Two respective Focaccia’s..

A friend of Vladimir invited us on his birthday for afternoon coffee and cake. Since we all have kids, the party turned into a pleasant get together.

Sweets were taken care of, so I wanted to bring something savory and decided to make Focaccia.

One I covered with prosciutto, feta and dried tomatoes and the other one a little more kids friendly with fresh tomatoes and mozzarella. But in general you can top your Focaccia with anything you want.

Focaccia with prosciutto

Crust:

1.4 Ibs flour

6 oz potatoes, cooked and grated

1 pack fresh yeast

0.8 cup warm water

1 tablespoon salt

Topping:

5.3 oz prosciutto in slices

5.3 oz feta

1 glass in oil preserved tomatoes

fresh arugula

1.     Dissolve yeast in warm water and add a pinch of flour. Cover with a kitchen towel and leave for a couple of minutes.

2.     Sift the rest of the flour into a bowl and form a hollow in the middle. Add the in water dissolved yeast in the hollow and stir well.

3.     Add the raw sea salt and the grated potatoes.

4.     Knead the dough well. If needed add more water.

5.     Form the dough into a ball and leave at a warm spot for 2 hours.

6.     Cover a baking sheet with baking paper and roll out the dough around 1/2 thick.

7.     Cut the dried tomatoes in smaller pieces. But leave the oil on it!

8.     Now cover the dough with tomatoes and feta cheese.

9.     Then brush plentiful oil of the dried tomatoes on the dough. Season as you like with oregano and fine sea salt.

10.  Preheat oven at 482F. Put the baking sheet on the second rail from the bottom and reduce temperature to 437F. Let bake approx. for 20-25min until desired color.

11.  Take out the done Focaccia and cover with prosciutto and fresh arugula.

Focaccia with tomatoes and mozzarella

Crust:

1 Ibs wheat flour

1 Ibs lukewarm water

2 teaspoons salt

1 pinch sugar

2 packs dry yeast

Topping:

0.9 Ibs mozzarella

cherry tomatoes

olive oil

fresh basil leaves

1.     Stir wheat flour, water, dry yeast, salt and sugar in a big bowl until it is a smooth mass.

2.     Leave the dough covered for around 2-3 hours.

3.     Pout dough on baking sheet covered with baking paper, touch the dough as little as possible in the process. Leave again for 30min.

4.     Wash and cut the cherry tomatoes in half and cut mozzarella into slices. Then spread both evenly on the dough.

5.     Then brush plentiful with olive oil.

6.     Bake Focaccia in preheated oven at 392F until it is golden brown.

7.     When the Focaccia is done, take it out of the oven and spread fresh basil leaves on top.

8.     If you want you can season with sea salt and other fresh herbs like oregano or herbs de Provence.

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White stripes tiger and tiger Tim..

Edgar was so fascinated about sewing, that he was dancing around me the whole time and absolutely wanted to help. I found that really cute, but unfortunately the little man was holding me back from work.

To preoccupy him, I had the idea, that he just should sew something himself.

He really wanted to sew a tiger. Because his plush tiger Tim should get a friend.

Favorable it should be a white tiger, but I only had a turquoise fabric from the pockets of Vladimir’s pants left over.

Edgar drew a tiger with fabric chalk on the fabric, cut it out and drew tiger stripes on it. Because the fabric chalk is white, the tiger should be called White Stripes later on. An insider so to say.

I helped Edgar sewing both tiger pieces together and stitched the face at the end.

But not the mouth, which Edgar did himself. And he also sewed the black stripes all by himself and I think for the first time, they turned out really great. Edgar is just only 7 years old!

Edgar had so much fun and is super proud of his work. And I could concentrate on my sewing again.

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Two real Swedish girls, those dolls..

pattern and sewing instruction rag doll

While we spent our vacation in Sweden, my parents were there too.

Besides having deliciously cooked food daily, another bonus was that my mom spent gladly and a lot of time with Irma.

So Vladimir and I could make trips with just the two of us. That was a benefit for all of us, since Irma is the happiest in the garden by the lake anyway and Vladimir and I could finally do something together in a long time.

