Jazz on a summer's day

Guest contributor Wayne Kogan is a colleague,  good friend and most of all, a fantastic source of inspiration and information.  He will be back once in a while with different music posts.

Anita O'day

The other night I sat down and watched the priceless movie "Jazz on a Summer's Day" for the fifth time. Filmed at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1958 by Fashion Photographer Bert Stern, it is as fresh and timeless today as on it's first release. The Audience, often filmed close up, is every bit as interesting as the line up of top tier musicians including Louis Armstrong, Mahalia Jackson, Dinah Washington, Chuck Berry, Thelonious Monk, Gerry Mulligan, George Shearing, Jack Teagarden, Sonny Stitt, Chico Hamilton, Anita O'Day and Big Maybelle. Anita O'Day's stellar performance of Sweet Georgia Brown made her a big star. In 1958, jazz was hip, fashionable, and sophisticated. This movie is the first music festival film, made eleven years before Woodstock, is a true masterpiece and seldom eclipsed by the hundreds of films that have come after. Even non-jazz buffs will find this movie enjoyable. August 6-8, 2010 will be the fifty-sixth edition of the festival. See the photos below.

Louis Armstrong

George Shearing

Creative cooking

I would not eat if it was not for Michele Cranston's creativity and everyone who knows me are familiar with my appetite. I love her cookbooks and cant get enough of them. They are easy for amateurs to follow, they have stunning, inspiring photos and every recipe I've made has been a success. They are my secret ( not any more ) and they are really helping me to impress on my friends.


We are in the zucchini period right now ( they are coming out of the vegetable garden in truckloads), so we practically have zucchini dishes in every form at every meal. The last one was a zucchini tempura i got from the " fresh + fast ". 


Well the truth is that i love cooking and fresh ingredients and a little inspiration helps,


G

nature and science

Nature can do wonders for us...

Together with a scientist it is even more powerful.Blending nature and science, using innovative techniques with natural ingredients free from harsh synthetics chemicals, should be the most natural way of choice. I think there is no such thing as anti aging , it should be called slow beauty. Just as slow food. And taking the responsibility towards  the environment should also be a natural thing. It is very difficult, it takes time, it is a choice.

Personally  I am very pleased with my skin. Although I spent to much time in the sun without protection in my younger age. 

I learned to take good care of what I have and always try to improve. 

Having used my nara heltnaturligt body lotion  for almost three years I can confirm that it is working for me.

Gunn

never forever

We are closed to the end of July and the days are getting shorter and shorter. 

If we only could stop the time right now and add a few weeks to the summer. I certainly do not want unpack the boxes I just packed with heavy sweaters.

Gone.. and will return next year at the same time.

At least this can be enjoyed for another couple of months. Puh...

For smokers

I just wish to share this idea with you.


It is simply a flowerpot with it's dish turned upside down. Smokers can stub out the cigarette and drop it in the hole on the top. Practical and good looking to keep around. We keep them around in the garden for the few smokers we reluctantly invite home...just kidding.


Gunn

Angela strikes again

This time with a pine nut cake.... Not bad ! 


I had more than I am allowed to have. Always with the afternoon tea, this time with Lapsang Soushong. 
We Swedes,  love this type of sponge cakes. I think in every Swedish home , somebody in the family whip together a cake at least once a week.  In my house it was my father , who was responsible of this type of cake.


You need :
125 gr butter
3 1/2 dl or 210 gr flour
2 teaspoon vanilla sugar
2 teaspoon baking powder
1 dl pine nuts
2 eggs
3 dl sugar
1 1/2 dl milk ( or try orange juice )



How to make it:
Prepare the shape with butter and bread crumbs 
Melt the butter and let it cool.
Mix  flour, sugar, baking powder and two third of the pine nuts
Whip egg and sugar fluffy until it has a creamy, white foam
Add the flour mix into the eggs together with the milk.
Pour the mix into the cake tin and spread the pine nuts on top
Bake in the lower oven at 175° for about 45 minutes


Let cool and enjoy,
Gunn


Ps. click on the photo so you can see the beauty !

Jazz

 I always say, that in my next life I would love to come back as a pianist and perhaps a jazz pianist.

 I love to listen to jazz in the evening, right now outside in the garden, with a glass of  good wine, looking at the bats flying around and the stars. ( and of course writing some new posts ) 

As i do not have enough knowledge and need to update my archive of music I signed up to a news-letter of Jazzhus Montmartre in Copehagen. It should be a good source of good musicians. 

I will also introduce a friend who will be a guest writer next week. 

Gunn

A simple meal

When you have an appetite for something special and are not in the mood to cook...but still want to remain home ( alone or in company ) and listen to a good jazz album.

Then I would suggest my favorite olive oil from Podere Le Mezzelune in Tuscany.  A very tasty, natural, healthy cold pressed extra virgin olive oil with just 0,6 % acidity. It has The IGP certificate and it is needless to say, Bio.  100 % Italian is a must these days as well.What you need is your favorite wine and a piece of good bread. This is from an fire oven in Maremma, Tuscany and made of organic spelt flour.

I personally do not know if it can get better than this !

