travelogue: steam hotel in västerås

 

in västerås, there is an old steam power plant, overlooking lake mälaren, where you'll find the steam hotel, appropriately named as you'll find a lovely spa on the top floor. they've kept much of the industrial details which works really well with the softer touches.

we came to celebrate stefan's birthday. i love that he loves a good spa hotel although he cannot seem to get used to the sauna experience. while he finds it too hot, i say heat it up some more. and, the softness of your skin afternoons is just amazing.

while the spa is smaller than their sister hotel, the ellery (take a peek here), we happily enjoyed both the pool inside and outside, the hot sauna (me) and dark relaxation room with a fire (stefan's favourite). there is a bar for drinks too. you couldn't help but feel newly energized and relaxed.

and the food was perfection. before we made use of the spa, we had afternoon drinks and a light lunch on the 18th floor with fantastic view of lake mälaren. the food was a melody of asian-inspried dishes that had me already looking forward to dinner which was so worth the wait. 

after dinner we walked along lake mälaren, enjoying the sunset. relaxation, good food, and a sunset... not bad for a birthday celebration.

a couple of photos during our walk to the train station... towards home.

to take a peek at our lidingö spa weekend in march, click here. our next weekend away will be with friends in ekerö, stay tuned, if you like.

call the midwife

i have consumed copious amounts of time watching call the midwife.  have you seen this british television series?  i have worked in women's health for decades and specifically reproductive health so it's no surprise that i am loving the series. 

it's a period drama exploring the joys and the horrors of midwifery.  it's based on the memoirs of the late jennifer worth, a midwife at the royal london hospital, who wrote about the shock of being a sheltered young woman first encountering east london of the 50s.  the more the series unfolds the more brilliant it becomes.  there's a good balance of humour and romance thrown in too.







will you watch?



 



 



weekend pics, cooking and racing

i'm not sure what made this weekend fly by... maybe it was because stefan left us on sunday for an out of town work engagement thereby cutting our weekend together short?  regardless, we did enjoy some highlights before his departure:

stefan's cooking is delicious. after a visit to the farmer's market, he got into the kitchen with his cook's illustrated magazines and lived in there for a few hours.  the end result?  

first, he baked the ultimate banana bread.  he grumbled a bit at the fussiness of the recipe - extracting and concentrating the moisture from the bananas.  but he knew the magazine never failed him, always producing happy results.  and of course this was the case with the banana bread; flavourful - yet not too banana-y - and perfectly moist, not wet. 



and then stefan cooked the most delicious shepard's pie. the creamed potatoes were seriously to die for and the filling nice and rich.  it made enough for two dinners; unfortunately stefan couldn't partake in the second round (he was on the road) but that meant more for kai and i.  thank you for feeding us stefan :)

 



 

kai participated in a tuff kids race - a 1.5km race that included hurdles, scrambling under tarps, running through a maze, getting across slippery rocks, and jumping over ropes but mostly running.  the obstacles were a brilliant idea and probably the only reason kai enthusiastically wanted to participate (good thinking distance runwear).  if it had been just a run i imagine he wouldn't have wanted to take part.  he loved it, i loved watching him, and our lovely friends darrin, alexia, and kara came to cheer him on with their baby rattles... so cute!  afterwards, we indulged in pastry and caffeine and had a fun play at the house.  such goodness for a sunday morning!



 

 



my favourite photo... moments before, he saw his dad (hence the smile) and quickened his pace to impress him :)



 





darrin was the only one who saw kai cross the finish line and cheer him on... so i made him run to the finish line again for this photo and i cheered him on :)

 









more post-race celebration with drumming and trampolining









kai's biggest fan... what a face!



other weekend pics:
 

race or no race, we're stefan is pretty liberal with providing kai with treats on the weekend





kai and i have started watching modern family; it's the one sitcom that gets me laughing out loud



belly rubs... jude is addicted to them