My sewing room / office

Yesterday I was after a while again in my sewing room / office. I tried to organize it and place my embroidery thread on place. Now I have placed 180 thread spools on the place and I can admit, approx same amount of thread is still in box for embroidery plus all sewing thread and overlock thread :D

When I showed all that for my husband, he started to laugh :D First question was - do you know how much money is in that room - New sewing/embroidery machine, all thread, fabric. I answered, yes, I know :D Should we count things in your room as well ;)
Second question he had was - are you done with the room now. I just looked around and answered nicely - no :D I think my room is like Rome :) Never be ready :D Always something to do or change. I think I will be first done with my room, if I have bigger room ;) but no promises on that question.

Later in the evening I installed my newest program into computers. Cool :D Child with the lego ;) Now I can make also patterns with cross stitches and it will be interesting. I can make my own and the ones from books. Even make traditional Estonian patterns for at embroider them to clothes. Just I have to learn to use the program before, I can use it all in full :) Will see, what will happen :D At least I know, what I will do in summer on my first week on vacation ;)

Rhubarb pie,

Yesterday I decided to bake again after a while. In menu was rhubarb pie, since I decided to try it. Couple of times before I have baked now berry cake and decided to try bit different this time.

Bottom:
4,5 dl flour
1 dl sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
150 gr table warm butter
2 egg

Filling:
0,5 kg rhubarb
1 tablespoon potato flour
2 tablespoon sugar

Top:
4 egg
4 tablespoon sugar
4 tablespoon flour

•  Before you start to do everything else, clean and chop rhubarb. Place them to bowl and add sugar and let it stay until it is time to use them.
• Make ready bottom - Mix all dry ingredients and mix them with butter. Add eggs and when it is ready, spread it to buttered  cake form.
• Make ready topping - whip eggs strong foam. If you have hand mixer, when whip first egg whites hard and after that in separate bowl egg yellows and sugar. If both are hard, when mix them together and add flour one spoon at time. 
• Take the cake form what is filled with bottom and make it ready. Add potato flour to rhubarb and mix it well through. Take off syrup what has gathered when they stood with sugar. put the filling to bottom and spread egg and flour mix all over it.
• Bake in oven 35-45 minutes in 200 degrees. 

 

 When it is done, let it cool down bit. Serve it together with vanilla souse or vanilla ice-cream.

Congratulations Sweden,

Yesterday was again night, when millions of people sat in front of TV and looked Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan. Including me :D Just missing bit the tradition we had both in Denmark and Ireland, that we gathered together and watched Eurovision together and had small party.
During a semifinals went both Estonia and Sweden further to final together with Denmark and Norway. One way it was good, since that does not happen always :) At least not for Estonia, that they are going further. Last year we had that opportunity after many years. Only last year we came last place, but we was on final at least. The same time Sweden came third place last year. This year, they took jackpot and won all the competition.

I am happy, that this year we did not end in last place, but managed to gather together so much points, that we ended in sixth place. The thing I liked, was that he sang in Estonian and not in English as most did.

So in the end, I think it was wonderful evening and good for both countries. Now we just have to wait and see, how it will be in next year, when the Eurovision Song Contest will be held in Sweden :)

