. But I'll also ring the stables to see if I can start riding again, I need muscles! :-)

Colourful jacket

I do say, he scored a few points tonight. Despite being a politician of the "wrong" fraction - Mr Carl Bildt scored a few points by daring to wear the craziest suit jacket I have seen since the eighties! :-D

It looks like some silvery velvety material with yellow/golden animal looking things with green outlines printed on it. Amazing! :-D
You could also describe it as disgusting, distasteful and silly. But hey, what's he wearing it for - 'the Grammis', the award show for and by the Swedish music industry. In my opinion it's not at all a bad choice of jacket for that purpose.


More about the Grammis: www.grammis.se (in Swedish)

59.0

Post Christmas weigh-in, 59.0 kg.
Not bad at all! I think I owe that to my son, faithfully eating all he can get out of the two containers on my front. And I probably also should thank the stomach flu I came down with between Christmas and New Year's Eve... 8-)

Then again, the downside of staying up late to blog this positive weight status is the fact that I am now munching down a late night snack... X-)

Eventyr-brus

This drink is according to S the one thing which will make anyone feel better when down with a cold. :-D

Eventyr Brus - raspberry tasting red soft drink. Right. Put on the shopping list for our next trip to Norway... :-D

Life is beautiful/La vita è bella

I tried to watch "Life is beautiful" at a friends house yesterday (Imdb link).

Of all the films she had at home that one seemed like the one we should watch (and it was also the only one she hadn't already watched). It is supposed to be a beautiful, rich story. Award winning story. We gave it a try, but after some thirty minutes we had to turn it off. :-/

What?

Three Oscar's and all. We both wanted it to be a good movie, something like Shindler's List or something similar. A drama with a comedy heart. Or something. I mean, if all the people awarding it points on Imdb think it's great, and it's won several Oscar's, it's got to have something right?

But at least I was quite happy when A suggested we'd watch another film.

What was wrong then? Well, to start with - too much focus on the director/leading role. Then too much Technicolor "pilsnerfilm" (slapstick) comedy, run in/out through doors, fall ass over etc etc. No character building at all, you didn't develop any feelings for any of the characters displayed during those thirty minutes. It was like a bad version of "Sound of Music". Weird.
It seemed as if the film was played in some form of fast forward move, the characters were moving too fast and speaking too fast. Then again, it was in Italian, so I suppose "fast" is a relative description.

Not a film suitable for two mothers with babies anyhow (not that the children were a problem during these first thirty minutes). We ended up watching "Girls just want to have fun" (from 1985!) instead, with Sara Jessica Parker and Helen Hunt. Talk about contrast! X-D
What did I like that film? Pretty good for a teenage-80's disco dance flick (e.g. don't watch it if you really do have another option). It worked for us, and the babies. 8-)