Celebration!

My birthday falls on a weekday this year so Pete and I decided to invite his family today, a Sunday, to have a small, simple lunch. I wasn't really keen on doing anything special - just some simple fare for the adults and kids to enjoy.  I didn't want to cook the spicy dishes that we Malays would have on such occasions since I didn't think the kids could handle it.  Instead I decided to cook chicken wings and drumsticks.  Which kid wouldn't like them? 

I wanted to have a bit of Singapore in the food, though, so I marinated the chicken wings in turmeric and a bit of chilli powder and fried them.  I also made jemput-jemput udang, or prawn fritters.  I wanted to make fried beehoon, which are vermicelli noodles, but I couldn't find them in the neighbourhood stores.  I had to substitute it with egg noodles. I also roasted some drumsticks, made mashed potatoes and coleslaw for the non-spicy choices.

One of Pete's sisters very kindly made a smörgåstårta, the Swedish sandwich cake.  It's a fragile thing and she successfully brought it here after an hour's drive.  It looked so beautiful and tasted great.  The dill that was on top of the cake as a garnish even came from my mother-in-law's garden! 

So, once everybody - two of Pete's sisters and their five children, and my mother-in-law - got here, we started eating.  I thought I didn't cook too much, but in the end we did have plenty left.  I guess I'm just like my mum.  She would cook more than what was needed, but for us, it's better to have too much food than too little.

I find that parties here are a bit different than those I'm used to.  Back home, most of the time, the food is served buffe style.  We would put all the dishes out on a long table and everybody help themselves to anything they want, however much they want.  Then guests would either find a seat somewhere or simply stand and eat, while chatting with friends.  

Here, or at least in Pete's family, the savoury food would be served first, also buffe style.  But usually, we would take our food and sit at a long table, with napkins and cutlery neatly laid out.  Then, after everyone has had their fill, we would clear the table and put the kettle on to make tea and coffee. Those would accompany the dessert - mainly cakes or cookies.

We did the same today.  After the main dishes, I put out the sweet stuff - tiramisu and Swedish chocolate balls which I made and some cinnamon rolls and almond fingers that we bought. The kids, being brought up on Swedish chocolate balls and cinnamon rolls, had their fill of them.  I, don't know about the others, thoroughly enjoyed the tiramisu. I used to make them often back home since that was my family's favourite.  This was the first time I made it here and I would be making them again for the simple reason that the mascarpone cheese and whipping cream are cheaper here. And that I love them.

Apart from the food, the company was great.  I enjoy talking to everyone.  I did try to speak in Swedish but I switched to English when I found I was taking too long to find the proper Swedish words.  I also had fun playing with the kids.  Time really flies when you're having fun and I didn't realise how soon they had to leave.  That's the downside of living far away.  But whatever time we got to spend together was great.

Oh, they also got me some very thoughtful gifts.  I got a gift card from one of my favourite malls, a lovely wicker basket for picnics, a purple scarf, a set of four candle holders and a cake carrier.  Everything that I needed and wanted.  In fact, they asked me for my wish list two months ago!  I didn't really tell them what I wanted since I didn't want to trouble them, but they seem to know what I wanted.  Maybe they paid careful attention whenever we talked or maybe Pete told them.  I don't know.  But I do know that I feel so blessed to be here.  Not only am I married to an awesome guy, I also got to be a part of an awesome family.  Life is swede :)

Year One

It's been a full year since I've made the huge step of moving here. I left behind my loving family, wonderful friends, loyal cats, rewarding job and a peaceful home to join my husband here, where I start with nothing. I have to learn a whole new language, adapt to the culture and literally find my bearings here.

Was it easy? I have to say "Yes" and "No". The first few weeks I took it easy. I left everything to Pete. He brought me around. I simply followed, opening my eyes wide to take in everything - the people, the places, the culture. Observing. That was the easy part. What made it easy was Pete. We are so lucky that we both speak a common language ( English, of course) very well and so it was easy to understand each other. He was always with me, explaining in detail every question that I had.

Also, since we established our relationship while we both were 9,000km apart for most of the time, being able to finally live together was wonderful. We stayed close to each other all the time and we held hands everywhere we go. We still do, so I guess the honeymoon period is still not over for us.

But after awhile, it started getting harder for me. From sharing a home with my parents, siblings and cats, I now share it with just one other person. The quiet was a bit hard to adjust to. I only have him to talk to when previously I would chat with my sister, be nagged at by my mum and fend off some attention seeking cats. But on the up side, the remote's all mine! I can watch whatever I wanted but the problem is the programs are all different. I missed all my food shows and they kept showing reruns of programs from way back in 2005. I missed MY cable tv!

I would listen to the radio in the kitchen as I cook. That's another big difference. Pete helped me set it to the Gold channel. Just like back home, they would play the oldies from the 60s - 90s. However, again here, they kept playing the same songs several times a day! I miss the radio channels back home.

Apart from having to adjust to this country, I also had an added stress - adjusting to married life. We had to adjust to living together. Just as how I had to adjust to living with just one other person, Pete had to adjust to sharing his apartment with me. He has been living alone for many years so it wasn't easy for him either. It was a bit rough in the beginning, but we have a lot of respect, patience and understanding for each other, not to mention that we love each other to bits. Whenever we faced issues, we would talk about them calmly. Sometimes we would talk about it over a couple of days until we finally work things out. That makes us understand and love each other even more.

Also, back home, I have lots of friends and I would hang out with them very often. Sometimes we would hang out until late, even. Ad no matter which of my friends I hang out with, we would have a lot of laughs. I'm not saying that Pete isn't fun. On the contrary. We share the same kind of humor and we would make each other laugh all the time. But it's not the same here since it's costly to go out to eat or watch movies. Pete is also the kind of guy who is happier staying at home than being out and he hates crowd. He does bring me out sometimes so that's fun but I have become more used to staying home now. It's fine by me since it is very comfortable at home. The weather outside could be too cold.

The weather! Another thing to adjust to. It was spring when I first moved here. I found it a bit chilly sometimes but I enjoyed spring and summer immensely. I also enjoyed the fall since I got to layer my clothes. Winter was awesome when it snowed but when the low temperatures felt like it was going on and on and I kept falling sick, I wished for the warmer weather back home.

