The Tree House

Walking in the woods can simultaneously be calming and exciting. I often get overwhelmed by the grandeur of nature; the sense of other things out there that are larger than I makes me turn inward and ponder my role in it all. At the same time, the potential for adventure (will we see any animals?, will we discover new plants?, or, in particularly extreme cases, what if we get lost?) pushes me forward to walk the new grounds with a racing heartbeat.

The forests are beautiful, simple yet grand, and it is easy to experience a sense of belonging among the trees.

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Setnja sumom moze istovremeno biti i umirujuce i uzbudljivo iskustvo. Suma (i sav zivot koji vrvi u njoj) je odusevljavajuce grandiozna. Spoznaja da je svijet prepun stvari koje su vece od mene ucini da se zapitam koja je moja uloga i sta zelim da bude moja uloga u svemu tome. U isto vrijeme, vodi me osjecaj uzbudjenja: hocemo li naici na divlje zivotinje?, hocemo li otkriti nove biljke?, ili, u ekstremnim situacijama, sta ako se izgubimo?

Suma ocarava svojom jednostavnoscu. Ja svaki put osjetim da joj pripadam.

On a lovely, warm summer day, just a few days after I arrived back to Sweden, my family suggested that they take me out for a hike. We'll show you the tree house, G. promised, excitedly. I accepted, excitedly. I believe she would love to live in a tree house, if only it were possible.

We set out for a hike and the road takes us to the shores of Finja lake (Finjasjon). We take in the sight of the calm, dark blue lake, and proceed to walk up a small hill. G. chases butterflies as we climb. The south of Sweden is stubbornly flat, and yet I was surprised with the view at the top: endless green and golden valleys and hillocks spread far in the distance (You can see entire Sweden from here, M. would later joke).

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Nekoliko dana nakon sto sam se vratila u Svedsku, moji su predlozili da napravimo izlet u prirodi. Pokazat cemo ti tree house!, obecala mi je G., sa uzbudjenjem. Ja sam prihvatila sa vjerovatno jednakim uzbudjenjem.

Na dvadeset minuta voznje biciklima od naseg grada nalazi se Finja jezero. Odmorili smo se na obali mirnog jezera i nastavili do obliznjeg brda. G. je trcala za leptirovima dok smo se peli uzbrdo. Jug Svedske je tvrdoglavo ravan, i, iako sam to znala od ranije, kad smo stigli na vrh ipak sam bila zatecena: beskrajna zelena i zlatna polja prostiru se u nedogled (M. ce kasnije u sali prokomentarisati: Odavdje vidis citavu Svedsku.).

The tree house was almost at the top of the hill, right at the entrance to the forest. It doubles as a restaurant, blending well with the surrounding nature. We walked in the woods behind it; the sun was peeking through the tall tree branches. Finally, we ended at a flat, sun-kissed hilltop.

G. ran around, her laughter echoing in the stillness around us. She is calling for us, telling us that she has discovered an apple tree. It is perfectly ripe and we pick some of its fruit. Delicious and refreshing. There are also blackberry bushes all around. An unexpected feast.

We rest here, munching on apples and watching the sun set. On our way back home, I realize I have left my jacket behind. G. remembers I dropped it on the ground when I was helping her reach for the apples. We drive back and I climb the hill alone while they all wait for me at the bottom.

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Tree house se nalazi na samom vrhu brda, na ulazu u sumu. Koristi se kao restoran, i svojom gradnjom ne narusava prirodni ambijent. Setnju smo nastavili kroz sumu i izasli na osuncan plato na vrhu brda.

G. trci uokolo a njen osmijeh odjekuje u tisini koja je oko nas. Doziva nas, otkrila je drvo jabuke sa savrseno zrelim plodovima. Uberemo nekoliko plodova, socni su i osvjezavajuci. Otkrivamo i grm zrele kupine u blizini. Neocekivana gozba.

