Noix de coco

Just before Molly was born, Frida Viola and I took a baking day. We made these very easy and quickly coconut cakes. I love coconut, and it is one of the sweet thing Frida Viola can actually have with her allergy - but I find ordinary coconut cakes far to sweet so I tried to twist the traditional version a bit and added a lot of very finely chopped almonds, a little bit of quinua and candied ginger - and almost no sugar. They turned out very good.

This is how we did:
2 egg whites
50 g of cane sugar
vanilla corn
100 g desiccated coconut
100 g of finely chopped or grounded almonds (leave the peel on)
1-2 tbs finely chopped candied ginger
a little bit of quinua

Whip egg whites, sugar and vanilla. Add the rest. Make little tops and garnish with little bits of ginger (we did 25 tops). Bake for 15 minutes at 180 celsius.

Our Kitchen in Maisha

Some while ago the Japanese writer/journalist Chieko Tomita paid me a visit and a couple of days ago I received this new issue of the Japanese interior magazine Maisha with photos of our kitchen. I was 8 months pregnant when the photos were taken and the article was supposed to be on kitchens for singles - so I had to pose in a way that didn't flash my big stomach :) So funny to see the photos now with a baby on my arm and with baby stuff lying around everywhere! Photographer Denis Sytmen from Underwerket did the nice photos.

Thank you Chieko and Denis!

My Home Today

1. Molly sleeping in her baby hammock - best baby buy ever.
2. Magnolias from mom's garden.
3. & 4. The changing table - we spend a lot of time here at the moment.
5. This afternoon - Frida Viola is tired when she comes home from kindergarten. She wants to be part of everything concerning Molly.
6. We have these little handknitted pullovers in all sizes and colours. The one in the top is one my mom just made for Molly and the two violet ones are from my own childhood.
7. New spring boots for Frida Viola - something new for big sister is important too :)

Molly

Hi all of you! Finally our little sister Molly came out :) She was born a week ago, last Monday in the evening. Second birthgiving is surely much easier than the first one, and she came out with only one final contraction - I am proud. We had to stay at the hospital for a couple of days though, because of infection risk, but now we are all home and all is good. Frida Viola has received Molly in such an adorable way - she is a very proud (and very tired!) bigsister, wanting to take care of the baby all the time. My mom came over this weekend - and I can't imagine what you should ever do without mothers...?

Frida Viola's first meeting with Molly - from the hospital.

And my mom and Molly yesterday.

Out of hibernation

Finally it feels as if spring is here for real. At the playground today - without jacket! And the butterfly woke up from it's hibernation :)

Picture 3 & 4 is a little changing mat I made for the baby - easy to carry around in the bag, since I know from last time that I will be walking-walking-walking with the stroller once the baby is here.

Heath Ceramics

I just discovered California based Heath Ceramics that makes beautiful, simple and functional ceramic tableware, tiles and house numbers. Especially the collaboration between designer Natalie Chanin and Heath Ceramics looks very beautiful and I would love to eat my salads from these plates.

Photos above from Heath Ceramics' site and below from their blog.

Still waiting

We are still counting the days and waiting for the baby to come.
Saturday is the due date.

Meanwhile we enjoy the spring around us - and that the season for salads is slowly beginning. This one was with lots of mint, finely sliced fennel, oranges and toasted pine nuts. Good.

My Monday

My Monday in photos:

1. Another Wiinblad puzzle for the collection.
2. Little cloud that I am working on for a mobile for the baby.
3. Spring inside.
4. I love the boat print on this little vintage rain coat from Finnish Rukka. It fits Frida Viola perfect right now and looks so sweet together with the little red rubber boots, another thrift store find.
5. Backside of the cloud - show you more photos later.

Knitwear from Wolfen - so beautiful! My favourite is the mint green cardigan.

Dolly Pram

I have been racking my brain to find a nice big sister gift for Frida Viola - something not too expensive (her birthday is by the end of April), but still something that will keep her occupied while I am nursing the baby... I am still dreaming about the dollhouse, but finally didn't have the energy to such a large project right now. So we ended on a dolly pram - not a new one of course, but an old Emmaljunga model we found at the fleamarket in Sweden some while ago. It needed some care and some extra little accesories, but it only cost us 75 SEK. 

It had a tear in it's folding top that I fixed with a cut out flower and simple stitches. The linen is made with the same fabric I used for the baby's linen and the mattress with some vintage fabric. The little horse garland is another thrift store find. Luckily to us the dolly pram is blue - Frida Viola's favourite color. Hope that it will bring her many hours of playing and erase the fact that she is not the only little one any longer :)

The Yellow House // Det Gule Hus

One book that we have been reading over and over again for a thousand times is Grete Janus Hertz' classic "Det Gule Hus" (The Yellow House) from 1973 with wonderful illustrations by one of my favourite Danish children's book illustrators, Iben Clante. Frida Viola loves the little peeks into the different lives that are lived in the different homes of the yellow house - especially maybe, because the house is very similar to our own.

The front cover of the book is the front of the house...

On the first page we see the stairway and the different floors with little doors into the appartments that you can open.

On the second floor little Jan is saying goodbye to his mom...

On the first floor Carsten is having a birthday party...

And here music teacher Klang is holding a music class...

And the back cover of the books is the backyard of the yellow house...

I found the book some while ago in the local thrift store, but there is a new edition and you can buy it on sale here. Naja Marie Aidt has made an updated version, "Huset" (The House), that has been on our wishlist for a while.

My Home Today

1. New potholders from the thrift store - maybe for Frida Viola's kitchen?
2. Easter embroidery, also from the thrift store.
3. & 4. Finding more snowdrops.
5. This weekend we took down the old baby bed from the ceiling. My mom and her sisters and brother used to sleep in this, and so did my sister and I and our cousins as well as Frida Viola. As far as I know the blue dotted bed side cover is original.