Cooking for the baby is more fun than I initially thought. I know I can get most things ready made but then full of additives and often too sweet to my liking. I’ve filled the freezer with purée of courgettes, green beans, carrots, sweet potatoes, swede, broccoli, pear and apple. And yesterday I made chicken stock and today apricot cream with mango to sweeten slightly. Fun!

Made these from http://iamafoodblog.com/brown-butter-brownies-recipe/

Three days. Two nights of uninterrupted, sweet sleep. But being home is also good.

pieces of dumplings went down with some good friends. Most of them are made by Anders, a brilliant start for a newbie.

In the pre-baby days while waiting for baby I cooked and baked like crazy. I’ve been longing to pick it up again. I start with Åsa Hellmans amazing chocolate cookies.

Recipe: http://kobolt.net/blogg/2012/02/13/chokladcookies

Still in a bit of a shock. Being someones mother is surreal when I start thinking about it. Knowing a human being is totally dependent on you is frightening.

And yet, I’m getting used to it, slowly, every day and every week I lay behind me. For every new development, tiny as it may be, it’s worth it. The first smile, seconds of stronger neck than yesterday and a crow so cute it instantly melts your overly tired heart.

But still, surreal.

Of course the baby must enter the world with his own blog. What kind of mother do you think I am?

Check it out here, almost daily updates, always with photos. http://born28december.wordpress.com/

Baby boy, arrived 28th December 2011 at 16.11. What a gift.

Even when nothing’s going on these mugs from Kristofer Hoshino are still amazing.

With one of all the great gifts from yesterday.

I love Nutella. I like cookies. So the chances of me liking Nutella swirls should be good.

I tried Jamie Oliver’s home made muesli the other day. I’ve never tried making it myself but it was both rather quick and above all very easy.

Here’s my version of his version ( I make a double batch, or else it’ll be eaten in just 3 days…)

Begin with

- 400 g oatmeal

- 150 g of almond (becomes fantastic when roasted)

- 100 g seeds (50 pumpkin/50 sunflower)

- 3 tablespoons ground cinnamon

- 3-4 tablespoons honey or maple syrup

- drizzles of canola oil

Combine the above dry ingredients and spread in two oven trays. Drizzle honey/syrup and oil, mix well and put trays in the middle of the oven 175C. Let sit for 25 min and stir the mixture every 5 minutes. Don’t leave the kitchen, the mix will burn easily. Meanwhile chop dried fruit.

Afterwards add:

200 g chopped dried fruits of your choice. I like cranberries, dates and apricots.

Other suggestions: raisins, figs.

Serve

Add the fruit to the mix then it’s out of the oven and let everything cool. Store in airtight containers for up to 2 weeks. Serve with ice cold milk/yoghurt/sour milk.

The cute organic veggie shop in our building provided for a great lentil/kale soup!

I’ve done practically nothing but spending time in the kitchen for the past 8 days I’m overdue. We probably have the most well filled freezer in the neighbourhood. Yesterday and today’s achievements were biscotti and roasted muesli (not to mention a morrocan lamb & beef stew).

Maternity leave but no baby in sight. Rain instead of snow.

Chop chop!