A Perfect Lunch

 Tapas Special a la Nino. 

You must try this one!

We visited Lewinski yesterday afternoon for a tapas.

Brito asked the chef Nino to make whatever he likes to and this is what we got.

So nice! If you like to try real Canarian tapas go to Lewinskis and give Nino free hands.

He is from Fuerteventura, a real Canarian, who knows how to make them.

 And the mojo sauces are lovely at Lewinskis! 

You will not find these plates in the menu! He just took some of the stuff that was in the kitchen and I was surprised how nice tapas we got! We normally go to the north of the island for Guachinche trips and hope to get something in this style. Now we can have it in Los Cristianos! I´m lucky!!

I´ll soon be back!

Typical Canary ham with honey melon and avocado. Nice!

Changing Colours

Now I´m little bit tired of the look of our home. We must get a change to make it look more fresh.
I started with the balcony and as you can see it has now got a more modern look.
I made it in green before last Christmas (green carpets, green quilts, green flowerpots,green table clothe, beige chair cushions, green swab tools etc) but all green stuff is now out and next week it probably will turn up on one of the balconies in Edificio Rosalia. I will bring it there to see if it fits in. This year our balcony will go grey and the Christmas tree will get white and silver coloured ornaments.

I also throw out the antique looking headboard from the bedroom and bought new fresh sheets but it´s far away from ready. I took out the iron lamps that were on the bedside tables before and bought new white ones, but I would really like to change the whole bedroom so this is only the beginning.

I also have plans to take out almost everything from our kitchen / living room and only decorate it with silver looking stuff + a lot of crystals things + new but old looking pots. It´s depending on if I can find things in the right style.

Anyhow, nobody have to bother start ditching in the trash bin outside here because the decorations that I´m not going to use any more will now be moved out to the different apartments that we help people to let. Some of the things have already got their new locations and if they don´t fit in anywhere they go to the storage waiting for a place where they will fit later on.

I just love to do this. It´s like a hobby and I think I´m the luckiest woman in the world when I have got so many apartments to decorate that I never will get them ready. The only problem is that I can´t put too much stuff in them because the most of the people like to have an almost minimalistic style when they think decorations only get dusty. But in my point of view some of the apartments look like empty garages or has got really ugly decorations and these I will start giving a lift but with a limit of what I put in so that they won´t be difficult to clean.

The most terrible I know is when an apartment has got as an example yellow walls, and a figured table clothe  in green and some other colours, and the chair cushions in light blue and orange and on the top of that a red carpet on the floor and all these things are in the style that you buy on the Chinese shop. Oh I almost get dizzy!

I would really like to make our bedroom in white. 

White antique looking bed and side tables and change all the 

wardrobes to white ones. And take away the white curtains and instead put black and white pictures with white frames on the wall, maybe with a romantic chick lit message painted somewhere on the wall up under the ceiling. But you never know! Maybe I still change my mind?! Anyhow I have bought a new thick but soft quilt from Ikea which means we are not going to be cold this winter.

We are just waiting for the colder nights to arrive so that we can start using it. It will be so cozy!

Thursday Oct. 3, 2013

Loosing Weight

I´m on the diet again, I gained too much while we were in Finland.

I always do when I like to taste everything that I can´t have on Tenerife.

This was my meal last night before I went to work.

The white sauce that looks like whipping cream is fresh cheese with 0% fat.

I eat it almost every day when it fits to the most of plates and you add flavour to it by mixing in a little bit of  herbs, garlic, curry or other spices, etc. Easy to make and tastes good!

Smoked Herrings

On my night off (Wednesday) we made smoked herring.

 First they must be soaked in a salty marinade for about an hour.

 In the oven. We can make 34 herrings on the same time.

 Big fire in under,

Almost ready! Mums!

Sunday 22, 2013

Oh, I´m sorry I´ve got the back of a man in this video clip.

But you can check out who is here line dancing as normal.

New Agenda

NEW AGENDA FROM OCTOBER 2013:

I SING EVERY NIGHT EXCEPT WEDNESDAYS

20.30 - 23.30

Welcome

Angel

I continue buying a lot of clothes and jeweleries

when combining outfits is like a hobby for me. I love it!

Brito took this photo of me one night before I went to work.

He thought I was dressed like an angel. What do you think?

Smoked Salmon

 My new smoke oven.
He,he, Britos feet showed up in the oven! HE,HE!!!
It´s so shiny that it turned out be a mirror and I didn´t see it while I took the photo.
Looks stupid! He,he!

 Oh, Tonight I will probably smell like a smoked sardine at Lewinskis.
The problem is that I had washed my hair before and now it´s impregnated with the smoke smell and I´m not gonna wash it again.