On the whole though, it hasn't been too bad. Sometimes I would have bouts of homesickness. Then, I would either chat with my family or friends or just send them messages. I also enjoy meeting up with Pete's sisters and friends so we have been relatively social here. I also enjoy learning Swedish. My eyes light up when I learn new words and I feel a sense of satisfaction whenever I speak proper Swedish and am understood. That always surprises me since I think my accent prevents people of understanding me.

All in all, it has been a great first year. As I sit here and think about what I had gone through, I think about what was it that made me do it. How could I have simply left my old life? What was I thinking? Well, for me, the answer is simple - nothing. Just as how I worked out in the gym for hours everyday when I wanted to lose weight, or how I would wake up at 4am every weekend to train for a marathon. I would not think about it because the more I think, the more the doubts would creep in. I didn't allow the what-ifs to sneak into my head. After I decided that this would be the best thing for me, I summoned every ounce of courage I had and said goodbye to my old life.

Courage and faith. I had faith that things would be ok. And they are. I love it here and best of all, I am loved here too.

Ayam Masak Lemak - the smell of home

Whenever I start to feel like I'm missing my home and family, I would cook something that my mum would cook for us, something traditionally Malay. I had a whole chicken, fresh chillies and a can of coconut milk so I decided to make something that the whole family loves - my mum's ayam masak lemak. It's chicken cooked in a spicy coconut gravy. We have some fussy eaters in the family but everybody loves this.

It's a very simple recipe but the result is a very delicious dish that goes so well with freshly cooked rice. The first step to making this dish is frying the chicken pieces. While the chicken, which had been marinated with turmeric powder and salt, were frying, the smell was heavenly and it really took me back home. That's the smell of my kitchen whenever my mum cooked for us. My mum is such a great cook and whenever we smell chicken being fried, that meant that we were going to be in for a treat.

That smell also reminded me of all the times my mum got me to help her fry chicken while she prepared the rest of the ingredients or finished cooking other dishes. Funny how I didn't think to learn the recipes while she was cooking. All I knew was my usual tasks of frying the chicken or cutting up vegetables or something menial like that. Now that I'm away from home, I always have to rely on calling her to ask her for her recipes.

That reminds me too, of the time I asked for one of her recipes and the recipe I got was "$0.50 of cumin, $0.50 of coriander..." She's so cute! But I guess that's how it is with the older, experienced cooks. They don't really measure ingredients accurately. They go by feel and straight-forward eyeballing. Such experts.

But her recipes work for me, though I might have to adjust the quantities a bit. I'm only cooking for two while my mum is used to cooking big batches to feed all of us at home. Anyway, this recipe is quite foolproof, I think. I'll share the recipe here both as a way for me to remember it and also for some of my foodie friends to give it a go. Do try this. When the rice was cooking and the gravy was gently bubbling away, the smell in the kitchen was divine. It drew Pete into the kitchen several times to check on the dish, just as how my siblings and I would sneak into the kitchen to nick pieces of the chicken before the dish was done. We both couldn't wait to tuck in and with clean, empty plates after, you can bet it was a good dish.

Ayam Masak Lemak

1 whole chicken cut into 8 pieces
1 tbsp turmeric powder
1 tsp salt
Oil for deep frying

Marinate the chicken pieces in the turmeric powder and salt and fry them in batches just until the skin browns a bit and the chicken is half-cooked.

5 - 8 fresh red chillies
1 large onion
3 large cloves of garlic
3 tbsp oil
1 lemongrass
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 big can of coconut milk
1 cup water
1/2 a small cabbage, cut into smaller pieces
1 chicken stock cube
Salt to taste

Blend the chillies, onion and garlic. In a pot, heat the oil and fry the chili mixture, lemongrass and the turmeric powder until the mixture is dry (about 8 mins). Add the fried chicken, coconut milk, water and cabbage. Stir well and allow the mixture to boil. Add the chicken cube. Once the chicken is fully cooked, taste the gravy and adjust the seasoning by either adding more salt or water. Serve with rice.

I added carrots to mine 

Easter buns

Pete's mum invited us to her place for Easter yesterday.  Like I've mentioned in my last post, the food served is the same as in Christmas, minus the Christmas ham.  Also, this time, his mum did all the cooking.  For Christmas, because there were a lot of people invited, we all chipped in to prepare the food.  Since I didn't have to cook anything, I decided to bring something with us.  I was originally thinking of bringing cupcakes or a layered cake, but I happened to watch The Great British Bake Off Easter Special and Paul Hollywood, the tougher and harsher one of the two judges, showed how to make hot cross buns.

I decided to bake those instead since it is Easter.  An Easter-themed dessert would be more appropriate, wouldn't it?  Pete has never heard or seen hot cross buns before, so I had to explain to him what they were.  I haven't seen them here so I don't think they are available.  I have seen those back home but I have never tried those.  I have never baked them before either, but I know there are raisins in them.  And cinnamon.  How can you go wrong with raisins and cinnamon in buns?

I first tried to jot down the recipe and instructions while I was watching the show.  It wasn't easy.  I think I missed some of the measurements for some ingredients and most importantly, I missed some of the tips for shaping the buns.  I always wanted to learn the proper way to shape bread dough.  I was a bit miffed at myself, especially when I only remembered that I could probably find the recipe online after the show.  I could have focused my attention on the program and not worry about writing down the recipe.

Anyway, I checked up on the recipe yesterday morning and luckily I decided to start on the dough an hour in advance.  Usually bread dough needs only two 1hr long proofing but this one needed three.  And the dough was very sticky and wet, especially with the addition of the chopped apples, not a typical ingredient in hot cross buns.  It was tedious since there's the extra proofing, adding the raisins and apples, making the paste to make the cross and a glaze to make the buns look lovely and shiny.  I was very tired after making them but they gave off such a delicious aroma while they were being baked.  And once I brushed on the glaze, they looked so yummy.

When I compared the recipe I hurriedly written with the one online, there were some differences.  In the show, Paul Hollywood didn't mention that the dough needed to proof three times.  That was a major difference.  If I hadn't checked the recipe earlier, I would have been an hour late.  But the good part about online recipes is that some websites allow comments from readers.  I always read through those first to see if the recipes are really any good.  The comments for this recipe were quite good.  Most of the readers were happy with the recipe.  However, they did say that the baking time was shorter than the 20 mins that was stated in the actual recipe.  I checked mine and they were done in 15 mins too.

