The only thing better than Christmas...

...is teatime in the days following Christmas...

...and watching your baby play with her new toys

Happenings

During a recent trip back to the states, Bon Bon got to be a flower girl for the first time...

...when my little sister got married.

We got to go "mini-pumpkin picking" and visit the orchards' adjoining country store.

Our trip went by way too quickly, but we had a great time at all of the wedding festivities and got to see a lot of our friends and family. Very much looking forward to the upcoming holiday season and everything it brings.

Day trip to Rouen

Back in August we took a day trip to Rouen, a city in northern France located just a few hours outside of Paris. Rouen probably best known for its cathedral (depicted in several Monet paintings) and as being the place where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake.

We spent most of our day strolling around the city, visiting the "Gros Horloge" (astronomical clock), the Rouen Cathedral (of course) and the Place du Vieux Marché, which is located on the site where Joan of Arc was burned.

Here are some pictures of our day:

The Gros Horloge from afar (below) and close up (opening photo)

Pedestrian shopping street (you can see the Gros Horloge & part of the cathedral in the background) 

+ a couple of cute French kids with their afternoon "goûter" (snack)

Detail of the Rouen Cathedral

Place du Vieux Marché

One of the merchants at the market under the structure on the Place du Vieux Marché

Looking out over the city

 

Finnish Pasties

Yet another recipe from Beatrice Ojakangas' The Great Scandinavian Baking Book, though this time it's savory. I was intrigued by the descriptions of these meat and vegetable-filled pasties found in this cookbook and on the internet, which explain that they were popular among mining communities (a complete meal conveniently "packaged" that miners took with them to eat for lunch). These freeze well and are great for those nights when you are short on time or simply don't know what to prepare for dinner. Make a salad while heating them up and, 20 minutes later, voila! dinner is served.

Swedish Sokerkaka (Sugar Cake)

This dense, spiced cake has become a staple in our home. It's so simple to make and uses ingredients you probably already have in your pantry:  flour, sugar, baking powder, dried spices, salt, eggs & cream. There's no butter to soften and no special order in which to combine ingredients -- you simply measure them, put them all in the same bowl and mix them together. I use a stand mixer, so from start to finish it takes me no more than 5 minutes to make the batter, pour it into a bund form pan and pop it in the oven.

The spice that the recipe calls for is one found in a lot of Swedish baked treats: cardamon. While I like cardamon, I tend to associate it more with savory foods -- our favorite Indian restaurant puts whole pods in its sauces, which I occasionally bite into by accident, and when I first tasted this cake I immediately thought of them. The second time I made it, I substitued cinnamon for the cardamon, which made for a delicious, lightly-spiced cake. The third time around, I used pumpkin pie spice (my husband's favorite).

Recipes for this cake abound on the internet. I used one from Beatrice Ojakangas' The Great Scandinavian Baking Book.