Stockholm day 3

Tuesday (Day 3) I spent the morning cruising around the shopping district of town with one of Chris' colleagues who was skipping out on some conference activities to sightsee.

Bruce & I shopped around, had lunch, and headed back to the hotel to meet up with Chris.

The conference was over in the early afternoon, so Chris & I checked out of the hotel and made the move to "the other Clarion" hotel across town.

We settled in, walked around the part of town near our hotel and found a cozy little Italian restaurant for dinner. It was soooo delicious! Apparently Sweds love Italian food!

Food was one of the things I was concerned about because in reading about Sweden we learned that their typical diet consists of lots of fish, especially herring, cheeses, and meatball-centered dishes. I was pretty pleased to find that Stockholm had quite a variety of restaurants to suit my needs! Street food vendors are also very popular in the city so nearly everywhere we went there were stands with ice cream, burgers, hot dogs, kebabs, even fish.

We spent the rest of night 3 planning for a very busy Day 4!

Here are a few pictures of Day 3...

Stockholm Day 2

Chris' conference was in full-swing on Monday (Day 2), so I had the day to amuse myself.
I took the free bus from Central Station to the IKEA (not just any IKEA, but the original IKEA).
It was overwhelmingly large & I spent about 4 hours exploring & having lunch (Swedish meatballs, boiled potatoes, & ligonberry sauce) there.


I also spent more time exploring the streets near our hotel & snapped a few more shots of the city sights.


One of the highlights of our trip was the conference's Gala Dinner on Monday night at the Grand Hotel. Every December Stockholm hosts the Nobel Prize award ceremonies. The Nobel laureattes and their guests stay and dine at the Grand Hotel. We had the privilege to dine in a ballroom where they have often dined! The hotel and ballroom were beautiful (too beautiful to be captured with pictures), and the views from the hotel's balcony were equally amazing.


We dined on "typical Swedish appetizer fare" (scallops, salmon, and various pates-mind you I did not so much enjoy this part of the meal!). We had veal and filet for dinner with potatoes and green beans wrapped in bacon. Desert was Swedish strawberries (smaller & much sweeter than strawberries you find here...delish!) with fresh cream and ice cream. Each course was served with wine and the company could not have been more enjoyable. We had a great time!

Stockholm Day 1

We left Nashville for Stockholm at noon on Saturday.
After a short flight to Newark & a layover there, we boarded the 8-hour, overnight flight to Stockholm. Unfortunately Chris & I did not have seats together, but my saving grace was that I had an exit row seat so I could enjoy some extra leg room.

Neither of us got much sleep on the plane, so we were pretty exhausted when we arrived in Stockholm at 7:45 a.m. on Sunday.

We managed to take the express train from the Arlanda airport to the Stockholm Clarion hotel. Unfortunately, it was raining (pretty common for a Stockholm summer) so lugging around ourselves with luggage was less than thrilling. We knew we couldn't check in but were anxious to atleast deposit our bags.

Chris goes to check in while I guard the luggage, yet he returns to tell me that there are not 1, but 2 Clarion hotels in Stockholm. Apparently the conference & our reservation for the 1st 2 nights are at the Clarion across town (oh goody!). The remainder of our reservation is at the current Clarion. I was pretty stressed initially, but quickly regrouped & decided I wouldn't let it be a big deal.

We made the 20 minute trek across to the other side of town to the "correct Clarion" in the rain. We deposited our bags and found a quick lunch. Chris' conference started at 3 p.m. & we couldn't get into our room until 2:30 p.m. He headed to the conference & I settled in for a nap.

I spent the rest of Sunday (Day 1) exploring the sites near our hotel and enjoying kebab for dinner while Chris was at a conference social function.

I didn't snap too many pictures on Day 1, but here are a few...


(Swedish currency-kronor; Clarion Sign hotel room & hotel)

July already...

Time just flies by when you're traveling.


We have safely returned home from our travels to Sweden & Yellowstone.

Hopefully over the next week or so I will be recapping our trips & of course posting my favorite pictures.


It's soooo good to be home!

thank goodness...

the cicadas are gone!

it's only 1 more day & we're bound for Stockholm!!!

for our wonderful families & friends who we love dearly!

for a magnificent God who does answer prayer!

there is some much-needed vacation time on the way!!!


Just feeling overwhelmed with the many blessings of my life...

bad CSA news :-(

We got an e-mail this week from our CSA owner saying that the primary farmer and owner of our CSA farm has contracted Lyme Disease and will be unable to keep up the farm for atleast the next 6 weeks. Definitely unfortunate for him.

So, we won't be getting any more CSA boxes...oh boo :-(.

We do get our money back, but I still will miss our fresh goodies each week.
It was fun while it lasted!

CMA sisters!!!

What fun we had!!!

CMA Fest!!!

Cheri & Abbey were here this weekend for some CMA Fest sister fun...

We had a blast!!!

Here's a recap of who we saw in concert each night:

Thursday:

*Zac Brown Band-One of my favorites of the whole weekend. Randy Travis & ALAN JACKSON made guest appearances with them...a-w-e-s-o-m-e!!! *Easton Corbin

*Sara Evans

*Jason Aldean (great!)- Also amazing, especially his duet with guest Kelly Clarkson!