Napravimo pauzu ispod jabukovog drveta, uzivajuci u jabukama i posmatrajuci zalazak sunca. Pri povratku kuci, shvatim da sam negdje zaboravila jaknu. Gabi se sjeti da sam je spustila na tlo kad sam joj pomagala da ubere jabuku. Vozimo se natrag do podnozja brda, i dok one ostaju u podnozju, ja se sama penjem uzbrdo.

The sun has already set and a bluish shadow is covering the grass. It is eerily quiet and I hear nothing but my footsteps in the grass; the nature is getting ready to rest for the day. As I am walking to where the apple tree is, I spot my jacket from the distance and breathe a sigh of relief. Someone has found it and hung it on a nearby bush. My heart warms at the thought of a kind stranger.

My jacket in hand, I run down the hill.

Thank goodness you found your jacket, says G. while showing me the photo of the moon that she just took. Thank goodness for this lovely day, I think to myself.

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Sunce je vec zaslo i plava sjena prekriva travu. Jezivo je tiho; priroda se sprema za pocinak. Iz daljine ugledam drvo jabuke i na grmu pored, okacena na grani bijeli se moja jakna. Neko nepoznat ju je nasao i okacio na granu grma. Nasmjesim se na pomisao o ljubaznom strancu.
Sa jaknom u ruci, sjurim niz brdo.

G. je sretna jer sam pronasla jaknu. Smijesi se i pokazuje mi fotografiju mjeseca koju je upravo napravila. Ja sam zahvalna na ovom divnom danu.

Apple and Walnut Bundt Cake


Ingredients

2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 vanilla bean
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cup olive oil
3 cups grated apples
1 cup roasted, chopped walnuts


Method

Preheat the oven to 200 C (325 F).

Roast walnuts for 5 minutes in a warm oven, stirring occasionally. Whisk oil with sugar, and add eggs, one at a time. Mix in vanilla seeds. Sift dry ingredients (flour, salt, and baking soda). Add to the mixture. Fold in apples and walnuts.

Coat the bundt pan with oil, carefully greasing every nook and cranny. Sift the flour all over the bottom and the sides of the pan. This will help the cake not stick and come out of the pan easily when baked. Bake the cake for 45 minutes. Cool for 30 minutes before removing from the pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, and serve. Note: I used mini bundt cake pans, and one medium size pan. The measurements in this recipe are meant for a standard size bundt pan.

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Bundt torta sa jabukama i orasima


Sastojci

2 1/2 mjerice brasna
1/2 kasicica soli
1/2 kasicice sode bikarbone
1 stapic vanilije
3 jaja
1 1/2 mjerice secera
1 1/4 mjerice maslinovog ulja
3 mjerice narendanih jabuka
1 mjerica przenih, nasitnjenih oraha


Priprema

Zagrijati pecnicu na 200 C (325 F).

Proprzite orahe u toploj pecnici (oko 5 minuta, uz povremeno mijesanje). Rucno umutite ulje sa secerom, i dodajite jedno po jedno jaje, uz mijesanje. Dodajte i zrna vanilije. Prosijte, ili pomijesajte, suhe sastojke (brasno, sol i sodu). Dodajte ih prethodnoj smjesi i umutite. Umijesajte jabuke i orahe.

Pazljivo nauljite posudu za pecenje bundt torte, prekrivajuci uljem citavu povrsinu. Nakon toga pobrasnite nauljene dijelove. Na ovaj nacin torta ce se nakon pecenja lakse odvojiti od posude. Pecite tortu 45 minuta. Ohladite je 30 minuta prije vadjenja. Pospite mjesavinom cimeta i secera, i servirajte. Napomena: Ja sam koristila manje kalupe i dobila osam manjih tortica i jednu tortu srednje velicine.

Chokeberries and a Day at the Beach

Sweden is having the most gorgeous summer.

I have been biking outside every day, just soaking in the beautiful weather and nature. We live in a small town with a forest five minutes away from our house, a lake fifteen minutes away by bike, and green fields pretty much everywhere.  I am loving it.