Apart from that, the recipe is really good.  It's not too difficult, only a bit time consuming.  But that's how it is with bread dough.  Time is a very important ingredient for bread dough and this one produced a very soft bun.  It's still nice and soft even the day after.  I am chomping at one now as I type!  The only thing is that the very dry air here hardened the glaze and made the tops hard.  But with a couple of minutes in the oven, it's nice and soft again.  Oh, and Pete's family at yesterday's Easter lunch loved them as well. 

The best year

I must have jinxed it big time since the days after my last post, it snowed and the temperature dropped to -9C for the past few days.  No chance of chucking aside my winter jacket yet.

Anyway, that's that about the weather for now.  The more important event that happened yesterday was our very first wedding anniversary!  I really can't believe that it has been a year already.  I remember last year so vividly - the few months leading to the wedding were very stressful.

 It was really hard to plan a wedding when the other person was thousands of miles away.  There were lots to discuss - dates, outfits, food and location for the wedding dinner.  We had to plan everything through our FaceTime chats and countless of messages to and fro.  On top of that, the cultural differences made everything doubly hard since we both had different visions of how a wedding should be like.  It took a long time to explain to him how the Malay traditional wedding looks like, but in the end, we got everything sorted.

I did feel quite overwhelmed sometimes since he wasn't with me during most of the preparations.  He could only come over a week before the wedding.  However, with help, especially from my amazing family members and friends, we managed to pull it all off.  The wedding went smoothly and I think the guests were quite happy and well fed.  I was mentally and physically drained that day, but once we both were officially married, I relaxed and simply enjoyed the moment.

The year after the wedding, though, was one of the hardest I have had to face.  It was not difficult to say goodbye to Pete after our short honeymoon.  He had to go back home while I had to stay and sort stuff out before I moved to Sweden to join him.  I would see him in less than two months so it was manageable.

I didn't really have much time to say goodbye to my family and friends though.  The weeks flew by too fast.  I tried to spend as much time as I could with my family and closest relatives.  I tried to eat as much local foods that I know I would miss as I could.  I also took the time to pass on my recipes to my sister and mum, and learn my mum's recipes.

The last two weeks before my move, I had lots of friends to meet.  It seemed like I was out every night.  I never knew that I had so many friends. It felt like it was impossible to meet up with everyone, and I did miss meeting some.  Oh, and the packing!  There were lots that I wanted to bring with me but travelling alone meant that I had limited capacity so I had to leave behind lots of stuff.  I only had to bring what was important to me.  That was the hard part.  In the end, I had to be ruthless and only brought the stuff I needed.  I was lucky to have the foresight to start bringing my stuff over the last two times I visited Pete, so I didn't have as much to bring with me this time.

The scene at the airport was really tough to relive, even now, so I would skip that part.  Once I got to Sweden safe and sound, there were more things to cope with.  But our first priority was to spend time together.  With long-distance relationships, the time that couples like us got to spend together physically was very limited.  Although we became a couple for two years before we got married, we only spent a total of about two months together.

The first few weeks were great.  We were never far from each other and we would do everything together.  There were lots to do too, like redecorating the apartment, planning a wedding lunch for his family, getting the paperwork done and working on the garden.  However, we had some tough times.

Pete has been living on his own for most of his adult years and on the opposite side of the spectrum, I have never lived on my own.  And again, being brought up in two totally different countries make our experiences and expectations very different.  Something basic like throwing rubbish is done differently from what I am used to. I guess it's not hard to imagine how it was at the beginning.

We both had many things to learn about living with each other.  I had to learn about how things are done here.  He had to learn how to live with another person in the apartment.  It wasn't easy sometimes, but with every disagreement we had, we learn more and more about each other.  And that is a truly important thing.

Some of the most important lessons we have learnt is that we should never take each other for granted and that we could always talk with each other to figure things out.  I would say that we now understand each other even better but of course there would always be something more to learn.  But that's marriage, I guess.  Like everything else, it's not perfect.  We are both not perfect, so naturally our marriage isn't perfect.

What we could do is to always work on it to make our marriage as happy and fulfilling as we could.  We both agree that respect and love are the foundations of our relationship.  And that makes me so thankful.  I still get up in the morning every day, utterly grateful to God that both of us, from two opposite ends of the earth, have found each other.  Two of us with similar values and interests have managed to chance upon each other in an obscure website and take a leap of faith to promise to grow old together as husband and wife.  And here we are, one year in, happy as ever and in love.  May this be the first of many...    

The good in the bad

Luckily this is a written blog, not one of those video blogs you find on YouTube.  And thank goodness for laptops and iPads or else the last two days would have been more awful than what it's been so far.  Thanks to the chocolates and other stuff I've been wolfing down, I am now without a voice. 

I woke up on Saturday morning sounding like I have swallowed a boulder and my joints were aching.  I might have caught a bug.  It feels much better not to talk and to stay in bed or the wonderfully comfy couch. Today, I got no better.  With barely three hours of sleep, that's no surprise.  My throat ached every time I swallow and I could only whisper.

Well, I won't bore you with the details but suffice to say that I haven't been having such a great weekend.  But having said that, I have been feeling nice and warm inside.  The minute Pete saw that I was unwell, he has been taking great care of me.  He brought me warm honey water, food, iPad and whatever else I needed or wanted.  Granted, the soup he brought me was of the instant kind, but it's the husband-ly thought that counts.  Also, with this throat, I can't really taste much.

It's wonderful that in life, there's good to be found in the bad.  I am not exactly feeling well and dandy these couple of days but knowing that I have a very loving and caring husband by my side makes me feel so lucky.   
 

Family, food, fun

Christmas is over and I can finally rest.  And rest was what I was having the last two days.  I just felt like slouching on the couch and watch Christmas movies the whole day long.  I also wanted to eat something Asian or Malay so I cooked chicken curry.  The great thing about curry is that it's great the next day as well so I didn't have to cook the next day.  I also made Roti Boyan, this Malay dish of crispy pancake stuffed with mashed potatoes and egg.  It goes well with the curry as well.

Anyway, talking about food, I guess I should have written about how I spent Christmas here.  As I wrote earlier, Christmas is celebrated on the 24th. That morning, I cooked meatballs, mini sausages and shepherd's pie to bring to his mum's for lunch.  There were going to be 16 of us there so I had quite a lot to cook.  Pete was great.  He helped me with the cooking and cleaning up.  With his help, I got the food done quite quickly.