*Brad Paisley-Another amazing performance, and to top it off Alabama made a guest appearance to perform 2 songs with him.
Friday:

*Ashton Sheppard

*Dierks Bentley

*Keith Urban-He was great!!!

*Sugarland- Also made my top 5 performance list...They are a-m-a-z-i-n-g!!

*Lady Antebellum-Also wonderful!

*Reba- not so good :-(

Saturday:

*Chris Young- He put on a great show!

*Little Big Town- So fun!!!

*Josh Turner- loved it! The newest American Idol, Scotty McCreary, joined him for a duet performance too!

*Trace Atkins- He is sooo fun

*Martina McBride-She is super amazing! Lauren Alaina also made an appearance & performed "Anyway" with Martina...awesome!

*Rascal Flatts- Let's just say we left early (disappointing end to a great night)...Everyone did have little lights that created this awesome effect...

(David Nail performing on the Riverfront Stage)

Pics of us girls to come!

CSA bounty Week 4

This Wednesday's box was fun!

We got:
*swiss chard (kind of like spinach)
*red leaf lettuce
*squash
*pickling cucumbers
*broccoli

We turned it into:
*More chicken stir fry...I had a few sugar snap peas left from week 3, so with the fresh broccoli & some other goodies I had around it was delish!

*Manicotti-I stuffed it with a mixture of ricotta, mozarella, parmesan, asiago cheese & the steamed chard leaves.

*More salads!!!

*I have plans to try to can some pickles this afternoon...we'll see how that turns out!

CSA Bounty-Week 3

I'm a bit late on sharing details from week 3, but week 3's week's box contained:
*collard greens

*sugar snap peas

*squash

*zuchinni

*beets

We turned it into:

*More chicken stir fry...it was so delicious the last time we had to have it again. The fresh sugar snap peas make it so amazing!

*I was pretty skeptical about the collards, but I tried making timbales. I found the recipe in a great vegetable-based cookbook I got from the library. I steamed the collard leaves and used them to line 4 ramekins. I made a stuffing with small pieces of ham, grated gruyere cheese, chopped steamed collards, and diced onions. You fill the ramekin with the stuffing and pull the collard leaves over the top to cover the stuffing. Brush the tops with olive oil and bake in a water bath for 30 minutes.

I have never enjoyed collards before, but these turned out to be delicious.

*Roasted beets-Again, I was pretty skeptical. I'd never had fresh beets before. I washed them, roasted them in the oven with the skin on. When they cooled, the skins peeled right off & I sliced them, brushed with butter, basil, and parsley...delicious!!!

Details on Week 4 coming soon...

CSA Bounty-Week 2

This week's CSA produce was delightful!
I didn't take a picture, but our box contained:

*mixed salad greens
*cabbage leaves
*baby spinach leaves
*sugar snap peas (amazing!)
*carrots
*sweet onion
*squash

We turned it into:
-Salads- we've been eating lots of delicious salads
-I used the sugar snap peas, carrots, and onions (with some broccoli, mushrooms, and bell peppers) to make a chicken stir fry that we loved!
-I'm planning to roast the squash and onions early this week for dinner

Until the next box arrives, you'll find us eating lots & lots of salads!!!

Cheekwood

Last Saturday we spent the morning at Cheekwood Art Museum & Botanical Gardens.

They had a train exhibit with model trains & replicas of local landmarks, which was pretty cute!

I snapped only a few shots while we were there...

CSA Bounty-Week 1

We picked up our 1st CSA box this week... *Carrots
*Mixed greens
*Baby lettuce
*Onions
*Squash
*Radishes

We turned it into:

*Several delicious grilled chicken salads

*Silver turtles (grilled hamburger patties, potatoes, & carrots cooked in foil wrapping, hence the term silver turtles) with roasted radishes, squash, & onions and cooked greens

The fresh carrots were by far my favorite. They were just amazing!
The roasted radishes surprised me & were pretty good, especially paired with the squash.

Can't wait to see what next week's box holds!

waffles

I used to always prefer pancakes over waffles hands-down.
Then Chris' mom introduced me to her amazing waffle recipe.

Tarr Waffles

1 3/4 cups of flour
3 tablespoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2 beaten egg yolks
1 3/4 cups of milk
1/2 cup of oil
2 tablespoons of sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla
2 beaten egg whites

Beat egg whites until stiff.
Combine other ingredients & mix until smooth.
Fold in egg whites and mix well.
Pour batter onto griddle.

Makes 5-6 waffles, depending upon the size of your griddle.

Maybe you'll become a waffle kind-of girl too!

storing fresh produce

We picked up our 1st CSA box yesterday!!!

It was chock full of delicious fresh produce which quickly led me to the conclusion that I have no knowledge of how to properly store some produce straight from the garden.

Thank goodness for the internet!
I found a great chart for information on prepping, storing, & using garden fresh produce.
You can find it here.

More on our fresh goodies to come...