I bought a smoke oven while we were in Finland and brought it to Tenerife + a few bags of the special coarsely sawdust that you put in it too.
It was Daniels idea that I must buy a smoke oven after one of the fishermen here in Los Cristianos had asked him to bring smoked salmon on his return to the island.
So sad Daniel moved to heaven and could not be here today when we took it in use for the first time.

Anyhow, we made salmon and it turned out to be so delicious! Just perfect!!!
Next project will be smoked sardines. We can smoke 30-40 at one time in two different layers inside the oven and we will do that and then give some sardines to Britos family so that they can try it out. If it´s nice weather we will make them the coming weekend.
Oh, such a good idea to bring this oven to the island. Now we can surprise and bless our Canarian friends who normally don´t have this kind of fish. I hope they will like the taste.

First you must put the sawdust in the bottom of the oven.

Then you put the steel plate over the sawdust and then the grid.

We only used one grid today when we only made two fillets of salmon, but

the oven has got two grids.

The heat is coming from two oil rechauds in under the oven.

Can you see the smoke coming out from it?

It´s a very strong smell. I just wonder what the neighbours were thinking?

But we enjoyed it anyhow. Imagine it worked like it should!!!

Like you can see it got the right beautiful color, but I wish you even

 could feel the smell and of course have a taste too.

Fondue

Last night when it was my night off we had a fondue on the balcony.

Thursday Sept.19, 2013

Garachico, Sept 14, 2013

We spent last weekend up in the north of the island at a hotel in Garachico.

We went up there on Saturday morning and came back on Sunday when I was singing Sunday night.

Like many times before I just forgot to take photos for the blogg and I have only got a few to show you.

Garachico is a small harbour town in the north of Tenerife.

December 1645; Heavy rains in the high mountains caused a huge landslide and 

about 100 people were killed and about 40 ships were destroyed.

5 May 1706 ; Volcan Negro exploded and the town was covered in lava.

Our hotel was near the ocean and I took this photo from the terrace.

Brito down on the street waiting for me to get down.

Brito and me.

We had been 4 years together in the beginning of September, so we tried to make the trip like an anniversary celebration and a disconnecting of the bad experiences that we are going through after we lost Daniel. 

And we had a good relaxing time even when it´s not possible to disconnect from what has happened. It will take time before we can start thinking like normal again. He is in our thoughts every minute and we always end up sitting talking about him. It is as difficult for Brito as it is for me when they had a very good relation and were the best friends.

The loose of Daniel was so shocking and tragic that we still have difficult to accept it´s true and it´s like we live in this world and try to take care of the things that must be done, but there is somehow a feeling that we are separated from the reality. It´s difficult to explain but it feels like you are somewhere, don´t know where, let´s say in the nowhere, and you haven´t landed yet so that you can enjoy the life and see what is around you or make any plans for the future. It feels like you live in parentheses.

I sing in the nights and I think it helps. The nights are like a "break" for my brain when I then have to concentrate on the songs and the line dancing etc. But, to be honest, I many times find myself lost on the stage because I loose the concentration and then the lyrics, and sometimes I don´t remember if I´m in the beginning of the song or in the end. Oh, please have patience with me. It seams like my brain is still getting black outs after the shock, but I have heard it will become better, but that it will take time.
But I watched the guests tonight and the most of them looked like they did not notice that I sometimes lost it a little bit.

Oh this is getting very long now and it´s in the middle of the night..I better stop! Sweet dreams!

Thursday Sept. 12, 2013

Thursday Sept 5, 2013

Tuesday Sept. 3, 2013

We were about 12-14 line dancers last night and more are on
 the way in before the weekend.

So nice to get to see you all. Can´t almost wait till
tomorrow when I will be on again.

Agenda 2013

Me with some of the dancers who were here last year.

The photo was taken September 13, 2012.

This is how I will perform at Lewinskys from the 1st of September:

Every night, 

except Wednesday and Saturday.

8.30 -11.30.

I will also sing Thursday August 28.

Wednesdays are Tango nights with classes in tango and

Saturdays are Canary music nights.

We will try this schedule but it can change later on.

If it changes I will tell you here on the blog and from the stage.

Welcome.

Sad News...

Daniel, Brito and me.

Dear Blog readers,

Please, prepare yourself for a sad and 

shocking message.

Our son, Daniel Kim Christian, has suddenly left us, after being involved in a boat accident here in the archipelago outside of Vasa, on
Wednesday the 10th of July, 2013.

He should have been celebrating his 28th birthday in September this year. 

Born; 26th of Sept 1985

He had a happy positive personality, always laughing, and knew how to live the life without worrying about any unnecessary problems. He took the day as it was and was always willing to liberally share what he had with his friends. And there were friends in multitude! Many told us after the funeral that they have never seen such a crowded ceremony in this church before, nor as many flower bouquets and condolences. 