We also had to get the gifts ready.  Luckily I already wrapped them in advance.  I only needed to make the labels and to write on them.  The kids basically got toys, clothes or craft material.  I wanted to make truffles for the adults but that morning, I realised that the chocolate mixture wasn't right.  I think the proportion of chocolate to the cream was off and it was way too hard to roll into balls.  Adding more cream didn't help and in the end I decided to make the Swedish chocolate balls instead.  Pete helped me as I packed and labelled them nicely in jars.

When we reached her place, we were the last to get there.  Everyone was busy putting gifts under the Christmas tree or helping out with the food in the kitchen or taking care of the baby or watching TV.  It was quite cramped there but it was cosy.  We started with the cold foods - four different types of pickled herring or sill, lax or smoked salmon, eggs, cheese, three different types of bread and Janssons frestelse or Jansson's Temptation which is a casserole made of potatoes, onions, herring and cream.

We took our time to eat and chat.  By the time we were done, the cartoons are being shown.  It's tradition here in Sweden that every year on Christmas, at 3pm, Chrismas themed Disney cartoons are shown.  Every year, the same classic ones are shown except the last part where they would show snippets of new Disney movies. There's the one with the chipmunks in the Christmas tree Mickey was decorating, Donald Duck trying to take pictures of birds but his shots were always ruined by an annoying bird and the classic one with Mickey, Donald and Goofy in their caravan. 

I find it interesting that the same cartoons are shown every year and no one gets tired of it.  Pete and his sister even remembers some of the lines in the cartoons!  But I do understand the appeal.  The cartoons never gets old.  I have seen all of the cartoons before, when I was much younger, but I still love them and laugh at the same parts. 

Oh, this year, there was some controversy over the cartoons.  Disney wanted to remove some scenes which they think could be offensive to some races.  One of them is of a black doll parading in front of Santa and another one is of a man doing the Cossack dance which could be perceived as offensive to Jews.  It brought about lots of discussions all over the country about what's racist and what's not.  We were talking about it as well and we all thought that the scenes had nothing racist about them.  I think it's just some people who were trying to be overly cautious, to the point of being ridiculous.

Anyway, after the cartoons, there was a surprise for the kids - Santa showed up bearing a sack of gifts.  He handed out presents to all of us and the kids took photos with him as well.  Then all the other gifts were given out.  The huge pile of presents under the tree was quickly gone and the kids went wild as they opened their presents.  They even started playing with their toys.

The best moment was when Pete's mum opened her gift.  We all chipped in to get her something that she has been wanting for the longest time - a mannequin for tailoring.  She loves to sew her own clothes and with the mannequin it would make her work so much easier. She was so happy and touched by the gift that she shed some happy tears.  I don't know about the others, but that made my day.  She has been a wonderful mum and she more than deserved the gift.

After the opening of the gifts, we had more food.  This time it's the warm foods.  I had my fill of the meatballs, sausages, shepherd's pie and more bread and cheese.  By this time, the dining table wasn't as full.  The kids were busy playing with their toys.  So, we had more room at the table.

Then the next part was fun.  We played a Christmas game.  We each brought simple gifts that cost no more than 50kr each.  We again gathered around the table, the kids included.  We took turns to roll a dice.  This one had colours on it and it was decided that if we were to roll the white or black, we could take any one of the packages on the table.  Once all packages have been taken, we had a timer for seven minutes.  In that time, when we roll the white or black, we could take any package from any one.  That was the fun bit.  As usual, there would always be one package, usually the biggest, that would be highly sought after.  After the timer went off, we all opened the packages.  There were lots of chocolates, candy, even some cute kitchen tools and stationery. 

Another tradition here is to eat rice pudding with a warm sauce.  Pete's mum made some.  I really love it but I couldn't eat anymore.  My tummy was just bloated.  I needed to walk.  But Pete's sister and her family gave us a ride home.  That was probably the best since the night was cold and windy.  The walk home would have been near freezing temperatures.

So that was Christmas Eve.  That's how Pete's family, my family now too, celebrates Christmas.  It was a day for family, food and fun.  The kids had lots of fun since they got most of the presents.  But like I said earlier, it was great to see his mum so happy.  How should we top this gift next year?  Well, we have one whole year to think about it. 

It's beginning to smell like Christmas

I've been away from the blog for a couple of days now.  Christmas is coming and we have been busy getting things done these couple of days.  Christmas is quite big here and widely celebrated.  This is a time for the people here to gather with their families, have meals and give gifts.  Here, Christmas is celebrated on the 24th.  Some families might have a Christmas dinner on the 23rd.  But by the 24th, all the presents would have been opened.

This year, we would be having a Christmas lunch at his mum's place together with some of his sisters and their families.  Pete's sister and brother-in-law have traveled from Norway to join us.  Another sister and her kids, who are living in a town about an hour's drive away will also be there.  It's nice to have everyone together at this time.  The place is going to be crowded but it'll be great to catch up with each other.

We have all split up the tasks for the lunch.  I will be cooking the meatballs and prins korv, a kind of mini sausages.  These are the traditionally served at the julbordet, or Christmas table.  We will also be bringing the julost, the Christmas cheese.  The one we bought is a cute little ball of Edam, festively wrapped up in red.

On top of the shopping for ingredients, we have also been shopping for gifts for the kids.  Luckily I have time off school.  We would head out in the morning so that we would get done by lunch, when the majority of the people start their shopping.  The malls and supermarkets are more crowded than usual but it's still manageable.  I've seen worse crowds back home, so it hasn't been overwhelming at all.

On one of the shopping trips, we went to Emporia, the mall I wrote about.  We went into Hemley's, a toy store for kids.  It was really fun.  They had some toys for you to try and the atmosphere in there was so joyful.  I'm sure the kids would love to spend the whole day there - I would!

Besides shopping, we have also been busy cleaning the apartment.  It's a spring cleaning of sorts.  I have been putting off cleaning the balcony but I decided that this is the perfect time to get it done - Pete's sister and brother-in-law were going to travel all the way from Norway to visit.  So the two of us have been scrubbing, dusting and vacuuming the whole apartment to get it in tip-top condition.

We don't have any Christmas decoration in the house but I wanted to make the place look cosy and Christmassy, so we made our own decorations by sticking some cloves into oranges.  Instantly the apartment smelled of Christmas.  It reminds me of glögg, the Swedish mulled wine, either with or without alcohol, that's drunk during this time.  We arranged the oranges and an assortment of nuts in their shell around some candles and viola! That is our bit of Christmas on the table.  We added some iced gingerbread cookies later on to add more Christmas flavour to it.

