Author: ghetran

Monday again

This weekend has been a bit overshadowed by the fact that I´m working out of town this week. Not only is it an ugly trial, but I´m living in a small town with literally nothing to do after hours. I was hoping to do a bit of reading, but taking my laptop with me was uninspired, there´s so much on the mighty internet more alluring than Shishkin. I really don´t like Shishkin, the way I don´t like many of the contemporary writers that everybody else is so crazy about! Makes me wonder if there´s something wrong with me. I just don´t buy anything beyond reason, call me sad, but I really don´t. I need people to stick to whatever normal people do and feel and books to depict just that. Surreal is no good in my book. Does it make sense?

Anyway. This weekend was uneventful, but cosy, we had lovely weather and took our mandatory trip to the woods with a happy Sam, made some good food and watched a lot of Netflix. On Sunday it was time to be urban, take Sammy to the Botanical garden and have coffee with friends in lively Grunnerløkka. He´s such a sociable soul, he loves being outside with us and our friends, even if that only means sitting beside us and barking at the passing dogs. 😉

Last night I arrived at my hotel at 11:30 pm, so there was no time for sightseeing. Today was a splendid day, the court room was spacious and had thousands of windows overlooking the sun and I literally died in my cashmere sweater in our little interpreting box! (but it was from Paris!!) No time for much sightseeing today either, although I did spot the city center walking back to the hotel. By the time I´d lunched on a nice sunny terrace, all the shops were closed. The whole town seemed to have gone to sleep, it was so depressing I went in for a nap myself. It seems I should be done here by Wednesday, so I might as well try to enjoy tomorrow as much as I can. Maybe I´ll get a haircut and a massage. Or maybe I´ll just buy a sandwich and soak up the sun. 😉

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Chanterelle stew

Yesterday I paid a visit to the local organic marked at Stortorvet and couldn´t resist buying some fresh corn, apples and chanterelles. I don´t know about you, but I love me some chanterelles in the fall! Although I´ve only made this stew the last 2-3 years, it´s one of my classics by now! Not only pretty and yummy, but very easy to put together, too. I usually serve it with pan-fried chicken and rice.

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Rafael Neff- Searching for summer

I fell in love with those summery pictures taken by the German artist Rafael Neff. I´d love to own the third or the last one, I think they´d have the power to transport me in summer land whenever I´d look at them. What do you reckon? You can get yours at Lumas!

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Postcards from Santorini

Summer is over and I get to wear my new APC wool coat, yippi yey! I got the cat back from our friends and Sammy is a cutie, as always, so life is good. I try to enjoy my afternoons, when I´m not working out with my Personal Trainer (for now, because I dread it so much I´ll be making him a voodoo doll soon enough!), cooking curries and soups and trying to stay away from sweets. 😉 Otherwise I´m getting back to reading, it seems I need to be in the right state of mind to be able to enjoy it and what better than  a comfy blanket, a cup of tea and a scented candle to set the mood right. We´re already planning our next year´s trips, so stay tuned! Meanwhile I walk down on memory lane now and then and today it was Santorini. 😉 Enjoy!

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Postcards from Paris

We´re back on track and summer is officially over. We came home from 25 degrees in Paris to 5 in Oslo and I needed to dig out my sweaters. 😉 The time in France was so amazing I wanted to share a couple of pictures from my Instagram account, too. Hope you enjoy them!

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Paris is always a good idea (part 2)

Now, I haven´t been to NY or anywhere else outside Europe for that matter, but I´m pretty sure few cities can equal Paris when it comes to celebrating one´s birthday! I turned 34 on Saturday and I had the best anniversary ever! I woke up to jazz music just outside our window (we stayed in Bastille) and my husband had been out and bought me a rose, breakfast and cake. Breakfast in bed with Paris at my feet, that´s pretty much of a gift itself!

We were supposed to go to Clignancourt for the flea market, but the lazy morning and the prospects of a lunch date with some friends made the time too short. I didn´t despair though, there´re lots of markets in Paris and as it turned out, there was one just outside our apartment. 😉 Lots of goodies- antiques, industrial lamps, vintage garments, you name it! Although not exactly cheap, the prices were generally better than in shops, at least in Norway. 😉 We bought an antique bronze statue, with marble and ivory, it´s a beauty!

