The weather didn’t permit us to go very far in the boat today. The sun was out, but the southerly winds (don’t I sound like I know what I’m talking about!) were whipping up the sea and made going a bit rough. We stopped at a smallish beach (their words, not mine – I thought [...]
Martin’s fabulous cousin, Urban, and his lovely family – Carina, Maja and little Rasmus – showed me a piece of northern Sweden I’d never seen before today. Thank you for giving me more of Sangis to love! We owe you one – but, well, it would be great if you could wait to cash in [...]
One of the great joys of the summers of my youth was to take the boat out to the islands and see what had washed ashore. Sometimes you would find beer cans and other packaging from the other side of the iron curtain, sometimes you could find parts of shot down air defense targets. Every [...]
I was unaware that the Swedish coast was a long archipalego, that is, until I married a Swede. Truth be told, I wasn’t quite sure which of the countries in Scandinavia was Sweden until 4 or so years ago – and yes, I’m a moron. But that’s neither here, nor there. We posted an image [...]
Regular readers of seatofourpants.com have been able to see us eat a whole bunch of different things (various street food, stinging nettles, worms), but everyone knows that you want to wash down your food with a bottle of cold, delicious local beer. So here is Martin’s Famously Incomprehensible First Installment of the South East Asia [...]
Ok – we’ve just been digging through a few boxes of photos and found two pictures that sum up the Power Phase. Both these photos are from outside Sangis, circa the late 1970’s. I’m still working on the 80’s photos – it takes a delicate balance between wine and eye batting.
In response to yesterday’s post, Bacon made a few rash decisions tonight to prove his manhood. Once we noticed, we tried reminding him of the last time this happened, but he gave us the hoof – as everyone knows stubborn pigs are prone to do. We first caught him in the act of downing our [...]
Needless to say, the water is pretty cold. We had to walk a fair bit to reach a place where we could actually get water up to our shoulders, a walk that took place through something that restaurants would not hesitate to sell as ice water. Our heroism was somewhat diminished by the fact that [...]
Martin’s cousin is pulling up between 20 & 50 salmon a day from the sea. We were lucky enough to score one & thought he should meet our friend. You can’t tell in the picture, but Bacon wet his pants with fright. He’s not pleased that we’re telling you all this, but it’s our duty [...]
My in-laws split time between two homes, depending on the season. One home is in the town of Sangis; population: 622. Their second home is a cabin (pictured above) that is a 10 minute drive from town and sits just off the Baltic Sea. My father-in-law, Rolf, built their Sangis home (pictured below) in the [...]
My mother-in-law, Birgitta, is a multi-talented artist. One of her many artistic endeavors is weaving carpets. The style of carpet can be seen in any IKEA carpet section; its closest English translation is Rag Carpet. The material that makes up the carpet can come from anywhere – old clothing, curtains, bed linens or any old [...]
One of the truly great Northern Swedish pastimes is the Bastu: a sauna closely resembling the Finnish sauna. Most cold climate cultures have a bathing institution similar to the Bastu, from Siberian saunas to North American native sweat lodges. It’s has a history going back thousands of years, and it also happens to be extremely [...]
Here at Seatofourpants, we believe that a key to understanding a county is to know its food. We also acknowledge that it may be hard for some of our readers to score fresh stinging nettle leaves, so here’s a dessert recipe that may be of interest: 100 grams melted butter ½ dl shredded cocos [...]
We’ve been away from Vietnam for more than a week now, and it’s time to summarize our experiences there. The thing that really stands out is its diversity – both geographically and people wise. Our travels took us from Saigon in the south to Mt Fansipan in the north. In between, we enjoyed sights [...]
Here’s a local Norrbotten specialty for you readers out there: Stinging nettle soup. It’s an ancient recipe, and while stinging nettle doesn’t sound like something you’d want to eat it is actually an extremely nutritious plant, rich in minerals and antioxidants. Oh and it’s delicious. You need: 1 qt. of stinging nettles – the [...]
You know the saying, “to fly by the seat of your pants?” Well, that's been our philosophy for most of our adult lives – before and after meeting, falling in love and marrying. We're now taking that idea on an extended round-the-world trip. Follow us as we share the good, the bad and the downright nasty of life on the road.
