Fika Friday

Happy Friday everyone!

 

It felt like this week flew by for me.  I had a great trip in Seattle seeing the family and sights and it's been back to the grind since Tuesday. We did a fair amount of fika-like activities while we were in Seattle and here is a picture that captures one of those moments...the guys are hamming it up: 

 

 

 

 

 

My fika rundown:

Where: Top Pot Donuts in Seattle

What: Regular coffee with a twisted glaze donut (yuuuum)

With: My family!!! (Krista, Eric, Ryan, and Anna)

Best part: Being able to see those cute faces!

Fika Friday

This has been a week of winding down, relaxing, and unpacking the pile of crafts from the fair.  It's been a good week. I'm also gearing up to visit my sister/brother-in-law/niece this  weekend in Seattle. So. Excited. I've never been to the Pacific Northwest before, and quite frankly, I know I'm going to absolutely love it. I can't wait to see my family and check out a new place!

I made these butterscotch brownies today and oh my goodness are they delicious. They are quite the opposite of those espresso brownies I posted about earlier, in the best of ways. They are a fudgey consistency with the right amount of sweetness. I had two....in the last 2 hours. I will share the recipe at the end, it's taken from one of my favorite of favorite cookbooks, Betty Crocker's 1963 edition of the "Cooky Book".  I snagged it at an antique store a couple months ago and haven't looked back. 

Just the way I like my brownies - dense, chewy, and extra gooey.

I'm going back for a third after I finish this post. I have no self control.

Fika Rundown:

Where: Home

Who: Myself

What: Butterscotch brownies and a cup of Swedish Zoega brand coffee (so. good.)

Butterscotch Brownies

slightly adapted from the Cooky Book by Betty Crocker, 1963

1/4 cup butter or margarine (I used butter)

1 cup dark brown sugar (recipe called for light brown, but I love dark...)

1 egg

3/4 cup flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup shopped walnuts (or whatever add-in you'd like...)

Melt butter, mix in sugar. Add egg and mix thoroughly. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in separate bowl. Blend then add to butter/sugar mixture. Add vanilla and walnuts. Spread in a well-greased square pan (8x8 or 9x9). Bake 25 minutes at 350. Do not overbake!!

Eat and enjoy.

Craft Fair Success!

Huge thanks to everyone for the kind e-mails and comments about the Kingsburg Festival - it was a success!  We had a great time participating in the fair and had a great view for the Maypole rising and dancing. The parade was pretty darn cute too.

Here are a few pictures from the fun weekend.

My favorite little viking:

Booth setup complete, thumbs up!

The headbands didn't sell quite as well as they did at the Lucia fair, but I also think people weren't in as much of the "buying" mood as Lucia since it wasn't Christmas season.

My crafting partner, Beth, hand-etched these awesome vases, glasses, and more.  Check out that sweet viking glass!

I made some last-minute garland for decor from some jute webbing (which I think looks Scandinavian!) from Joann's for only 79 cents a yard!

I dressed up in one of my mom's Swedish costumes. [I didn't get a picture of the entire outfit, unfortunately] Ryan was quite the good sport to dress up himself. I'm such a lucky gal.

And along with the hand-stenciled viking and Dala onesies, I stenciled some children's aprons too. 

The town of Kingsburg was so cute...even the McDonalds had a Dala in front!!

Overall, we had a wonderful weekend! I'm so glad we got the chance to participate in this great fair and will definitely be back!

Be sure to check out the Midsommar festival in Vasa Park here in the LA area if you live nearby...we will have a booth there on June 23!

Pacifier clips

A few of the pacifier clips I've been cranking out...my favorite are the vikings. It's from ByBora Designs...isn't it adorable!?

 

I'm selling these this weekend at the Kingsburg Festival.

 

I will probably be off the bloggin bandwagon until next week. We leave Friday right after work to head to the fair.

 

Have a great weekend!

Fika Friday [Tuesday]

Hi everyone! I know I'm a little late on my Fika Friday post...so here is my Fika Tuesday.

In the madness of the upcoming craft fair this weekend, I needed some serious fika to keep me going this past weekend. Enter the espresso brownie. Just what I needed: chocolate and coffee in one! Now, I must warn you, these are actually very cake-y brownies which are not my fave (I prefer the dense, buttery, fudgey type), but the coffee flavor really makes them. Later, I will try just adding some coffee flavor to my favorite fudgey brownie recipe because I think that would be the perfect brownie in my book.

So there you have it, a few days late, but my Fika Friday Tuesday nonetheless.

My fika rundown:

Where: at home

What: Espresso brownies with coffee

With: Ryan

Best part: the much needed caffeine

Headbands

Just wanted to pop in and show you all how the headbands are coming along!

 

Here are some of the headband designs I have made so far:

All of my ribbon for the headbands I either been bought on Etsy or my mom has found at various Scandinavian stores over the years (thanks, Mom!). I backed them with a solid color ribbon and add elastic to loop them together.

My favorites are the Dala horses on blue and the red hearts with blue flowers and green vines. After all of the craft fair craziness I will post a tutorial on how to make them!

Hope you're enjoying your weekend!

Fika Friday

It's about that time again. Fika Friday is here.

And in honor of my sweet lil' sister who just got ENGAGED (!!!!) I am doing something a little different for today. A throwback fika, if you will. Maren and Ryan came to visit back in February and stayed with me and Ryan. Needless to say, we had fika.

[the happy couple on their engagment day!]

Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of all of us at that fika back in February. However, here is one photo from that fika of my Ryan (two Ryans in the family now!). Check out that professional shuffling by Ryan. You can catch a glimpse of Maren's Diet Coke can on the left side. Oh Maren. I still don't understand how she doesn't like coffee. What kind of Swede are you, Maren??!

 

 

My fika rundown:

When: February 2013
What: Coffee for some, Diet Coke for Maren, cookies

Where: Our apartment, kitchen table

With: Me, Ryan, Maren and her Ryan

Best part: Playing Euchre while drinking copious amounts of coffee

I'm so excited to have another great brother-in-law and to celebrate with Maren and Ryan during this super exciting time!! Woooo!! Can't wait for the big day!

What was your favorite fika of the week?

Happy weekend, everyone!