In addition I had time to sew something new too. In the morning I got up with my mom and Irma and while they were playing with each other I was able to get behind the sewing machine. I had two rag dolls to finish and Vladimir wanted some new pants.

I didn’t think I would, but I was able to finish the dolls and the pants.

Here are the two rag dolls, that I made for two of Irma’s little friends, who soon would have their first birthday.

On the website Verflixt und Zugenäht you can find the pattern and sewinginstructions.

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A house by the sea..

Our vacation is almost over and I’m actually overcome with a touch of melancholy. We had an amazing this by lake Tolken and even though I can’t say we had a tropical climate, the weather was superb for Swedish relations.

Vladimir and Irma were in the water every day. For Irma it was paradise anyway. Out of the house into the garden to the water. She certainly doesn’t have that freedom in Vienna.

Here she took her first steps into the lake and loved it from the first second!

Also boating was a new experience for the little one. My brother Lukas went out every night to go fishing at the lake. He only caught tiny fish though, who found their way back into the water really fast.

Even Edgar wanted to try to be a fisher. Lukas collected earthworms for him and then they could start - old school fishing. But his patience only lasted for a little while.

It is almost a duty to spin a round with the boat. My brother was the helmsman and Vladimir, Irma and I were able to just enjoy the ride. Irma in the beginning thought, that it was way too exciting and then she suddenly fell asleep.

Maybe the waves were calming after all.

I am not really a mermaid and enjoyed the lake from the beach.

Especially the sunsets are amazingly beautiful here. The light is different than in Vienna, hard to describe, but somehow clearer.

For my taste sunset pictures are kind of boring, here I took pictures like a crazy person. The sun goes down really late. At 11pm it’s still dawn.

Here a picture of the moon, how it reflects itself int the lake. So the mood is really something special. I can suggest to everyone to go to Sweden in summer. Not only at lake Tolken you can find beautiful places. But really important - it has to be summer, because winter is very dull here.

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A worry eater for rough times..

My little cousin Karin is at the same time one of my best friends.

Even though sometimes we don’t see each other for years, we skype for hours and tell each other everything, about worries and beautiful things or we just chat about life.

It is great to have someone like Karin, since she is a very optimistic person and doesn’t make a mountain out of a molehill.

That makes her a role model to me, because I don’t always have that ability, to see the good in the obstacles of everyday life.

The soon future won’t be too easy for Karin though. Her husband is done with college and got a great job in Sundsvall, a couple hours away north in Sweden. Now they’ll have to deal with a long-distance relationship, since Karin probably won’t be able to leave Göteborg.

They both overcame a lot of difficult situations, so they will this one too.

The worry eater, that I sewed for Karin, won’t work miracles, but I wanted to give her a little something and thought the worry eater would be appropriate.

Here the worry eater and the little teddies enjoy the sun in front of the entrance door of the summer house, before they were wrapped up and given away.

 



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Philippa got a pouch for girls..

pattern girl’s pouch

Philippa is Pontus’s big sister. She is already 6 years old and hence a big girl. And big girls need a pouch for all the important things, they take with them.

I think Philippa was the most excited about her present out of all the kids. She ran around with her new pouch all day and evening.

She was so cute! When she unwrapped the bag she shouted: “How did you know that my favorite color is pink?”

And her mom told me later on, that Philippa doesn’t want to bring any other bag to the kindergarten.

Here you can find the pattern for the girls pouch.

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A plush bunny for little Pontus..

pattern stuffed bunny

Pontus is almost a year old.

And since I sewed this bunny a couple of times already last Christmas, I wanted to give one to Pontus too.

I didn’t have a lot of time to sew all these presents for the kids in Sweden, and everything I didn’t have to think about, a benefit.

You won’t believe it, but only figured out where to sew on the ears when I made the fourth bunny!

With the other ones I sewed on the ears on the sides and never understood, why my bunnies looked so crumpled.

So, whoever is as dumb as I am, here my advice: sew the ears between the back of the head and the front of the head! Otherwise it doesn’t look pretty..

I found the pattern on the website of KimmysFreizeit.

At the crayfish fest the bunny was allowed to sit on the table with us..

.. and here the bunny enjoys the sun at a quiet place in the garden.

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