Swedish Cream Bun-Semlor

The President of the Swedish Heritage Society in Utah will be taking orders for homemade Semlor today. If you would like to order contact her via e-mail at Vivifors@aol.com they are $2.25 each and they taste just like a Semlor (Semla) in a bakery in Sweden! Thanks Vivian for sharing your talent with us all! They can be picked up in Murray/Taylorsville area on Saturday, Jan 31. If you have Scandinavian Heritage-you must try one, and if you don’t, you must try one! YUM! A little about these beautiful creations:

Mattias Sundberg, a semla enthusiast, explains what it takes to be a winning semla:

“The bun itself should be a light golden brown and about 10cm across. The ‘lid’ is preferably triangular and properly sprinkled with powdered sugar. It should sit squarely on its cream bed. The whipped cream shouldn’t overspill the edges and should rise 2-3 cm – just so your nose doesn’t dip when eating.”

But aesthetics will only take a semla so far; the proof is in the taste test. According to our expert, “the bread mustn’t be too dense and should be lightly sweetened. The whipped cream ought to be hand-whipped and lightly sweetened as well.” Traditionally the cream is unsweetened but our modern aficionados seem to have developed a sweet tooth.

Mattias Sundberg admits that there are differing opinions on how to judge the best semla. Its almond paste seems to split the jury. Sundberg prefers a sticky paste while some of his fellow critics opt for a crumblier version. All sides agree on one thing:

“It’s important that [the paste] of about 2 teaspoons is dead centre and is absolutely not bitter.”

Sundberg and friends are hardly oddballs when it comes to their high standards for semlor. There’s even a semla academy in Gothenburg. They have their own established minimum standards:

The lid must be structured so it may be used for scooping;
There must be cardamom in the dough;
The almond paste must be authentic;
The whipped cream must be fluffy;
There must be powdered sugar sprinkled on the lid.

On a personal note-I LOVE CARDAMOM! When we lived in Sweden there was a bakery with a very old Swedish woman at the hornstull T station. Many mornings I would grab this twisty little pastry with lots of cardamom. I could hear the train coming but I would still grab my pastry, She was only one of two people in 10 months of living in Sweden that did not speak English. I never understood how much my delightful goodies cost, I would just hold out my hand and she would grab a few coins. Or if other commuters were in a hurry they would grab it out of my hand for me, inpatient with me and wanting to catch their train. After work, we would grab fresh loafs of rye bread and mini blueberry pies to eat in our flat. So, when we went back in July 2007, top of my list: Hornstull bakery. The T came to a stop, I ran up the escalator to my bakery–of course a little paper sign said ’semester til augusti’ -vacation until August! I just stared at the sign and empty glass display cases. How dare this sweet old lady take a vacatio when I was coming all the way across the ocean to eat her baked goods! I do not know of any other baker that made this mystery pastry–Swedes please tell me what this taste of heaven was!

Did I mention I am going here…

After lounging on your beaches with my toes in your sand, day trips to your islands, relaxing by the pool and enjoying your cuisine by night as the Andaman sea laps gently to shore in your most southern province; we will head to the big city. Bangkok here we come to get lost amongst your people, markets, and temples.

I can’t wait to meet you-Thailand!

Going Paperless Baby!

My Christmas present was a Fujitsu ScanSnap S51oM. We are officially beginning the scanning of every document, paper, manual, etc in this house. We are going paperless. This little toy is so much fun! Insurance papers-scanned, 4 inch thick medical file –scanned, working on some water aerobics info from workshops. I highly recommend this addition to your home office. My poor kids have been watching TV while I plan my trip to Thailand and now while I scan documents like a mad woman. I promise they will get some reading time in before bed. Thanks Ja for my present. Off to scan…

How do you travel so much?

My friend just wrote me an e-mail and asked “How do you get to travel so much?” My husband and I follow blogs, travel sites, ask questions, and research ways to earn points with hotels and miles with airlines. And I am willing to sit on the phone for an hour or more with a Delta rep until they find me a flight to my dream destination! Recently, we have been to Bora Bora, French Polynesia and Stockholm, Sweden with points. Flight-FREE, Hotel–FREE Next stop-Thailand

Here’s a new blog my husband is maintaining. You can benefit from our research! Introducing My Quest for Miles and Points

Slumdog Millionaire

“The latest film from British director Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire, hit the jackpot at the annual Critics’ Choice Awards yesterday ..including best picture.

Boyle also picked up the award for best director for the film, while 18-year-old Dev Patel was named best young actor for his part in the story of how impoverished Indian teen Jamal Malik became a contestant on the Hindi version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?”

Intense film, not for your kids, amazing colors, exciting, heartbreaking, beautiful, hint of Bollywood, makes me want to delve into true Bollywood films

Workout Log 1/5-1/9

Mon, Jan 5, 30 min treadmill
Tues, Jan 6, 20 min treadmill, 20 min weights
Weds, Jan 7, 30 min treadmill, 11,565 steps logged on my pedometer
Thurs, Jan 8, 20 min wts, 60 min water aerobics, 7,000+ steps logged on my pedometer (plus the estimated 4,000-6,000 done in the water)
Fri, Jan 9, 45 min treadmill, 8,468 steps and the day is only half over

Results:
Improved mood
More patience
Desire to eat healthier
Restful sleep at night, no naps needed
No afternoon lull in energy
My quads and hamstrings hurt so bad I can barely walk around Target or up and down my stairs.