Daniel has been living down on Tenerife the last 2 years and we have had such a nice time together. 

He was working on one of the ice breaker boats of Sweden, Ale. 

. Every time he had to leave for work we started missing him so much and we started counting days till he would return. He was such a happy person and it felt like our home, including ourselves, came more alive as soon as he was present.

Now we only have got the nice memories left, but Gods word keep us going. We know we´ll meet Daniel again in heaven one day. Daniel believed in Jesus Christ as his saviour, and when you do so there will be a place waiting for you in heaven. That´s a promise from God!

To loose your son is for sure one of the most difficult experiences you can have.

 To make it we every now and then must remind ourselves that he in reality is up in heaven, probably having a lot of fun going on with the angles and the people who have left us before. He is having a great time! In heaven is no sorrow or problems or tears, like we have to face in this world, and it´s only us who are suffering here when we miss him so much. This is a truth that gives us comfort and every now and then we remind ourselves about it. I just like to tell you to give you comfort too.

The last weeks have been very tough. The shock we got when the message about his death reached us  made us paralysed and there are no words to explain how much we miss him. Our home and life on Tenerife will never again be the same without him, and we are having  a hard time going back home this coming week.

Please, remember us in your prayers,

 Love,

Susanne and Brito.

Replot 030713

 Arrival to the bridge.

This big bridge is located in the archipelago outside Vasa.

You can read more about it here.

I went here with Mum and Brito.

 The following photos are from Replot, the 

first island you get to after the bridge.

This is "Arkens Toast", a nice meal at

 restaurant Arken which is owned by my cousin.

 The view from the bridge.

The Wild Cats

These three wild cats are living in the neighbourhood at my mamas house.

Mama and Brito are feeding them many times a day. 

They haven´t got any names so far, but I have heard Mam and Brito taking about

them saying "The ugly cat", "The grey cat" and "The loving cat".

I would really like to give them names but it´s not possible when I don´t know if they are females or males.

 Could be called Brownie?

Selma?

and Cariñita?

On The Balcony

Me on the balcony at my Mums house.

Sausages

The second day on the island was cold and windy so we put some 

logs on fire before we went to bed.

Before we went to bed we had a last meal: A couple of 

sausages filled with pieces of cheese. They are very delicious!

Can you see them on the photo? We just put them on a fork stick and 

heat them up and we have them with sweet hot mustard from Aland.

The shops in Finland sell many different sausages and 

we have, during the last three weeks, tried 

sausages with;  Cheese,

 with Feta cheese and ground pepper

 with Chili and peperoni

Hot sausage

My dads favourite sausage

Grill sausage and

Barbecue sausage.

Unbelievable, but we like them all!

We normally have sausages only a couple of times a year even when

there are nice ones on Tenerife too. Now we have got like a hobby to test 

different sausages almost every night before we go to bed.

We also try different cheeses (there are many good ones in Finland) and different berries.
Brito likes the Farmer cheese with cloud berry jam.

Oh, I must tell you, my weight watcher has thrown the towel in! 

I´ll soon back to where I was before I went into the diet!

I think I have had about 1,5 kg chocolate since I came to Finland, or

 maybe it´s more?! The Finnish chocolate is one of the best in the word, 

in my point of view, and my favourite is called TUPLA.

Please, remember to buy Tupla (original) when you visit Finland.

There´s  also a Swedish chocolate that is very good. It´s called

Marabou Mint Krokant. Oh!!! Lovely!!!! I will  for sure bring it with me to Tenerife.

Why don´t Ikea sell it???

An other thing that is good in Finland is the bread. 

There are really many different  breads and Brito just love them all so 

I try to buy many different ones just so that he can try them out while he´s here.

Finland

These photos were taken during the Midsummer,  i.e. 22nd of June.

Our first day on the island. The weather was so nice and 

it felt like being in heaven.

Brito is in Finland.

Taking a stroll around my Mums island.

 Fishing.

Dart a la Finlandia.

 A bird couple have made a nest on the top of a lamp.

 This bird is waiting for Brito and screams like crazy when he turns up.

It´s because he has fed it many times a day.

 The Midsummer moon.

It was daylight all night long!

New Line dances

These are the linedance songs that I´m doing rehearsal of at the moment.

Newer dances:     Is it Friday yet?
                          Winners and Loosers
                          Mexi-fest
                          Gleefully There
                          It´s all good
                          Maverockin
                          Troublemaker
                          Tango de pasion
                          Walks like Rihanna
                          The Belle of Liverpool
                          Liquid Lunch
                          Bruises
                          I got my baby back
                          One for the road
                                                 
Older dances:     Pizzirico, Mr man in the moon

Pure country for the country nights: I love you,
 I can´t stop loving you, You´re my world.
Spanish: Aunque me hagas llorar.

.