Gunn

Hair care

Hair and body care are only two sides of the same coin. The hair consists of the visible part of it, the shaft, but its most important components: the follicle, hair root, and the sebaceous glands are beneath the skin. Just as important for our hair as they are for the maintenance of our skin, the sebaceous glands produce the sebum that protects the hair shaft and keeps it smooth and shiny. When brushing our hair, we distribute the sebum along the lengths of the hair and this is where we can tell the difference between different hairbrush qualities. A good one does so easily, and gently slides along the hair shaft carrying the sebum all the way to the ends.

Washing the hair is not so much about washing the hair shaft, but cleaning the scalp, where pollution particles and bacteria may cause infections and skin irritations. Using warm temperature water helps open the scale-like cuticle of the hair, which makes it easier to get rid of excess oil and dirt. A quick rinse with cold water after washing and conditioning closes the cuticle and adds shine. The more often we wash our hair, and strip the hair off this natural protection that the sebum provides, the more the body will try to protect itself and start to produce more of it, to make up for the dryness overly shampooing creates. The hair will start to feel dirty very quickly, leading to a vicious circle of washing and oilier hair. It is therefore important to find a good rhythm that works for your hair, without stressing it too much the situation will improve and the sebum production decrease.

People with an irritable scalp or excessive sebum production, can turn to an alternative to ordinary shampoos, and try an oil-based shampoo. It may seem a little odd at first, but these shampoos act according to the principle of “like attracts like”, and they clean the hair and scalp very gently while respecting the hydro-lipid balance of the hair, which means the natural sebum protection is kept stable.

Most of us use a conditioner to make the combing and styling of the hair easier, as it contains ingredients that have a smoothing effect on the hair. Many conventional conditioners rely on silicones to do this job, but first of all: silicones aren’t good for the nature as they are really a kind of plastic that is not broken down naturally; and secondly: using hair products containing silicone can in the long run create build-up, and make the hair dull and heavy.

www.naraorganics.com or naraorganics.jp

Not following the rules

BUT having lots of fun !

We have a freak problem at our house. 

The doggies are just waiting for the perfect moment to run away. Not far,  just to the old lady on the other hill, who served them cookies since they where puppies. ( to our despair )

So...the safest and most practical way we have come up with is to let them into the car as we pass the open gate. 

They love this play.

And we are in control...cool and assertive

Gunn

July

July is a nice month in the garden.

 As usual my favorite inspiration and pleasure reading is from the book of Monty Don and his wife. Fork to fork . May was a disaster with lots of rain and I could not work at all in the garden. The very few seeds i managed to place in the ground was flushed away. June passed unnoticed but I did get some plants and they are now happily growing in the sun. July is the month when you can start  enjoying the garden, the heat and we do eat our way through it.  

Raspberries - they are the best eaten directly off the plant. The plants are just outside my office so it not unusual,  that I start wandering off, eating raspberries as the conversation goes on  when I receive a phone call.

Gooseberries - become marmalade. Not bad ... I should say. Happy and proud over my 8 jars.

Blueberries - I have a couple of American blueberry plants and they deliver giant and wonderful berries.  They are delicious with ice cream. 

Zucchini - too many of them at one time. So we have zucchini for lunch and dinner in every form. I love the flowers and use them lot in the pasta. Perhaps they are more decorative than tasty. 

Basel - It's heaven to make fresh pesto and eat it on a hot summer day.  I make it by hand and it has a kind of rustic texture , rather then creamy. Love it on spelt pasta.

Cucumbers - ok and fresh in the salad.

And lots of other plants are starting to look happy.

Most of all, it is the time when suddenly the green is over whelming and needs to be cut back. I am sure the plants are scared of me when i am approaching with my cutter. Some plant become lovely this season other did not work out well but as you say... a gardener never gives in, so in my other pocket there is a small notepad for notes and plans for the next year. 

I should be getting a green house for starting seeds early and not depend on the weather condition,

Gunn

Our biggest thief

Today, Sunday is as always my favorite day. Just not doing anything ... but always ending up doing a lot !

In this wonderful quiet afternoon I decided it would be nice with some lavender shortbread for the tea so I pulled out a package of Danish butter, Lurpack, as I never got used to the Italian butter.   250 gr.  Placed in a large bowl on the table as it has to get a bit softer before working it into the dough for cookies. I walked into the storage to get flour and the other ingredients needed and was away for maximum 5 seconds. 

The butter was gone, and just for a flash second i thought I might have lost my mind... 

all the dogs where relaxing on the floor ... 1.2.3 and 4 ! One is missing. 

PEPE !! PEPE !!  nowhere to be found. 

He can probably fool everyone but ME.....he was hiding under the giant leaves of the fig tree munching on 250 gr butter bar . PEPE !

You all know Pepe as Valentino in my earlier posts. But it did not work to call out Valentino, Valentino...Bravo Valentino all day , so he got a new name Pepe, pepper in English. It is more suitable to him. He is a charmer as a Valentino but he also has that Crazy energy.

So PEPE ! Pepe ! Pepino ! works better.

