I’m just back from my annual ski trip, with a week of no mobile coverage and hence no blogging. And I was a bit behind even before the trip. Catching up commences now.

I’m on my way to Jokkmokk on an overnight train for this year’s ski trip.

I’m trying out a new travel company this time, which I’m both looking forward to but also a bit anxious about. I’ve mostly been doing my ski trip with the same guide and the same group, so it’s only nominally a company and mostly just a group of friends by now, and we always have a great time. I strayed from that group once, with STF, and was rather disappointed with the outcome. (The group was too large, some of the people rather annoying, and the guide was clearly not very enthusiastic about being there.) It’s taken me some years to work up the courage to try again.

This opens up some new possibilities, though. This year’s ski trip will take place in Padjelanta national park, which is rather remote. It’s not like in the Norwegian mountains where you can step off the train and be at a DNT hut after 5 minutes of walking (or skiing). Local ground support is essential to make this possible at all – and the Jokkmokk-based travel company does that.

I thought we were done with snow for this year. Was this really necessary?

Easter is behind us, but Easter food, just like Christmas food, generally lasts longer than the holiday itself.

I realize that I’ve never shared my recipe for pasha. Those of you who make your own probably have a recipe already, and those of you who don’t are probably not interested, but here it comes anyway.

150 g butter
70 g sugar

3 egg yolks
1.5 tbsp vanilla sugar

0.7 dl chopped almonds and hazelnuts
0.7 dl candied orange peel
0.5 dl dried cranberries
40 g dark chocolate (4 squares of Lindt mild 70%)

grated zest of 1 lemon

750 g quark, for which I use 500 g Kesella (quark with 10% fat) and 250 g Keso (cottage cheese with 2% fat) which I press though a sieve to break up the grains

3 dl whipping cream

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Cream butter with sugar. Add everything except quark and cream.
Add quark to the mixture.
Whip the cream and fold it into the mixture.

We visited Vårsalongen, the Spring Salon, at Liljevalchs art museum. Like last year, the works are all available for viewing online.

Paintings, sculpture, videos, textile art, mixed media etc.

There were plenty of impressive paintings but not many that left a lasting impression.

This intricate drawing/painting of ptarmigan – where the feather patterns hide everything from miniature lemmings to snowflakes – captured our attention.

Whereas this bee-themed one mostly made me think that this could be turned into an embroidery.

There were several textile works that I liked. Especially those that utilized the possibilities of thread and fabric and yarn for something more than just a flat image.

These rocks were my favourites: from a distance they just look like lichen-covered rocks, but up close you can see that it’s all woven tapestry and embroidery. Soft pretending to be hard.

Others left us all puzzled. A rectangular hand-woven piece of fabric in black and white. (Next to it there was another one that was all yellow, with subtle variations in tone and shade.) What made this so special that it stood out from the thousands of other works submitted?

Yet other works sparked different kinds of questions. These five colour-coordinated stacks of men’s ties, seemingly just hung over a hook. How did they transport this work? Probably in parts. Who hung it up again? How did they ensure the ties were hung in the right order, and with acceptable (lack of) precision?

There were also numerous fun sculptures, including one of “seven kinds of cakes” in stone, inspired by a Swedish fika tradition.

If I had room for sculptures and knick-knacks in my home, I would rather like something fun like these fish:

More about the works above: Ptarmigan, Rocks, Fish, Cakes, White yarn thing, Ties, Black & White Weave. Couldn’t find anything for the bee, probably because it was part of the Young Spring Salon.

I planted a Hellebore in the new flowerbed in front of the house last year. I’m never quite sure what will survive and what won’t, even when I follow all the recommendations about sun and shade and soil conditions, but this one did, and now it’s flowering!

Painting Easter eggs, as per tradition.

Also as per tradition, Ingrid makes the most artistic ones, while Adrian makes the crazy ones. This year his eggs had body parts – a giant eye, an ear, a mouth.

Afterwards somehow the women ended up cooking dinner while the men snoozed.

I went out cycling. Initially I was going to go drive to Säby gård to take photos of blue anemones, which I assumed would be out. But Eric and Adrian would need the car a few hours later (to drive to Mall of Scandinavia to watch King Kong battle Godzilla on a big screen) and I didn’t want to have to keep an eye on the time at all, so I took the bike instead, and headed for Järvafältet closer to home. I could have headed on to Säby from there but somehow didn’t think of it. Instead I rambled around South Järva, then Ursvik, and Ulriksdal, before cycling back.

Didn’t see a single flowering thing. No anemones or anything, not even hazel bushes. But there was fresh air and sunshine. Also, mud.

I only remembered to take a photo when I was leaving Järvafältet and entering residential neighbourhoods again. By that time the sun was gone as well.

Viburnum. As beautiful and pleasing this spring as it has been every spring.

A whole new quarter of apartment blocks has been constructed along the railway tracks over the past few years, replacing the worn office block and warehouses that used to be there. Mostly student housing, from what I’ve understood. And more is appearing on the other side of the tracks.

It’s a great location – the near end is just five minutes’ walk from the train station, and there’s a bus line along the road so those living at the far end are only two or three bus stops away from the station. There’s a Lidl, and a gym, and a cheap pasta & pizza restaurant. Probably more services will pop up as more people move in.

Already the new housing has led to the opening of a large new Coop supermarket, one size up from the ones we have at Spånga torg. The grand opening was a week ago, with special offers and food tastings and whatnot, so we went for a look.

Large, spacious, and well stocked, and with a wider range of most things than “our” Coop. More exotic vegetables, and funky mushrooms. And this fridge, of like, 10 metres, is filled from edge to edge with just vegetarian products – tofu and falafel and meatless burgers and vegan cheese and so on. Nice.