I’ve been walking a friend’s dog this week*. Lulu lives just a 5 minute walk over the bridge to the other side of the train tracks. Walking with her has been a nice way to explore a part of Lund I don’t see as often. She spends more time sniffing than walking, however, and quite often brings me unwanted attention when passersby want to pet her. I guess walking a dog is a good way to meet people, if that’s a goal.
*This post was not uploaded for some mysterious reason. It was from the middle of March. So I added Pysanky and it is now one, long post.
Bryant has had a busy month with lots of travel and off site meetings. Every time he’s gone over nite, a fire alarm battery starts to beep. And I know we should just change all of them but we don’t. And with these high ceilings, it is not a small project!
My newest pet is kefir grains. OK calling them pets is a stretch but they require as much, if not more, care than a goldfish, being live cultures that need attention and feeding. They were a gift from France from Carole, and I’m doing well with these probiotic critters so far. They seem to like the living conditions at Spolegatan. Today I’m enjoying my best batch yet, flavored with lingonberry, black berries (bilberries)and lemon. It is a lightly fermented, fizzy, naturally sparkling soda made from kefir grains or tibicos that may originate in Mexico, apparently from a cactus bacteria or yeast-like culture. The link explains the process better than I’m able to do. I’m having a good time experimenting with different fruits, juices and length of fermentation. The process is a lot like keeping sour dough starter. I’m going to try ginger and lime in this batch and it should taste like ginger beer. It’s reminiscent of the birch soda that I love, available at the American Swedish Institute if you’re in MN.
Here is another batch just starting, with only lemon in the first ferment.
Every year we add an egg or two to our collection of Ukrainian Wax Resist eggs. This year I invited some of the ex-pat friend group to try it with me. We had a nice fika and everyone completed at least one egg to take home. That event inspired another round of egg decorating, this time with the Swedenklef family, all of whom were together in Lund from their far flung lives in Stockholm, London and the US. (Mattias is a pilot so he could be almost anywhere) Andrea brought her amazing chocolate peanut butter cheese cake with Oreo crust- yum!
It only occurred to me this year to use egg cups for displaying pysanka. So I bought a bunch at a rummage sale and was given a cute one by one of the guests (the metal swan). Such a cute way to show off fancy eggs and also a great party favor!
As Easter approaches, Spring has Sprung in Lund. The rains of February bring flowers of March.
One day started out really nice so we decided on a picnic, but by the time we got out to a park (Nobelparken, one of the newest in Lund) it had clouded over and started to sprinkle. Still, we had a good walk and ate some charred korv (hotdogs) and marshmallows with tea, cooked over a new mini grill gadget.
Leave a Reply