If he lived in Sweden his name would have been Emil , Eeemiiil !!!

Giving flowers

What happend with the classic way of giving flowers to our loved ones ?


Is the text message taking over...I met a very experienced flower shop owner the other day, and he told me the flower business is in enormous decrease due to all the love notes given over sms, skype, chat and i guess even facebook. 
How sad. 
Isn't it so much more special receiving a bouquet of wonderfully scented flowers ? To place in a nice vase, to enjoy over a few days, and rearrange after some days, hoping it will last at least until the next Saturday - when the next bouquet will hopefully drop in. I am happy to receive greetings over sms and e-mail but will never as valuable as a personal message. 


Tommorrow I will give some flowers to somebody special, as a reminder to myself,
Gunn

Pipistrelle, our new neighbors

My latest idea is to house some bats in our garden. Their payback is to eat 2.500 mosquito's every day and if i get 2 houses that is 5.000 a day...

 Bats are extremely important and mostly not wanted. They are in alarming decline and by putting up bat houses you are helping them with a safe shelter. Do you want to learn more about bats and give them support go on to www.bats.org.uk or www.batroost.com

I guess I can approve of this if it turns grey and old looking. We will place them under the roof at the back of the barn ( my office these days ).

 July and August are the months they need to feed their babies. They normally just have one

a year. They go into hibernating in the winter. Luckily as I am not prepare to get up early to feed bats. It is enough with 5 dogs , 2 cats and all the wild birds.

Well if I am good to them in this life i might get some returns in the next one,

Gunn

Lavender aromatheraphy

I told you about my harvest of lavender yesterday but left out some good information on the flower. It is a wonderful calming and balancing oil and has traditionally been used for many different conditions both physical and emotional. Here are just a few advise on how lavender essential oil can be used.

Sleeping  - spraying some lavender aroma spray on your pillow before bed time is a good way to have a calm and deep sleep.

 Diffuser  - keep it on for a two weeks in your bedroom and you will notice the difference in  your sleep.   

Pillow  - using an extra small pillow filled with lavender blooms is also a wonderful way to have the scent handy at night. Just squeeze it and dip your nose right into it and inhale !

Bath  - or add a few drops directly into the hot water.  It is giving a calming mood before moving into the bedroom. I would recommend it for children and elderly.

Laundry  - add a few drop into the washing machine when you are cleaning the bed linens.

Sachets  - i use tiny sachets of lavender in every corner in our bedroom and in the closets. 

It gives a fresh scent to all the textiles and keeps insects away from cashmere.There is nothing worse than the odor of a closed environment and tucked away clothing.  I am a fanatic at opening the windows every morning for airing the rooms.

Burns - if you burn yourself in the kitchen for example use some drops of essential oil and it will help  to heal faster.

enchantly - i used lavender essential oil for this scent in the nara skincare line

Just some hints...

Gunn

Lavender harvest

This year's harvest of lavender is amazing. It is always sad to cut down the lovely blooms at the time when they look the best. I normally run late and they are not useful anymore.

All of the photos i am showing is just a third of what I collected. A nice aroma for the house and for many other things. I think I will use some of it for the bath salts we will be making later on in the season. Maybe for some cookies for the Saturday dinner with friends. Or some   tiny pillows for sleeping better , all though it is not my problem.

I had some guests over for lunch last week and I served organic vanilla ice cream and sprinkled some fresh lavender blooms on top. Really nice and I can highly recommend it.

You can see my vegetable garden in the back. It is coming along just fine. I managed to make 10 jars of gooseberry jam last week. Just storing up for the winter breakfasts.

As always , my best friend are making me company and controlling that i am doing the right thing.


Hopefully I am,
Gunn

To my friends who knows,

 The sea can effect your well being...........and alter the sense of time and space.

Cool, calm and collected ............in a flower dress in Greece. 

I have not been back to Greece with my husband  for almost 18 years and all my friends  knows why. 

We managed to have a disaster holiday. ( all though it did not depend on Greece )

But one thing is sure when you travel to the Greek islands the only way to pack 

 ( classic, not backpacking ) is a suitcase full of flower printed dresses and lots of good books. This is my romantic view of spending a relaxing time on the islands. Just as in the film Tempest with John Cassavetes and Susan Sarandon.

This is the reading i had packed for this holiday.( and i packed light )

What i loved, by Siri Hustvedt - a love story taking place in NY with the suspense of a thriller

Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson - did not read it yet. The Times gave good reviews ... it is a book of such meditative calm, such spiritual intensity that it seems miraculous that her silence was only for twenty-three years...

The ice princess, by Camilla Lackberg - in Italy there is a craze for Scandinavian thrillers after the success of Stieg Larsson and Henning Mankell. I find them everywhere , even at 

the gas station and of course i read them in Italian...

Vanninan, by Ewa Franchell  - a nicely written documentary on the political life inside the government in Stockholm. One thing is sure,  that is that i made the correct choice of not having politics as my profession. 

and 2 big books( 500 pages ) for my Alementarista study and lots of documents with information on Italian wines and cheeses . 

Could you ever think of any better reading on a holiday in Greece ?

Gunn