We also bought some hyacinth that is also found in homes at this time of year.  After wrapping all the presents, we arranged everything at a corner of the living room.  We also put out some candies or godis, as they are called here.  Again, these are part of the tradition here during Christmas.  When the candles were lit when our guests arrived, it made the apartment look cosy.

If the decorations didn't put us in a Christmassy mood,  the snow that appeared so suddenly in the afternoon instantly did. Perfect! With the glow of the candles, the scent of the oranges and cloves, great company and flowing conversation, it turned out to be a great lead-up to Christmas.

With that, the two of us would like to wish everyone who are celebrating Christmas, God Jul!  Merry Christmas!

Turkey Dinner

Before we got married, we would chat a lot online.  One of the things Pete would tell me about was his family's traditions.  One thing I would hear a lot about was his mum's turkey dinner.  She would cook turkey and all the trimmings for her birthday and invite all her children and grandchildren.  This year, I am lucky to have been invited to her birthday party.  Her birthday was on a weekday so the party was held on a Saturday, yesterday, instead.

 Pete and I didn't wait for the weekend, though.  During her birthday, we went to her place with a cake.  I had school in the afternoon that day so I baked the cake, chocolate of course, early in the morning and let it cool.  Once I came home from school, I warmed up some ganache I made earlier and poured it over the cake and sprinkled some pretty red, strawberry flavoured sprinkles on it and off we went.  It was easy to decorate the cake.  The cold weather makes working with cakes and chocolate very easy.  Back home, the warm, humid kitchen would always make cake decorating a huge challenge. 

 Anyway, she loved the cake and was pleasantly surprised by our visit.  We didn't bring any presents though.  We were waiting for it to be delivered from Singapore.  We were hoping it would get to us in time.  I bought her a painting-by-numbers kit but could not bring it with me on my flight back.  I had too much in my luggage.  Anyway, it felt more festive to give it to her during the party.  Oh and yeah, the package arrived on Thursday, well in time for the party.

On Saturday, she greeted us in her new dress.  My aunt gave her a piece of cloth big enough to turn into a dress.  Back home, the Malay ladies would have such cloth made into the traditional Baju Kurung, a two piece outfit.  My mother-in-law had worked on it for a few weeks and got it ready in time for her party.  She looked good in her simple sleeveless dress.  She even made a ribbon to tie the dress at the waist.

Two of Pete's siblings and their children and husband were there.  When we got there, I could smell the turkey she had roasting in the oven.  Soon, when everything was cooked, we sat down to two roasted turkeys, boiled potatoes, peas, carrots and Brussels sprouts.  There was also red cabbage, gravy and red and black currant jellies.

I've cooked turkey once before but found the smell to be too gamey.  But I've never had Brussels sprouts before.  I enjoyed the dinner that my mother-in-law cooked.  The turkey didn't smell too strong and everything was great together.  The Brussels sprouts though, had a slightly bitter aftertaste.  I'm not sure I like those.  But I finished the rest and even had seconds! 

 After the turkey, she served us warm apple baked with cinnamon, sugar and butter.  It's served warm with a huge bowl of cold custard.  The combination is so good.  Hot and cold.  Sweet and sour.  Yummy.  I didn't have too much of that since there would be more food after that. 

We adjourned to the living room where we watched tv - Sweden's version of Who wants to be a Millionaire.  We discussed the answers to the questions but only after someone helped to translate the questions for me, of course.  I'm still struggling with basic Swedish. 

 Then, as we chatted, his sisters helped to lay out the cups, plates and cutlery for fika.  Coffee and tea were served, along with some chocolate covered almond macaroons and an orange custard roulade made by his mum.  His sister made the birthday cake.  It's a two layered chocolate sponge with chocolate custard and bananas in the middle.  It was all very good.  I was well and truly stuffed. 

We had a great time there, feasting and chatting.  The whole family would meet every few weeks but it's not enough, especially since one of his sisters lives so far away.  So we would treasure the time we get to spend with each other.  Next month would also be an exciting time.  Christmas is coming and one of his sisters would be having her birthday.  More celebrations and more food!  More exercise is definitely needed too!

Blue Birthdays

It was my sister's birthday on Friday.  This is the first time we both weren't there for each other's birthdays.  In fact, I have also missed my dad's birthday too and will probably be missing my brother's as well.  The only birthday I didn't miss was my mum's.  I was there celebrating with her and the rest of the family when I was back there in September.  Yay!

Our family has a tradition of celebrating birthdays.  Thinking about it, there would always be at least a cake and often, a meal, either cooked by my mum or at a restaurant.  There were some surprise birthday parties too, where friends have even been roped in as well.  I had organised a few for my sister and she had also surprised me quite a few times too.

It felt quite weird not being able to be there and wishing them 'Happy Birthday' in person.  Missing my sister's birthday hit me the hardest.  I was a bit out-of-sorts that day.  My thoughts kept going back to her.  I was wondering how she was spending her day and hoping that she was having a good time.  That night, I was thinking about her, about how we used to do everything and go everywhere together.  I miss her.

The only thing I could do was to send something for her through the mail.  And hope it would arrive on time.  It didn't.  I didn't want to send it too early or too late.  The idea is for the package to arrive on the exact day.  But of course, postal services can be unpredictable sometimes.  I have to remember to send birthday packages a bit earlier next time.  It's better for it to arrive early than late.

This won't be the only year I would miss their birthdays.  This is just the start.  I am sure I would be missing more in future.  I do miss them terribly but I guess I have to get used to it.  Life goes on, whether I'm there or here.  They would have to celebrate without me.  I hope they know that as they have their birthday meals and cakes, I would be here thinking about them.      

City that never sleeps

It was past midnight. My friends and I have just finished watching a movie in a cinema close to where I used to live for 22 years. Though it was already late, we were feeling hungry. We reached the cinema late - just in time for the start of the movie, no time to buy popcorn or any of the usual movie snacks.

But we knew we were never far away from good food no matter how late it was. It being a weekend also gave us more options. The only problem we had was to choose what to eat.

I miss eating seafood when I was on Sweden so we went to a popular hangout for night owls like us. My friend drove us to the eastern part of the island and sure enough, the place was packed with other sleepless diners like us.

We found a table, picked up the extensive menu and tried to decide on our order. By the time our orders came, it was past 1am. That didn't diminish our appetites. We heartily tucked into crayfish in spicy noodles, cereal crayfish, a very Asian salad of gado-gado with satay, a plate of chicken rice and tall, cold glasses of refreshing drinks.