And with all the time we spend outdoors, a little bit of foraging was inevitable. That's how we stumbled upon chokeberries.

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Ljeto u Svedskoj je savrseno.

Svaki dan sam u prirodi, vozim bicikl, lutam nepoznatim poljima, odmaram. Zivimo u malom gradu sa sumom na pet minuta od nase kuce, jezerom na petnaest minuta voznje biciklom, i zelenim livadama svuda okolo.

Zaljubila sam se.

Setajuci sumom, nailazimo na njene brojne jestive plodove. Danas pisem o aroniji, a u narednim postovima o vrganjima, jabukama, bobicama zove i kupinama.

Unusual name, I agree. I assume it comes from its somewhat dry texture (It makes you purse your lips, my friend Ana says). That feature comes as an even bigger surprise since they look a lot like blueberries, but turn out not to be quite as juicy. 

Having read about them, however, I've learned that supposedly chokeberries might be some of the most powerful superfoods out there (there's even been some actual scientific research done to investigate their properties).

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O aroniji sam ranije cula ali je nisam nikada do sada imala priliku probati. Cvrsta na dodir i slicna borovnici, za aroniju kazu da je mozda najzdraviji plod koji postoji. Slicnost sa borovnicom ne ide dalje od izgleda, jer je aronija mnogo manje socna od borovnice, cak i trpka.

Bilo je uzbudljivo otkrivati ovu novu biljku, citati o njoj, ispitivati njen okus, njena svojstva. Zapravo sam odusevljena da nesto sto se tako jednostavno bere, cisti, ne kvari brzo, i sto nam nudi toliko dobrog u svom sastavu, zapravo uopste i postoji. Inspirisana sam.

So far, I have foraged around five kilograms. Some of it we ate, while most of it I cleaned, packed in portion-size mini plastic bags, and froze. We are looking at a winter-full of chokeberry muesli, chokeberry smoothies, and an occasional dessert.
And we will be going back for more.

I struggled researching for a recipe that uses chokeberries. There is quite a few out there, but I wanted to find one that does not require thermal processing, as I wanted them to retain their healthful properties. This recipe in part fulfills that condition.

It was adapted from a local store magazine (it used blueberries where I use chokeberries, and there are a few other adjustments). Swedes use deciliters instead of cups, so I am posting it just as I first read it. You can use one of the many scale convertors online to help you adjust the recipe to your preferred measurements, so it should not be a problem.

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Do sada sam ubrala oko pet kilograma aronije. Nesto smo odmah pojeli, a vecinu sam ocistila, spakovala u mini vrecice i zamrznula. Ove zime obogatit cemo muesli i vocne sokove aronijom (mozda cak i poneki dezert).

Naravno, uskoro idem nabrati jos.

Nije bas bilo lako naci recept za desert sa aronijom. Zapravo, postoji dosta recepata ali u vecini se aronija termicki obradjuje. Ja sam htjela da to izbjegnem kako bih sacuvala njena hranjiva svojstva. I recept koji sam odabrala tek djelomicno zadovoljava ovaj uslov.

Prilagodila sam ga na osnovu recepta sa borovnicama koji sam nasla u lokalnom magazinu.

Citrus Cake with Quark and Chokeberries

Ingredients

210 g flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 spring of lemon balm (Melissa)
1 lemon
3 eggs
3 dl sugar (I used 2 dl of stevia and 1 dl plain sugar)
11/2 dl olive oil

quark cheese
chokeberries

Method

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine half a cup chokeberries, 1 tbsp sugar, and 1 tsp water. When chokeberries begin to soften and the sugar has dissolved, mash them with fork until they resemble jam. Cool in the refrigerator.

Preheat the oven to 175 C.

Cover the bottom of a springform pan with baking paper and dust it with coconut flakes. Coat the sides of the pan with butter. Set aside.