Some thoughts,

Since last year, we have tried to go through different courses and meetings with social services here in Jönköping for at adopt a child. Now this journey is over for us and we can breath again and live our loves as normal couple again. It feels good, but in the same time, that long road has not been easy for us. It has been full of sad moments and negative moments and fair, how will be the end result.
Now, when we know, how it is, we, do not know, how we should react for it. Should we be happy or should we be sad. At least at the moment, we can be both, since it seems, that that same kind of thing, can't happen with someone else. At least, this is what we both hoping for. It would be sad to see someone other couples to go through that hell, what we just had to go through.
First course, how to be a adoptive parent,went very well. After that course, started our meetings with social services. In the beginning, we felt that they went well, but after second meeting, we started to feel, that nooo, this does not go all that direction as it should, that it goes opposite instead. Every thing we said, they saw just the negative things.
It was bad, that I live here and my family lives in Estonia and that would make, that they can not help us. They said also in their report, that our social net is not big enough. We just decided to take there people, who are close to us and care for us and in the same time, who we trust. Seems, that this was not good enough for those 2 persons. They wanted it to be bigger.
They accused my love to be square minded, yeah sure. I would like to see, would someone open himself/herself to social services, if you are accused to say wrong things. They should be objective in that case, but in the end, we could see, that they are not that. They just wanted to see only negative on all of this and us.
After we was done with meetings and it was time for us, to go to social board to get permission for adoption, when it went not as we hoped. In the same we did not get no, but got new meeting in march this year.
One thing was sure, we were happy, that we did not have to meet those 2 persons from social services again and that made our day. I just had to represent new medical paper, to show, that my BMI is normal and goes down and it still going down. Good for me :) I am liking my new me :)
For those meetings, we got also papers from social services, and we must say, we was surprised. One of the workers wrote every single meeting and when we had opportunity to read the papers and had do send in mistakes, when seemed, that all what they wrote was upside down. We wondered, what is a point to write all this, if you can't do it right from the beginning... We changed mistakes, got new paper and still some mistakes we wrote, was unchanged... Question was, what is a point to write, if you still do not change it and leaving it as you want and seeing it...
Before first meeting, we made our own document, what we wanted to leave for social board. We said, what they wanted to know and answered to their questions and left the paper by telling them - no matter what decision they take and do, it will not change anything for us, since that was what we had got to know from Adoptionscentrum. They had read through the paper we got from social services and told us, that with so negative paper, we have no chance to adopt a child. Sad, very sad. Seems, that this sentence and our text made some point, since after the meeting we got phone call from secretary in social board, and told, us, that board needs time to work through our paper and social services has to write medical paper all in one. They also told, that they will have new meeting in the beginning of April to discuss our case. We were not invited to that meeting and we did not know, what to wait for it.
Friday in this week, we got letter from social board and it turned our emotions upside down. We got permission to adopt a child and it is valid for 2 years. We was so surprised to that. In the same time, it had also notice that Social board have made an application for social ministry about those 2 persons from social services, since the board had found many mistakes and no objectiveness and nonchalances towards for us. So, now we have contact adoptionscentrum again and will see, does this helps us or not. At least, we are hoping that all this helps other couples, who have same situation as we have.
We felt that we was teared open, and we could not protect us and still that was not enough for social services. Not surprised when to hear, how people are afraid to meet social services. After that experience are we also more afraid to meet them.
We just hoping that others have more luck, when we did or do.

Budapest long / Budapesti rull

Yesterday I took time to bake again after a long while, since I did it last time. I decided to try to make my favorite cake here in Sweden, called Budapest long. Now, I can share the recipe, since we tried it yesterday and it was eatable and tasted very good :D

Ingredients:

100 gr ground hazelnuts
6 egg whites
2 dl sugar
3/4 dl quick marsan powder (From Ekströms)
2-3 dl whip cream
200 gr fresh raspberries

Hack hazelnuts if they are whole.
Whip egg whites hard and fluffy.
Mix grounded hazelnuts, sugar and marsan powder and add the mix with whipped egg whites.
Cover 20x30 cm cake form with baking paper and spread out the dough.
Bake 20 minutes in the middle of the own in 175 degrees.

When cake has bit cooled down, when take it out of form. On the table put wet towel and new sheet baking paper on it. turn the cake bottom on it and tear off the baking paper from the bottom. Cover it with baking form and let it cool down until it is cold.

Whip up the whip cream and cover cake with it. Top it with fresh raspberries and roll it together. You can cover it with powder sugar, chocolate or as I did, fresh strawberry jam :) Whip cream has no sugar added, since bottom has already sugar and marsan powder has some sugar, when it keeps good balance with sugar and fresh taste.

Vajalikud ained koogile:

100 gr peenestatud pähkleid
6 munavalget
2 dl suhkrut
3/4 dl kiir marsanpulbrit (Ekströmsilt)
2-3 dl vahukoort
200 gr värskeid vaarikaid

Purusta pähklid, kui nad on terved. 

Vahusta munavalged tugevaks ja kohevaks vahuks.

Sega omavahel kokku purustatud pähklid, suhkur ja marsani pulber.

Sega omavahel vahustatud munavalged ja kuivained.

Kata 20x30 cm koogivorm küpsetuspaberiga ning vala tainas vormi ja küpseta 20 minutit 175 kraadi juures.

Lase koogil natuke jahtuda vormis. Seejärel aseta lauale niiske rätik. Selle peale kuiv ja puhas leht küpsetuspaberit ning võta kook koos küpsetuspaberiga vormist välja ja keera pealmine pool puhtale uuele paberile ning seejärel vabasta teine pool koogist küpsetuspaberist ning Kata koogivormiga ja lase jahtuda kuni on täiesti külm.

Vahusta vahukoor ning kata koogipõhi sellega. Aseta peale värsked vaarikad ning keera rulli. Koogi võid katta tuhksuhkru, sokolaadi vöi nagu minu koogi puhul - maasika toormoosiga. Selle koogi puhul ei ole vahukoorele lisatud suhkrut, sest suhkur mis on põhjas sees, teeb selle koogi niigi magusaks ja seega aitab vahukoor ja vaarikad tasakaalu hoida.

Kooki võid serveerida kohe või lasta tal natuke aega seista ja siis serveeriga koos kohviga.

Head Isu!!