It was past 3am when I reached home that evening. After a shower and face time chat with Pete, I was ready for bed. The time was 0410.

This is so different from my life in Sweden. We are seldom out when it's dark, except during winter when it gets dark very early. Even if we wanted to stay out late, I have yet to find a place that's open later than 8pm.

Coming back home, I guess these late night suppers would be more common, especially when I'm hanging out with my friends who don't seem to need much sleep. But if means getting to have my fill of delicious local food and good company, I won't be complaining. I'll sleep better when I'm cuddling up to Pete any way.

Home for Hari Raya

In 12 hours, I will be on a plane back home.  The trip home was a last minute decision.  I was talking to my sister and mum on Face Time last Sunday and somehow, I was thinking about being there with them to celebrate Aidilfitri or Hari Raya as it's more commonly known back home.  The celebration starts at the end of the fasting month and this year, it falls on Sunday, just two days away. 

I have been planning to have a simple lunch here on Sunday with Pete's sisters and mum.  I have already decided on what to serve - all local Malay food, including the traditional pineapple tarts.  I wanted Pete and his family to have a taste of my tradition.  However, when I was talking to my family, I was sensing that they were a bit sad that I was not going to be there with them.  I have never been away from the family during hari raya, until now, that is.  During our conversation that day, the festive mood seemed to be absent.  They didn't seem to be excited as they told me about their preparations for the festivities.

I decided to talk to Pete about it and we thought that maybe I could go back and visit them.  I had to sort out some stuff and renew my passport anyway, so this would be the best time to go home.  Pete helped me to book the tickets the next day but I waited till two days ago to tell them since I wanted it to be a sort of a surprise. 

My mum was happy when I told her, but she was disappointed when she found out that Pete could not come with me.  He has to stay here since there are meetings and courses for him to attend.  He also has to continue to search for locations for our food business.  I will be away for two months so that I have enough time to settle whatever I need back home.  It's also a good time to go home for awhile before I start my Swedish classes and before our food business is up and running.  Once those things start, I doubt I would have time to go back home.

It will be fun to go home and meet my family and friends again.  Although I have only been here for a bit more than three months, I do miss the people back home.  I'll get to celebrate hari raya and my mum's birthday in September with the family. I'll get to meet up with my friends - I have already been invited to a BBQ.  I also have some stuff that I didn't get to bring with me in May.  I'm bringing three suitcases with me which hopefully will give me enough room to bring over more stuff.    

Pete has been so understanding about this since I am going to be away for a while.  We didn't plan on this so it is sort of a surprise for him as well.  I feel bad about leaving him alone for two months, especially since his birthday is coming soon .  But he is totally fine with it.   I decided to cook and freeze some of his favourite dishes. That's the least I could do since I didn't want him to have to go back to chips, fish sticks and take outs while I am away.   I have made lasagna, beef stew, meatballs, grilled chicken breasts and chicken pot pies, enough for maybe three weeks worth of food.  I also cut up some watermelon and baked karleks mums for dessert.  

I'm really having mixed feelings about this - happy and excited to be home with my family and friends, and yet sad to be away from Pete.  But I know that I would have to make the most of this trip.  I probably won't be going back any time soon after that.  So I will spend time with my family, meet up with my friends and eat as much chicken rice, nasi lemak and all the foods that I miss.  I know there's a lovely hari raya meal waiting for me and I'll be able to enjoy it very soon. 

Building bonds

We have had visitors to our home for the past two days.  Yvonne, Pete's younger sister, came with her three children to stay with her mum for a couple of days.  My mother-in-law lives about a 10-minute walk away and so we dropped by for a visit.  Yvonne lives in a town about 60km from Malmo so it's not often that we get to meet up.

We visited them on Monday, bringing some Swedish chocolate balls and Eton mess that I made for them.  During the fasting month, we don't get to eat much and so I try to give away what I've made.  That way, we won't waste food in case we don't get to finish them before they turn bad.

It's was really nice to chat and catch up with my sister-in-law and her kids.  One of her sons, Aton, would try to speak to me in whatever English he has learnt from school.  He is getting better at it and now we can converse pretty well.  Whenever we are stuck, we could always count on Yvonne or Pete to help us translate. 

Her youngest, Julia, is more shy.  She could only glance shyly at me and smile.  She hasn't learnt English yet so it's difficult to talk to her.  I guess once I've learnt Swedish, we could have a conversation.  That day, as usual, she didn't talk to me, but she made me a drawing and I had a Swedish lesson from Anton who taught me the words found in the picture!  We had a great time chatting but we didn't stay long.  We had to leave since we needed to cook and break our fast.

The next day, they came over to visit us.  I made cinnamon rolls since I know they will help us to finish them.  One batch of dough can make a lot of rolls - too many for just the two of us.  Since I have had a craving for the rolls, I decided to make them. 

It was really fun to have them over at our house.  Pete talked to Yvonne's eldest son, Simon, about computer games, while I had a nice chat with Yvonne, Anton and my mother-in-law.  When we served the rolls and beverages, they felt a bit guilty for eating and drinking while we are fasting.  But they did enjoy the rolls.  I even gave them some to take home, leaving just enough for the two of us not to over-stuff ourselves with the rolls.

The kids had such a great time that they decided to visit us again the next day before they left for home.  I decided to make little egg tarts and as I was filling the pastry with custard, they arrived.  They were amazed that I was baking again, but I told them I was just trying out a new recipe.  Anton, ever the charmer, said that he's sure that whatever I make will taste good.  Luckily, the tarts turned out well and they enjoyed it.

We spent the time chatting and playing games on our iPads and computers.  I made the most noise as I played Air Hockey with Anton.  The apartment hasn't been so lively in awhile so it was really fun to have Yvonne and the kids over.  All too soon, they had to leave.  Yvonne already planned to bake some cupcakes when I visit them next time.  Looking at our calendar, the weekends ahead look packed so we wouldn't be able to visit them this month.  But they will be visiting us on 19th and 26th later this month so we will get to see each other again soon.

Thanks to the visit, I got to get closer to Yvonne and her kids.  Nothing can build bonds better than sharing food and playing fun games together.  And, thanks to them, I was able to make (and eat!) four different desserts in three days.

