I'm in love with another man.... :-)

Well, it's only my tailor I'm speaking of so it's not like a serious love affair affecting our dear marriage but it's that other kind of love - the kind of absolute love for his amazing handicraft when it comes to making me perfectly fitted amazing clothes!

Look at this copy in midnight blue velvet with gold and purple lining inside he made me from an original Anna Holtblad velvet blazer which he made just a tad bit longer and a little more fitted for big me so it would turn out just perfectly. I love love love it and can't wait to wear it!

I won't share his number or name with pretty much anyone as I want him all by myself (see how selfish a Taitai can turn in the Shanghai jungle) but he's that good. Once you find a tailor who knows your body and your likes, he's worth keeping close at vest... :-)

Cheers!

Spring planting!

I was SO excited waking up this morning to see the sun shining through the windows, for two reasons - 1) Emmy slept through the night a g a i n, this is the 3rd night in a row and I'm starting to get somewhat hopeful that this is actually going to last! So, in other words, I feel human and well rested... 2) I was heading to the flower market in the afternoon to pick up flowers and herbs for my gardening project!

Although I couldn't find basil plants, dill and parsley, I found some beautiful hydrangea and decent soil which I think is hard to come around here. I also managed to buy some kind of wooden crate for 75 cents (yes, in this country things still go for under a buck!) which I converted to two flower beds for my little vegetable garden project. It turned out great and I've planted a few seeds (strawberries, cilantro, tomatoes, lavender etc) which I hope will make it.

I also planted a little separate herb garden with rosemary, mint, a form of basil, and some tarragon.

Loved getting to work and digging around the garden. And imagine the look on our chinese gardener when he came by to work in the yard, he has probably never seen a tai-tai that dirty gardening around her own house before... :-)

Here are the pictures from this afternoon's gardening

Photo Class assignment

Today we ventured off to Old Town in Shanghai for our photo class assignment. We were to take pictures of everything and anything - from people to animals to food to things, anything we thought was interesting and caught our eye! Very exciting and fun and no doubt easy to find many many interesting objects in this very bustling and old Chinese part of town.

I felt like I saw China for the first time coming here today... These people live in spaces smaller than my master bathroom and their homes are as much out on the street as inside their small broom closet of a house... they cook their lunch and dinner outside and make their laundry on the curb. Their kids grow up in unheated cold houses with absolutely no isolation, yet everyone was full of life and quite happy from what I could tell. These people are so far removed from any world economic problems and AIG bonuses it was only refreshing to meet them and get a chance to take their pictures! I haven't seen and felt this kind of honest happiness from the Chinese people since arriving to Shanghai. What a place and privilage to see this part of Shanghai before it's all torn down one day...

PICTURES: Here are my favorite pictures from Shanghai's Old Town.

Suzhou family weekend fun!

So, we decided to cancel our Shanghai plans for the weekend and head to pretty Suzhou instead, 2 hours from Shanghai. It turned out to be a great decision as we spent some great quality time with the kids and saw some pretty areas of China.

We checked in to the newly renovated Sheraton Hotel and was offered their largest room (thank you Magnus for being a Platinum with Starwoods!) and it was the first time we've stayed in a hotel room with 3 bathrooms! The hotel was really pretty and we knew we'd be back for a longer stay as soon as we checked in!

First we decided to visit the Humble Administrator's Garden, a Ming Dynasty weekend garden retreat of its era. It was the prettiest garden we've seen in China so far and relatively easy to visit with the kids too which is always a plus.

That afternoon we just relaxed and napped at the hotel and had a fun bubble bath with the kids in the Jacuzzi! Later we joined up with our New Orleans friends and ate at one heck of a restaurant; Portland's Bistro, and had the best beef tenderloin we've eaten so far in China - wow! Mongolian beef and the owner is giving us the resource to buy it here in Shanghai - yeah!!