Sift flour and baking powder. Finely chop lemon balm leaves and grate the zest of the lemon. Whisk the egg and sugar until fluffy. Add lemon balm, lemon zest, milk and olive oil, and mix. Add the dry ingredients and stir until combined. Pour into the springform pan.

Bake the cake for 30 minutes or until the tester inserted in the middle is dry. Cool the cake on a wire rack. Squeeze 1 tbsp of lemon juice, combine it with half a cup of quark, and stir. Spread this on top of the cake and layer over the cooled jam as well. Sprinkle fresh chokeberries and lemon balm over top. Serve with tea or a drink of your choice.

Citrus kolac sa kvark sirom i aronijom

Sastojci

210 g brasna
2 kasicice praska za pecivo 
nekoliko grancica melise
1 limun
3 jaja
3 dl secera (ja sam koristila 2 dl stevije i 1 dl obicnog secera)
11/2 dl maslinovog ulja

kvark sir (ili krem sir)
bobice aronije
kokosovo brasno

Priprema

U manjoj serpi pomijesajte pola mjerice bobica aronije, 1 kasiku secera i 1 kasicicu voe. Kad bobice omeksaju a secer se otopi, viljuskom izgnjecite bobice dok smjesa ne pocne liciti na dzem. Ohladite u frizideru.

Ugrijte pecnicu do 175 C.

Prekrijte dno posude za pecenje sa masnim papirom i po njemu pospite kokosovo brasno. Maslacem namazite strane posude za pecenje.

Prosijte brasno i prasak za pecivo. Usitnite listove melise i naribajte koricu limuna. Rucno umutite jaja i secer. Dodajte melisu, koricu limuna, mlijeko i maslinovo ulje, i pomijesajte ih. Dodajte suhe sastojke i umutite smjesu. Uspite smjesu u posudu za pecenje.

Pecite kolac 30 minuta i ostavite da se ohladi. Pomijesajte jednu kasiku limunovog soka sa pola mjerice kvarka. Premazite povrsinu kolaca sirom, a preko njega stavite komadice zagrijanih i izgnjecenih bobica aronije. Ukrasite svjezim bobicama aronije i listicima melise. Servirajte uz caj ili neko drugo toplo pice.

The photographs from this post come from both our chokeberry-picking day and a bike trip to the beach. My niece takes part in all our activities, she learns and has fun (All the creatures love me, she says. Bugs, bees, butterflies, frogs. That must be 'cause they can see that I am such a good person.). Her boundless energy is truly captivating. When we're biking, she always wants to go first (we compromise depending on how safe the road is at any given moment).

And whatever we're doing, she wants to help.

Pictured with her in the photo are two of the three ducks we've been feeding at the lake. She named them Smiley, Eatey, and Surprisey (elaborate explanations for name choices, however unnecessary, do exist). There is also Swimmy who usually dives in the distance while we watch intently, each hoping to be the first one that spots Swimmy when it comes up for air. Not sure how much of all this I would notice if she weren't around, so I cherish it.

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Moja mala sestricna G. vrlo aktivno ucestvuje u svim nasim avanturama u prirodi. Uzivam posmatrati je dok uci i gradi svoj odnos sa prirodom (Sve zivotinje me vole, kaze ona. Bube, pcele, zabe, leptirovi. Mora da je to zato sto prepoznaju da sam ja dobra osoba.). Njena energija nema granice. Kad smo na biciklima, ona mora biti prva (uglavnom pokusavamo naci kompromis), a sve oko nas popraceno je narativnim sadrzajem.

Na slici iznad sa njom su dvije od tri patke koje smo hranili pri odlascima na jezero. Dala im je imena u skladu sa njihovim najistaknutijim karakteristikama. Cetvrta patka je uvijek na pucini; mi je posmatramo kako roni i takmicimo se ko ce je prvi primijetiti kad se pojavi na povrsini vode. Ne znam koliko bih primjecivala sve to da G. nije sa mnom, zato cijenim svaki trenutak s njom.