My mum-in-law, Monica

My mother-in-law dropped by today.  She brought a whole container of red currants for us.  She had been to her cabin to do some gardening and picked the berries for us.  She has lots of the bushes growing around her garden and the berries are ripening.  She actually dug up one of her bushes and we planted in my garden but sadly, the plant didn't survive.  But now, thanks to her, I will be able to get a taste of the berries.

 It's really lovely to have her as my mother-in-law.  She is very thoughtful and would give us useful stuff from time to time.  Like today, for instance, she didn't just show up with the berries.  She also brought along a poster showing the times for the start and end of fasting for the month of Ramadan.  She said she was shopping and saw people handing them out.  She took one for us since she knows we are fasting.  How thoughtful is that?

I am so lucky to have such a nice lady for my mother-in-law.  Before I met her, I was, just like any one who is about to meet her future mother-in-law, very nervous.  I didn't know how she was going to be like.  I mean, I wasn't Swedish and I didn't know how to speak the language, so I was very nervous.  I knew she is very close to Pete so I didn't know if she would think that I was good enough for her only son.  Luckily she decided that I am, and from the first meeting at the airport last June, she welcomed me with such warmth.

She is also very helpful.  I am so touched by all the help she gave us when we were preparing for our wedding in June.  She also extended her warmth and help to my family when they were here.  She's also the go-to person whenever I have anything Swedish to ask, especially about cooking and gardening.  She has never hesitated to share gardening tips or recipes with me.  She would even give me seeds and flowers for me to plant when she knew about my interest in gardening.   

She does remind me of my mum.  My own mum has taught me to share.  Back home, we would share food and other stuff with our relatives, friends and neighbours.  I am glad that here, I am able to continue this tradition of sharing with his family, starting with his mum.  So, in return for the berries, I gave her some of the Swedish chocolate cake, kärlek mums, I baked and one of my gigantic tomato plants.  Although we still can't speak each other's language, her wide smile makes words unneccessary. 

No words

After my family left, life in the household slowly went back to normal - cleaning the apartment, cooking 3 meals a day, tending to the plants in the balcony and in the garden and catching up on TV shows.  We were also busy with getting new furniture and appliances with the cash and gift vouchers we got from generous and thoughtful guests at our June wedding. 

And with all that flurry of activities, I pushed my daily blogging aside.  I tried to write.  I did.  Many amazing things happened to me during this last month that I wanted to write about - our summer wedding, my family's visit, the garden's update, my first birthday celebration here, my first solo train ride, and many more but when I sat in front of the laptop, or when I try to string sentences together in my head as these events unfolded (that's what I'll do so that it's easier for me when I start to type), no words came to my head.  I had writer's block (I use this term loosely as a few blog entries do not make me a writer).

In my head, I wanted to write poignant pieces about how amazing my two families are during the days of the wedding and how sweet it was to spend a nice afternoon with Pete's mum and sisters during my birthday.  I wanted to share my excitement when I found not one, not two, but four small, green tomatoes on the plants in the balcony.  I wanted to vent my frustration when I found I had two packages waiting for me at the post office but couldn't claim it as they didn't think I showed enough proof that I was the rightful recipient.

But words escaped me then. 

I typed the first few words and deleted them.  Repeat the process a few more times and then I shut down the computer in frustration.

I didn't know why.  Maybe I felt a bit abandoned when my family left.  Maybe I felt homesick.  Maybe I felt lost since I finally had no tasks or list of things to do for the days ahead.  I might be looking forward to the wedding and my family's visit and when both events were over, I felt lost.

Anyway, I'm back today.  Perhaps I shall try to write shorter posts and not be too clever or too ambitious with the posts.  For now, I need sleep.  Hopefully in the morning, I shall find more words, or if I'm lucky, a quick, short post, at least.  I have hope :)

Back to two

Everybody left for home this afternoon.  The rush of last minute shopping, packing, getting to the airport and checking in meant that we didn't have time to think about the goodbye until the moment we arrived at the departure gate. 

It was almost like the scene from back in May when I had to say goodbye to them.  I didn't think I was going to cry but I did.  We did.  It hit my sister the hardest because we had such a great time together here.  The ten days we were together made it seem like we've never been apart.  We spent the whole time together and the long, slow days here made it seem longer than just ten days.  And after being together, we hated to have to be apart again.

This time, though, it's a bit better because Pete is here with me.  At least I could hug him for comfort.  We stood huddled together as we tried to catch glimpses of my family as they went past the security check, waving at them when they turned back to look at us and stayed as long as we could before they walked towards their boarding gate.

I was not in a hurry to go home to the empty apartment so we had a leisurely lunch and walked around the park near town.  The walk helped a little.  We passed by more places to bring them and we started to look forward to their next visit.  Looking ahead, and not thinking about what I'll miss about them made me feel so much better.  I'm still sad that my family is 9,924km away again, but I know that we will see each other again some day.

Reunited!

The whole entourage arrived safely this afternoon - my parents, sister, aunt and cousin.  They were in high spirits and even my dad was sprightly as he pushed the loaded trolley through the exit.  Even though they didn't get much sleep during the 17 hour journey, they didn't show their weariness.  Once we got out of the airport to get to the taxi, they shivered slightly.  It was a bit cold even though there was the sun in the sky.  I guess they have to learn to get used to the colder climate.

The journey back to our apartment was nice and scenic.  They got to see the lovely views of the farms and cute houses and even one of the Ikea stores here.  We managed to get everyone into the apartment after braving the wind which always seem to get strong around this part of Malmo.  They rested a bit with some water and delish Geisha candy. 

That perked them a bit and then they unpacked all the goodies they brought with them.  The whole apartment smells of spices since they bought a lot of spices that they thought would be hard to get here.  And they were right.  Some of the wonderful stuff that I really love include Indonesian and Malaysian raw crackers, pappadum, homemade Malay snack of sambal peanuts and ikan bilis, a type of tiny dried fish, and many types of instant mixes for some favourite Asian dishes.

I also got a lot of presents, not only from them, but also from other friends.  Two of them are scrapbook albums, one big, lovely one, full of pictures of my wedding and a tiny, gorgeous handmade one, full of pictures of me and my friends.  I haven't opened any other presents.  Peter said to save them for Saturday, so now here they are in front of me, begging to be opened.  But I'm happy just being together with my family again.  I'll save the presents for later.