The next day we visited the Silk Museum to see how silk is made and woven. Very interesting (at least I thought so:-) and Magnus and the kids yawned their way through the quick tour. We bought a pretty silk dress for Emmy as a memory of the place. Suzhou is one of the best places to buy silk in China and next time I'll take my time to search through the city for the best place to buy heavy cream white silk for my dream bedroom curtains!

Here are the pictures from our fun weekend at Suzhou!

Arts & Crafts!

Someone recently tipped me about a building in Puxi which sells everything for arts & crafts, so I decided to head over the river to explore this exciting place! Max is very much into glueing, cutting, putting stickers on everything and painting very nice detailed paintings, and I'm behind on stocking up on the artsy stuff at home for him and Emmy to play with. The 4 story place had tons of just stuff for crafty kids and I stocked up on everything from colorful papers, sizzors, glue, pearls, feathers, balls, tape, crayons etc. It was so much fun exploring among all the little boutiques and by now we have a well stocked arts and crafts corner at home which is already getting tons of use!

Bye-bye coffee...I don't miss ya!

I quit coffee. It's one of those "best decisions in my life" things I've made and I feel so much better. I always had this nagging headache and my eyes were always tired, constantly. I blamed it on too many sleepless nights thanks to having small children or the computer screen blare - but in the end of the day, I'm pretty sure the java caused this mess... I quit back in 2004 as well and I remember how incredible I felt then too - like a new person. Then I bought that super automatic Italian espresso machine for Magnus at Christmas and h a d to have coffee again so I also could play with it! But now I know, I am over sensitive to coffee and the much higher caffeine levels in espresso.

But I have unfortunately also found Starbucks Green Tea Latte which I'm getting hooked on slowley but surely... (and at 35 SEK a cup, this is NOT good at all during these recession times!). It gives me a little needed caffeine kick and it's supposed to be good for you, at least the antioxidants!

Max & Lisa

Max returned from school yesterday and said he had a great day and told me that they were going to celebrate classmate Elaine's birthday the following day. We decided to make Elaine a birthday card and started cutting, glueing and drawing. In the end, Max decided that the card was going to be from both Max & Lisa and this is the sweet card he put together (with a little help from mommy). Max did all the writing himself (and sometimes MAX turns into XAM :-). It turned out beautifully and I'm sure Elaine will be very happy for her pretty card!

Recept: Kycklingbollar!

Dessa harligt proteinrika kycklingbollar, som aven ar fulla med C-vitaminer och fibrer, har lange varit en favoritratt har hemma! Max kan latt ata 10 stycken i ett tag och Emmy tycker om att hantera de mindre bollarna utan bestick och en massa krangel... Och bade jag och Magnus tycker de ar utsokta sa hela familjen festar garna pa receptet med en god sallad till (som vi vuxna ater i alla fall!).

Har kommer receptet:

Bon Appetit!

• 5-6 dl kokt ris (garna halften vitt och raris)
• 2 msk olivolja
• 2-3 kycklingsbrostfileer
• salt
• peppar
• 1.5 dl sotpotatispure
• 1 dl broccoli eller spenatpure
• 1 dl riven ost
• 1 dl mjolk
• 1 agg

Gor sa har:

1. Koka riset eller anvand gardagens ris. Skar kycklingfileerna i mindre bitar och salta och peppra. Stek kycklingen i olivoljan tills bitarna ar genomstekta, ca 7 minuter. Lagg de fardigstekta fileerna i matberedaren och finhacka.
2. Blanda ihop ris, gronsakspureerna, osten, mjolken, agget tillsammans med kycklingen till en jamn smet i en bunke. Smaka av och salta och peppra mera om det behovs. Rulla till 1-kr stora bollar och lagg pa fat. Stek bollarna i en stekpanna med olivolja pa medium-hog varme ca. 5 min eller tills de fatt gyllenbrun farg.

Dippa i Ranch, Rhode Island dressing eller Ketchup och servera tillsammans med gronsallad.