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Ode to Odd Børretzen

This one is for my Scandinavian readers. It´s raining in Paris, I have a bit of a hangover and fall seems to be settling in for good. Besides, we´re leaving to Oslo this evening and leaving Paris always makes me sad. It reminded me of a poem by the late Norwegian singer Odd Børretzen and I thought I´d share it with you. It´s so Norwegian and yet so romantic. I simply adore it. We Romanians are so passionate and dramatic and yet I was taken aback by the simplicity of these words. Basically he says that I don´t mind the rain outside as long as your head is on my pillow.

I love Odd Børretzen. We almost attended his concert 3 years ago in Bergen, but it was halfway finished and I had to go to work early the day after, so we dropped it. A couple of years ago he passed away. :-/

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Paris

I´m in Paris and although there´s probably a special kind of sin not to be outside exploring, but inside writing on my blog, I needed to rest my feet at some point, so here we go! Besides, I just shared a bottle of Crémant with Vuong and our host, Tanguy and now I´m perking up with some coffee in bed. Taking into consideration all the amount of walking we´ve done these last 4 days, one would need to be Cat Woman not to need a short break. 😉

Oh, Paris, my heart is bursting out with love for this city! It´s my 7th time here, I think, but I never get enough of it! I usually like a city better the second or third time around anyhow, since I don´t feel the need to do all that sightseeing (that I seldom enjoy anyway). Luckily, we have a one museum per holiday policy, neither of us being especially keen on spending precious time indoors staring at the dead when we can admire the living. So this trip has been great so far. We had lots of time to walk about and admire the city´s heavily draped silhouettes, then sit down for a drink or a bite now and then. Whatever street we crossed, the smell from the corner fruit store would tickle our nostrils. We glared at Parisians, had a glimpse at art galleries, did some shopping- clothes, a scented candle or a brocante treasure. A cup of champagne was mandatory every day and so was something sweet to nibble on.

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Paris: Galerie de Medicis

I´ve been in love with Paris since my first trip here in ´97. I was 17 at the time and my parents had agreed to let me go on a “trip around Europe” with my school on one condition- take my younger brother with me. Needless to say I was quite unhappy with that aspect, but it turned out to be a trip to remember. Details in another post. 😉

We´re in Paris for 6 days and more in love with the city than ever! I don´t know how one can not love Paris. It´s beyond my comprehension. We´re having such a great time, smiling from ear to ear until our feet can´t bear us any more, then we stop for a coffee, a cup of champagne or a bite. But I´ll tell you more about the trip itself in another post.

This one is about Galerie de Medicis, a lovely contemporary gallery in Place des Vosges, in Marais. We past it twice in two different days and I fell in love with it, especially with the artist Jean Paul Donadini. His work appeals to me, maybe due to its  pop art elements, the bold colors and the French cultural references. I seldom feel the need to own an art piece, but the blue painting is something else! I didn´t dare go inside and ask for prices, but maybe I´ll try writing them a mail. What do you think?

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Birthday picnic in the woods

Yesterday was great. The sun was shining yet again and our friend, Hege, celebrated her birthday with a picnic trip in the woods. We took the subway and met the crew at Frognerseteren, a venerable restaurant on the top of the hill. After enjoying a coffee or a glass of wine in the sun, we started walking towards Songsvann, our final destination for the picnic. We were 6 adults, a child and a dog. Sammy was happy to explore the surroundings, he jumped up and down, drinking water from small creeks, engaging us in his silly schemes and sniffing every dog we couldn´t prevent him from meeting.;-) On the way I picked some blueberries and served them to the others from Sam´s drinking cup. 😉 They were sweet and tasted like summer. When we finally arrived to a table in a sun, everybody started unpacking the goodies. Food never tasted that good, I tell you!;-) We had bean salad, cheese and bacon pie, cheese and fig jam, chocolate cake, banana bread, chips and drops. Yummy! After filling our tummies, we tok the subway back to the city. We were tired and our feet had started aching when we realized we´d been outside for 6 hours! Now that´s what I call a Sunday trip!

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