How is your New Year’s Resolution going? Head to the gym or dust off that treadmill/bike! If you are already working out…tell me what you listen to that gets you and keeps you moving! Peace out.

Heard Around the House

I don’t have patience for long prayers. I want to go to Hawaii, can we? EVERYONE in my class is going to Hawaii for fall break. Paityn and me don’t like princesses anymore…really. Mom, guess what? Mackade wrote ‘I love you Savannah’ on his paper! And he showed it to me! Are you guys staying at a hotel? I wish I was bald like Uncle Jason so I didn’t have to brush my hair. Will you buy me that? Mom, when are you going to be like the man with the yellow hat? he lets George do anything he wants! Will you buy me that? My teddy bear, sweater and shoes are outside and they have frost on them! Will you buy me that? Our baby’s in heaven. Spiders have 8 legs. Darth Vader conducts music like this. Why don’t you EVER buy us toys? (Note: We cannot see the floor of the toy room.) Is our computer an Apple or a pineapple? Yes, you have to wear underwear! Make your bed. Feed Welly (the cat.) No, you can’t take the cushions off the couch. No, you can’t open any presents yet. Jackson, stop burping. Say please, say thank you. What do you saaaaay? Mommy’s in time out right now. I love you. Have a good day at school. I have book club tonight. I am going to Russia. Yes I’ll miss our anniversary. Help mom set the table.The Sequoia is dead, it won’t start at all. I love you. Thanks for making dinner. You look hot. Why can’t the MAVS win here? I got an A in my class.

Body Worlds 3

I went to the Body Worlds 3 exhibit, and found it to be fascinating.

“BODY WORLDS 3 is a first-of-its-kind exhibit where visitors learn about anatomy, physiology and health by viewing real human bodies. The bodies are preserved through plastination, which is a groundbreaking method for specimen preservation invented by Dr. Gunther von Hagens in 1977. BODY WORLDS 3 & the Story of the Heart features more than 200 authentic human specimens including whole body plastinates, organs, translucent body slices, and a special presentation on the heart.”

There’s been a lot of hype about whether it was voyeuristic or if it was appropriate for children and teenagers. I didn’t think it was voyeuristic at all. In fact, as I walked around the crowded display cases and full body plastinates, it almost seemed like there was a hushed reverence and quiet respect. Everyone spoke quietly and patiently waited their turn to view the organs and bodies. I would not have a problem with my children seeing any part of the exhibit. Mostly I think they would be bored and unappreciative of the experience. If I had teenagers I would definitely take them to see the exhibit. At the exit of the exhibit, people have the opportunity to write messages or body secrets on a public wall. The messages were funny, weird, shocking, crude, private, sad, and more, if anything needed to be censored from young eyes-it’s this message board. I wanted to write a message, but they were all out of cards. I wanted to write about my miscarriages and how my baby boy looked very similar to one of the fetus’s on display.

Even though you get an assigned time to enter, we had to wait in line over an hour just to get inside the exhibit. They had a large skeleton projected on the wall, and those in line could send text messages to the skeleton and they were almost immediately up on the wall. It was so funny. My husband sent a few, and got some good laughs out of the crowd.

My husband and I both agreed that we thought the full body plastinates would be the most interesting part of the exhibit but we both liked the individual organs and body slices more then the full body plastinates! I loved seeing the stomach, intestines, appendix and caecum. I was able to see exactly how they relate and come together and where our sweet daughter’s tube goes. We don’t talk much about her surgery, and I won’t tell the details in a public forum, –I just wanted to take in all the details and understand how all those organs meet and work together. It was way better then her x rays we have seen several times this year.

About half way, my husband said the next area is child development. I froze–I knew I would get emotional. These are real bodies, real people not models. I turned the corner and there was a crowd leaning in to look in tiny vials to see what a baby looks like in weeks 1-9 after conception. Yes, a baby. There were also maybe eight other babies from various weeks. When I saw the smallest one, I started to cry–remembering my tiny boy. I cannot tell you what it is like to deliver and hold your dead baby. It is the most sacred, heart wrenching hours of my life. I could take all the pain of 10 hours of labor and multiply it times ten, and it would not compare to the heartache of knowing his soul slipped away before we could hold him. And again in November, to discover our pregnancy would not be viable. I was able to see in a tiny vial what I lost. No matter the size, the week, it is a great loss. Each of those vials and each display case was someone’s child.

I have to admit the body slices were a little…uncomfortable. It made me wonder how that will work out in the resurrection. Those who donated their bodies were fully aware of what could occur to their bodies and that they could be on display. And their anonymity is guaranteed. Toward the end they had a body slice of an overweight person–it was shocking. The subcutaneous tissue (fat) infiltrated everything, it crowded the organs, it was between each and every vertebra in the spine, it filled in every available gap and compressed everything. It was interesting as you hear the comments–at the lung case, “How can anyone smoke after seeing that?” at the liver case, “Can you believe people drink so much alcohol?” etc at the overweight body slice case…not so much talking. Shouldn’t people be saying, “I better start an exercise routine.” Or “Maybe I should not drink so much soda and eat so much junk.”

One quote on the displays was from a cardiologist, it said, “I have yet to see grief as a cause of death on a death certificate, but it doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.” Another sign talked about the effects of stress and pessimism on the heart and body.

And one random thought-the bull heart was as my son would say ‘wicked awesome’.

So, what’s to be learned from this exhibit? Besides all the medical information, our bodies are a miracle, and there is a fine balance between the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. Hopefully, I can do better in all areas in 2009!