Best day of the year...

 I mentioned, that I celebrated this year with my family in Germany. But even before and after my birth-day, a bunch of surprises awaited me. This year my birthday was literally on a Sunday, but already Friday Sophie invited me for a lovely lunch on the canal with fresh food from Feskekörka, our local fish market in church style. What a nice idea for the last day of work just before leaving for Germany the next morning...
...which was, when the first present came along: flip-flops with a bottle-opener integrated in the sole. We discovered them on Michaëls feet a while ago and since I had no flip-flops yet, Sophie brought them all the way from Washington :-). They are a nice eye-catcher and still quite useful.

The celebration in my family was quite usual from my point of few. This time my presents where mostly meant to fight the horrendously high prices for alcohol in Sweden, which is always welcome. Sophie surprised me again with a cook book for typical Québéc food, which, of course, also came all the way from Canada :*. It includes a recipe, which her mom made for us and which she brought back. It's a delicious sweet which is simply .... mmhhhh. I'll try to make it soon myself and post results here.

Back in Sweden, the following Saturday, I had a birthday party with a few good friends. We prepared it in style of a potluck, everyone brought some self-made food. It worked fabulous. We had everything from Swedish fish pie to Indian Gulab Jamun, from main course to dessert. We prepared some cake and lasagna muffins, which I discovered a few month earlier.
And I got more surprises: nicely wrapped in black paper where a bunch of nice things. Utensils like a herb scissor, magnetic picture frames, Settlers of Catan 5+6 player extension (yeah!!!) and another cool game called Bohnanza (obviously about beans ;).

I had a great time that week, I guess especially because I spend it with friends and family - thanks everybody again :) !