Tips: Du kan ocksa byta ut kycklingen mot fisk. Stek fiskfileerna (lax, torsk, kolja, spatta) i olivolja och mosa tillsammans med resten av alla ingredienser till en jamn smet och rulla bollarna pa samma satt som kycklingen.

Spring is here and LOVE is in the air....!

Soooo, this just happened in the last two days:

I picked up Max from school to head to soccer practise and I noticed he was a little quiet - unusually quiet for Max! He wasn't that into the soccer and we left a little earlier to get home to Emmy and have dinner. During dinner Max said that he wanted to have a playdate with Lisa - "Lisa from your school" I said and he nodded mysteriously... I mentioned I would send Lisa's mom an email that same evening as we were having a playdate the next day at our house and maybe they would like to join us. Before bed time when we were playing in Emmy's room, Max pulled my arm and said "mommy, I like Lisa". I put him in my lap and said how great that was and how good it feels to like someone. He looked me in my eyes and said "mommy, I love Lisa" and it was the most beautiful moment I think I've ever had with my son... I wanted to hold him so tight and told him that loving someone is the best feeling in the world and that it makes you warm in your body and heart and makes you very very happy! When I tucked him in that night he said "mommy, when I go to bed and then to your bed later tonight, I am going to dream about Lisa" and I wanted to freeze the moment and save it forever. Like in a little jar.

Luckily, Lisa's mom responded yes to the playdate and when Max came home from school today he ran up to me to ask if Lisa was there yet. I told him she'd be coming soon. Once Lisa arrived Max ran up to her car and greeted all his friends inside the car but focused in on Lisa no doubt. They played really well together and Max was... how do I put it... a changed boy - a new boy, different in so many ways. Calmer, nicer and sweeter than his normal self. I LIKED this new Max very much! All of a sudden Max went up to Lisa and gave her a hug - I caught it with my camera and he was SO happy! He was beaming - it's his first love and she's rocking his world right now. Oh boy, where will this end!

When it was time for Lisa to leave Max did something he has n e v e r done before. He offered to give Lisa one of his brand new pirate swords which I had bought for him earlier in the day. Lisa thanked him with another hug! He also gave one to his friend Liam which stunned me. He said they could all play together with the swords soon again at either his house or Lisa's house. We all hurried to schedule a new playdate as this romance seems to get a little serious :-)

Since then we haven't done anything else but talked about Lisa... "What does Lisa think of her sword?", "does Lisa eat popcorn on Friday's like us?", "Lisa runs quickly but not as quickly as me", "I talked to Lisa in school today", "how do I spell Lisa's name mom"... and so on. As a mother, I just want to freeze this moment and make sure he'll be this happy for the rest of his life. It's a beautiful young love and his first and it seems to be reciprocated for now...

Here are the pictures of today's playdate!

Girls Nite Out!

Shanghai's partyfixer No. 1; Torun Ohman organized a 20-girls nite out party last night and it had all the elements of excitment any GNO can possible have!! Pre-party hour was spent in Shanghai's smallest apartment (!) at People's Square where we mixed drinks and got to know each other better. Afterwards the longest white limos available in Shanghai took us to the excellent restaurant F.C.C where we enjoyed some great tapas dishes together with Torun's perfect party introduction - a list of little unknown facts about each girl! It was everything from "I made out with Markus Schenkenberg in Paris while Victoria Silverstedt was jealous" to "i was locked up and brainwashed in a southern babptist american high school" to "I once paid a turk in a bathhouse to touch my breasts" to "i was once in an american horror movie" (that was me :-) and so on.... well, some very funny and revealing facts!

After dinner we headed upstairs to be introduced to the Swedish company Lelo's wonderful products! A lot of giggles and skillful studying went on for the next hour as everyone wanted to better understand the features/benefits of these women's pleasure products Lelo has so successfully launched - even Apoteket in Sweden now carries them (the gov't owned pharmacy in Sweden).

