There was a cat standing on my chest in the wee hours of the morning. I always hate to look at the clock when it’s the middle of the night but for some reason I do it anyway. It was 2:00am. I wonder if she stands on me every night and I usually just sleep through it. Luckily I was able to go right back to sleep, though we went through this ritual a few more times through the night/morning until I finally took her hint and got up at 8:00am. After her breakfast was served and morning coffee was made and delivered to the husband, I got down to the business of the morning: baked oatmeal. I found the recipe on Pinterest. The photo of the finished dish was what grabbed me. It looked incredible and after I tasted the finished product myself I can say that it was definitely fabulous and I will be making it again. One thing I loved about the recipe was that it was not heavily laden with sugar. There was enough sweetness from the bananas and blueberries that I used to give it a powerful boost instead of making me sluggish for my gym workout. Yes, gym workout.
After months of whining about the commute to my gym I made the decision to bite the bullet and head down there. I left home at 10:30am and didn’t arrive until 11:15am. 45 minutes and I didn’t even have to leave the island. Ugh. Okay, it was partly due to poor planning on my part, as I had to wait 15 minutes for the bus. If I had known the bus schedule ahead of time I could have shaved off 15 minutes of the commute time. Regardless, I arrived and was amazed that it was not overcrowded with lines waiting for the treadmills and other cardio machines. I picked my poison and put in my earphones. After 10 minutes on the treadmill I thought I should mix it up a bit so I switched to the stationary bike for 25 minutes. I actually had a really, great workout that I finished with stretching and floor exercises. And as I walked through the gym and saw my reflection in the mirrors I decided it was time to stop kidding myself about working out and make this visit the first of a long series, in the very near future. Despite the commute time.
Once I was home and showered and we had a quick egg sandwich lunch, my husband and I left to check out Hornstulls Hund och Kattcenter, a store that sells stuff for dogs and cats. We wanted to get a harness for our cat so we could get her used to walking around with it on now before we take her with us to the summer cottage. As we left I suggested that we walk around the corner to a gourmet, specialty shop that I had seen on one of our bike rides in the fall. I had seen in their window that they carried salmbärs sylt (dewberry jam in English) from Gotland. We ran out of it last summer and I had been craving it. We were first introduced to it by my husbands sister and when we visited Gotland ourselves last year we bought some. Unfortunately the berries are only harvested in Gotland. Unfortunately Gotland is a three-hour ferry ride away from the port an hour south of us. So you can’t really run out to get some. The gourmet store’s interior was a pleasant surprise. We discovered a number of things that peaked our interest. Among them were salsa, bbq sauce and other spicy sauces. Needless-to-say we left with a heavy bag and smiles on our faces. There will definitely be return visits to that store.
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