gyoza

Every now and then, my son and I try our hand on cooking something new. Japanese gyoza dumplings are a favorite of my son’s. We normally buy frozen vegetable and minced meat gyoza at the grocery store. They are pre-made so we only need to fry them, but there is something about making things from […]

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ice

Japan during summer is hot and humid and sweaty. To say the least. Cool drinks and air conditioning feel essential for being comfortable. It would have been nice with a cool shower every now and then as well, but that is a little more tricky – during summer in Japan the hot water use is close

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fukuoka tower

What do you want to do today, we asked our son last Sunday. It is summer holiday and we thought we were going to do something special, a little family excursion to our son’s liking. He did not hesitate – I want to go to Fukuoka tower, he said. Fukuoka Tower is located by the

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frogs and cicadas

Nature around here is amazing – even though we live right on the edge between the big city and the wilderness, during summer it feels more like our house is in the middle of nature. When we some time ago, after days spent inside recovering from a summer cold, finally went outside again, my son

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honey

Giving gifts to say thank you is a seasonal thing in Japan, new year season and summer being the two periods where most of the gift-giving occur. Companies can send customers gifts, patients can send a gift to for example a doctor or dentist who has been particularly helpful to them, friends and relatives can

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tomatoes

After rain. Comes more rain – that is how I have experienced summer so far this year. Sure, there have been a few days or hours of sun in between the persistent showers, but the last month has really given us a lot of precipitation. And nature has loved it – the grass is growing visibly day

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nursing instincts

It is adorable to see how love and nursing instincts express themselves in the behavior of a little toddler. While we have ample opportunities to experience everyday love, the additional feelings that come out when mom or dad is feeling under the weather are so cute in the way they show up. Not long ago

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dimensions of a toddler

Children’s curiosity never ceases to fascinate me. Neither does the thought process of my son and every time he shares his thoughts with me I feel so grateful. It is exciting to see how his logic is evolving while at the same time being a part of a child’s world where no rules of nature

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smoking but no lemonade

Alfons Åberg is one of the most popular children’s book characters in Sweden, created by Gunilla Bergström who sadly passed away three years ago. The first Alfons-book was written in 1972 and I grew up listening to stories about Alfons Åberg, and have continued that tradition with my son who also has come to love

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images of summer

Summer in Japan is quite different from summer in Sweden, but there are a few weeks in May June before the humidity arrives that have the emotional quality of Swedish summer when it is the most beautiful. Lately we have enjoyed warm days, a hint of dryness in the air, the evenings and mornings still

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it all turned out to be pancakes

After months of waking up and still half asleep making a perfectly beautiful omelette for my son, I felt like quite the omelette master. Break an egg, add some milk and spices and stir while the frying pan with some rapeseed oil is getting warm, pour the mix into the pan, lower the temperature, wait

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fontano

We live in a part of the world where seismic activity and volcanos are part of life. We live in a house where dinosaur-books and water-play is a common feature in everyday activities. We are a family where we use three languages in our conversations. Unsurprisingly, this all gets mixed, and sometimes in the cutest

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