Last but not least the limos headed to M1NT nightclub where too many bottles of vodka and wine awaited our arrival - the dancing went on until the wee hours and I'm just happy I decided at 1.30 AM to call it a night and return home to a cozy bed full of all family members! And I was MORE than thankful when Magnus let me sleep in this morning after a very very fun night!!

Thanks Torun - awesome job done!

Here are the pictures from oh, so much fun... :-)

Music contest!!

What a fun night!! Staffan & Anna hosted a very lively and much competitive music contest last night at their place. We were treated to bubbles, a fantastic dinner and a to-die-for lingonberry dessert covered in fudge (oh boy!) followed by the highly anticipated music contest of the night! We were divided into two teams - Team South (SYD - a VERY strong team) and Team North (NORD; a decent contender and unfortunately the winner of the night...). The first round included multiple choice music trivia where Team South shined and won by TWO whole points - an excellent performance by Team South!

Round two (a surprise and unexpected "lightening round") consisted of 13 very difficult music choices whereby the teams had to first yeall the team's name (this was a critical step much avoided by one of Team South's players) and then the artist followed by the song title. Team North pulled off some amazing suprises in this round (Magnus even managed to get the BGs and Staying Alive right!!!) and took home first prize after Team South didn't manage to get Outkast and Hay Yeah! correct during the final song.... a big upset and dissapointment for Team South who still stood out as a clear winner to many and a very good looser who congratulated Team North for a game well played!

SO much fun - we can't wait for the next music contest game at the Gunnestrands soon!

Here are the pictures from the fun night!

Dinner with friends!

Staffan and Anna came over for dinner the other day and Magnus had as usual cooked up something sweet in the kitchen. I was able to assist the master chef himself with an appetizer of Truffle mushroom pesto on italian crostini topped with goat cheese and for dessert we served the all time favorite of fresh marinated strawberries in lime juice with basil topped with real vanilla egg/cream custard. The main course was the all traditional Beef Provencal which is just as good each time....

Tonight the love couple will host a music contest at their casa where we're going be paired up in teams and guess which artist/song is played. And I am not good at names nor song titles but I'm sure it will be good times!

/L

Staffan & Anna bash!

So finally I got to meet Staffan's sweet girlfriend Anna at their new beautiful home here in Shanghai yesterday. Staffan cooked up a storm in the kitchen resulting in a very tasty Spagetti Bolognese served with lots of good red wine and great company all around!

It reminded me how new things were here in Shanghai just over a year ago and how many questions we all had when moving to this bustling city of 22 million people! Where do you find this kind of food, where do you get your hair done, where is there a reliable dentist who won't fill the wrong tooth.... Luckily Anna will be surrounded by many knowledge Swedes in this city who knows just about every little nugget of good information any newbie might want to know - she's in good hands!

Here are the pictures from our fun eve together.

Finally I found it!!

Today was a good day!! Not only did I FINALLY get the PH Kotte lamp shipped off to Sweden for Marianne who's patiently been awaiting its arrival for....yeah, just about 5 months now! It's been nothing short of impossible to find a way to ship it from China to Europe without it costing 10 times the lamp's price...ugh! But finally I was able to find a good shipper per recommendations from Swedeladies in town, and they will even ship it by air so it will arrive before the end of this week - jippi!!

During lunch today I also found the very very rare Balsamico de Tradizionale at a nice Italian restaurant which had a well sorted Deli cafe. Not many people are aware that this amazingly tasty Balsamic Vinegar is the real deal and the one we buy in the store for 15 bucks is not actually the "real" thing... this one is usually aged between 12-25 years and runs about $150-250 for 100 ml - is absolutely delicious on salads and on balsamic vinegar deserts such as strawberry and basil desert. Although I didn't go for this pricey little gem today (Magnus was with me so I had to at least appear appalled at the price tag...) but I'm sure sooner or later I will have enough sleepless nights dreaming of this one to go back and get it... I'll let you know if it was worth the $$ :-)

Cheers!