We had to go to the garden to water the plants and do some more work on the wind-protection screen and my sister and cousin decided to come along.  The walk, to them, was far.  That was exactly how I felt the first time I went there, but it was a nice, sunny but cool day, so it was a comfortable walk.  On our way back, I thought it would be nice to stop and pick some flowers for the apartment, so we stopped and selected a variety of lovely blooms.  We also stopped by the store nearby to get some stuff, including cough medicine for my cousin who suddenly developed dry cough when she arrived at the airport.

Once through the door, I could smell something familar and comforting - curry.  My mum was in the kitchen cooking a pot of chicken curry.  Ahhh....it really reminds me of home.  It's such a nice feeling to go home to mum's cooking. Then, it was just a period of relaxing as we ate the curry with bread and also some local chocolates as we watched Portugal beat Denmark.  They tried to watch the next match, Germany vs Holland, but during the half time, we pulled out the sofa bed and soon, everyone's asleep.

It's been a long day for them.  I wonder what we'll be doing tomorrow.  I still have things to do for Saturday's event so maybe they can help me with that.  I probably should go to bed as well.  Till tomorrow, then.

Family ties

It's 11pm and we're winding down another busy day.  My family will be arriving in about 14 hours and we have been busy the past few days to get things in place.  My mum is strict about cleanliness and tidiness so I have to make sure I meet her standard.  I don't want her to have too many things to say about the state of our apartment.  She even has commented on my balcony when I showed it to her as we were chatting on Face Time.  She said she will help me re-arrange the things there to make it look better.  And there I was, proudly showing her what I thought was a neat and tidy space.

We were busy too as we were getting things ready for our wedding on Saturday.  We have had our ceremony back home last March.  Pete's family couldn't join us so this time, we're having a simple lunch to celebrate our marriage with his family and friends here.

Between the event and visitors from home, we have been busy, busy, busy.  We still have more cleaning to do and I will cook shepherd's pie so that my family will be able to have some for lunch when they arrive.  For now, we need to rest and sleep.  I can forsee a long and hectic week ahead, but I am sure it will be fun.  I miss my family and I am so glad that they have made this trip to visit me.  I can't wait to see them!

A pleasant surprise

It was a nice sunny day today so we were out the whole afternoon.  When we got home, a pleasant surprise was waiting for me.  The mailman left a postcard for me from a very dear friend of mine.  The best part was in the card.  He is going to visit me very soon, next Friday, in fact.

I am so excited and can't wait for next week to come.  My family will be arriving here next Wednesday.  That includes my parents, sister, cousin and aunt.  The next day, another cousin will arrive.  After that, another sister and this friend of mine will be arriving on the same day. 

For now, we're busy arranging for transport to fetch them from the airport and their accomodations.  We are also planning the itinerary for my family.  Not only that, since there's quite a lot of people visiting us, we have to think about transport since they all cannot fit into one car.  Most likely, we'll have to take the bus.  I  plan to bring them all over Malmo.  There are a number of parks I would like to show them.  There are also a few squares around town that I would like to bring them to as well.

It's been more than a month since I last saw them.  I know it's not that long ago, but I am going to treasure every single minute I have with them.  We plan to go back home every year to visit my family, but it will depend on our situation after a year, of course.  With us embarking on a new business in the near future, I am not sure if that plan is possible.  We'll just have to see how that works out.

But I am not going to worry about that as yet.  For now, I am going to be busy getting the apartment in order.  Knowing my mum, she's going to be expecting a clean and clutter-free home, so I'll be up to my elbows in warm soapy water from now till next week.    

Finding warmth in the wind

After a few days of rain, wind and cloudy weather, the sun came out early this morning.  We were planning to go to his mum's cabin today but that plan was dependent on the weather.  So when the sun continued to shine, we made our way there with his mum.

The cabin was about 20 minutes away from Malmo.  In Sweden, plots of land are set aside for the people to lease.  The plots are much bigger than ours and they are allowed to build small cabins there.  His mum had hers for a few years already.  At her plot, she has a cute cabin with wooden benches and tables outside.  She also planted some vegetables, flowers, fruit bushes and trees.  She has wild strawberries, black currants, lettuces, rhubarb, plum and apple, among others.  There's also a BBQ grill.

Once we got there, we got to work.  Pete used a machine called the rototiller.  It helps to till the soil much faster and easier, but it took him quite a while to get it to start.  I then used a rake to collect the weeds to throw into a compost heap.

It's not easy to maintain a garden.  No matter how much you work to get rid of the weeds, they keep coming back.  Also, some times, you need to move some plants around and some plants need to be planted every year.  So when Pete and I took a walk to look at other cabins, we were awed by the very well kept ones.  Their cabins are brightly painted and their gardens are neat and very well designed.  As we walked past, the neighbours would greet us with a friendly "Hej!".

Pete's two younger sisters showed up too, along with one of his brother-in-law and nephew and niece.  His brother-in-law helped to start up the grill and his wife helped with the food.  Pete and I found ourselves in a kick-about with his nephew who brought along his football.  There was a good sized field in front of the cabin and it was fun running, kicking and dribbling with the ball.  I miss playing sports so that was so much fun.  It was even more fun watching Pete in action.  He was running after the ball and showing tricks to his nephew.  Maybe after losing 7kg, he is more agile and fit now, so that's great to see.

chasing a ball that got to the parking area

The weather while we were there was somewhat erratic.  Although the sun was out, it sometimes got very windy and cold, but sometimes it was nice and bearable.  I took off my jacket when I was working but it was close by in case the wind got stronger.  I also had my sunglasses with me at all times.  I'm still not used to having the sun shining brightly but without the tropical heat and humidity.  But I'm not complaining since I don't sweat much here.

The food that my brother-in-law cooked was good.  We had hot dogs, kebabs and salad.  A simple meal but so good.  Isn't that was life is about anyway?  Sharing simple food with family.  It doesn't get any better than this.  I had a great time with his family even though I had to wait for translations to understand what was being discussed.  But I didn't need any translation to feel the warmth and acceptance by his family.

After we stopped by our garden to use the rototiller on some parts that are overgrown with weeds, I spent some time with one of his sisters and her daughter.  Pete went home on his own while I had some bonding time with his sister.  We went to a park where her daughter could play while we talked.  It was really nice of her to spend time with me so we could get to know each other better.  Also, she understood how lonely I feel with my family and friends so far away and she promised to hang out more often.  It's really nice of her since she lives about an hour's drive away. 

All in all, I had a great day today.  The weather is still a bit too cold and windy than what I was expecting but the warmth from his family more than made up for it.